Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Malafeev ( rus, Вячесла́в Алекса́ндрович Малафе́ев, p=vʲɪtɕɪˈslaf ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ məlɐˈfʲe(j)ɪf; born 4 March 1979) 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 ...

official and a former player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He is a one-club man, having spent all 17 of his professional seasons with Zenit. He worked as an assistant director of sports for Zenit from 2016 to 2020.

Club career

Vyacheslav Malafeev started attending the Smena football school at the age of nine. In 1997, he began to play for the farm club of

FC Zenit Football Club Zenit (, ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, according to some Russian sources), the club p ...

, Zenit-2, in the Third Division. He got the chance to play for Zenit in the Premier League in 1999 during the suspension of Roman Berezovsky. Malafeev later became the first choice goalkeeper for Zenit in 2001, after Berezovsky left the club. Malafeev eventually became the first-choice goalkeeper ahead of

Kamil Čontofalský Kamil Čontofalský (; born 3 June 1978) is a Slovak professional football coach and a former goalkeeper. He is the goalkeeping coach with FK Mladá Boleslav. Career Club Čontofalský spent four seasons with Bohemians 1905 in the Czech Fi ...

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 ...

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 ...

after keeping a clean sheet against Rangers in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

International career

On 19 November 2003, Malafeev debuted as a goalkeeper for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

in a Euro 2004 qualifiers play-off against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. He was chosen as the second choice goalkeeper behind Sergei Ovchinnikov and ahead of Igor Akinfeev. Malafeev participated in

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

coming on after Ovchinnikov's red card against Portugal and starting against Greece. After Euro 2004, Malafeev, became the first choice goalkeeper for Russia succeeding Ovchinnikov. After a long-term injury in May 2005, Malafeev lost his place in the goal for Zenit and Russia to

and Igor Akinfeev, respectively. In 2007, played in two Euro 2008 qualifiers against Andorra and Croatia after Akinfeev's long-term injury but was relegated to the bench in favor of Vladimir Gabulov. After Zenit's successful UEFA Cup campaign he lost a narrow battle with Igor Akinfeev for the first choice goalkeeper spot in Russia's

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 football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

squad. Nonetheless, he stayed on as the second choice goalkeeper ahead of Gabulov. He was the starting goalkeeper in the game that Russia lost to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

with a score of 1–7 in the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

qualifier. He was confirmed for the finalized

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

squad on 25 May 2012. After the

he announced that he is retiring from the national team to spend more time with his children, but is prepared to be called up in case of emergency such as injuries to other top goalkeepers.

Coaching career

In June 2020 it was announced that he was appointed to the management club of the

FC Dynamo Saint Petersburg FC Dynamo Saint Petersburg is a Russian football club from Saint Petersburg, in Northwest Russia. Founded in 1922, the club was one of the oldest in the city. It plays in the fourth-tier Russian Second League Division B. They were a regular in ...

Career statistics

Personal life

Vyacheslav and his wife Marina had two children: Ksenia and Maxim. Marina Malafeeva died in a car crash on the morning of 17 March 2011, aged 37. His second wife is Ekaterina Malafeeva, they married in December 2012 and broke up in September 2021. They also have a child named Alex. In February 2025 he married the Olympic silver medalist and world champion rhythmic gymnast Angelina Shkatova.

Honours

Club

Zenit *

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, 2011–12, 2014–15 * Russian Cup: 1998–99, 2009–10 * Russian Premier League Cup:

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 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 ...

: 2007–08 *

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

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:

References

External links

Profile at the official FC Zenit St. Petersburg website
* *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malafeev, Vyacheslav 1979 births Footballers from Saint Petersburg Living people Russian men's footballers Russia men's under-21 international footballers Russia men's international footballers FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players UEFA Europa League–winning players UEFA Euro 2004 players Russian Second League players Russian Premier League players UEFA Euro 2008 players UEFA Euro 2012 players Men's association football goalkeepers FC Zenit-2 Saint Petersburg players