 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Aleksandr Vladimirovich Filimonov | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1973-10-15)15 October 1973 (age 51) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Yoshkar-Ola,USSR | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| –1990 | Burevestnik Yoshkar-Ola | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1990 | Stal Cheboksary | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1991 | Druzhba Yoshkar-Ola | 38 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1992–1993 | Fakel Voronezh | 67 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1994–1995 | Tekstilshchik Kamyshin | 53 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1996–2001 | Spartak Moscow | 147 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1996–2000 | →Spartak-2 Moscow | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2001 | Dynamo Kyiv | 4 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2001 | →Dynamo-2 Kyiv | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2002–2003 | Uralan Elista | 39 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2004–2006 | Moscow | 26 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2007–2008 | Nea Salamis | 12 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2008 | Kuban Krasnodar | 16 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2009–2010 | Lokomotiv Tashkent | 47 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012–2015 | Arsenal Tula | 75 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2018 | Dolgoprudny | 28 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 557 | (1) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Russia U21 | 5 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1998–2002[1] | Russia | 16 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Russia-2 | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | Russia (beach soccer) | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Aleksandr Vladimirovich Filimonov (Russian:Александр Владимирович Филимонов; born 15 October 1973) is a formerassociation footballgoalkeeper from Russia. He won the2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup with theRussia national beach soccer team.[2]
During his professional career, he was best known for playing forSpartak Moscow and theRussia national football team, as well as for the accidental goal he conceded inEuro 2000 qualifying playoffs fromAndriy Shevchenko.
Born inYoshkar-Ola, Filimonov spent his early years elsewhere in theUSSR. He was interested in football from an early age since his father was a football coach.
After finishing with the Burevestnikfootball academy in Yoshkar-Ola, he moved to his first adult football team in summer 1990 –Stal Cheboksary, from theSoviet Second League B. As a seventeen-year-old, he was only able to make two appearances in the season. That winter, he returned to Yoshkar-Ola and joined local teamDruzhba Yoshkar-Ola to take part in the 1991Soviet Second League B tournament. Soon Filimonov established himself as the first-choice goalkeeper for Druzhba and started 38 matches. He alsoscored a goal, which would prove to be the only one of his adult career.
As the 1991 season neared its end, theSoviet Union disbanded. At the beginning of 1992 Filimonov joinedFakel Voronezh, which unexpectedly joined the newly formedRussian Premier League, despite having finished mid-table in theSoviet First League. Despite his efforts, Fakel wererelegated in their first season. Filimonov spent another season with Fakel in theRussian First League before moving to theRussian Premier League top-half teamTekstilshchik Kamyshin, having achieved 20clean sheets in 37 matches in 1993, and a total of 71 appearances for Fakel.
At Tekstilshchik, Filimonov quickly established himself as first-team keeper and played his first European club tournament matches in 1994 in theUEFA Cup, againstNantes andBékéscsaba. Over the course of two seasons with Tekstilshchik, Filimonov became regarded as one of the most promising Russian keepers, and on 6 June 1995, he debuted for the Russian U23 national team againstSan Marino and earned three U23 caps in autumn 1995.
Filimonov's contract with Tekstilshchik expired in 1996, and the club's financial situation prevented them from renewing it. At the time,Spartak Moscow was looking for a new keeper to replaceStanislav Cherchesov, who had left forWacker Innsbruck. Spartak had signedRuslan Nigmatullin but also signed Filimonov to increase their squad's depth. Initially, Filimonov acted as backup for Nigmatullin and missed the opportunity to play in theUEFA Champions League, but over the course of his first season there, Filimonov became first-choice keeper again, asGeorgi Yartsev preferred Filimonov's demonstrated consistency.
For most of the remainder of his career with Spartak, Filimonov was preferred for the club's starting XI. When he left the club in summer 2001, he had won six league titles, played in numerous Champions League games (including a 4–1 win overArsenal), and became an established member of theRussian national team. By that time,Maksym Levytsky had become the club's preferred starting keeper.
After leaving Spartak, Filimonov was transferred toDynamo Kyiv to cover forOleksandr Shovkovskyi, who had picked up a serious injury. He made few appearances, asVitaliy Reva became the preferred replacement for Shovkovskyi. Immediately after his Dynamo contract ended, he returned to Russia to play forUralan Elista. After two seasons with Uralan, he was signed byMoscow. During the first half of the 2004 season, he featured regularly for Moscow, but by 2005, he was the club's third choice keeper and made no appearances.
In January 2007, Filimonov joinedCypriot sideNea Salamina. Before retiring from professional football, he also played forKuban Krasnodar in Russia andLokomotiv Tashkent inUzbekistan.
In 2009, he was part of theRussia squad that won the2009 Legends Cup, a tournament for retired players 35 and older.
In 2011, Filimonov switched tobeach soccer and joinedLokomotiv Moscow, with whom he won a national title andsuper cup. His success in beach soccer earned him an invitation to thenational team, with whom he won the2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.[2]
He subsequently returned to theRussian Football Premier League in the2014–15 season at the age of 41 withArsenal Tula, a team managed by his former Spartak and Russia teammateDmitri Alenichev, after achieving three consecutive promotions from the fourth tier to the top tier. However, he lost his starting spot for Arsenal in the second half of the season and signed with the third-tierPFL teamDolgoprudny for the 2015–16 season. He retired as a player upon the conclusion of the 2017–18 season, being the last active player of Soviet Union Football Championship.
Filimonov gained his first cap for the Russian national team on 25 March 1998 in afriendly match againstFrance.[3] He played four friendlies in 1998 but was not the main national keeper under managersBoris Ignatyev andAnatoly Byshovets. This changed whenOleg Romantsev, who had managed him at Spartak, became the national manager. Filimonov was the primary keeper of the Russian squad duringEuro 2000 qualifying, where the team had an impressive run, including a 3–2 victory against France at theStade de France on 5 June 1999.
A turning point in Filimonov's career occurred during Russia's match againstUkraine on 9 October 1999, where a win for Russia would qualify them for the Euro 2000 playoffs. Post-Soviet rivalry between Russia and Ukraine made this ahighly anticipated match, resulting inLuzhniki Stadium being sold out for the first time in fifteen years. During the match, Russia dominated possession, but no goals came until the 75th minute, whenValery Karpin scored for Russia from a free kick. But at the 88th minute, Ukraine were awarded a free kick far from goal at the left edge of the field.Andriy Shevchenko kicked the ball straight at the hands of Filimonov, but Filimonov was not ready for the kick and conceded a goal.[4] The match ended 1–1, and France qualified fromthe group while Ukraine went to the playoffs at Russia's expense.
Subsequently, Filimonov won another four caps for Russia, but only in friendlies. He did not play for Russia in any other competitive game. He was named in Russia's2002 World Cup squad, but was not used in favor of his former Spartak teammate Ruslan Nigmatullin.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Stal Cheboksary | 1990 | Soviet Second League B | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | 2 | 0 | |||
| Druzhba Yoshkar-Ola | 1991 | Soviet Second League B | 38 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 38 | 1 | ||
| Fakel Voronezh | 1992 | Russian Premier League | 30 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 32 | 0 | ||
| 1993 | Russian First League | 37 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 39 | 0 | |||
| Total | 67 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 71 | 0 | ||
| Tekstilshchik Kamyshin | 1994 | Russian Premier League | 23 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4[a] | 0 | – | 29 | 0 | |
| 1995 | Russian Premier League | 30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 31 | 0 | |||
| Total | 53 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 0 | ||
| Spartak Moscow | 1996 | Russian Premier League | 26 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4[a] | 0 | – | 33 | 0 | |
| 1997 | Russian Premier League | 33 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 8[b] | 0 | – | 45 | 0 | ||
| 1998 | Russian Premier League | 29 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 12[c] | 0 | – | 46 | 0 | ||
| 1999 | Russian Premier League | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10[d] | 0 | – | 39 | 0 | ||
| 2000 | Russian Premier League | 23 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8[e] | 0 | – | 34 | 0 | ||
| 2001 | Russian Premier League | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4[e] | 0 | – | 13 | 0 | ||
| Total | 147 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 210 | 0 | ||
| Spartak-2 Moscow | 1996 | Russian Third League | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2000 | Russian Second League | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Dynamo Kyiv | 2001–02 | Ukrainian Premier League | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5[e] | 0 | – | 10 | 0 | |
| Dynamo-2 Kyiv | 2001–02 | Ukrainian First League | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | |||
| Uralan Elista | 2002 | Russian Premier League | 23 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 24 | 0 | ||
| 2003 | Russian Premier League | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1[f] | 0 | 17 | 0 | ||
| Total | 39 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 0 | ||
| Moscow | 2004 | Russian Premier League | 26 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | – | 32 | 0 | ||
| 2005 | Russian Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2006 | Russian Premier League | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | ||
| Total | 26 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 0 | ||
| Nea Salamis | 2006–07 | Cypriot First Division | 4 | 0 | – | – | – | 4 | 0 | |||
| 2007–08 | Cypriot First Division | 8 | 0 | – | – | – | 8 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | ||
| Kuban Krasnodar | 2008 | Russian First League | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 16 | 0 | ||
| Lokomotiv Tashkent | 2009 | Uzbekistan Super League | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 25 | 0 | ||
| 2010 | Uzbekistan Super League | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 24 | 0 | |||
| Total | 47 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 49 | 0 | ||
| Arsenal Tula | 2011–12 | LFL | – | – | – | – | 10 | 0 | ||||
| 2012–12 | Russian Second League | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 29 | 0 | |||
| 2013–14 | Russian First League | 30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 2[g] | 0 | 33 | 0 | ||
| 2014–15 | Russian Premier League | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 19 | 0 | |||
| Total | 75 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 81 | 0 | ||
| Dolgoprudny | 2015–16 | Russian Second League | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 11 | 0 | ||
| 2016–17 | Russian Second League | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 15 | 0 | |||
| 2017–18 | Russian Second League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | |||
| Total | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 557 | 1 | 39 | 0 | 55 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 654 | 1 | ||
