Stories of the faithful: legendary Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev

There aren’t many Russian goalkeepers known to the wider footballing public. Igor Akinfeev, however, is an exception. Interestingly, he has spent his entire career at one club and remains loyal to it even at 37 years old.

Igor Akinfeev was born on 8 April 1986 in the city of Vidnoye, which is located in the Moscow region. He attended the CSKA sports school from the age of four, then headed to nearby club CSKA Moscow for the first time in 1991 at the age of five.

At the then unbeatable Russian club, Akinfeev went through all the youth categories until he made his first start for the A team at the age of 16. He even kept a clean sheet in the winning game against Samara, when he also grabbed a penalty.

The Russian goalkeeper was immensely talented, so it’s no wonder he broke into the CSKA Moscow starting line-up at the age of 17. In the same year, he was already celebrating his first league title.

Akinfeev’s club also enjoyed success on the European stage, capturing the UEFA Cup in 2005. As usual, CSKA was also dominant on the domestic scene and the club won the treble, having additionally won the league and the League Cup in the same year.

A year later, the Russian goalkeeper even enjoyed individual success when he was awarded the Zvezda trophy for the best player from the countries of the former Soviet Union in the previous year.

Injuries have also plagued Akinfeev’s career, but none of them were serious enough to affect his career in a major way. Moreover, his popularity with the fans grew, including his position in the team, and he eventually became the team captain.

At the age of thirty-seven, Akinfeev has over 500 starts for CSKA Moscow and is slowly approaching the 600 game mark. Despite his advanced age, he has confidence in the management and continues to pick up starts. His contract at the club expires in 2024.

Akinfeev has developed a similar position in the national team. Here, he has already surpassed the magic mark of 100 starts and in 2018 he won a valuable metal (bronze) from the European Championships. However, he retired from the national team in 2018 and now only catches at club level.

Source: Livesport, UEFA, Wikipedia