Sergei Semak

Sergei Semak

Semak in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Sergei Bogdanovich Semak
Date of birth	(1976-02-27) 27 February 1976
Place of birth	Sychanske, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Zenit St. Petersburg (assistant)
Youth career
	Luhansk Football Academy
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1992	Presnya Moscow	19	(4)
1992	Karelia Petrozavodsk	3	(0)
1993–1994	Asmaral Moscow	21	(3)
1994–2004	CSKA Moscow	289	(69)
2005–2006	Paris Saint-Germain	26	(1)
2006–2007	Moscow	64	(13)
2008–2010	Rubin Kazan	61	(12)
2010–2013	Zenit St. Petersburg	49	(10)
Total		532	(112)
International career‡
1997–2010	Russia	65	(4)
Managerial career
2013–	Zenit St. Petersburg (assistant)
2014	Zenit St. Petersburg (caretaker)
2014–	Russia (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 28 April 2013 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Sergei Bogdanovich Semak (Template:Lang-ru [sʲɪrˈɡʲej bɐɡˈdanəvʲɪtɕ sʲɪˈmak]; Template:Lang-uk; born 27 February 1976 in Sychanske, Ukrainian SSR) is a Russian football manager and a former international midfielder of Ukrainian origins who is currently an assistant coach with FC Zenit St. Petersburg.

Early life

Semak was born in the selo Sychanskoye in the Voroshilovgradskaya Oblast into a peasant family of modest economical background. He was an excellent student and had an ideal behavior. When he was a child his teachers would argue as to whether he would become a mathematician or a football player.

He left Ukraine shortly before the USSR fall, but his parents stayed there. He would become a Russian naturalized citizen, but until today he uses to visit his bornland; he had declared that he misses Ukraine.

His older brother Andrei Semak and younger brother Nikolai Semak are also professional footballers.

Club career

He started training football at the Luhansk football school.

In 1992 he signed in FC Presnya Moscow who played in the Russian Top Division. After 19 matches (where he scored 4 goals) he was sold to FC Karelia Petrozavodsk, but in 1993 returned to FC Presnya Moscow (which changed its name to Asmaral Moscow).

In 1994 he was noted and signed by PFC CSKA Moscow. He became the clubs captain and leader. With the club he won the Russian Premier League in 2003, the Russian Cup in 2002 and 2005. He left the club after it finished third in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League 2004–05 and did not move on to the knockout stage.

In 2005 he moved to Paris Saint-Germain FC, France, but failed to settle, scoring just one goal. After just one season he returned to Russia.

In 2006 he signed for FC Moscow, where he stayed until 2008 when he moved to Rubin Kazan. In Rubin Semak was moved from the positions of striker and attacking midfielder to the position of a defensive midfielder.

In Rubin he became the captain and leader of the team, and led it to its first two championship titles in 2008 and 2009.

In August 2010, he transferred to FC Zenit St. Petersburg.

International career

Semak made his international debut in 1997 and took part in the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

Having lost his place in the national team with the arrival of Guus Hiddink in 2006, Semak missed out on Russia's Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, but was recalled to the national team, just prior to the Euro 2008 finals. Semak captained the Russia national team in their first Euro 2008 warm-up friendly against Kazakhstan, and during the rest of the campaign.

Sergei Semak had a good performance in the crucial match against Greece and provided an assist for the only goal Russia scored with a skilled bicycle kick pass from a wide angle. Another notable performance in Euro 2008 came in the quarter-finals during which he was playing his 50th game for his country, when his precise left-wing cross was volleyed in by Roman Pavlyuchenko against the Netherlands.

Managerial career

After his retirement, Semak was named as assistant coach of Zenit Saint Petersburg. He was appointed interim coach of the club after the sacking of Luciano Spalletti on 10 March 2014. He held the position until 18 March when André Villas-Boas was appointed as the team manager.

Career statistics

International goals

Scores and results list. Russia's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	6 June 2001	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg, Luxembourg	Luxembourg	2–1	2–1	2002 FIFA World Cup Qualifying
2.	16 October 2002	Central Stadium, Volgograd, Russia	Albania	2–1	4–1	2004 Euro Qualifying
3.	16 October 2002	Central Stadium, Volgograd, Russia	Albania	4–1	4–1	2004 Euro Qualifying
4.	20 August 2003	Moscow, Russia	Israel	1–2	1–2	Friendly

Coaching record

As of 19 March 2014

Team	From	To	Record
			M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %	Ref.
Zenit St. Petersburg	10 March 2014	19 March 2014	2	1	0	1	2	2	+0	050.00

Honours

Club

CSKA

• Russian Premier League (1): 2003
• Russian Cup (1): 2002
• Russian Super Cup (1): 2004
• UEFA Cup (1): 2005 (played in the earlier stages and received medal)

Paris Saint-Germain

• Coupe de France (1): 2006

FC Rubin Kazan

• Russian Premier League (2): 2008, 2009
• Russian Super Cup (1): 2010

FC Zenit

• Russian Premier League (2): 2010, 2011–12
• Russian Super Cup (1): 2011

International

Russia

• UEFA European Football Championship (1): 2008 bronze medalist

Individual

• In the list of 33 best football players of the championship of Russia (8): 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2009
• Member of Grigory Fedotov club

External links

• Profile at the FC Zenit Saint Petersburg website
• Sergei Semak at National-Football-Teams.com
• Profile at RussiaTeam Template:Ru icon
• FIFA.com profile
• Statistics at KLISF

Sporting positions
Preceded by Aleksei Berezutski	Russia national football team captain 2008–2009	Succeeded by Andrei Arshavin