Elvira Zurabovna Todua (; born 31 January 1986) is an

Abkhazia Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It cover ...

n, Georgian,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

who plays for

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

of the

Russian Women's Football Championship The Russian Women's Football Championship (), also known as the Top Division and the Women's Football League, is the highest professional women's association football, football league in Russia. The Top Division was founded in 1992. Prior to the ...

. Todua became the

Russia women's national football team The Russia women's national football team represents Russia in international women's football. The team is controlled by the Russian Football Union and affiliated with UEFA. Yuri Krasnozhan replaced Elena Fomina as coach of the team in Decembe ...

's first-choice goalkeeper after making her debut in 2003. She competed at the

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years and one year after the men's UEFA European Championship first held in 1984, is the main competition in women's association football between nationa ...

s in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Club career

With Rossiyanka she has won two Top Division titles and two

Russian Women's Cup The Russian Women's Cup (Russian: Кубок России) is the national women's football cup competition in Russia. The first edition of the cup was played out in 1992. List of finals The list of finals: Match awarded See also * Russian ...

winners' medals. She has also represented the club in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

. She is a first-choice penalty-taker in her club, and scored 4 goals in the seasons 2016–2018.

International career

Russia

Todua made her debut for the senior

in a 2003 friendly against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. She was named in the tournament All-Star Team at the

2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship The 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 10 to 27 November 2004. It was the second edition of the youth tournament for women put together by FIFA, before being renamed FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship for the 2006 edition ...

. She was part of the victorious Russian team at the

2005 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The 2005 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship was the holding of the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship in Hungary from July 20–31, 2005. Russia won this edition of the competition in the final against France. Participating teams Eight national te ...

in Hungary. When the final against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

went to a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

, Todua scored Russia's sixth penalty herself then saved

Laure Boulleau Laure Pascale Claire Boulleau (born 22 October 1986) is a French former footballer who played for the Division 1 Féminine club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). She primarily played as a defender and was a member of the France women's national footbal ...

's attempt to secure the win. In qualifying for

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...

, Todua played in Russia's play–off win over

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. She was named in national

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Igor Shalimov Igor Mihailovich Shalimov (; born 2 February 1969) is a Russian football manager and former player who is the manager of Fakel Voronezh. During his playing career, he played as a midfielder, primarily in the wide position. Playing career Shal ...

's squad for the final tournament. After missing the first two matches with a knee injury, Todua was restored to the team for Russia's final match: a 2–0 defeat by

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. She was left disappointed by Russia's early exit. Four years later Todua overcame a shoulder injury to take her place in the squad for

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...

in Sweden. Russia lost 3–1 to France but drew 1–1 with both

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. They were eliminated after losing out to

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

on the drawing of lots. Todua took painkilling injections in order to play but underwent surgery on her injured shoulder after the tournament. On 13 April 2021, she played her 100th match for Russia against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying play-offs.

Abkhazia

In June 2012, Todua made a late substitute appearance in the male

Abkhazia national football team The Abkhazia national football team is the team representing the partially recognised state of Abkhazia. They are not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA, and therefore cannot compete for the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA European Championship. They com ...

's first ever match: a 2–1 friendly win over Russian club

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. They are the league's reigning champions. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Divis ...

Personal life

Todua was born in

Tkvarcheli Tkvarcheli ( ka, ტყვარჩელი ; , ''Tqwarchal''; Ткуарчал (Tkuarchal) , ''Tkvarcheli'') is a town in Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia. It is situated on the river Ghalidzga and a railway connects it with Ochamchir ...

, but moved to

Novocherkassk Novocherkassk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don (river), Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as the ...

in Russia when she was seven, due to the

War in Abkhazia (1992–93) War in Abkhazia may refer to: * War in Abkhazia (1992–1993) * War in Abkhazia (1998) {{disambig ...

. In 2011 Todua's club Rossiyanka attracted attention for a

bikini A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features one piece on top that covers the breasts, and a second piece on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but usually exposing the navel, and the back generally covering ...

photoshoot.

Pin-up girl A pin-up model is a model whose mass-produced pictures and photographs have wide appeal within the popular culture of a society. Pin-up models are usually glamour, actresses, or fashion models whose pictures are intended for informal and aesth ...

Todua has also been featured in various magazine

modeling A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French language, French and Italian language, Italian ult ...

assignments. A national newspaper declared her amongst Russia's 20 most beautiful athletes in 2009.

Honours

Club

WFC Rossiyanka * Top Division (2):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, 2011–12 *

(2): 2009, 2010

International

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, is an annual competition in women's football for European national teams of players under 19 years of age. National under-19 teams whose countries belon ...

(1):

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Individual

* FIFA Women's World Under-19 Championship All-Star Team (1):

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 ...

References

External links

*
Russian National Team profile

Interview
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Todua, Elvira 1986 births Living people Footballers from Abkhazia Russian women's footballers Russia women's international footballers Russian people of Abkhazian descent Russian female models People from Tkvarcheli District Kubanochka Krasnodar players CSK VVS Samara (women's football club) players WFC Rossiyanka players SKA Rostov-on-Don (women) players Women's association football goalkeepers ZFK CSKA Moscow players FIFA Women's Century Club Russian Women's Football Championship players 21st-century Russian sportswomen