Sergei Bogdanovich Semak ( ; born 27 February 1976) is a Russian

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 ...

manager and a former international

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 ...

who manages

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 ...

side Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Early life

Semak was born in the

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

of Sychanske, Voroshilovgrad Oblast into a peasant family of modest economical background. He was an excellent student and had an ideal behavior. When he was a child his teachers would argue as to whether he would become a mathematician or a football player. He left Ukraine shortly before the

USSR 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 ...

collapsed, but his parents stayed there. He would become a Russian naturalized citizen. His older brother Andrei Semak and younger brother Nikolai Semak were also professional footballers.

Club career

Semak started training football at the Luhansk football school. In 1992, he signed in Presnya Moscow who played in the Russian Top Division. After 19 matches scoring 4 goals he was sold to Karelia Petrozavodsk, but in 1993 returned to Presnya Moscow, which had changed its name to Asmaral Moscow. In 1994, Semak was noted and signed by

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 ...

. He became the club's captain and leader. With the club he won the

in 2003, the Russian Cup in 2002 and 2005. He left the club after it finished third in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League 2004–05 and did not move on to the knockout stage. This was despite his hat-trick against

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 ...

in the final group game. In 2005, Semak then moved to the team he scored the hat-trick against, Paris Saint-Germain, but failed to settle, scoring just one goal. After just one season he returned to Russia. In 2006, Semak signed for

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, where he stayed until 2008 when he moved to

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–2 ...

. In Rubin Semak was moved from the positions of striker and attacking midfielder to the position of a defensive midfielder. At Rubin Kazan he became the captain and leader of the team, and led it to its first two championship titles in 2008 and 2009. In August 2010, he transferred to Zenit Saint Petersburg. In his three seasons with Zenit, he won the

twice and Russian Super Cup once. He scored his last goal in February 2013 in a Europa League victory over

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

International career

Semak made his international debut for the Russia national team in 1997 and took part in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

in South Korea and Japan. Having lost his place in the national team with the arrival of Guus Hiddink in 2006, Semak missed out on Russia's Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, but was recalled to the national team, just prior to the Euro 2008 finals. Semak captained the Russia national team in their first Euro 2008 warm-up friendly against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

, and during the rest of the campaign. Semak had a good performance in the crucial match against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and provided an assist for the only goal Russia scored with a skilled bicycle kick pass from a wide angle. Another notable performance in Euro 2008 came in the quarter-finals during which he was playing his 50th game for his country, when his precise left-wing cross was volleyed in by Roman Pavlyuchenko against 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 ...

Managerial career

After his retirement, Semak was named as assistant coach of Zenit Saint Petersburg. He was appointed interim coach of the club after the sacking of

Luciano Spalletti Luciano Spalletti (; born 7 March 1959) is an Italian Association football, football Association football manager, manager and former association footballer, player. He was most recently the manager of the Italy national football team, Italian n ...

on 10 March 2014. He held the position until 18 March when

André Villas-Boas Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas (; born 17 October 1977) is a Portuguese sports executive, and former professional Manager (association football), football manager, who is currently the List of FC Porto presidents, president of Port ...

was appointed as the team manager. On 30 December 2016, he was appointed a manager of the

club FC Ufa. On 29 May 2018, he returned to Zenit St. Petersburg, signing a two-year contract with one-year extension option. In his first year, he won the 2018–19 Russian Premier League. He led Zenit to the title again in the 2019–20 Russian Premier League. On 25 July 2020, he sealed the double for the club by winning the 2019–20 Russian Cup. On 2 May 2021, Zenit secured their third title in a row in a 6-1 victory over second-place

FC 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 ...

. On 30 April 2022, Zenit secured their fourth title in a row. On 7 May 2023, Zenit secured their fifth title in a row. On 25 May 2024, Zenit won their sixth consecutive title. After the deciding game, Zenit extended their contract with Semak until June 2030. On 2 June 2024, Zenit secured another double by winning the 2023–24 Russian Cup.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Russia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Semak goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

CSKA Moscow *

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 ...

* Russian Cup: 2001–02 * Russian Super Cup:

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 ...

Paris Saint-Germain *

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 ...

: 2005–06 Rubin Kazan *Russian Premier League:

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 ...

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 ...

*Russian Super Cup:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Zenit *Russian Premier League:

, 2011–12 *Russian Super Cup:

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Russia *

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 ...

bronze medalist Individual *In the list of 33 best football players of the championship of Russia (8): 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2009 *Member of Grigory Fedotov club

Manager

Zenit *

: 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 * Russian Cup: 2019–20, 2023–24 * Russian Super Cup:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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 ...

Individual *Russian Premier League Coach of the Season: 2020–21, 2021–22 *Russian Premier League Coach of the Month: August 2022, July/August 2024.

References

External links

* *
Profile
at ''RussiaTeam'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Semak, Sergei 1976 births Living people Footballers from Luhansk Oblast Ukrainian emigrants to Russia Men's association football midfielders Russian men's footballers Russian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France FC Presnya Moscow players PFC CSKA Moscow players Paris Saint-Germain FC players FC Moscow players FC Rubin Kazan players FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Russia men's youth international footballers Russia men's under-21 international footballers Russia men's international footballers Russian Premier League players Ligue 1 players UEFA Euro 2008 players Russians in Ukraine Russian people of Ukrainian descent Russian football managers FC Zenit Saint Petersburg managers FC Zenit Saint Petersburg non-playing staff Russian Premier League managers FC Ufa managers FC Karelia-Discovery players