 Eremenko with Rostov in 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Roman Alekseyevich Eremenko | ||
| Date of birth | (1987-03-19)19 March 1987 (age 38) | ||
| Place of birth | Moscow, Russia | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Position | Attacking midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Gnistan | ||
| Number | 13 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1994–1997 | Jaro | ||
| 1998 | Tromsø IL | ||
| 1999–2003 | HJK | ||
| 2003 | Jokerit | ||
| 2003–2004 | Jaro | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2003–2005 | JBK | ||
| 2004–2005 | Jaro | 19 | (3) |
| 2004 | →GBK (loan) | 3 | (0) |
| 2005–2009 | Udinese | 13 | (0) |
| 2007 | →Siena (loan) | 11 | (0) |
| 2008–2009 | →Dynamo Kyiv (loan) | 19 | (1) |
| 2009–2011 | Dynamo Kyiv | 58 | (4) |
| 2011–2014 | Rubin Kazan | 73 | (11) |
| 2014–2017 | CSKA Moscow | 59 | (19) |
| 2018 | Spartak Moscow | 4 | (0) |
| 2019–2021 | Rostov | 44 | (9) |
| 2022 | HIFK | 11 | (2) |
| 2023 | Honka | 21 | (3) |
| 2024– | Gnistan | 39 | (4) |
| International career‡ | |||
| Finland U17 | 6 | (3) | |
| Finland U19 | 5 | (0) | |
| 2006–2008 | Finland U21 | 5 | (0) |
| 2007– | Finland | 73 | (5) |
Medal record | |||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 19 November 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 5 September 2016 | |||
Roman Alekseyevich Eremenko (Russian:Роман Алексеевич Ерёменко; born 19 March 1987) is a professionalfootballer who plays as anattacking midfielder forVeikkausliiga clubIF Gnistan.[1] Born in Russia, he represents Finland at international level.
Eremenko is best known for his time atDynamo Kyiv, winning theUkrainian Premier League title in 2009, and playing in theChampions League andEuropa League. He served a two-year ban forcocaine use from October 2016 to October 2018.
Prior to his ban, Eremenko also played regularly for theFinland national team.[2] He made his international debut in June 2007 at the age of 20, having moved to Finland from Russia as a child.
Eremenko started to play football in a youth sector ofFF Jaro inPietarsaari,Finland, in 1994. He would also play in the youth sectors ofTromsø IL in Norway andHJK Helsinki, while his fatherAlexei Eremenko Sr. was playing professionally for the first teams, before they returned to Pietarsaari and Jaro in 2003.
Eremenko's career on senior level started when he made hisVeikkausliiga debut for Jaro in 2004 at the age of 17, when head coachHannu Touru used him as a substitute in a match againstMYPA on 29 June 2004. In that match Eremenko appeared on the pitch at the same time with his father, who played for the whole match as a midfielder. Eremenko scored his first goal on senior level on 18 September 2004 in a match againstFC Lahti. He made six appearances for Jaro in his first season. During season 2004 he was also loaned toKakkonen clubJakobstads BK and toFinnish First Division clubGBK Kokkola.[3] He made his break through in Jaro during season 2005 when he became a regular in the starting eleven. He gained 13 caps and was in the starting line-up 10 times. In those 13 matches he scored two goals.
In the summer of 2005, Eremenko signed a five-year deal withUdinese for a transfer fee of €180,000.[4] He made hisSerie A debut on the first day of the2006–07 season againstMessina. He became the fourth Finnish footballer afterMika Aaltonen,Mika Lehkosuo and his brotherAlexei Eremenko Jr to make an appearance in aSerie A match.[5] He was loaned toA.C. Siena on 31 January 2007, where he played 11 games. During the summer of 2007, he returned to Udinese.
In October 2007, Eremenko,Andrea Dossena,Cristián Zapata, andSimone Pepe were awarded new contracts until June 2012.[6]
In August 2008, he was loaned toFC Dynamo Kyiv, until 31 May 2009. On 22 May 2009, he signed permanently with Dynamo Kyiv until 2014, for a €5 million fee. During his three years at Dynamo, Eremenko established himself as one of the leaders of the team.
Eremenko debuted in theChampions League on 17 September 2008, in a home game againstArsenal FC. That week, he also scored his first goal in theUkrainian Premier League, netting a pass fromTiberiu Ghioane on the 8th minute of a game againstChornomorets Odesa. Eremenko scored his first goal in the Champions League on 10 December 2008 onFenerbahçe.
During the 2009–10 season, he took part in a total of 35 official matches for Dynamo, 26 of which were in the Ukrainian championship, and scored 1 goal.
In the 2010–11 season, besides continuing his successful performance for Dynamo domestically, Eremenko became the top assistant of theEuropa League.
After a total of three years of playing for Dynamo, Eremenko played in a total of 127 official games, and scored seven goals. He also won the2008–09 Ukrainian Premier League, and theUkrainian Super Cups in 2009 and 2011.
In the last stages of the summer transfer window in 2011, Eremenko signed with Russian clubRubin Kazan for a reported fee of €13 million, which is the highest transfer fee ever paid for a Finnish player. His older brotherAlexei also signed a contract with Rubin Kazan in August 2011.[7] On 26 November, Roman scored his first goal for Rubin, in a 2–0 home victory overDynamo Moscow.
On 9 May 2012, he scored the game's only goal inthe Russian Cup final.
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After leaving Rubin Kazan in the summer of 2014, Eremenko signed a four-year contract withPFC CSKA Moscow on 25 August 2014, for a €6 million transfer fee.[8] He was selected as the Best Player of October and December 2014 and March 2015 in the Russian Football Premier League.[9][10][11] He won the Russian Football Premier League MVP of the season 2014–15 award.[12]
On 6 October 2016,Finland announced that Eremenko had been handed a 30-day ban from football byUEFA.[13] On 18 November 2016, UEFA announced that Roman had been handed a two-year ban from UEFA competitions due to testing positive for cocaine.[14] In December 2016, FIFA extended Eremenko's ban to all football competitions.[15] His appeal was rejected by UEFA and the ban was upheld on 6 March 2017.[16]
On 10 August 2018, Eremenko signed withSpartak Moscow, joining his younger brotherSergei at the team. His fatherAlexei Eremenko Sr. also played for Spartak.[17] His disqualification expired on 6 October 2018 and he made his debut on 7 October againstYenisey Krasnoyarsk. Spartak released him from his contract on 8 January 2019.[18]
On 18 January 2019,Rostov announced the signing of Eremenko on a 2.5-year contract.[19] Rostov (called FC Rostselmash at the time) was the first club of Roman's father,Alexei Eremenko Sr. In his third game for Rostov on 16 March 2019, he scored twice in the last 10 minutes to give his club a 2–0 away victory overRubin Kazan.[20]
On 14 June 2019, Rostov announced that Eremenko had extended his contract with the club for four years.[21] On 23 February 2021, Eremenko left Rostov by mutual consent, partly due toCOVID-19 pandemic.[22]
After a one-and-a-half-year hiatus from football, on 28 July 2022, Eremenko returned to Finnish football and joinedVeikkausliiga clubHIFK for the rest of the2022 season, and reunited with the former national team head coachMixu Paatelainen.[23]
On 4 May 2023, Eremenko signed withHonka for the2023 Veikkausliiga season.[24] He helped the club to reach the2023 Finnish Cup final.
On 1 May 2023, Eremenko signed with newly promotedGnistan for theirmaiden season in top-tier Veikkausliiga.[1] Eremenko made 19 appearances and scored two goals, and helped the team to finish 8th in the league and renew their league spot for the 2025.[25] In January 2025, Eremenko was set to sign with Scottish clubSt Johnstone, coached bySimo Valakari, but was denied a work permit and the deal collapsed.[26] Later in February he renewed his contract with Gnistan.[27]
Eremenko made his international debut in theFinland national team atHelsinki Olympic Stadium on 6 June 2007 in aUEFA Euro 2008 qualification match againstBelgium whenRoy Hodgson chose him to the starting line up. The game was interrupted for six minutes after aEurasian eagle-owl intruded the playing pitch. This incident earned the Finland team their current nickname, The Eagle Owls.[28] Eremenko remained as a regular member for Finland until his doping ban in 2016 and he was a key player in Finland's qualification campaigns for2010 FIFA World Cup,UEFA Euro 2012,2014 FIFA World Cup andUEFA Euro 2016. He scored his first goal for Finland frompenalty spot on 3 March 2010 in afriendly match againstMalta.
On 30 May 2025, Eremenko was called-up to the Finland national team, after a nine-year absence, for the World Cup qualifying matches against Netherlands and Poland.[29]
Roman Eremenko is married to Marika Eremenko and has three children.[30] Eremenko moved to Finland with his family at the age of three when his father, formerFC Dynamo Moscow andFC Spartak Moscow playerAlexei Eremenko Sr., came to play in Finland withFF Jaro. He was granted Finnish citizenship in 2003, but still holds a Russian passport as well, Eremenko is the younger brother ofAlexei Eremenko Jr and the older brother ofSergei Eremenko.[31] His father took over as manager in Jaro in August 2009.
In 2016, he was suspended for two years because ofdoping after failing a doping test. He tested positive forcocaine based on a sample done byUEFA.[32] In late 2023, Eremenko admitted in Finnish media that he was addicted to cocaine at the time when he got caught in 2016.[33][34]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Jaro | 2004 | Veikkausliiga | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 6 | 1 | ||
| 2005 | Veikkausliiga | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 13 | 2 | |||
| Total | 19 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 3 | ||
| GBK (loan) | 2004 | Ykkönen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 3 | 0 | ||
| Udinese | 2005–06 | Serie A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2006–07 | Serie A | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 9 | 0 | |||
| 2007–08 | Serie A | 7 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – | 11 | 0 | |||
| Total | 13 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | ||
| Siena (loan) | 2006–07 | Serie A | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 11 | 0 | ||
| Dynamo Kyiv (loan) | 2008–09 | Ukrainian Premier League | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7[b] | 1 | – | 26 | 2 | |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 2009–10 | Ukrainian Premier League | 26 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6[c] | 0 | 1[d] | 0 | 36 | 1 |
| 2010–11 | Ukrainian Premier League | 26 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 16[e] | 1 | – | 45 | 4 | ||
| 2011–12 | Ukrainian Premier League | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4[e] | 0 | 1[d] | 0 | 12 | 0 | |
| Total | 58 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 93 | 5 | ||
| Rubin Kazan | 2011–12 | Russian Premier League | 21 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 25 | 3 | |
| 2012–13 | Russian Premier League | 25 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 10[f] | 0 | 1[g] | 0 | 37 | 6 | |
| 2013–14 | Russian Premier League | 27 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11[f] | 5 | – | 39 | 8 | ||
| Total | 73 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 22 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 103 | 17 | ||
| CSKA Moscow | 2014–15 | Russian Premier League | 25 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 6[c] | 0 | – | 33 | 13 | |
| 2015–16 | Russian Premier League | 25 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7[c] | 0 | – | 33 | 3 | ||
| 2016–17 | Russian Premier League | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2[c] | 1 | 1[g] | 0 | 11 | 4 | |
| Total | 59 | 19 | 4 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 78 | 20 | ||
| Spartak Moscow | 2018–19 | Russian Premier League | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[f] | 0 | – | 7 | 0 | |
| Rostov | 2018–19 | Russian Premier League | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 11 | 4 | ||
| 2019–20 | Russian Premier League | 19 | 5 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 19 | 5 | |||
| 2020–21 | Russian Premier League | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1[f] | 0 | – | 18 | 1 | ||
| Total | 44 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 10 | ||
| HIFK | 2022 | Veikkausliiga | 11 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 | |
| Honka | 2023 | Veikkausliiga | 21 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2[h] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 4 |
| Gnistan | 2024 | Veikkausliiga | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 19 | 2 | |
| 2025 | Veikkausliiga | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | ||
| Total | 23 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 3 | ||
| Career total | 358 | 55 | 35 | 3 | 75 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 466 | 63 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finland | 2007 | 6 | 0 |
| 2008 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 8 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 6 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 14 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 8 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2016 | 5 | 0 | |
| Total | 73 | 5 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 March 2010 | Ta'Qali, Malta |  Malta | 1–1 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 2 | 26 May 2012 | Salzburg, Austria |  Turkey | 1–0 | 3–2 | Friendly |
| 3 | 10 September 2013 | Tbilisi, Georgia |  Georgia | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 4 | 5 March 2014 | Győr, Hungary |  Hungary | 2–1 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 5 | 7 September 2014 | Thorshavn, Faroe Islands |  Faroe Islands | 3–1 | 3–1 | UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying |
Dynamo Kyiv
Rubin Kazan
CSKA Moscow
Honka
Individual
