Sergei Baltacha (born 28 July 1979) is a former

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 ...

. Born in the USSR (now Ukraine), Baltacha represented Scotland at youth international level.

Club career

He first played football in the

Dynamo Kiev Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was officia ...

academy, but began his professional career in Scotland, at St Mirren, where he gained 3 caps for the Scotland U-21 side. After a trial at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

he joined

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

in January 2003Sergei Baltacha Jr - St. Mirren FC - Mirren MAD
/ref> and was released a year later, after which he had an unsuccessful trial with Queen of the South, and St Johnstone before signing with Petershill in 2004. He retired from professional football in 2005/2006.

International career

Baltacha was eligible to play for Russia, Ukraine and under FIFA regulations at the time, the four

Home nations Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...

as a British passport holder born outside of the United Kingdom with no British parental or grand-parental bloodlines. Baltacha Jr. had moved to the United Kingdom with his father,

Sergei Pavlovich Baltacha Sergei Pavlovich Baltacha ( uk, Сергій Павлович Балтача; born 17 February 1958) is a Ukrainian former professional football player and coach who won 45 caps for the Soviet Union and made nearly 300 appearances for Dynamo ...

, when he signed for

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

and at the age of 11 moved to Scotland when Baltacha Sr. signed for St Johnstone in May 1990. Having acquired a British passport, in 1999, he represented Scotland at U21 level against Lithuania.

Personal life

His father, Sergei, played football for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

; his mother, Olga, was a pentathlete; and his sister,

Elena Elena may refer to: People * Elena (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name * Joan Ignasi Elena (born 1968), Catalan politician * Francine Elena (born 1986), British poet Geography * Elena (town), a town in Veliko ...

, was a former British number one in women's tennis.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baltacha, Sergei 1979 births Living people Footballers from Kyiv Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Ukrainian men's footballers Scottish people of Ukrainian descent Ukrainian emigrants to the United Kingdom Millwall F.C. players Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Premier League players St Mirren F.C. players Petershill F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football fullbacks