Robert Ivanov (russian: Роберт Иванов, born 19 September 1994) is a Finnish 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

club

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...

and the Finland national team.

Club career

Ivanov has played for

FC Myllypuro FC Myllypuro is a football club from Myllypuro, Helsinki, Finland. The club was formed in 2013 when it resigned from MaKu into its own organization. FC Myllypuro play their home matches at Myllypuron liikuntapuisto. The team currently plays in t ...

FC Viikingit FC Viikingit is a Finnish football club based in Vuosaari, East Helsinki, and currently playing in the ''Kakkonen'', the third tier of Finnish football. They play their home matches at Vuosaaren urheilukenttä, also called Heteniitty. The club ...

and FC Honka in Kolmonen, Kakkonen, Ykkönen and Veikkausliiga; then all four highest-tiers in Finnish football league system. He was part of the Veikkausliiga Team of the Month for July 2018, and September 2018. On 1 September 2020, he signed an initial two-year contract with Polish club

Warta Poznań Warta Poznań () is a multi-sports club based in Poznań, Poland. The name means ''the Guard'' in Polish and also the name of the river Warta on which Poznań is located. Founded in 1912, the association football club are two-time winners of the ...

for an undisclosed fee. On 16 June 2023, it was announced that Ivanov had signed a two-year deal with

club

on a free transfer. Ivanov scored his first goal for the club on 8 October 2023, in a 3–1 home defeat against Paderborn.

International career

Having never played for any of the Finland international youth teams, Ivanov made his debut for the Finland senior national team on 8 January 2019 at the age of 24, in a friendly against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, coming on an 85th-minute substitute for

Albin Granlund Albin Granlund (born 1 September 1989) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a right-back for IFK Mariehamn. Club career On 20 August 2022, Granlund returned to IFK Mariehamn until the end of the season. International career In Augu ...

. Ivanov was called up for the UEFA Euro 2020 pre-tournament

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 * ...

match against Sweden on 29 May 2021. He was part of the Finland squad in the delayed UEFA Euro 2020 in June 2021.

Personal life

Ivanov was born in

Kurkimäki Kurkimäki (Finnish), Tranbacka (Swedish) is an eastern neighborhood of Helsinki, Finland. Politics Results of the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election in Kurkimäki: *Social Democratic Party 26.4% *True Finns 22.7% * Left Alliance 13.5% *N ...

, Helsinki, and raised in East Helsinki to an

Ingrian Finnish The Ingrians ( fi, inkeriläiset, ; russian: Ингерманландцы, translit=Ingermanlandts'i), sometimes called Ingrian Finns, are the Finnish population of Ingria (now the central part of Leningrad Oblast in Russia), descending from Lut ...

mother and a Russian father. His mother Nelli Pakki, a former Estonian international

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

player, had moved to Finland from Estonia earlier in 1990. Besides professional football, Ivanov has played futsal in MaKu.

Career statistics

Club

International

Robert Ivanov » Internationals
REF worldfootball.net

References

External links

Eintracht Braunschweig official profile

Finnish Football Federation profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanov, Robert Living people 1994 births Finnish people of Russian descent People of Ingrian Finnish descent Finnish men's footballers Footballers from Helsinki Men's association football defenders Finland men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players Veikkausliiga players Ykkönen players Kakkonen players Ekstraklasa players 2. Bundesliga players FC Myllypuro players FC Viikingit players FC Honka players Warta Poznań players Eintracht Braunschweig players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany PK-35 (men) players