Grigori Aleksandrovich Chirkin (; born 26 February 1986) is a Russian former 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 ...

. He played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Career

He made his debut for the main squad of

FC Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...

on 12 November 2005 in the Russian Cup game against

FC Metallurg-Kuzbass Novokuznetsk FC Novokuznetsk (Russian: ФК Новокузнецк) is a Russian football club from Novokuznetsk. Recent history MKN were relegated to the Russian Second Division The Russian Second League (), formerly the Russian Professional Football Lea ...

. He appeared in every game in the

2009–10 UEFA Europa League group stage The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League group stage matches took place between 17 September and 17 December 2009. The group stage featured the 38 winners of the play-off round and the 10 losing sides of the Champions League play-off round. Following ...

for the Latvian club

FK Ventspils FK Ventspils was a Latvian professional football club based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils. It was one of the most prominent football clubs in the country. The club played in the Latvian Virslīga since 1997. It folded in July ...

which was making its debut in the group stages of European competitions. On 2 July 2014, Chirkin signed a two-year contract with

Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Founded in 1991, the club last competed in the third-tier Russian Football National League 2. ...

. After spending the first 12 seasons of his career mostly in the second-tier

Russian Football National League The Russian First League (, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division () and Russian Football National League (FNL) () is the second level of the Russian football league system. The Russian Professional Football League (PFL) used t ...

(other than portions of two seasons spent in Czech top division), he made his

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

debut for

FC Orenburg FC Orenburg () is a Russian professionalism in association football, professional football club based in Orenburg. Founded in 1976, it will return to the Russian First League in the 2025–26 season. History It played professionally as Gazovik ...

on 28 July 2018 in a game against

FC Spartak Moscow FC Spartak Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet Top League, Soviet championships (second only to FC Dynamo Kyiv, Dynamo Kyiv) and 10 Russian Premier League, Russian champ ...

. He returned to the FNL after one season on the top level.

References

External links

* * 1986 births Footballers from Novosibirsk Living people Russian men's footballers Russia men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Lokomotiv Moscow players FC SKA Rostov-on-Don players FC Sibir Novosibirsk players FK Rīga players FC Dynamo Barnaul players FK Ventspils players SK Dynamo České Budějovice players FC Baltika Kaliningrad players FC Anzhi Makhachkala players FC Tosno players FC Orenburg players FC Avangard Kursk players FC Dynamo Bryansk players Russian First League players Latvian Higher League players Czech First League players Russian Premier League players Russian Second League players Russian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Latvia Russian expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Russian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic 21st-century Russian sportsmen {{Russia-footy-midfielder-1986-stub