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Igor Akinfeev

Personal information
Full name	Igor Vladimirovich Akinfeev
Date of birth	8 April 1986 (1986-04-08) (age 23)
Place of birth	Vidnoye, Soviet Union
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	CSKA Moscow
Number	35
Youth career
	CSKA Moscow
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2003–	CSKA Moscow	180	(0)
National team‡
2004–	Russia	40	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:31, 12 March 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 12:45, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Igor Vladimirovich Akinfeev (Russian: Игорь Владимирович Акинфеев; born 8 April 1986 in Vidnoye) is a Russian international football goalkeeper playing in the Russian championship for CSKA Moscow.

Career

CSKA

Akinfeev broke into the CSKA starting lineup at the age of 17, and has been the first-choice goalkeeper at the club ever since, gathering various honors including a UEFA Cup, two National Championships, and the Zvezda trophy, awarded to the best football player from the former Soviet Union. He is also the captain of CSKA Moscow. In his second Champions League campaign, he went 362 minutes without conceding until a F.C. Porto goal in gameweek 5.

In the second part of 2009 season, it emerged as a question why Akinfeev let many shots in through his legs.^[1] Examples include strikes from Argentina's Lisandro López, Lokomotiv Moscow's Dmitri Sychyov, Wolfsburg's Grafite and Welliton of Spartak Moscow. Former Soviet international goalkeeper Anzor Kavazashvili argued this is because Akinfeev is running out from goal toward strikers at his top speed, thus denying himself a chance to adequately react or maneuver.^[1]

International career

Igor Akinfeev made his debut for Russian national team in a friendly match against Norway on 28 April 2004, aged 18 years and 20 days. He thus became third youngest player to compete for Russia after Eduard Streltsov and Sergey Rodionov and the youngest international footballer ever in history of Russian Federation.^[2] He was later included into Russian Euro 2004 squad as the third choice goalkeeper behind Sergei Ovchinnikov and Vyacheslav Malafeev. His first major competitive debut was on 30 March 2005 in a 2006 World Cup qualifier against Estonia and was later promoted as Russia's first-choice goalkeeper after a longterm injury of Malafeev. Akinfeev kept his first choice place under Yuri Semin and later Guus Hiddink. On 6 May 2007, Akinfeev suffered a knee injury in a 1–1 draw against FC Rostov which put him out of action for four months. As a result he lost his first choice position to Vyacheslav Malafeev and later Vladimir Gaboulov. He returned to the Russian national squad in early November but was deemed unfit for the Euro 2008 qualifier against Israel. Akinfeev later reestablished his first choice place for Russia for Euro 2008.

Honours

Club

• UEFA Cup winner: 1
  • 2004/05, CSKA Moscow

• Russian Super Cup winner: 4
  • 2004, CSKA Moscow
  • 2006, CSKA Moscow
  • 2007, CSKA Moscow
  • 2009, CSKA Moscow

• Russian Cup winner: 4
  • 2005, CSKA Moscow
  • 2006, CSKA Moscow
  • 2008, CSKA Moscow
  • 2009, CSKA Moscow

• Russian Premier League winner: 3
  • 2003, CSKA Moscow
  • 2005, CSKA Moscow
  • 2006, CSKA Moscow

• UEFA European Football Championship bronze medalist: 1
  • 2008, Russian Federation

Individual

• Baltic and Commonwealth of Independent States Footballer of the Year ("Star") by Sport-Express: 2006

References

External links

• Igor Akinfeev the unofficial site
• Igor Akinfeev big photogallery
• Club profile

Russia squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Ovchinnikov • 2 Radimov • 3 Sychev • 4 Smertin • 5 Karyaka • 6 Semshov • 7 Izmailov • 8 Gusev • 9 Bulykin • 10 Mostovoi • 11 Kerzhakov • 12 Malafeev • 13 Sharonov • 14 Anyukov • 15 Alenichev • 16 Evseev • 17 Sennikov • 18 Kirichenko • 19 Bystrov • 20 Loskov • 21 Bugayev • 22 Aldonin • 23 Akinfeev • Coach: Yartsev

Russia squad – UEFA Euro 2008 semi-finalists 1 Akinfeev • 2 V. Berezutski • 3 Yanbayev • 4 Ignashevich • 5 A. Berezutski • 6 Adamov • 7 Torbinski • 8 Kolodin • 9 Saenko • 10 Arshavin • 11 Semak • 12 Gabulov • 13 Ivanov • 14 Shirokov • 15 Bilyaletdinov • 16 Malafeev • 17 Zyryanov • 18 Zhirkov • 19 Pavlyuchenko • 20 Semshov • 21 Sychev • 22 Anyukov • 23 Bystrov • Coach: Hiddink