Matvey Yevgenyevich Safonov (also spelled Matvei Safonov; ; born 25 February 1999) is a Russian 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 plays 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

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

and the Russia national team.

Club career

Krasnodar

Safonov made his debut in the

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 ...

for

Krasnodar Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...

on 13 August 2017 in a game against

Amkar Perm FC Amkar Perm ( ) is a professional football club. Originally founded in 1994, it is based in the city of Perm. It was a participant in second-tier football from 1995 and in the Russian Premier League from 2004 to 2018, after which it was dissol ...

. On 20 October 2020, he was named the man of the match in Krasnodar's 1–1 draw with

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, his club's debut in the competition. On 18 January 2024, Safonov extended his contract with Krasnodar to 31 January 2029.

Paris Saint-Germain

On 14 June 2024, Safonov joined reigning

champions

(PSG), signing a five-year deal. Media reports quoted a transfer fee in the region of €20 million. On 18 September 2024, he made his debut for PSG in a 1–0 Champions League win over

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

. Following his team's 5–0 victory over

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

in the

2025 UEFA Champions League final The 2025 UEFA Champions League final was the final match of the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League, the 70th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 33rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion ...

on 1 June, he became the fifth Russian Champions League winner and the first in nine years, since Denis Cheryshev.

International career

On 9 October 2020, he was called up to

Russia national football team The Russia national football team () represents Russia in men's international football. It is controlled by the Russian Football Union (, ), the governing body for football in Russia. Russia's home ground is the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and ...

for the first time for

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

games against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. On 11 May 2021, Safonov was included in the preliminary extended 30-man squad for

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

. He debuted on 1 June in a friendly match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. On 2 June, Safonov was included in the final squad. On 16 June, he played in Russia's second group game against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, keeping a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory. He played again on 21 June in the last group game – a 1–4 loss against

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 ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Paris Saint-Germain *

: 2024–25 *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

: 2024–25 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the Super cup, super cups found in many other count ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

: 2024–25 Individual *

Goalkeeper of the Season: 2023–24

Notes

References

External links

Matvey Safonov
at

Paris Saint-Germain F.C. Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. With 52 major trophies ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Safonov, Matvei 1999 births Footballers from Stavropol Living people Russian men's footballers Russia men's youth international footballers Russia men's under-21 international footballers Russia men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers FC Krasnodar players FC Krasnodar-2 players Paris Saint-Germain FC players Russian Premier League players Russian First League players Russian Second League players Ligue 1 players UEFA Euro 2020 players Russian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Russian expatriate sportspeople in France 21st-century Russian sportsmen UEFA Champions League–winning players