Sergei Yevgenyevich Aleinikov (russian: Сергей Евгеньевич Алейников; be, Сярге́й Яўге́навіч Але́йнікаў, ''Syarhey Alyeynikaw''; born 7 November 1961) is a

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

ian and

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 ...

former 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 ...

, and currently a coach. He primarily played as a

defensive 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 boundari ...

and was known for his stamina, intelligence, solid technique, tactical sense, and passing ability. He also played in

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

as a sweeper or centre-back.

Playing career

Aleinikov was born in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

, Belarusian SSR. He played for the

USSR national football team The Soviet Union national football team ( rus, сбо́рная СССР по футбо́лу, r=sbórnaya SSSR po futbólu) was the national football team of the former Soviet Union. After the breakup of the Union the team was transformed i ...

, making 73 appearances, scoring six goals, from 1984 to 1991, and was in the Soviet squad that made the final of Euro 1988, losing to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

0–2. He also played for the CIS in 1992 and earned 4 caps for

after the independence of

, earning his final cap against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

in a

Euro 1996 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 ...

qualifier in 1994. He joined Dinamo Minsk in 1981 and won the USSR championship the following season. The

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 ...

then joined

Juventus F.C. )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnell ...

in 1989, and won the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

and

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

in 1990. He signed for

U.S. Lecce Unione Sportiva Lecce, commonly referred to as Lecce (), is an Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club play in Serie A in the 2022–23 season, the top level of the Italian football pyramid, having been promoted from Serie B. ...

in 1990, and in 1992 went to Japan to play for

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Gamba'' comes from the Japanese , meaning "to do your best" or "to s ...

. He finished his career with Swedish side

IK Oddevold IK Oddevold is a Swedish football club located in Uddevalla, the name "Oddevold" being an older form of Uddevalla. The club, formed on 3 July 1932, currently plays in Sweden's third-flight league, Division 1. They play most of their home game ...

in 1996. In November 2003, to celebrate

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Belarus by the

Football Federation of Belarus The Football Federation of Belarus (BFF; be, Беларуская федэрацыя футбола, Biełaruskaja Fiederacyja Futboła; russian: Белорусская федерация футбола, Belorusskaya federatsiya futbola) is the ...

as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.

Coaching career

In the 2007–08 season Aleinikov served as head coach of amateur Promozione team

Kras ''KRAS'' ( Kirsten rat sarcoma virus) is a gene that provides instructions for making a protein called K-Ras, a part of the RAS/MAPK pathway. The protein relays signals from outside the cell to the cell's nucleus. These signals instruct the cel ...

. He coached the side for a second time from summer 2011 until 30 October 2012.

Personal life

His son Artur (born 1991), a

, followed his father's footsteps and was part of

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It i ...

squad in 2009.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Dinamo Minsk *

Soviet Top League The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу: Высшая лига), served as the top division of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The professional top level ...

: 1982 Juventus *

: 1989–90 *

: 1989–90 Soviet Union *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

runner-up:

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

References

External links

UEFA.com - Golden player of Belarus

Aleinikov at Juve and Lecce
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aleinikov, Sergei 1961 births Living people Footballers from Minsk Soviet footballers Belarusian footballers Association football midfielders UEFA Golden Players UEFA Cup winning players Soviet Union international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1992 players Belarus international footballers Dual internationalists (football) Soviet expatriate footballers Belarusian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Japan Expatriate footballers in Sweden Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Soviet expatriate sportspeople in Italy Soviet Top League players Serie A players Serie B players J1 League players Allsvenskan players FC Dinamo Minsk players Juventus F.C. players U.S. Lecce players Gamba Osaka players IK Oddevold players Belarusian football managers Belarusian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Italy Expatriate football managers in Russia Expatriate football managers in Lithuania Russian Premier League managers FC Moscow managers Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR