Elvira Zurabovna Todua ( rus, Эльвира Зурабовна Тодуа; born 31 January 1986) is an

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting o ...

who plays for

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) 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 a central piece ...

of the

Russian Women's Football Championship The Russian Women's Football Championship (russian: Чемпионат России по футболу среди женщин), also known as the Top Division and the Women's Football League, is the highest professional women's football league i ...

. Todua became the

Russia women's national football team The Russia women's national football team represents Russia in international women's football. The team is controlled by the Russian Football Union and affiliated with UEFA. Yuri Krasnozhan replaced Elena Fomina as coach of the team in Decem ...

's first-choice goalkeeper after making her debut in 2003. She competed at the

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalent ...

s in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Club career

With Rossiyanka she has won two Top Division titles and two

Russian Women's Cup The Russian Women's Cup (Russian: КУБОК РОССИИ) is the national women's football cup competition in Russia. The first edition of the cup was played out in 1992. List of finals The list of finals: Match awarded See also * Russian ...

winners' medals. She has also represented the club in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

. She is a first-choice penalty-taker in her club, and scored 4 goals in the seasons 2016–2018.

International career

Russia

Todua made her debut for the senior

in a 2003 friendly against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. She was named in the tournament All-Star Team at the

2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship The 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 10 to 27 November 2004. It was the second edition of the youth tournament for women put together by FIFA, before being renamed FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship for the 2006 edition. ...

. She was part of the victorious Russian team at the

2005 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The 2005 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship was the holding of the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship in Hungary from July 20–31, 2005. Russia won this edition of the competition in the final against France. Participating teams Eight national te ...

in Hungary. When the final against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

went to a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

, Todua scored Russia's sixth penalty herself then saved

Laure Boulleau Laure Pascale Claire Boulleau (born 22 October 1986) is a French former footballer who played for the Division 1 Féminine club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). She primarily played as a defender and was a member of the France women's national football ...

's attempt to secure the win. In qualifying for

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...

, Todua played in Russia's play–off win over

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. She was named in national

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Igor Shalimov Igor Mihailovich Shalimov (russian: Игорь Михайлович Шалимов; born 2 February 1969) is a Russian football manager and former player. During his playing career, he played as a midfielder, primarily in the wide position. P ...

's squad for the final tournament. After missing the first two matches with a knee injury, Todua was restored to the team for Russia's final match: a 2–0 defeat by

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. She was left disappointed by Russia's early exit. Four years later Todua overcame a shoulder injury to take her place in the squad for

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...

in Sweden. Russia lost 3–1 to France but drew 1–1 with both

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. They were eliminated after losing out to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

on the drawing of lots. Todua took painkilling injections in order to play but underwent surgery on her injured shoulder after the tournament. On 13 April 2021, she played her 100th match for Russia against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in the

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying play-offs The play-offs of the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying competition involved the six runners-up with the worst records among all nine groups in the qualifying group stage. The play-offs were played in home-and-away two-legged format. Originally, t ...

Abkhazia

In June 2012, Todua made a late substitute appearance in the male

Abkhazia national football team The Abkhazia national football team is the team representing the partially recognised state of Abkhazia. They are not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA, and therefore cannot compete for the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA European Championship. They comp ...

's first ever match: a 2–1 friendly win over Russian club

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Division, the second highest division of the Ru ...

Personal life

Todua was born in

Tkvarcheli Tkvarcheli ( ka, ტყვარჩელი ; ab, Тҟəарчал, ''Tqwarchal''; Ткуарчал (Tkuarchal) russian: Ткварчели, ''Tkvarcheli'') is a town in Abkhazia. It is situated on the river Ghalidzga (Aaldzga) and a railway c ...

, but moved to

Novocherkassk Novocherkassk (russian: Новочерка́сск, lit. ''New Cherkassk'') is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as t ...

in Russia when she was seven, due to the

War in Abkhazia (1992–93) War in Abkhazia may refer to: *War in Abkhazia (1992–1993) *War in Abkhazia (1998) The War in Abkhazia in 1998 took place in the Gali district of Abkhazia, after ethnic Georgians launched an insurgency against the Abkhazian separatist governmen ...

. In 2011 Todua's club Rossiyanka attracted attention for a

bikini A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features two triangles of fabric on top that cover the breasts, and two triangles of fabric on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but exposing the navel, and the back coveri ...

photoshoot.

Pin-up girl A pin-up model (known as a pin-up girl for a female and less commonly male pin-up for a male) is a model whose mass-produced pictures see widespread appeal as part of popular culture. Pin-up models were variously glamour models, fashion models ...

Todua has also been featured in various magazine

modeling A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

assignments. A national newspaper declared her amongst Russia's 20 most beautiful athletes in 2009.

Honours

Club

WFC Rossiyanka * Top Division (2):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, 2011–12 *

(2): 2009, 2010

International

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, is a competition in women's football for European national teams of players under 19 years of age. National under-19 teams whose countries belong to the ...

(1):

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Individual

* FIFA Women's World Under-19 Championship All-Star Team (1):

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 6 ...

References

External links

*
Russian National Team profile

Interview
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Todua, Elvira 1986 births Living people Footballers from Abkhazia Russian women's footballers Russia women's international footballers Russian people of Abkhazian descent Russian female models People from Tkvarcheli District Kubanochka Krasnodar players CSK VVS Samara (women's football club) players WFC Rossiyanka players SKA Rostov-on-Don (women) players Women's association football goalkeepers ZFK CSKA Moscow players FIFA Century Club