After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, Russian football players were suspended from participating in tournaments under the auspices of the international federation (FIFA) and the sports association UEFA. After that, some players decided to change their Russian passport in order to be able to participate in international matches. URA.RU tells who exactly changed Russian citizenship for the sake of football.
Edgar Sevikyan (Armenia)
Midfielder of the Russian football club “Pari NN” from Nizhny Novgorod Edgar Sevikyan in August announced his desire to play for the Armenian national team. The 22-year-old football player thanked the coaching staff of the national team for their trust and expressed hope that the fans would understand his decision to play for the national team of another country. Before Pari NN, he played 44 matches for the Levante farm club.
Saba Sazonov (Georgia)
Football player Saba Sazonov began playing for the Russian club Dynamo. A year ago, he was called up to the youth team of Russia, but at the last moment it became known that Sazonov went to the training camp in the youth team of Georgia. Then he began to play for the national team of this country.
Nair Tiknisian (Armenia)
Defender of FC Lokomotiv Nair Tiknizyan played for the junior and youth teams of Russia. In total, during his football career in Russia, he played nine games. In 2022, he said that he had the right to change sports citizenship, but did not specify whether he would do this. In March 2023, he was called up to the Armenian national team for the Euro 2024 qualifiers. He played four games for the Armenian national team in the qualification for the European Championship.
Georgy Harutyunyan (Armenia)
Georgy Harutyunyan was a graduate of the Krasnodar Football Academy. At the professional level, he made his debut as part of the Krasnodar reserve team in August 2022. Since May of the following year, he began to play for the main team in the Russian Premier League. In March 2023, he received a call-up to the Armenian national team. The football player participated in the qualifying stage of the European Championship 2024 against Turkey for the Armenian national team.
Alexander Zuev (Kazakhstan)
Midfielder Alexander Zuev began his professional career at FC Spartak. In 2017, together with Spartak, he became the champion of Russia. The football player played for the youth team of the Russian Federation, became the winner of Euro 2013 (for players under 17). The athlete himself is from Kazakhstan (Kostanay). In early June of this year, the football player received the citizenship of this country. After that, he received a call-up to the national team for the European Championship qualifying matches with San Marino and Northern Ireland.
Konstantin Maradishvili (Georgia)
Midfielder Konstantin Maradishvili is a graduate of the CSKA Academy. Then he moved to Lokomotiv. Since 2020, he has played for the Russian youth team. In August, it became known that the athlete received Georgian citizenship. At the same time, the father of the football player did not confirm the information about the change of citizenship by his son.
2023-09-02 07:08:00
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