Aleksandr Kokorin

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Kokorin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Коко́рин, pronounced [ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ kɐˈkorʲɪn]; born 19 March 1991) is a Russian footballer who plays for Sochi on loan from Zenit Saint Petersburg as a forward.

This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Aleksandrovich and the family name is Kokorin.
Aleksandr Kokorin
Kokorin with Zenit in 2020
Personal information
Full name Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Kokorin
Date of birth (1991-03-19) 19 March 1991
Place of birth Valuyki, Soviet Union
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position(s) Forward / Winger
Club information
Current team
 Sochi
Number 91
Youth career
2000–2008 Lokomotiv Moscow
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008–2013 Dynamo Moscow 114 (19)
2013 Anzhi Makhachkala 0 (0)
2013–2016 Dynamo Moscow 57 (22)
2016–2019 Zenit Saint Petersburg 62 (17)
2020– Zenit Saint Petersburg 0 (0)
2020– → Sochi (loan) 6 (6)
National team‡
2008 Russia U-17 10 (9)
2010 Russia U-19 3 (2)
2009–2011 Russia U-21 17 (8)
2011–2017 Russia 48 (12)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 June 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 November 2017

He had his breakthrough season in 2012–13, which led to Dynamo Moscow inserting a €19 million release clause into his contract. A full international since 2011, Kokorin has gained over 45 caps and was named in the Russian squads for Euro 2012, 2014 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2016. On 8 May 2019, he was convicted in court of "intended infliction of minor harm to health from molester motives".[1] He was released on 17 September 2019.[2]

Club career
Kokorin with Dynamo Moscow in 2012

He made his debut for the senior FC Dynamo Moscow team on 4 October 2008 – Dynamo was decimated by injuries and was losing to FC Saturn Moscow Oblast 0-1 at the halftime when Kokorin came on as a substitute. With 18 minutes to go Kokorin scored an equalizer (Dynamo went on to win 2-1). He became the youngest player to score a goal for Dynamo in the Russian Premier League (17 years 199 days). He scored a winning goal in a 1-0 victory over FC Lokomotiv Moscow in his second game as a starter on 3 November 2008.

On 29 July 2009, he scored the winning goal in a 1–0 win against Celtic F.C. in the first leg of their third qualifying round tie in the UEFA Champions League in Glasgow.[3]

At the end of the 2012-13 season he entered the Top 33 players list as the No. 1 Left Striker.[4]

On 4 July 2013, Kokorin agreed personal terms with Anzhi Makhachkala after the club had triggered his €19 million release clause.[5] He was officially signed by Anzhi and registered with the league as an Anzhi player. However, before he could play a single official game for Anzhi (he was out of commission due to injury at the time of his signing), on 6 August, following restructuring of Anzhi at business level, the whole squad was put up for sale, including new signing Kokorin. The next day, Yuri Zhirkov, Igor Denisov and Kokorin were all transferred to Dynamo for an undisclosed fee.

Zenit Saint Petersburg

On 30 January 2016, he moved from Dynamo to FC Zenit Saint Petersburg.[6]

On 9 April 2016, Kokorin scored his first goal for Zenit in a game against FC Amkar Perm.

According to his lawyer Yuri Padalko, following his release from penal colony on 17 September 2019, he signed a new contract with Zenit until the end of the 2019–20 season.[2]

Sochi

On 21 January 2020, Russian Premier League club PFC Sochi announced that Kokorin will join them on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season.[7] He initially refused to report and was moved to Zenit-2. He eventually agreed to the loan and it was confirmed by Zenit on 17 February 2020.[8]

On 19 June 2020, Kokorin scored a hat-trick in the first match back following the suspension of the Premier League due to COVID-19 pandemic. The match was a notable 10–1 victory over FC Rostov.[9] Rostov were forced to play their youth side though after their senior and reserve sides, 43 players in total, were forced to quarantine.[10]

International career
Kokorin with the Russia national team in 2012

Kokorin was a part of the Russia U-21 side that was competing in the 2011 European Under-21 Championship qualification.[11] Kokorin was called up to the Russia national football team for a friendly against Greece in November 2011 and made his national team debut in that game on the 11th, a 1–1 draw in Piraeus. He played two games at UEFA Euro 2012 as Russia failed to pass the group stages.[12]

He scored his first national team goal on 11 September 2012 in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Israel, which finished as a 4–0 victory at the Ramat Gan Stadium.[13]

On 2 June 2014, he was included in Russia's 2014 FIFA World Cup squad.[14] He scored Russia's goal in their 1–1 final group match draw with Algeria, as the team was knocked out by the North African side.[15]

Kokorin scored three times in Russia's successful UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying, concluding on 12 October 2015 with a penalty in their last game, a 2–0 win over Montenegro at the Otkrytie Arena which sealed Russia's place at the expense of Sweden.[16] He was selected in Russia's squad for Euro 2016, playing in all three matches as Russia finished bottom of the group.

On 15 March 2018, he suffered an ACL tear in an Europa League game against RB Leipzig and missed the 2018 FIFA World Cup as a result.[17]

Personal life

On 7 October 2018, Kokorin and Krasnodar midfielder Pavel Mamayev assaulted a Russian government official in a restaurant. The football players struck the official with a chair and used racial slurs. Kokorin and Mamayev were caught on camera hitting the official in a cafe in Moscow, according to Gazeta. It quotes a Russian lawyer saying that a conviction such as this would carry a maximum sentence of five years.[18] Hours before that incident, Mamayev, Kokorin and other young people were involved in an altercation with the driver of a Channel One show presenter; he received brain damage, nose fracture and face contusions after numerous punches.[19] Kokorin was apprehended for two months.[20] Kokorin remained in prison until his trial which began on 9 April 2019.[21] On 8 May 2019, he was sentenced to 1-year-6-month in penal colony.[1] Considering the time he spent in pre-trial detention, the latest possible date for his release from custody was considered to be 14 December 2019. He was paroled on 17 September 2019.[2]

Career statistics

Club
As of 19 June 2020
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Dynamo Moscow 2008 7200——72
2009 2423041—313
2010 24020——260
2011–12 37542——417
2012–13 22101033—2613
2013–14 221010——2310
2014–15 27810112—3910
2015–16 8421——105
Total171411431860020350
Zenit Saint Petersburg 2015–16 1022120—143
2016–17 2752184103810
2017–18 221000139—3519
2018–19 301111—52
Total6217532414109234
Sochi (loan) 2019–20 5600——56
Career Total 2386419642201030090

International goals
Russia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Kokorin goal.[22]
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 11 September 2012Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel9 Israel2–04–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 6 September 2013Kazan Arena, Kazan, Russia14 Luxembourg1–04–1
3 2–0
4 10 September 2013Petrovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia15 Israel2–03–1
5 5 March 2014Kuban Stadium, Krasnodar, Russia19 Armenia1–02–0Friendly
6 26 June 2014Arena da Baixada, Curitiba, Brazil25 Algeria1–01–12014 FIFA World Cup
7 9 October 2014Friends Arena, Solna, Sweden27 Sweden1–01–1UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
8 7 June 2015Arena Khimki, Khimki, Russia31 Belarus1–04–2Friendly
9 8 September 2015Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein34 Liechtenstein2–07–0UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
10 12 October 2015Otkrytiye Arena, Moscow, Russia36 Montenegro2–02–0
11 29 March 2016Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France37 France1–22–4Friendly
12 1 June 2016Tivoli-Neu, Innsbruck, Austria38 Czech Republic1–01–2

Honours

Zenit Saint Petersburg

References
  1. "Russian football stars Kokorin, Mamayev sentenced to imprisonment". RAPSI. 8 May 2019.
  2. "Адвокат: Кокорин заключил новый контракт с "Зенитом"" [Lawyer: Kokorin signed a new contract with Zenit] (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 17 September 2019.
  3. Grahame, Ewing (29 July 2009). "Celtic 0 Dynamo Moscow 1: match report". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 1 August 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  4. http://news.sport-express.ru/2013-06-11/592830/
  5. "Anzhi Makhachkala trigger €19m Aleksandr Kokorin clause". www.premier-football-news.net. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  6. Юрий Жирков и Александр Кокорин присоединились к «Зениту» (in Russian). FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. 30 January 2016.
  7. "Александр Кокорин присоединится к «Сочи»" (in Russian). PFC Sochi. 21 January 2020.
  8. "Александр Кокорин продолжит сезон в «Сочи»" (in Russian). FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. 17 February 2020.
  9. "Rostov keeper sets new record despite 10-1 loss as youngsters forced to play while first team are quarantined". Goal. 20 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  10. "A Russian football team lost a key match 10-1 after Covid-19 forced it to field youth team". CNN. 22 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  11. "Russian Football Union – News" (in Russian). Russian Football Union. Archived from the original on 28 October 2009. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
  12. "Advocaat announced the finalized Euro Squad" (in Russian). 25 July 2012.
  13. "Russia leave Israel standing". UEFA. 11 September 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  14. Состав национальной сборной России на ЧМ-2014 (in Russian). Russian Football Union. 2 June 2014.
  15. "Algeria 1-1 Russia". BBC. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  16. Van Poortvliet, Richard (12 October 2015). "Russia qualify for EURO by defeating Montenegro". UEFA. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  17. "Alexander Kokorin suffered a cruciate ligament injury against RB Leipzig". FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. 16 March 2018.
  18. "Russia internationals Aleksandr Kokorin & Pavel Mamaev should face 'severe punishment'". bbc.co.uk. BBC Sport. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  19. РЕН ТВ опубликовал новое видео избиения водителя телеведущей Кокориным и Мамаевым
  20. Александр Кокорин арестован на два месяца
  21. Мамаев и Кокорин отрицают преступный сговор (in Russian). RAPSI. 9 April 2019.
  22. Aleksandr Kokorin at Soccerway
  23. "Zenit is the Russian Premier League champion" (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 4 May 2019.
  24. "20 Zenit players became Russian champions for the first time" (in Russian). FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. 4 May 2019.
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