Igor Vitalyevich Simutenkov (russian: Игорь Витальевич Симутенков; born 3 April 1973 in Moscow) is a Russian football coach and a former player. Currently, he works as assistant manager at FC Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Club career

Simutenkov started his pro career in the old

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

league with

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

in 1990. He spent the next five years with Dynamo, the last three in the Russian league, which he led in scoring with 21 goals in 1994. A transfer to

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

's Reggiana followed, and Simutenkov spent the next five seasons in

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 ...

(the last with

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

), scoring a total of only 23 goals. In 1999, Simutenkov transferred to Spanish club

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

, and spent three uneventful seasons there. He signed with the Kansas City Wizards in 2002, becoming Major League Soccer's first Russian player. Igor scored four goals in his first season (plus one in playoffs), seven in his second (plus two in playoffs), before missing a big chunk of the third with an injury, ending with a solitary goal in league play. He scored the

golden goal The golden goal or golden point is a rule used in association football, lacrosse, field hockey, and ice hockey to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the end of normal time. It is a type of sud ...

in the final of the 2004

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. O ...

, but was released by the Wizards following the 2004 season, at which time he returned to Russia and signed with Rubin. At the end of season 2005, while made only 3 appearances for

Rubin Rubin is both a surname and a given name. Rubins is a Latvian-language form of the name. As a Jewish name, it derives from the biblical name Reuben. The choice is also influenced by the word ''rubin'' meaning "ruby" is some languages.

, Simutenkov declared his retirement from professional football. He told that he couldn't perform at the high level because of a few serious permanent injuries. However, in 2006 he was included in the squad of FC Dynamo Voronezh, a

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side. Simutenkov is also known for the famous Simutenkov-case in which the European Court of Justice acknowledged the direct effect of the partnership-agreement between the European Communities and Russia. In this judgment Spanish nationality-clauses for non-EU footballers were found in breach with Community law.

International career

Simutenkov has scored nine goals in 20 caps for the Russian national team, playing in

Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

, but his last appearance came in 1998. He was part of the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

squad that won the 2009 Legends Cup.

Coaching career

In 2007, he managed a

Russian Second Division The Russian Second League (russian: Первенство России II дивизиона ФНЛ), formerly Russian Professional Football League is the third level of Russian professional football. History In 1998–2010, it was run by the Pr ...

team FC Torpedo-RG. From 2007 till the end of 2009 he was a coach of Russia 1993-born youth team. On December 18, 2009, he was appointed an assistant coach at FC Zenit Saint Petersburg with Luciano Spalletti as the head coach.Игорь Симутенков стал тренером «Зенита»

Playing career statistics

* – played games and goals

International goals

Individual honours

* 1994 –

's best football player

References

External links

Igor Simutenkov on RSSSF

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simutenkov, Igor 1973 births Living people Soviet footballers Soviet Union under-21 international footballers Russian footballers Sporting Kansas City players FC Dynamo Moscow players A.C. Reggiana 1919 players Bologna F.C. 1909 players CD Tenerife players FC Rubin Kazan players UEFA Euro 1996 players Footballers from Moscow Soviet Top League players Russian Premier League players Serie A players Serie B players La Liga players Segunda División players Major League Soccer players Russia international footballers Russia under-21 international footballers Russian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate soccer players in the United States Russian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Russian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Russian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Russian football managers FC Zenit Saint Petersburg non-playing staff Association football forwards