Sergei Nikolayevich Ignashevich ( rus, links=no, Сергей Николаевич Игнашевич, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ɪɡnɐˈʂɛvʲɪtɕ; born 14 July 1979) is a Russian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and a former player who played as

central defender 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 ...

. He began his career at

Torpedo Moscow Football Club Torpedo Moscow (, ''FK Torpedo Moskva''), known as Torpedo Moscow, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. The club will return to the Russian Premier League in the 2025–26 season. Their c ...

, going up through the club's academy before briefly moving to twin club Spartak Moscow's academy and then starting his professional career with Spartak Orekhovo. He played for

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 ...

and

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

in his career, and has won

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 ...

titles for both clubs, as well as the 2005 UEFA Cup Final with CSKA. Ignashevich is often considered one of the highest skilled defenders in the

while playing alongside fellow Russian international defenders and twin brothers Aleksei and

Vasili Berezutskiy Vasiliy Vladimirovich Berezutski (; born 20 June 1982) is a Russian football coach and a former player who played as a defender. He began his professional career in 1999 at the age of 17 with Torpedo Moscow, having graduated from their famed ...

. He made his international debut for Russia in 2002, and was selected in their squads for two European Championships and two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s, helping them to the semi-finals of

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

, earning his 100th cap at the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

, and as part of the host team reached the quarter-finals of the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

. On 8 September 2015, he made his 110th international appearance and became the most capped player in Russia's team history, overtaking

Viktor Onopko Viktor Savelyevich Onopko (; born 14 October 1969) is a former Russian Association football, football Defender (association football), defender. He is the assistant manager of both FC Rostov in the Russian Premier League and the Russia national ...

. On 17 November 2015, he made his 114th appearance, making him the most capped Russian player for any national team (again, overtaking Onopko who played 4 additional games for CIS). On 2 April 2017, he played his 457th game in the

, setting a new record for most games played in the competition and overtaking the previous record holder

Sergei Semak Sergei Bogdanovich Semak ( ; born 27 February 1976) is a Russian football manager and a former international midfielder who manages Russian Premier League side Zenit Saint Petersburg. Early life Semak was born in the village of Sychanske, ...

. He held the record for most games played in the Russian first tier with 489, until he was overtaken by his former teammate

Igor Akinfeev Igor Vladimirovich Akinfeev ( rus, Игорь Владимирович Акинфеев, Igor' Vladimirovich Akinfeyev, p=ˈiɡərʲ vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ ɐkʲɪnˈfʲe(j)ɪf; born 8 April 1986) is a Russian professional footballer who pla ...

on 21 August 2021.

Club career

After short spells with Spartak Orekhovo and Krylia Sovetov, Ignashevich joined

in 2001. In his first season with the capital club, the defender was part of the team which won the Russian Cup. A year later, Lokomotiv won the Russian league title. Under manager

Yuri Syomin Yury Pavlovich Syomin (; born 11 May 1947) is a Russian football coach. He has managed FC Lokomotiv Moscow for 4 different stints, for a total of over 23 years. The recent history of the Russian club has been associated with him, as he was also ...

, he usually played either 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. ...

in front of the back-three or as a

center 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 the middle of the back-three. Due to his powerful shot, he also took penalties and free kicks, particularly from long distances. In early 2004, Ignashevich left Lokomotiv for city rivals CSKA as a free agent. He immediately became a starter and played in the middle of a back-three, usually flanked by the Berezutski brothers, Aleksei on the left and

Vasili Vasili, Vasily, Vasilii or Vasiliy (Russian: Василий) is a Russian masculine given name of Greek origin and corresponds to ''Basil''. It may refer to: *Vasily I of Moscow Grand Prince from 1389–1425 *Vasily II of Moscow Grand Prince fro ...

on the right. In his fourteen years with the club, Ignashevich has won the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

league titles, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2013 Russian Cups, and the

2004–05 UEFA Cup The 2004–05 UEFA Cup was the 34th edition of the UEFA Cup. The format of the competition had changed from previous seasons, replacing that from the previous one after the abolition of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1999; an extra qualifying round was ...

. Both Ignashevich and Aleksei Berezutskiy were provisionally suspended after both players' A samples revealed the presence of a prohibited substance following a random doping test after CSKA's

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 ...

match at

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

on 3 November 2009. It was later revealed that they had taken a cold medicine which had not been reported, and both players were suspended for one game, which was applied retroactively. Following retirement after the 2018 World Cup, Ignashevich chose to remain with CSKA as a coach, specifically working within the youth set up at the club.

International career

Ignashevich made his debut for the

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 ...

against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

on 21 August 2002. He started all ten of the team's

UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying Qualification for the 2004 UEFA European Championship took place between September 2002 and November 2003. Fifty teams were divided into ten groups, with each team playing the others in their group twice, once at home and once away. The top te ...

matches, scoring three times, but missed the tournament finals in Portugal due to injury. He later appeared for Russia at the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

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 ...

s, helping the team to the semi-finals in the former. On 2 June 2014, Ignashevich was included in Russia's

squad. On 16 June, he made his

debut in the team's first group match against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. He was then named in the starting line-up for the second match against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

at the Maracanã on 22 June. He became only the second Russian, after

, to earn his 100th cap, in the final group game against

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

on 26 June in

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Southern Brazil. The city's population was 1,773,718 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the larg ...

. Russia drew 1–1 and their opponents advanced at their expense. Ignashevich came out of international retirement prior to the

as he was called up on 14 May 2018 to replace injured Ruslan Kambolov. On 3 June 2018, he was included in the finalized World Cup squad. He was one of only four players born in the 1970s to feature in the tournament, with the others being

Tim Cahill Timothy Filiga Cahill (; born 6 December 1979) is an Australian former professional soccer player who played as an attacking midfielder but also played as a striker on many occasions. A box-to-box midfielder, Cahill became recognised for "hi ...

(Australia),

Rafael Márquez Rafael Márquez Álvarez (; born 13 February 1979) is a Mexican football coach and former player who played as a defender. He is currently the assistant coach of the Mexico national team. Nicknamed '' El Káiser'', he is regarded as the bes ...

(Mexico) and Essam El Hadary (Egypt). Against Spain in the Round of Sixteen, he scored an own-goal while tangling with

Sergio Ramos Sergio Ramos García (; born 30 March 1986) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captain (association football), captains Liga MX club C.F. Monterrey, Monterrey. Regarded as one of the gr ...

during a corner set-piece, but Russia would equalize thanks to a penalty, and in the shoot-out Ignashevich converted his spot kick to help Russia advance. Following Russia's elimination in the

quarterfinal against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

after extra time ended deadlocked 2–2, where he successfully converted a shoot-out kick, Ignashevich announced his retirement from all forms of football.

Coaching career

After finishing his playing career, Ignashevich was appointed as administrator for the Under-21 squad of

. On 4 June 2019, he became the manager of

, a few days after the club was promoted to the Football National League. On 22 March 2021, he left Torpedo by mutual consent. On 2 October 2021, he was appointed a manager of the Football National League club FC Baltika. On 19 May 2023, Baltika secured promotion to the

for the 2023–24 season, returning to the top tier after 25 years in the lower divisions. In the 2023–24 season, Baltika finished 15th in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

and was relegated after one season in the top tier. On the other hand, Baltika qualified for the

2023–24 Russian Cup The 2023–24 Russian Cup is the 32nd season of the Russian football knockout tournament since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The competition started on 25 July 2023 and will conclude on 2 June 2024. The winner of the cup would normally ga ...

superfinal where they faced Zenit St. Petersburg on 2 June 2024. After the final, in which Baltika lost 1–2 (Baltika opened the score and Zenit mounted a late comeback and scored twice), Ignashevich left Baltika.

Personal life

Ignashevich is married and has three children. He is of Chuvash and Belarusian origin.

Career statistics

Club

¹Includes

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

and

²Includes

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football (soccer), football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Rambler Russian ...

Russian Premier League Cup 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 ...

and

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Russia's goal tally first.''

Managerial statistics

''As of 2 June 2024''

Honours

Club

Lokomotiv Moscow *

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

* Russian Cup: 2001 *

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

CSKA Moscow *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14, 2015–16 * Russian Cup: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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 ...

: 2004–05

International

;Russia *

UEFA European Football 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 ...

bronze medalist

References

External links

Official websiteProfile at CSKA Moscow website
(''eng'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Ignashevich, Sergei 1979 births Living people Footballers from Moscow Russian men's footballers Russian people of Belarusian descent Russian people of Polish descent Russia men's under-21 international footballers Russia men's international footballers Men's association football central defenders FC Znamya Truda Orekhovo-Zuyevo players PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara players FC Lokomotiv Moscow players PFC CSKA Moscow players Russian First League players Russian Premier League players UEFA Europa League–winning players UEFA Euro 2008 players UEFA Euro 2012 players 2014 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2016 players 2018 FIFA World Cup players FIFA Men's Century Club Russian football managers FC Torpedo Moscow managers FC Baltika Kaliningrad managers Russian First League managers Russian Premier League managers

Club career

International career

Coaching career

Personal life

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Managerial statistics

Honours

Club

International

See also

References

External links