Vitali Vladimirovich Kutuzov ( be, Віталь Уладзіміравіч Кутузаў; born 20 March 1980) is a Belarusian 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 le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Club career

Kutuzov was born in

Pinsk Pinsk ( be, Пі́нск; russian: Пи́нск ; Polish: Pińsk; ) is a city located in the Brest Region of Belarus, in the Polesia region, at the confluence of the Pina River and the Pripyat River. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk a ...

. He signed with BATE Borisov as an 18-year old in 1998, where he established himself as a major player and top scorer for the team. In 2001, Kutuzov joined

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

side

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

from BATE Borisov, becoming the club's third Russian-speaking player after

Andriy Shevchenko Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko, or Andrii Mykolaiovych Shevchenko ( uk, Андрій Миколайович Шевченко, ; born 29 September 1976) is a Ukrainian football manager, a former professional football player and a former politici ...

and

Kakha Kaladze Kakhaber "Kakha" Kaladze ( ka, კახაბერ (კახა) კალაძე, ; born 27 February 1978) is a Georgian politician and former footballer who serves as the Mayor of Tbilisi since November 2017. A versatile player, he was c ...

. However, unlike his former

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 ...

compatriots, he failed to establish himself as an important part of the team, getting to play 37 minutes in four games throughout the entire season. For 2002–03 football season he was loaned to

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

side

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

. He played 30 games for them and scored 7 goals, including games in

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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

and the domestic cup. For the following, 2003–04 season he was again loaned, this time to the Italian

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

side

Avellino Avellino () is a town and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

. Kutuzov established himself as one of the most important players of the side and a fan-favorite. He played 43 games, scoring 15 goals. Despite his efforts, the team was relegated to

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1 ...

. After his successful season in Serie B, he was noticed by the Serie A side

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, S ...

. The club bought half of the rights for the footballer from

in 2004 for €1.5 million and signed him until 2008. In the 2004–05 season he played in 32 games (14 times in starting line-up, totaling 1,604 minutes) and scored 4 goals. On 20 June 2006,

F.C. Parma Parma Calcio 1913 (), commonly known as Parma, is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, which competes in the Serie B, the second tier of Italian football. ''Parma Football Club'' was originally founded in Decembe ...

bought the full rights on Kutuzov from Sampdoria (and in earlier Sampdoria bought Milan's half for €1 million). He signed a three-year contract with them. He was loaned to newly promoted Serie B side

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

in July 2007. He returned to Parma during the summer of 2008. In January 2009, he left for

A.S. Bari Società Sportiva Calcio Bari, commonly referred to as Bari, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Bari, Apulia. Bari currently plays in the . The team finished the 2021–22 season in first place in Serie C and earned promot ...

where he finished his career.

International career

Kutuzov earned over 50 caps for the Belarus national team. On 17 April 2002, he made his debut, contributing two goals in a 5–2 away win over

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

in a friendly.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Belarus' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kutuzov goal.''

Honours

BATE Borisov *

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League or the Vyšejšaja Liha or the Vysheyshaya Liga ( be, Вышэйшая ліга, russian: Высшая лига, "Top League") is the top division of professional football in Belarus, and is organized by the Belarusi ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

Sporting CP *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

References

External links

Statistics in Serie A/B and Portugal Superleague
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kutuzov, Vitali 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Pinsk Belarusian footballers Association football forwards Belarus international footballers Belarusian Premier League players Serie A players Serie B players Primeira Liga players FC RUOR Minsk players FC BATE Borisov players A.C. Milan players Sporting CP footballers Pisa S.C. players U.C. Sampdoria players Parma Calcio 1913 players S.S.C. Bari players U.S. Avellino 1912 players Belarusian expatriate footballers Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Portugal