Sergei Baltacha (born 28 July 1979) is a former

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 ...

. Born in the USSR (now Ukraine), Baltacha represented Scotland at youth international level.

Club career

He first played football in the Dynamo Kiev academy, but began his professional career in Scotland, at St Mirren, where he gained 3 caps for the Scotland U-21 side. After a trial at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

he joined

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

in January 2003Sergei Baltacha Jr - St. Mirren FC - Mirren MAD
/ref> and was released a year later, after which he had an unsuccessful trial with Queen of the South, and St Johnstone before signing with Petershill in 2004. He retired from professional football in 2005/2006.

International career

Baltacha was eligible to play for Russia, Ukraine and under FIFA regulations at the time, the four Home nations as a British passport holder born outside of the United Kingdom with no British parental or grand-parental bloodlines. Baltacha Jr. had moved to the United Kingdom with his father, Sergei Pavlovich Baltacha, when he signed for Ipswich Town and at the age of 11 moved to Scotland when Baltacha Sr. signed for St Johnstone in May 1990. Having acquired a British passport, in 1999, he represented Scotland at U21 level against Lithuania.

Personal life

His father, Sergei, played football for the

Soviet Union 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 ...

; his mother, Olga, was a pentathlete; and his sister, Elena, was a former British number one in women's tennis.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baltacha, Sergei 1979 births Living people Footballers from Kyiv Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Ukrainian men's footballers Scottish people of Ukrainian descent Ukrainian emigrants to the United Kingdom Millwall F.C. players Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Premier League players St Mirren F.C. players Petershill F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football fullbacks