Ilja Antonov (born 5 December 1992) is an Estonian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Romanian club

Corvinul Hunedoara Clubul Sportiv Corvinul 1921 Hunedoara, commonly known as Corvinul Hunedoara or simply as Corvinul, is a Romanian football club based in Hunedoara, Hunedoara County, currently playing in the Liga III. Founded in 1921 under the name of ''Fero Spo ...

Club career

Puuma

Antonov came through the Puuma youth system. He played for

Ararat Ararat or in Western Armenian Ararad may refer to: Personal names * Ararat ( hy, Արարատ), a common first name for Armenian males (pronounced Ararad in Western Armenian) * Ararat or Araratian, a common family name for Armenians (pronounced A ...

and Kiviõli Tamme Auto, before making his debut for Puuma's first team in 2010.

Levadia

On 8 March 2012, Antonov signed a two-year contract

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (, known as the A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football (soccer), football championship. The league was founded in 1992, and was initially semi-p ...

with

Levadia Livadeia ( el, Λιβαδειά ''Livadiá'', ; grc, Λεβάδεια, Lebadeia or , ''Lebadia'') is a town in central Greece. It is the capital of the Boeotia regional district. Livadeia lies north-west of Athens, west of Chalkida, south-eas ...

. He made his debut in the Meistriliiga on 10 March 2012, in a 0–0 draw against Nõmme Kalju. Antonov scored three goals in 33 games as Levadia finished the 2012 season as runners up. He won two consecutive Meistriliiga titles in

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 ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

SV Horn

On 29 January 2017, Antonov joined Austrian Erste Liga club

SV Horn SV Horn is an Austrian association football club playing in the city of Horn. The club plays in the Austrian Second League. The team was champion of the Landesliga Niederösterreich in 1991, 1998 and 2007. In 2008, SV Horn won the Austrian C ...

on a contract until 2019. He was released by the club in May 2017, following their relegation in the 2016–17 season.

Rudar Velenje

On 14 July 2017, Antonov signed a two-year contract with PrvaLiga club

Rudar Velenje Nogometni klub Rudar Velenje ( en, Rudar Velenje Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Rudar Velenje or simply Rudar Velenje, is a Slovenian football club from Velenje which competes in the Slovenian Second League. History The club was fo ...

. He made his debut in the PrvaLiga on 22 July 2017, in a 3–1 home victory over Ankaran Hrvatini.

Hermannstadt

On 21 June 2018, Antonov signed for

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

club

Hermannstadt Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

on a two-year deal.

Ararat-Armenia

On 24 June 2019, Antonov signed for Ararat-Armenia. On 22 August 2019, he scored a winning goal against F91 Dudelange in Europa League play-off round. On July 14 2020 Antonov won the league title with Ararat-Armenia, becoming the first Estonian to win the Armenian league. He left the club in December 2020.

International career

Antonov began his youth career in 2012 with the Estonia under-21 team, making 15 appearances and scoring 2 goals. On 1 November 2012, Antonov was called up by

Tarmo Rüütli Tarmo Rüütli (born 11 August 1954) is an Estonian football manager and former football player. As player, Rüütli won the 1985 Estonian Championship with Pärnu Kalakombinaat/MEK. As manager, he led Levadia to three Meistriliiga titles a ...

for a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

against

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

on 8 November 2012, and made his senior international debut for

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

in the 2–1 away victory. He scored his first goal for Estonia on 17 November 2015, in a 3–0 friendly victory over Saint Kitts and Nevis.

International goals

:''As of match played 10 October 2017. Estonia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Antonov goal.''

Honours

Club

;Levadia *

(2) :

Estonian Cup The Estonian Cup ( et, Eesti Karikas) is the national knockout competition in Estonian football. In 2012, the competition was unofficially rebranded as Evald Tipner's Cup. The winner will compete in UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifyi ...

(2) : 2011–12, 2013–14 * Estonian Supercup (2) : 2013, 2015 ;Ararat-Armenia *

Armenian Premier League The Armenian Premier League ( hy, VBET Հայաստանի Պրեմիեր Լիգա, known as the VBET Armenian Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is the top association football, football competition in Armenia. From 1936 to 1991, the compet ...

(1): 2019–20 *

Armenian Supercup The Armenian Supercup is a match that is played between the Armenian Premier League Champion and Armenian Cup The VBET Armenian Cup ( hy, Հայաստանի Անկախության Գավաթ) is the main football (soccer), football cup competitio ...

(1): 2019

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Antonov, Ilja 1992 births Living people Footballers from Tallinn Estonian men's futsal players Estonian men's footballers Estonian people of Russian descent Men's association football midfielders Esiliiga players FC Kiviõli Irbis players FC Puuma Tallinn players Meistriliiga players FCI Levadia Tallinn players 2. Liga (Austria) players SV Horn players Slovenian PrvaLiga players NK Rudar Velenje players Liga I players FC Hermannstadt players Armenian Premier League players FC Ararat-Armenia players Estonia men's under-21 international footballers Estonia men's international footballers Estonian expatriate men's footballers Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Armenia Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Armenia