Aleksandr Kerzhakov

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Aleksandr Kerzhakov
Personal information
Full name	Aleksandr Anatolyevich Kerzhakov
Date of birth	November 27, 1982 (age 24)
Place of birth	Kingisepp, Russia
Height	1.75 m
Nickname	Kerzhi or Tzar
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Sevilla FC
Number	9
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2001–2006 2007–	Zenit Saint Petersburg Sevilla FC	159 (64) 7 (3)
National team2
2002–	Russia	38 (10)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of March 18, 2007. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of March 24, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Russian: Александр Анатольевич Кержаков) (born November 27, 1982 in Kingisepp) is a Russian international footballer. The striker plays for the Spanish La Liga team Sevilla FC.

Contents 1 Football career 2 Personal life 2.1 Club career 3 Honours 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Football career

Aleksandr Kerzhakov graduated from Zenit football school. He spent the 2000 season in amateur club FC Svetogorets Svetogorsk, scoring 18 goals and helping them win the Northwest regional league.

In 2001 Kerzhakov moved to FC Zenit Saint Petersburg, debuting in March but scoring his first goal in June against Spartak Moscow. He helped Zenit to the third position in Russian Premier League in 2001 and the runners-up position in 2003. In 2004 Kerzhakov became the league's top scorer with 18 goals.

Aleksandr Kerzhakov played for Russia U21 team in 2001-2003. He debuted for the Russia national team in 2002. Kerzhakov was the part of Russia squad at 2002 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2004. Kerzhakov along with Andrey Arshavin are the key strike parternship in the Russian national team because of his shear pace and pin point shooting accuracy (and power) as well as incredible dribbling accuracy.

Kerzhakov scored 16 goals in his 23 matches for Zenit in the UEFA Cup.

On December 28, 2006 Kerzhakov completed his 5 million Euros transfer from Zenit to Sevilla FC signing a 5½ year contract worth 15 million Euros.^[1] Aleksandr did not have a very good relationship with Zenit St Petersburg manager Dick Advocaat. He played his first match with Sevilla FC on January 14, 2007.

Despite his transfer to La Liga he is still being overlooked by Russian national team coach Guus Hiddink, he was recently left out of the Euro 2008 qualifiers.

However, after a very successful start of his Sevilla career, manager Guus Hiddink re-called Kerzhakov to the national time, and he is expected to start alongside Dmitry Sychev against Estonia on March 24, 2007. He showed that he belonged on the team by scoring 2 goals in the 2-0 victory.

[edit] Personal life

Aleksandr is married and has a young daughter.

It was reported in Russia that he had an affair with tennis player Anastasia Myskina. These reports were denied by both Aleksandr and Anastasia, however it is believed they became romantically involved after Russia's Fed Cup campaign in 2005, which they won.

In 2002 Kerzhakov authored an autobiography called Before and after 16 (Russian: До 16 и старше).

[edit] Club career

The following table is up to date as of 20 March 2007. Russian Premier League Seasons denoted by year aligned with UEFA Competition - i.e. 2001 Season is written as 2001/02.

Club	Season	League			Cup			Europe			Super Cup			Total
		Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists
FC Zenit Saint Petersburg	2001/02	28	6	7	5	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	33	8	8
	2002/03	29	14	2	2	0	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	33	18	3
	2003/04	27	13	6	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	30	16	3
	2004/05	29	18	4	6	6	2	7	7	0	0	0	0	42	31	6
	2005/06	25	7	8	5	5	0	14	7	3	0	0	0	44	19	11
	2006/07	21	6	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	23	6	1
	All	159	64	28	23	16	4	23	16	3	0	0	0	205	95	32
Sevilla FC	2006/07	7	3	0	2	0	0	4	1	1	0	0	0	12	4	1
	All	7	3	0	2	0	0	4	1	1	0	0	0	12	4	1
Career totals		166	67	28	25	16	4	27	17	4	0	0	0	217	99	33

[edit] Honours

• 2001 - Russian Premier League, 3rd position
• 2003 - Russian Premier League, runner-up
• 2003 - Russian Premier League Cup, winner
• 2004 - Russian Premier League, top scorer (18 goals)
• 2002 - First five prize as Russian Premier League's best young player (awarded by Russian Football Union)
• 2002, 2003 - Strelets prize as Russia's best striker
• 2003 - Named Best Striker according to Sport-Express
• 2004 - Gentleman of the year (awarded by Komsomolskaya Pravda)
• 2005 - Voted Player of the Year by the club managers of the Russian Premier League

[edit] References

1. ^ Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified. | url = http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldFootballNews&storyID=2006-12-28T145519Z_01_L28693771_RTRIDST_0_SOCCER-EUROPE-KERZHAKOV.XML&WTmodLoc=World+Football-C1-Headline-2 | title = Sevilla sign Zenit striker Kerzhakov | accessdate = 2006-12-28 | date = 2005-12-28 | work = Reuters | publisher = http://today.reuters.co.uk }}

[edit] External links

• Club bio
• Career history (Russian)
• Image
• Personal website (Russian)

Preceded by Dmitri Loskov

Russian Premier League top scorer 2004

Succeeded by Dmitri Kirichenko

Sevilla FC - Current Squad
1 Palop | 2 Javi Navarro | 3 David | 4 Daniel Alves | 5 Duda | 6 Adriano | 7 Chevantón | 8 Poulsen | 9 Kerzhakov | 10 Luís Fabiano | 11 Renato | 12 Kanouté | 13 Cobeño | 14 Escudé | 15 Navas | 16 Puerta | 18 Martí | 19 Dragutinović | 20 Aitor Ocio | 22 Fernando Sales | 24 Hinkel | 25 Maresca | 27 Alfaro | 32 Fazio | Coach: Juande Ramos

	Russia squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Nigmatullin | 2 Kovtun | 3 Nikiforov | 4 Smertin | 5 Solomatin | 6 Semshov | 7 Onopko | 8 Karpin | 9 Titov | 10 Mostovoi | 11 Beschastnykh | 12 Cherchesov | 13 Dayev | 14 Chugainov | 15 Alenichev | 16 Kerzhakov | 17 Semak | 18 Sennikov | 19 Pimenov | 20 Izmailov | 21 Khokhlov | 22 Sychev | 23 Filimonov | Coach: Romantsev