Sergey Nikolayevich Ponomarev (russian: Сергей Николаевич Пономарёв; born 6 December 1956) is a Russian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and a former player.

Club career

He played in the third-tier Soviet Second League and lower levels during the existence of the Soviet Union, and made his second-tier debut when the Soviet Union dissolved and the Russian football pyramid was created in 1992, in the Russian Football National League. Ponomarev was the first foreign professional footballer to play in the Iranian Football League (

Azadegan League The Azadegan League ( fa, ليگ آزادگان, ''Lig-e Âzâdegân''), also known as League 1 ( fa, لیگ یک, ''Lig-e Yek''), is the second highest division of professional football in Iran. It was the top-level football league in Iran from ...

) after the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

. In 1994, he was invited to

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

by his countrymen Yevgeny Liyadin who was coach of

F.C. Zob Ahan Zob Ahan Esfahan Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فرهنگى ورزشى ذوب‌آهن اصفهان, ''Bâšgâhé Futbâlé Zobâhané Esfahân'') is an Iranian football club based in Fuladshahr, Iran. It competes in the Persian Gulf Pro L ...

at the time, where he played for one season.

Coaching career

He coached

FC Ryazan FC Ryazan (russian: ФК «Рязань») is a Russian football club from Ryazan, founded in 1995. It played in the third-tier Russian Second Division since 2000, when they took over the spot previously held there by another Ryazan club, FC Sp ...

in the third-tier

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 ...

in 2001 and 2002.

External links

IranLig
* 1956 births Living people Soviet men's footballers Russian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Zob Ahan Esfahan F.C. players Russian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Iran Russian expatriate sportspeople in Iran Russian football managers FC Spartak Ryazan players {{Russia-footy-defender-1950s-stub