Igor Denisov

Zenit

Denisov was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and started his footballing career with Turbostroitel before going to Smena, the youth team of Zenit. Denisov signed his first professional contract with Zenit, St. Petersburg's only professional team, after graduating school in 2002. At the age of 18, Denisov made his debut for Zenit in a league match against CSKA Moscow in 2002. He made his breakthrough with the club the following year, scoring twice in 19 appearances. Under Dutch manager Dick Advocaat, Denisov blossomed as a player, developing into an advanced midfield role behind Andrey Arshavin and Aleksandr Kerzhakov, becoming an influential member of the Zenit squad that won their first Russian Premier League title in 2007. On 3 April 2008, Denisov scored Zenit's fourth goal in their 4–1 first leg defeat of Bayer Leverkusen in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup match at the BayArena. Denisov's performances helped Zenit reach the final against Scottish side Rangers on 15 May, after defeating Bayern Munich 5–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals. In the final, Denisov played the full ninety minutes and opened the scoring in the 72nd minute after being played in by winger Andrei Arshavin. Zenit went on to win the match 2–0 and lift the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history. In the resulting UEFA Super Cup, Denisov played the full ninety again, assisting Pavel Pogrebnyak's headed goal as Zenit upset English heavyweight Manchester United 2–1 on 29 August…

Denisov first featured in the Russian national set up, representing the Under-19 side against Denmark in the second qualifying round for the 2003 UEFA U-19 European Championships. He then went on to captain the Russia U-21 team. Denisov trained with Russia in 2005 but did not get into the team. After a good run of performances at the club level with Zenit, many sports journalists called for Denisov to be included in the squad for the European Championships in 2008, but he did not make the initial squad and later refused to be called up for the provisional 25-man squad of players after a number of injuries. Denisov made his debut for Russia on 11 October 2008 in a FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifier against Germany, a 2–1 loss at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund. He was confirmed for the finalized UEFA Euro 2012 squad on 25 May 2012. He featured in all three Group A matches, as Russia picked up four points but ultimately failed to qualify for the knockout stage due to their head-to-head record with Greece. On 7 September 2012, Denisov was appointed by new Russia manager Fabio Capello as the captain of the national team in the wake of Andrei Arshavin's absence. On 2 June 2014, he was included in Russia's 2014 FIFA World Cup squad. On 6 June 2016, Denisov was ruled out of Euro 2016 with a thigh injury.

Club

As of 13 April 2019

Notes

International

Denisov and his wife Elena have four children: Viktoria, born in 2005, Igor Jr., born in 2008, and twin sons Ivan and Daniil who were born on 18 December 2011. He owns two South African pitbulls and is known in Russia as being a very good chess player and for never giving interviews to reporters. Denisov has publicly opposed the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine by saying: "These events are a disaster. Complete horror. I don’t know, maybe I’ll be imprisoned or killed for these words, but I am speaking as it is."