Ilzat Toglokovich Akhmetov (russian: Ильзат Тоглокович Ахметов; ug, ئىلزات ئەخمەت, ucy=Илзат Тоглокович Ахметов; born 31 December 1997) is a Russian 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

central 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

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 ...

. Earlier in his career he mostly played in the

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

position.

Personal life

Born in

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

to Uyghur parents, Akhmetov moved to Russia at 11.

Club career

He made his professional debut in the

Russian Professional Football League 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 ...

for

FC Rubin-2 Kazan FC Rubin-2 Kazan (russian: ФК «Рубин-2» Казань) is a Russian association football club from Kazan, founded in 1997. It played in the third-tier Russian Second League beginning in 2004. It is a farm club of FC Rubin Kazan. It was dis ...

on 18 July 2014 in a game against FC Syzran-2003 Syzran. He made his debut for the main

FC Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar language, Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in the city o ...

squad on 24 September 2014 in a Russian Cup game against

FC Luch-Energiya Vladivostok FC Luch Vladivostok (russian: Футбольный клуб "Луч" Владивосток) was an association football club based in Vladivostok, Russia. In 2005, Luch won the Russian First Division and played in the Premier League from 2006 t ...

. He made his

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

debut for Rubin Kazan on 20 October 2014 in a game against

FC Mordovia Saransk FC Mordovia Saransk (russian: ФК Мордовия Саранск) is a Russian association football club from Saransk, Republic of Mordovia. In its current state it was formed in 2005, through the merge of Biokhimik-Mordovia and Lisma-Mordovia ...

. On 15 June 2018,

FC Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in ...

announced that Akhmetov would join them for a try-out during the first pre-season camp. On 26 July 2018,

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 ...

announced the signing of Akhmetov on a four-year contract. Akhmetov left CSKA as a free agent in June 2022. On 7 July 2022,

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern ...

announced the signing of Akhmetov on a contract until 30 June 2024.

International

He was able to represent for either

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 ...

. Manager of Kyrgyzstan Aleksandr Krestinin, a Russian himself, tried to call him up, but he ultimately chose the latter. He was called up to the Russian team for the first time in November 2018 for games against Germany and Sweden. He was forced to miss the callup due to injury. He made his debut for the team on 21 March 2019 in a

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

qualifier against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, as a starter.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * 1997 births Sportspeople from Bishkek Russian people of Kyrgyzstani descent Russian people of Uyghur descent Uyghur sportspeople Kyrgyzstani emigrants to Russia Living people Kyrgyzstani footballers Russian footballers Russia youth international footballers Russia under-21 international footballers Russia international footballers Association football midfielders FC Rubin Kazan players PFC CSKA Moscow players FC Krasnodar players Russian Second League players Russian Premier League players {{Russia-footy-midfielder-1997-stub