Sergei Semak

Sergei Bogdanovich Semak (Russian: Серге́й Богда́нович Сема́к [sʲɪrˈɡʲej bɐɡˈdanəvʲɪtɕ sʲɪˈmak]; Ukrainian: Сергій Богданович Семак; born 27 February 1976) is a Russian football manager and a former international midfielder who currently manages Russian Premier League side FC Zenit.

Sergei Semak
Сергей Семак
Semak in 2018 with Zenit
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 Saint Petersburg (manager)
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 Saint Petersburg 49 (10)
Total 532 (112)
International career
1995 Russia U-20 4 (1)
1995–1996 Russia U-21 12 (3)
1997–2010[1] Russia 65 (4)
Managerial career
2013–2016 Zenit Saint Petersburg (assistant)
2014 Zenit Saint Petersburg (caretaker)
2014–2016 Russia (assistant)
2017–2018 Ufa
2018– Zenit Saint Petersburg
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

Semak was born in the village of Sychanske, Voroshilovgrad 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.[2]

He left Ukraine shortly before the USSR collapsed, 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.[3][4][5]

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

Club career

Semak started training football at the Luhansk football school. In 1992, he signed in Presnya Moscow who played in the Russian Top Division. After 19 matches scoring 4 goals he was sold to Karelia Petrozavodsk, but in 1993 returned to Presnya Moscow, which had changed its name to Asmaral Moscow.

In 1994, he was noted and signed by CSKA Moscow. He became the club's 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. This was despite his hat-trick against Paris Saint-Germain in the final group game.[6]

In 2005, he then moved to the team he scored the hat-trick against, Paris Saint-Germain, 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. At Rubin Kazan 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 Zenit Saint Petersburg.[7]

International career

Semak made his international debut for the Russia national team 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. 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.[8] He held the position until 18 March when André Villas-Boas was appointed as the team manager.[3][4][5]

On 30 December 2016, he was appointed a manager of the Russian Premier League club FC Ufa.[9]

On 29 May 2018, he returned to Zenit St. Petersburg, signing a two-year contract with one-year extension option.[10] In his first year, he won the 2018–19 Russian Premier League. He led Zenit to the title again in the 2019–20 Russian Premier League.[11] On 25 July 2020, he sealed the double for the club by winning the 2019–20 Russian Cup.[12] On 2 May 2021, Zenit secured their third title in a row in a 6-1 victory over second-place FC Lokomotiv Moscow.[13] On 30 April 2022, Zenit secured their fourth title in a row.[14] On 7 May 2023, Zenit secured their fifth title in a row.[15]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Russia[16] 199710
199890
199950
200060
200181
200252
200341
200540
200610
2008120
200990
201010
Total654
Scores and results list Russia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Semak goal.
List of international goals scored by Sergei Semak
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
16 June 2001Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg, Luxembourg Luxembourg2–12–12002 FIFA World Cup qualification
216 October 2002Central Stadium, Volgograd, Russia Albania2–14–1UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
34–1
420 August 2003Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow, Russia Israel1–21–2Friendly

Managerial statistics

As of match played 7 October 2023
Managerial record by team and tenure
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 [8]
Ufa 1 January 2017 29 May 2018 46 17 14 15 46 44 +2 036.96
Zenit St. Petersburg 30 May 2018 present 222 132 47 43 459 213 +246 059.46
Total 270 150 61 59 507 259 +248 055.56

Honours

Player

CSKA Moscow

Paris Saint-Germain

Rubin Kazan

Zenit

Russia

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

Manager

Zenit

Individual

References

  1. "Sergei Bogdanovich Semak - International Appearances". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
  2. "Советский спорт - новости футбол, хоккей, биатлон и другие виды спорта". Archived from the original on 18 July 2011.
  3. Uefa.com: "Milevskiy thriving with added responsibility"
  4. Euro 2012: "Artem Milevsky: 'Shout for us as loud as possible and we’ll pay off with our performance and a win!'"
  5. EuroSport: "Бердыев: «У нас нет опыта, зато есть настрой»"
  6. "Semak strikes oust PSG". UEFA. 7 December 2004. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  7. Семак – в «Зените»!
  8. "Luciano Spalletti sacked as Zenit St Petersburg manager". The Guardian. Reuters. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  9. Сергей Семак назначен на пост главного тренера Футбольного клуба «Уфа» (in Russian). FC Ufa. 30 December 2016.
  10. Сергей Семак назначен главным тренером "Зенита" (in Russian). FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. 29 May 2018.
  11. "Zenit crowned 2019/20 RPL champions". Russian Premier League. 5 July 2020.
  12. "Late Dzyuba penalty seals Russian Cup for Zenit". Russian Premier League. 25 July 2020.
  13. "Sensational Zenit storm to the title with utterly dominant thrashing". Russian Premier League. 2 May 2021.
  14. "«Зенит» – восьмикратный чемпион Тинькофф РПЛ!" [Zenit is the eight-times winner of Tinkoff RPL] (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 30 April 2022.
  15. ""Зенит" обеспечил 5-е чемпионство подряд благодаря победе над "Спартаком"" [Zenit secured 5th title in a row thanks to a win over Spartak]. Russian Premier League. 7 May 2023.
  16. "Semak, Sergei". National Football Teams. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  17. "Zenit crowned 2019/20 RPL champions". Russian Premier League. 5 July 2020.
  18. "«Зенит» – восьмикратный чемпион Тинькофф РПЛ!" [Zenit is the eight-times winner of Tinkoff RPL] (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 30 April 2022.
  19. ""Зенит" обыграл "Локомотив" и стал пятикратным победителем Олимп-Суперкубка России" (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 7 August 2020.
  20. ""Зенит" обыграл "Локомотив" в Калининграде и завоевал шестой Суперкубок России" (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 17 July 2021.
  21. "2023 Russian Super Cup game report" (in Russian). Russian Football Union. 15 July 2023.
  22. "All individual award winners for RPL 2020/21 season". Russian Premier League. 26 May 2021.
  23. "Сергей Семак – лучший тренер Тинькофф РПЛ сезона 2021/22" (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 16 June 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  24. "ПРОМЕС, СЕМАК, ЮСУПОВ – ЛУЧШИЕ В АВГУСТЕ!" [Promes, Semak and Yusupov - best of August!] (in Russian). Russian Premier League. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Russia national football team captain
2008–2009
Succeeded by
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