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Aleksandr Samedov
	Samedov playing for Russia at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Full name	Aleksandr Sergeyevich Samedov
Date of birth	19 July 1984 (age 40)
Place of birth	Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Winger
Youth career
1995–2000	Spartak Moscow
Senior career*
Years	Team
2001–2005	Spartak Moscow
2005–2008	Lokomotiv Moscow
2008–2009	FC Moscow
2010–2012	Dynamo Moscow
2012–2016	Lokomotiv Moscow
2017–2018	Spartak Moscow
2019	Krylia Sovetov Samara
2019–2020	Znamya Noginsk
Total
International career
2004–2005	Russia U21
2011–2018	Russia
Managerial career
2021–2022	FC Lokomotiv Moscow (scout)
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Samedov (Russian: Александр Сергеевич Самедов, IPA: [ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ sɐˈmʲedəf]; Azerbaijani: Aleksandr Səmədov; born 19 July 1984) is a Russian professional football official and a former player who played as a right winger. He has played for the Russia national football team since 2011 and was selected for the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Personal life

Samedov was born in Moscow, Soviet Union, his father is Azerbaijani^[2]^[3] and his mother is Russian. He is a Christian^[4] and is married to Yuliya.^[5]

He named AC Milan as his all-time favorite team in European football and had been a fan since mid-1990s.^[6]

Club career

He was a student of the Spartak Moscow academy and was considered one of their most talented youngsters. He was a regular in the first team under Nevio Scala but when Aleksandrs Starkovs came he lost his place in the first team. Spartak Moscow then purchased Vladimir Bystrov, and in the summer of 2005 Samedov left for Lokomotiv Moscow for €3.4 million. However, Samedov failed to succeed in Loko, and in 2008 joined FC Moscow. Having shown great progress under direction of Miodrag Božović, he chose to become part of a bigger club and went to Dynamo Moscow during the 2009–10 winter transfer period. On 27 June 2012, Samedov moved to Lokomotiv, where he played earlier. According to the source close to the club, Lokomotiv paid about 8.2 million € for his services.

During his second spell at Lokomotiv, Samedov established himself as starting XI fixture at right wing. In May 2013, when he added some goals to his usual good amount of assistances, he managed to win monthly poll among Loko fans in the social networks for the best player of the month.^[7] He won this poll for the second time in April 2014.^[8] After the end of 2013–14 season, club organized new poll among Loko fans in the social networks to name the best player of the season. The award went to Samedov with 32.3 percent of votes.^[9]

On 16 January 2017, he returned to FC Spartak Moscow, winning the Russian Premier League title at the end of the season.^[10] He was released from his Spartak contract by mutual consent on 5 January 2019.^[11]

On 13 January 2019, he signed with Krylia Sovetov Samara.^[12]

On 28 August 2019, he signed with semi-professional side Znamya Noginsk.

On 27 October 2019, he retired from football. He restarted his career after Znamya Noginsk was promoted to the third-tier Russian Professional Football League for the 2020–21 season. He retired again in January 2021 and was appointed scout by FC Lokomotiv Moscow.^[13] He left Lokomotiv in 2022.^[14]

International career

In 2003, Samedov first visited Baku to hold discussions on representing the Azerbaijan national football team. He rejected the offer as it would have meant he had to renounce his Russian citizenship in favor of Azerbaijan.^[4]

At international level Samedov has played for the Russia U-21s. He was called up to the Russia national football team in late September 2011 for the first time. On 7 October 2011, Samedov made his debut for the senior national team of Russia after coming on as a last-minute substitute for Alan Dzagoev in the 1–0 away win against Slovakia in a Euro 2012 qualifier.

On 2 June 2014, he was included in Russia's 2014 FIFA World Cup squad.^[15]

On 11 May 2018, he was included in Russia's extended 2018 FIFA World Cup squad.^[16] On 3 June 2018, he was included in the finalized World Cup squad.^[17] He started Russia's every game in the World Cup, but was substituted in the second half in 3 out of 5, including both knock-out stage games.

Following Russia's 2018 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal loss to Croatia, he announced his retirement from the national team.^[18]

Career statistics

Club statistics

As of 13 December 2018

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Spartak Moscow	2001	Russian Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	–		0	0
	2002		1	0	0	0	0	0	–		1	0
	2003		6	0	1	0	0	0	4^[a]	0	11	0
	2004		29	6	1	0	7	2	1^[b]	0	38	8
	2005		11	0	2	1	–		–		13	1
Lokomotiv Moscow	2005		9	0	0	0	6	1	–		15	1
	2006		13	0	1	0	2	0	–		16	0
	2007		23	3	4	0	6	1	–		33	4
	2008		4	0	–		–		–		4	0
FC Moscow	2008		16	2	2	0	4	2	–		22	4
	2009		27	5	3	0	–		–		30	5
	Total		43	7	5	0	4	2	0	0	52	9
Dynamo Moscow	2010	Russian Premier League	27	3	2	1	–		–		29	4
	2011–12	Russian Premier League	43	6	6	0	–		–		49	6
	Total		70	9	8	1	0	0	0	0	78	10
Lokomotiv Moscow	2012–13	Russian Premier League	26	2	1	0	–		–		27	2
	2013–14		30	7	0	0	–		–		30	7
	2014–15		29	4	5	0	2	0	–		36	4
	2015–16		28	9	0	0	8	5	1^[b]	0	37	14
	2016–17		15	4	2	1	–		–		17	5
	Total (2 spells)		177	29	13	1	24	7	1	0	215	37
Spartak Moscow	2016–17	Russian Premier League	10	3	–		–		–		10	3
	2017–18		21	2	3	0	4	1	0	0	28	3
	2018–19		8	0	1	0	3	0	–		12	0
	Total (2 spells)		86	11	8	1	14	3	5	0	113	15
Career total			376	56	34	3	42	12	6	0	458	71

^ Appearance(s) in the Russian Premier League Cup
^ ^a ^b Appearance in the Russian Super Cup

International

Statistics accurate as of match played 7 July 2018.^[19]

Russia
Year	Apps	Goals
2011	2	0
2012	4	0
2013	7	3
2014	11	0
2015	2	0
2016	9	2
2017	9	1
2018	9	1
Total	53	7

International goals

As of 5 January 2021 (Russia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Samedov goal)^[19]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	6 September 2013	Central Stadium, Kazan, Russia	Luxembourg	4–1	4–1	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.	11 October 2013	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Luxembourg	1–0	4–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
3.	15 November 2013	Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	Serbia	1–0	1–1	Friendly
4.	9 October 2016	Krasnodar Stadium, Krasnodar, Russia	Costa Rica	1–2	3–4
5.	10 November 2016	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar	Qatar	1–0	1–2
6.	24 June 2017	Kazan Arena, Kazan, Russia	Mexico	1–0	1–2	2017 FIFA Confederations Cup
7.	5 June 2018	VEB Arena, Moscow, Russia	Turkey	1–0	1–1	Friendly