| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Александр Владимирович Филимонов | ||
| Date of birth | 15 October 1973 | ||
| Place of birth | Yoshkar-Ola, USSR | ||
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Lokomotiv Moscow (beach soccer) | ||
| Number | 24 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| ?–1990 | Burevestnik Yoshkar-Ola | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1990 | FC Stal Cheboksary | 2 | (0) |
| 1991 | FC Druzhba Yoshkar-Ola | 38 | (1) |
| 1992–1993 | FC Fakel Voronezh | 67 | (0) |
| 1994–1995 | FC Tekstilshchik Kamyshin | 53 | (0) |
| 1996–2001 | FC Spartak Moscow | 147 | (0) |
| 2001 | FC Dynamo Kyiv | 4 | (0) |
| 2002–2003 | FC Uralan Elista | 39 | (0) |
| 2004–2006 | FC Moscow | 26 | (0) |
| 2007–2008 | Nea Salamis FC | 12 | (0) |
| 2008 | FC Kuban Krasnodar | 16 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | Lokomotiv Tashkent | 23 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 1998–2002 | Russia | 16 | (0) |
| 2011– | Russia (beach soccer) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:34, 29 July 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
Aleksandr Vladimirovich Filimonov (Russian: Алекса́ндр Влади́мирович Филимо́нов; born 15 October 1973 in Yoshkar-Ola) is a retired association football goalkeeper who currently plays for the beach soccer club Lokomotiv Moscow and the Russia national beach soccer team, with which he won the 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
He is best known for playing for Spartak Moscow and the Russia national football team, and the accidental goal he conceded in the Euro 2000 qualifying playoffs from Andriy Shevchenko.
Contents |
Born in Yoshkar-Ola, Filimonov spent all his early years in another locations of the USSR. His father was a football coach so Aleksandr had been keen on football since he was a child. He chose to be a goalkeeper.
After finishing Burevestnik football academy in Yoshkar-Ola, in summer 1990 he moved to his first adult football team. It was FC Stal Cheboksary from the Soviet Second League B. Filimonov was only seventeen so he found himself unable to made more than two appearances during the season. As winter begin, he returned to Yoshkar-Ola and joined local team FC Druzhba Yoshkar-Ola to take part in the 1991 Soviet Second League B tournament. That year, Filimonov established himself as the main goalkeeper for his new team, and was included in the starting line up thirty eight times and even scored one goal (the only goal in his adult career).
As the 1991 season neared its end, the same thing happened with the seventy-year history of the USSR. At the beginning of 1992 Filimonov joined Fakel Voronezh which unexpectedly became a Russian Premier League participant right after USSR First Division mid-table obscurity. In the 1991 season, Filimonov instantly become an undisputed first team player in Fakel and one of their best playing squad. Despite his good goalkeeping Fakel were relegated anyway. Filimonov spent another season with Fakel in the Russian First League. Then he moved to Premiere League top-half team Textilschik Kamyshin, after having twenty clean sheets during thirty seven games in 1993 and seventy one appearances for Fakel in the previous two years.
As with previous clubs, Filimonov found no difficulty in becoming number one in the team. In 1994 Filimonov played his first European club tournament game in the UEFA Cup with Textilschik, and he performed well against FC Nantes and Bekescsaba. During two Textilschik seasons Filimonov became one of the most promising Russian keepers. On 6 June 1995 he debuted for the Russian U23 national team against San Marino and earned three U23 caps in Autumn 1995.
In 1996 several things happened at the same time to give Filimonov a chance to test himself at the best level Russian football had in the 1990s. His contract with Textilschik came to an end, and the team from Kamyshin couldn't give him an extension due to their financial situation. At the same time, Spartak Moscow was looking for a new goalkeeper after their experienced goalie Stanislav Cherchesov left them for FC Wacker Innsbruck. Spartak had already signed Ruslan Nigmatullin but were looking for another keeper to increase their squad's depth.
At the beginning of the 1996 season Filimonov found that he had only a place on the substitute's bench as he wasn't signed for the UEFA Champions League so Nigmatullin became the team keeper. But during the season Filimonov become the first team keeper again (as it was with Druzhba, Fakel and Textilschik). The main reason for Georgi Yartsev replacing Nigmatullin with Filimonov was the difference in their consistency. While Nigmatullin couldn't show all of his best every game during the season, that was no problem for Filimonov to do.
Thereafter, Filimonov was a permanent first XI player with Spartak until the summer of 2001. He won 6 Russian Premier League titles with Spartak, took part in numerous Champions League games and finally become a Russia national football team player.
Filimonov gained his first cap for Russia on 25 March 1998[1] in a friendly match with France. Playing 4 friendly games in 1998, he was not considered the main national keeper while Boris Ignatyev and Anatoly Byshovets managed the team. Things had changed when his club manager Oleg Romantsev from Spartak Moscow came to the national team. Filimonov was the keeper of the Russian squad during the Euro 2000 qualifying round, where the team had an impressive series, including a 3–2 victory against France at Stade de France on June 5, 1999.
The key moment and turning point of Filimonov's whole career was the game against Ukraine on 9 October 1999. 3 points gained in this game would have made Russia qualify for the Euro 2000. This fact, mixed with a post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine rivalry, made this clash into the Match Of Year. That was the only time during last 15 years that Luzhniki Stadium was at its full capacity. Even people who never knew what football is watched the game on TV. The only thing they needed was the win over Ukraine.
During the game the Russian team dominated on the field, but several moments were wasted. It was the 75th minute already when Russia scored at last with Valery Karpin's free kick. If score had remained that way until the end of the game, Russia would have qualified for Euro 2000, leaving Ukraine behind.
On 88th minute Ukraine achieved a free kick possibility far from the goal at the left edge of the field. Andriy Shevchenko stepped to the ball and drifts to the penalty area. As Shevchenko definitely did not mean to place a shot on the goal, it went right at the hands of Filimonov because of poor crossing. Unfortunately for Filimonov, he wasn't ready to take this shot and the Ukrainian team found themselves scoring an accidental goal after a moment of confusion.
Not surprisingly, Filimonov became a common Russian anti-hero at the moment. Despite of all the encouragement his team-mates, coaches and other football-related staff tried to give him, Filimonov seems not to be the goalie he was before that game.
Aleksandr achieved another 4 caps for Russia after 1999 but only in friendlies. He never was the Russian team keeper in any official game anymore.
He was the sub keeper of the Russian team for the World Cup 2002 but didn't made an appearance while his old Spartak Moscow team placed fellow Ruslan Nigmatullin (moved to Lokomotiv Moscow and then to Hellas Verona after Spartak) was selected to play for all 3 matches.
Filimonov remained Spartak's keeper until August 2001. He was a part of the team that had beaten Arsenal 4 goals to 1 and qualified for the Champions League second round in 2000 but it was obvious that his best days were over. He couldn't overcome the consequences of the goal he conceded in 1999, so it was no surprise when Maksym Levytsky was able to gain his place in Spartak.
During the summer of 2001 there were different rumours about Filimonov moving from Spartak but the actual transfer become even more exciting than any fiction writer could imagine. Filimonov was transferred out to Dynamo Kiev while they lost Oleksandr Shovkovsky to a serious injury.
So Filimonov took a chance to prove to everyone (or maybe to himself) that he was still the man he was in 1999. Unfortunately, he lost it. His level of playing for Dynamo Kiev was found unsatisfiable, and at the end of 2001 he became a substitute, losing his place on the field to Vitali Reva. Immediately after the contract ended, he moved to Uralan Elista.
After spending two seasons with Uralan, Aleksandr returned to Moscow. He was signed by FC Moscow and defended their goal during the first half of the 2004 season. However, in 2005 Filimonov became only the third Moskva's goalkeeper to achieve no appearance during a season.
In January 2007 Filimonov joined Cyprus side Nea Salamina. Later, he played for Kuban Krasnodar in Russia and Lokomotiv Tashkent in Uzbekistan.
In 2009 he was part of the Russia squad that won the 2009 Legends Cup.
Having retired from football in 2011, Filimonov switched to beach soccer and joined Lokomotiv Moscow. He became the champion of Russia and the Russian Super Cup holder, and received an invitation to the national team, winning the 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup with the team.
|
|
|||||||