Sergei Yevgenyevich Aleinikov (; , ''Syarhey Alyeynikaw''; born 7 November 1961) is a

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian and

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

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 ...

, and currently a coach. He primarily 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. ...

and was known for his stamina, intelligence, solid technique, tactical sense, and passing ability. He also played in defence as a sweeper or

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. In 2024 he became a sporting director in

PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv (), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Stadion Lokomotiv (Plovdiv), Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park and ha ...

Playing career

Aleinikov was born in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

Belarusian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

. He played for the USSR national football team, making 73 appearances, scoring six goals, from 1984 to 1991, and was in the Soviet squad that made the final of Euro 1988, losing to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

0–2. He also played for the CIS in 1992 and earned 4 caps for

after the independence of

, earning his final cap against

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

in a Euro 1996 qualifier in 1994. He joined Dinamo Minsk in 1981 and won the USSR championship the following season. The

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

then joined

Juventus FC Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

in 1989, and won the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

and

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

in 1990. He signed for U.S. Lecce in 1990, and in 1992 went to Japan to play for

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's home stadium is Panasonic Stadium Suita. They form a ...

. He finished his career with Swedish side IK Oddevold in 1996. In November 2003, to celebrate

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Belarus by the Football Federation of Belarus as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.

Coaching career

In the 2007–08 season Aleinikov served as head coach of amateur

Promozione The Promozione (, "promotion") is the sixth level in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Promozione level progresses to their closest regional league in the Eccellenza level. Depending on each league's ...

team

Kras ''KRAS'' ( Kirsten rat sarcoma virus) is a gene that provides instructions for making a protein called K-Ras, a part of the RAS/MAPK pathway. The protein relays signals from outside the cell to the cell's nucleus. These signals instruct the ce ...

. He coached the side for a second time from summer 2011 until 30 October 2012.

Personal life

His son Artur (born 1991), a

, followed his father's footsteps and was part of

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

squad in 2009.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Dinamo Minsk *

Soviet Top League The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (), served as the top division (tier) of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The league's name was a conditional designation used for brevity since being completely owned and g ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

Juventus *

: 1989–90 *

: 1989–90 Soviet Union *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

runner-up: 1988 Individual * Belarusian Footballer of the Year: (3) 1984, 1986, 1988

References

External links

UEFA.com - Golden player of Belarus

Aleinikov at Juve and Lecce
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aleinikov, Sergei 1961 births Living people Footballers from Minsk Soviet men's footballers Belarusian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders UEFA Golden Players UEFA Europa League–winning players Soviet Union men's international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1992 players Belarus men's international footballers Dual internationalists (men's football) Soviet expatriate men's footballers Belarusian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Soviet Top League players Serie A players Serie B players J1 League players Allsvenskan players FC Dinamo Minsk players Juventus FC players US Lecce players Gamba Osaka players IK Oddevold players Belarusian football managers Belarusian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Italy Expatriate football managers in Russia Expatriate football managers in Lithuania Soviet expatriate sportspeople in Italy Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Lithuania Russian Premier League managers FC Moscow managers Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR US Città di Pontedera managers 20th-century Belarusian sportsmen