Igor Vladimirovich Akinfeev - Russian football goalkeeper. From a young age he plays for the CSKA club (Moscow). Ex-goalkeeper and captain of the Russian national team.
As part of CSKA, he became the champion of Russia 6 times and won the national cup the same number of times. Winner of the UEFA Cup, bronze medalist of the 2008 European Championship and 10-time winner of the Lev Yashin Goalkeeper of the Year prize.
The biography of Igor Akinfeev is replete with various interesting facts from his football life.
So, before you is a short biography of Akinfeev.
Biography of Igor Akinfeev
Igor Akinfeev was born on April 8, 1986 in the city of Vidnoye (Moscow region). He grew up and was brought up in a simple family that has nothing to do with football.
The father of the future goalkeeper, Vladimir Vasilyevich, was a truck driver, and his mother, Irina Vladimirovna, worked as a teacher in a kindergarten. In addition to Igor, another boy, Evgeny, was born in the Akinfiev family.
Childhood and youth
When Igor Akinfeev was barely 4 years old, his father sent him to the youth school "CSKA". Soon the coaches noticed that the boy was standing well at the goal.
In this regard, he was entrusted with the goalkeeper's place already in the third training session.
At the age of 7, Igor ended up in the CSKA Sports School. The next year, he and the team went to the first training camp in his biography.
From that moment on, Akinfeev took sports more and more seriously, devoting all his free time to training.
After leaving school, Igor successfully passed the exams at the Moscow Academy of Physical Culture, from which he graduated in 2009.
Sport
In 2002, Akinfeev won the Russian championship as part of the CSKA youth team, after which he was invited to the national junior team.
Football experts noted Igor's phenomenal game, which, according to a number of experts, surpassed the game of many professional goalkeepers.
Soon Igor Akinfeev made his debut in the Russian Premier League against Krylia Sovetov. This fight has become one of the brightest in his sports biography.
The goalkeeper defended "zero", and also reflected a penalty at the end of the meeting. The match ended with a score of 2: 0 in favor of Akinfeev's team.
The coach more and more often trusted Igor with a place at the goal. The guy played skillfully with his feet and showed an excellent reaction.
In 2003, Akinfeev participated in 13 matches, conceding 11 goals. In the same year, CSKA became the champion of the country. The following year, he played his first game for the national team, becoming the youngest goalkeeper in its history.
Igor Akinfeev was named the best goalkeeper of the Russian Federation. They wrote about him in all sports publications, predicting a great future for him.
In 2005, Igor established himself at the base of CSKA, with which he won the UEFA Cup. Curiously, the team became the first Russian club to win a European tournament.
This historic victory was reported in the media and discussed on television. Football players have turned into real national heroes, drowning in compliments from their compatriots.
In the national team, 19-year-old Akinfeev was also the first number. He saw the field perfectly and interacted well with the line of defense.
However, Igor Akinfeev's sports biography was not without falls. Many CSKA fans said that he played excellently in the Russian championship, but looked weak at international competitions.
An interesting fact is that Akinfeev owns an anti-record in the Champions League. For 11 years, starting in the fall of 2006, he conceded goals in 43 consecutive major games. However, in general, the guy still remained the best goalkeeper in his homeland.
In 2009, Igor Akinfeev was in the TOP-5 of the best goalkeepers in the world, according to IFFHS.
In May 2014, the goalkeeper sensationally broke Lev Yashin's record, having managed to defend his 204th match “to zero”. Then he was able to set a record for playing time without conceding goals.
For 761 minutes, not a single ball flew into Akinfeev's goal. As of today, this is the longest “dry” streak in the history of the Russian team.
In 2015, a serious trouble occurred in the biography of a football player. In the game against the national team of Montenegro, the opponent's fan threw a burning fire at Igor.
The goalkeeper received serious burns, along with a concussion, and Montenegro was awarded a technical defeat.
In 2016, Akinfeev set a new record for the number of clean sheets in the national team - 45 matches.
Regulations for 2019 Akinfeev is the highest paid player in CSKA. According to some sources, in 2017 the club paid him € 180,000 per month.
Personal life
For a long time, Igor met with young Valeria Yakunchikova, the 15-year-old daughter of the CSKA administrator.
It is worth noting that the chosen one of the athlete was engaged in dancing and passionately loved football. She repeatedly starred in commercials, and also participated in Timati's video clip.
The fans thought that the young people would soon get married, but the matter never came to a wedding. According to rumors, the girl wanted to part with Igor because of his betrayal.
After that, Akinfeev began to look after the Kiev model Ekaterina Gerun. The wedding of young people became known in May 2014, when their son Daniel was born. A year later, Catherine gave birth to a girl Evangeline.
Not everyone knows that Igor has long been friends with the lead singer of the pop group "Hands Up!" Sergey Zhukov.
During his holidays, Akinfeev likes to play billiards or go fishing. In 2009, he published the book "100 Penalties from Readers" from his pen. It collected the most interesting questions from the fans, to which the author tried to give the most detailed answers.
The footballer has a fan page on Instagram, where fans periodically post photos and videos related to the goalkeeper.
Now about 340,000 people have subscribed to the page. It contains an interesting phrase - "Igor is NOT on social networks."
Igor Akinfeev today
Igor Akinfeev played for the Russian national team at the 2018 World Cup held in the Russian Federation.
He showed an excellent game and once again proved his high class to the fans. Having reached the 1/8 finals, Russia met with Spain, which was considered the leader in this fight.
After the end of 2 halves and extra time, the score was 1: 1, as a result of which a series of penalty kicks began. Igor Akinfeev reflected 2 penalties, while all 4 blows of the Russian players were realized.
As a result, Russia sensationally made it to the quarterfinals, and Akinfeev was awarded the title of the best player of the match. The next rival of the Russian Federation was the Croats, the meeting with which also ended in a draw (2: 2).
However, this time the Croatians turned out to be the strongest in the decisive penalty shootout. It was they who made it to the semifinals, where they beat the England national team.
Despite the disappointing defeat, Russian fans strongly supported their national teams. Tens of thousands applauded them, expressing their admiration in various ways.
For the first time in a long time, Russia demonstrated a spectacular and confident game, which delighted and surprised many domestic and foreign experts.
In the fall of 2018, Igor Akinfeev announced the termination of his performances for the national team, deciding to give way to younger athletes.
In the same year, the goalkeeper set another record for the number of matches played for one team - 582 games. In this indicator, he bypassed the legendary Oleg Blokhin.
At the end of 2018, Igor Akinfeev became the first goalkeeper in the history of Soviet and Russian football, who managed to play 300 clean sheets.
According to the regulations for 2019, the athlete continues to play for CSKA. He is the 15th best goalkeeper of the 21st century according to IFFHS.
In an interview, journalists asked the star player about their plans for the future. Igor replied that he had not yet thought about a coaching career or the development of any business. Today all his thoughts are occupied only with his stay at CSKA.
Photo by Igor Akinfeev
