Sergei Bogdanovich Semak (russian: Серге́й Богда́нович Сема́к ; uk, Сергій Богданович Семак; born 27 February 1976) 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 ...

manager and a former

international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

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 ...

who currently manages

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 ...

side

FC Zenit Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, acco ...

Early life

Semak was born in the selo Sychanskoye in the Voroshilovgradskaya Oblast into a peasant family of modest economical background. He was an excellent student and had an ideal behavior. When he was a child his teachers would argue as to whether he would become a mathematician or a football player. He left Ukraine shortly before the

USSR 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 nationa ...

fall, but his parents stayed there. He would become a Russian naturalized citizen, but until today he uses to visit his bornland; he had declared that he misses Ukraine. His older brother

Andrei Semak Andrei Bogdanovich Semak (russian: Андрей Богданович Семак; uk, Андрій Богданович Семак; born 9 December 1974) is a former Russian-Ukrainian professional football player. Club career He played in the ...

and younger brother Nikolai Semak were also professional footballers.

Club career

Semak started training football at the Luhansk football school. In 1992, he signed in Presnya Moscow who played in the

Russian Top Division 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 ...

. After 19 matches scoring 4 goals he was sold to Karelia Petrozavodsk, but in 1993 returned to Presnya Moscow, which had changed its name to

Asmaral Moscow FC Presnya Moscow (russian: ФК «Пресня» Москва) was a Russian football team based in Moscow. It was founded in 1978 as FC Krasnaya Presnya Moscow. It participated in the third-tier Soviet Second League and was notable for giving t ...

. In 1994, he was noted and signed by

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 ...

. He became the club's captain and leader. With the club he won the

in 2003, the Russian Cup in 2002 and 2005. He left the club after it finished third in the group stage of the

UEFA Champions League 2004–05 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 foo ...

and did not move on to the knockout stage. This was despite his hat-trick against

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

in the final group game. In 2005, he then moved to the team he scored the hat-trick against, Paris Saint-Germain, but failed to settle, scoring just one goal. After just one season he returned to Russia. In 2006, he signed for

FC Moscow :''This article refers to the Moscow government team formed in 2004. For the predecessors in the Russian Premier League, see FC Torpedo-ZIL and FC Torpedo-Metallurg.'' FC Moscow (Russian: Футбольный клуб Москва) was a Russian f ...

, where he stayed until 2008 when he moved to

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

. In Rubin Semak was moved from the positions of striker and attacking midfielder to the position of a defensive midfielder. At Rubin Kazan he became the captain and leader of the team, and led it to its first two championship titles in 2008 and 2009. In August 2010, he transferred to

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 football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, acco ...

International career

Semak made his international debut for the Russia national team in 1997 and took part in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

in South Korea and Japan. Having lost his place in the national team with the arrival of

Guus Hiddink Guus Hiddink (; born 8 November 1946) is a Dutch former football manager and professional player. He enjoyed a long career playing as a midfielder in his native Netherlands. Retired as player in 1982, Hiddink went into management, leading both c ...

in 2006, Semak missed out on Russia's Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, but was recalled to the national team, just prior to the

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

finals. Semak captained the Russia national team in their first Euro 2008 warm-up friendly against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, and during the rest of the campaign. Semak had a good performance in the crucial match against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and provided an assist for the only goal Russia scored with a skilled bicycle kick pass from a wide angle. Another notable performance in Euro 2008 came in the quarter-finals during which he was playing his 50th game for his country, when his precise left-wing cross was volleyed in by

Roman Pavlyuchenko Roman Anatolyevich Pavlyuchenko (russian: Роман Анатольевич Павлюченко; born 15 December 1981) is a Russian former footballer who played as a striker. He started his career at Dynamo Stavropol, and Rotor Volgograd, b ...

against 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 ...

Managerial career

After his retirement, Semak was named as assistant coach of

. He was appointed interim coach of the club after the sacking of

Luciano Spalletti Luciano Spalletti (; born 7 March 1959) is an Italian football manager and a former player. He is currently the manager of Italian Serie A club Napoli. Playing career Born in Certaldo, Metropolitan City of Florence, Spalletti started his career ...

on 10 March 2014. He held the position until 18 March when

André Villas-Boas Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas (; born 17 October 1977) is a Portuguese football manager, who most recently was the manager of Ligue 1 club Marseille. He is one of a growing number of top-level managers who have never played football ...

was appointed as the team manager.Uefa.com: "Milevskiy thriving with added responsibility"
/ref>Euro 2012: "Artem Milevsky: 'Shout for us as loud as possible and we’ll pay off with our performance and a win!'"
/ref>EuroSport: "Бердыев: «У нас нет опыта, зато есть настрой»"
/ref> On 30 December 2016, he was appointed a manager of the

club

FC Ufa FC Ufa (russian: ФК «Уфа», ba, Өфө, Öfö) is a Russian football club based in Ufa that will play in the second-tier Russian First League in the 2022–23 season. History During the summer of 2010, Rustem Khamitov, the second Preside ...

. On 29 May 2018, he returned to Zenit St. Petersburg, signing a two-year contract with one-year extension option. In his first year, he won the

2018–19 Russian Premier League The 2018–19 Russian Premier League was the 27th season of the premier football competition in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the 16th under the current Russian Premier League name. Lokomotiv Moscow came into the season as ...

. He led Zenit to the title again in the

2019–20 Russian Premier League The 2019–20 Russian Premier League (known as the Tinkoff Russian Premier League, also written as Tinkoff Russian Premier Liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 28th season of the premier football competition in Russia since the dissolution of ...

. On 25 July 2020, he sealed the double for the club by winning the

2019–20 Russian Cup The 2019–20 Russian Cup was the 28th season of the Russian football knockout tournament since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The competition started 19 July 2019, but suspended on 17 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia. L ...

. On 2 May 2021, Zenit secured their third title in a row in a 6-1 victory over second-place

FC Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three oc ...

. On 30 April 2022, Zenit secured their fourth title in a row.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Russia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Semak goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

CSKA Moscow *

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

* Russian Cup: 2001–02 *

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Russian Cup winners. If the Premie ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Paris Saint-Germain *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

: 2005–06 Rubin Kazan *Russian Premier League:

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

*Russian Super Cup:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Zenit *Russian Premier League:

, 2011–12 *Russian Super Cup:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Russia *

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 contes ...

bronze medalist Individual *In the list of 33 best football players of the championship of Russia (8): 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2009 *Member of

Grigory Fedotov club Grigory Fedotov Club (russian: Клуб Григо́рия Федо́това) is a non-official list of Soviet and Russian football players that have scored 100 or more goals during their professional career. This club is named after first Sovie ...

Manager

Zenit *

: 2018–19, 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22 * Russian Cup: 2019–20 *

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Individual *Russian Premier League Coach of the Season:

, 2021–22 *Russian Premier League Coach of the Month: August 2022.

References

External links

* *
Profile
at ''RussiaTeam'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Semak, Sergei 1976 births Living people People from Luhansk Oblast Association football midfielders Russian footballers Russian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France FC Asmaral Moscow players PFC CSKA Moscow players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players FC Moscow players FC Rubin Kazan players FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Russia youth international footballers Russia under-21 international footballers Russia international footballers Russian Premier League players Ligue 1 players UEFA Euro 2008 players Russians in Ukraine Russian people of Ukrainian descent Russian football managers FC Zenit Saint Petersburg managers FC Zenit Saint Petersburg non-playing staff Russian Premier League managers FC Ufa managers