Artur Kotenko (born 20 August 1981) is a retired Estonian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who last played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for FCI Levadia. Kotenko announced his retirement from professional football in November 2022.

Club career

Career in Estonia

On 24 October 2004, Kotenko scored Levadia's second goal against Tulevik in the penultimate round of 2004 Meistriliiga. The team won the match 4–1 and secured the title, ultimately making it the league winning goal. Having been frozen out of the Levadia side in 2007, after refusing to sign a contract extension with the club (a similar fate was suffered by teammates Konstantin Vassiljev and Ats Purje earlier that season), Kotenko joined the

Norwegian First Division The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon () and OBOS-ligaen (due to sponsoring ties with :no:OBOS, OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon ...

side

Sandnes Ulf Sandnes Ulf is a Norwegian association football club from Sandnes, Rogaland, currently playing in the 2. divisjon, the third highest division in the Norwegian football league system. The club play their home matches at Øster Hus Arena. The cl ...

, but was free to leave the club after less than a year because of a relegation release clause in his contract. In December 2008, Kotenko underwent a successful two-week trial at the English Championship side

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

and was expected to join the club in January. The deal, however, fell through when

Colin Calderwood Colin Calderwood (born 20 January 1965) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. As a player, he was a centre-back who played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa and in the Football League for Mansfi ...

was sacked following a

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

defeat to

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

Viking

On 6 February 2009, he joined

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

club

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

. The Estonian goalkeeper made his league debut for the Dark Blues more than eight months after the signing, on 25 October 2009. It ended after just 25 minutes, as he was sent off for handling the ball outside the 18-yard box.

AEP Paphos

On 10 June 2010, he signed a 1-year deal with Cypriot team AEP Paphos, with an option to extend it by another year, joining compatriot Ats Purje. He failed to make an impact there and only appeared in 7 league matches.

Ravan Baku

After a spell in Cyprus, Kotenko moved to

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

and joined a newly promoted Ravan Baku on a two-year contract. He made the debut on 6 August, in a 2–3 defeat against Kapaz. The contract was mutually terminated in October 2011.

Jaro

On 20 January 2012, Kotenko signed 1-year deal with Finish Veikkausliiga club Jaro.

Dnepr Mogilev

On 26 February 2013, Kotenko signed a 1-year contract with Belarusian club Dnepr Mogilev. After a successful season in Dnepr Mogilev, Artur Kotenko moved to bronze medalist Shakhtyor Soligorsk.

Shakhtyor Soligorsk

On 3 May 2014, Kotenko became Belarus Cup winner. His great performance helped Shakhtyor Soligorsk to win bronze medals of Belarus premier league and reach play-off round of Euro League where Shakhtyor Soligorsk lost to

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

. Artur Kotenko have played 29 games in the Belarus premier league and made 17 clean sheets. On 13 December 2014, Artur Kotenko was awarded by Belarus Football Association as a best goalkeeper of Belarus premier league 2014.

Back in Estonia

On 8 February 2017, Kotenko signed for Estonian top tier club Narva Trans. After two seasons with Trans Kotenko signed for rival

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (), officially known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons, and commonly known as the Premium Liiga, is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded i ...

club FCI Levadia. During his first season in Levadia he was mainly used as a backup for the national team first choice goalkeeper Sergei Lepmets. However, on May 18, 2020, Lepmets unexpectedly announced his decision to retire from professional football, after which Kotenko was placed in charge of first team goalkeeping duties.

International career

He played for

Estonia national football team The Estonia men's national football team () represents Estonia in international football matches and is controlled by the Estonian Football Association, the governing body for football in Estonia. Estonia's home ground is Lilleküla Stadium ...

27 times between 2004–2013. His last call-up was in October 2020.

Honours

Club

;Levadia *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Estonian Cup The Estonian Cup () is the national knockout competition in Estonian football. In 2012, the competition was unofficially rebranded as Evald Tipner's Cup. The winner will compete in UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round. Finals ...

: 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07 *

Estonian Supercup The Estonian Supercup () is Estonian football's annual super cup, contested between the champions of the previous Meistriliiga season and the holders of the Estonian Cup. If the Meistriliiga champions also won the Estonian Cup, then the league ...

: 2001 ;Shakhtyor Soligorsk *

Belarusian Cup The Belarusian Cup () is an annual association football knock-out cup competition for men's football clubs of Belarus, organized by the Football Federation of Belarus. Belarusian Cup was established in 1992. Each year the winning team qualifies f ...

: 2013–14

Individual

Player of the Month: May 2017

References

External links

* * * * *
Interview for russian sports site
(Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotenko, Artur 1981 births Living people Footballers from Tallinn FCI Levadia Tallinn players FC Lantana Tallinn players Estonian men's footballers Estonia men's international footballers Estonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Meistriliiga players Eliteserien players Veikkausliiga players Cypriot First Division players Viking FK players Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus AEP Paphos FC players Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Ravan Baku FK players Expatriate men's footballers in Belarus Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Belarus FC Dnepr Mogilev players KSK Vigri Tallinn players Sandnes Ulf players FF Jaro players FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk players JK Narva Trans players FC Puuma Tallinn players Men's association football goalkeepers 21st-century Estonian sportsmen