Igor Akinfeev

Club

CSKA Moscow

Position

Goalkeeper

Nationality

Russia

Date of birth

1986-04-08

Birthplace

Vidnoe, Moskau Oblast, UdSSR

Height

186 cm

Weight

172 lbs

Shirt number

35

Signing / transfer fee

Youth

Igor Vladimirovich Akinfeev (Russian: Игорь Владимирович Акинфеев, tr. Igor' Vladimirovich Akinfeyev, IPA: ; born 8 April 1986) is a Russian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for and captains Russian club CSKA Moscow.

He has spent his entire career at CSKA, making more than 700 official appearances. He has won six Russian Premier League titles and six Russian Cups, as well as the UEFA Cup in 2005. He is a record holder for most games played in the Russian top-level league at 531 (as of 13 November 2022).

A full international for Russia between 2004 and 2018, he earned 111 caps and was selected in their squads for four UEFA European Championships and two FIFA World Cups. He was named captain of Russia in March 2017, after the retirement of his predecessor Vasili Berezutski.

Akinfeev is a member of the Lev Yashin Club and has kept more clean sheets in Russian football than any other goalkeeper.

Akinfeev made his professional debut for CSKA Moscow at the age of 16, saving a penalty kick and keeping a clean sheet in a 2–0 win over FC Krylia Sovetov Samara. He broke into the starting line-up at the age of 17 in 2003, winning the club's first Russian Premier League in the same season. In 2005, CSKA won a treble of the Russian Premier League Russian Cup and UEFA Cup. During this season, Akinfeev played in all 19 of CSKA's European matches, including the 2005 UEFA Cup Final, which the Army Men won 3–1 against Sporting CP at their opponents' Estádio José Alvalade. In 2006, he won a third Russian league title and second Russian Cup with CSKA and was awarded the Zvezda trophy, for the year's best football player from the former Soviet Union.

In the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League, Akinfeev went 362 minutes without conceding a goal until Ricardo Quaresma scored past him for FC Porto in his team's fifth group match. This began a record breaking run of 43 consecutive matches without keeping a clean sheet in the Champions League. His Champions League run without a clean sheet finally ended 11 years later, when CSKA Moscow beat AEK Athens 2–0 away in the qualifying stages of the Champions League on 25 July 2017; prior to the match, Akinfeev's last clean sheet in the Champions League had come against Arsenal in November 2006.

In May 2007, Akinfeev sustained a knee injury which kept him out for the remainder of the 2007 Russian Premier League season. CSKA ended the season third in the league behind city rivals Spartak Moscow and champions Zen