Mikhail Piskunov (21 December 1967 – 10 September 2002) was a professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

footballer who played for

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

of the European

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

. He also represented

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

at international level. In 2002, Piskunov died in a car accident at the age of 34.

Playing career

Paris Saint-Germain

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, Piskunov made his professional debut for PSG in Round 1 against the

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club that play in the Championship (rugby league), Betfred Championship. The club play their home games at the Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) on the former site of Don Valley Stadium, their forme ...

. This was PSG's inaugural game in club history, winning 30-24. Mikhail Piskunov scored once that game.

International

Despite starting his club career in 1996, Piskunov was a national representative for the Russian national team (then known as the Commonwealth of Independent States). He played 2 games for the team at the position in 1992, both against . Piskunov's team won 30-26 and 22-19. He represented in 1997 in a game against . Playing , his side won 30-17.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piskunov, Mikhail 1967 births 2002 deaths Expatriate rugby league players in France France national rugby league team players French rugby league players Moldovan expatriate sportspeople in France Moldovan rugby league players Naturalized citizens of France Naturalised sports competitors Paris Saint-Germain Rugby League players Road incident deaths in France Rugby league centres Rugby league wingers Russia national rugby league team players Soviet sportsmen Stade Aurillacois Cantal Auvergne players Villefranche XIII Aveyron players