Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg 6(foreign players)+5 and they want to make it 5+6 next year. In division 1 if my memory serves me correctly only 3 foreign allowed. Zenit reserve team became a champions last year but only 1 player from reserve team was given a chance to play preseason games. They want to find a "starlet". They think some of the older reserve players like Starikov - tweener's, too "old" to make a jump etc.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg He has no caps for any youth US nt's and he can get russian citizenship easily. I'm sure he was told already that he need russian passport if he want to be a pro. Don't get me wrong some teams in RPL has foreign prospects playing in reserve team but these prospects came with hype and price tag.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg Are his parents Russians (not Ukrainians or Belorussians)? Where was he born? If he was born in Soviet Union to parents living in RSFSR, he has to have Russian citizenship automatically, when then he doesn't have it? I'm not familiar with current Russian immigration/naturalization laws, but his US citizenship could be an obstacle?
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg Apparently born in Odessa in the (former) Soviet Union, https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=17163424&postcount=14
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg Doesn't the RPL have a different "foreigner" rule for the CIS citizens?
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg Hi is not CIS citizen either, and Ukraine has much stricter rules on dual citizenship than Mother Russia.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg If he was born in Odessa, wouldn't he be a Ukrainian citizen by birthright?
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg He has US citizenship now, and AFAIK Ukraine doesn't allow dual.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg Wasn't that a problem with some Ukrainian player in Belgium? He took a Belgian passport or something in order to make it easier to move around Europe but then to his surprise the Ukrainian government revoked his citizenship.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg Off a few Google queries, apparently the Ukrainians will give citizenship to those born on its territory .. but will revoke it if someone attains a citizenship of another nation. I assume this is all part of the Ukraine-Russia politics but Zhenya is probably SOL for rght now.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg RPL want to redo their own rules right now, so that now anybody who can't play for Russian NT is foreign player... unless (very funny invention) he is willing to write a letter where he refuse to ever play for his NT and send it to his football federation.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg Why...then the trickle of South Americans will dry up. Do they really want to make their league homogeneous? I mean there is a thin line between protecting your national team and hurting them by not exposing them to different styles of play.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg Now, that sounds like Russia I know and ... not so love. Of course, FIFA would probably ban this practice, if it's ever implemented.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg Starikov was loaned to FC Tom' for a year. http://www.sports.ru/football/69483678.html Awesome opportunity for Starikov to prove his worth at RPL level. Valeri Nepomniachi (current Tom' manager) is a well-respected coach with a lot of experience from all over the world. He is a very soft (in a good way) "player's" coach. Man Starikov clearly did a hell of job in his time with Zenit reserve team, cuz a lot of older players with better resume and "right" passport from Zenit and other teams reserves still don't have any interest even from 1 division let alone RPL sides.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg Very exciting development. I hope we can see Eugene in the RPL, especially since they will have 2 games/week shown on ESPN360. Here's the official announcement from Zenit website.http://www.fc-zenit.ru/main/news/51631.html
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg Fantastic news. It really is. I've tried, best I can, to keep up to date with his Zenit adventure. Something about Eugene's story sparked my interest. It's true he played exceptionally well for their reserves. He didn't play much in the beginning but eventually he played, played well, and bagged goals. I don't know too much about FC Tom Tomsk but do know they had a top 10 finish last season. I also believe Omsk, the city, is in Siberia and might be the most eastern club in the RPL. Nonetheless, I think the is a great opportunity for Eugene. Tom Tomsk appears to have a youngish squad and in need of a little firepower. Hopefully Eugene can help.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg It's actually Tomsk. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomsk And if Luch Energia Vladivostok is still in the RPL then it is the most Eastern club in the RPL. However, Tomsk is pretty far out. Thair website roster only lists three players as forwards, though the other guy on loan from Zenit, Kornilenko, is an attacker too. And he's a first-teamer.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg Seriously? I mean, I've never seen him on any youth teams... or really even mentioned anywhere but here.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg I don't know if he has been contacted by the USSF for anything, but he is a US citizen and is likely to play i n the RPL (~8th best league in Europe) as a 21 year old.
Re: Eugene Starikov at Zenit St Petersburg Which is why our youth system allows so many to slip underneath the cracks.