Ruslan Adzhinzhal: career of the Russian midfielder

Midfielder Ruslan Ajinjal spent a great football career. Having completed his professional performance at almost 41 years old, the midfielder remained a bright star in the biography of a number of Russian teams, and in 2015, the football player was elected president of the Football Federation of Abkhazia.

Soviet hardening

Ruslan Ajinjal, a football player who has played in 11 different clubs during his career, began his journey in his homeland - in the Abkhaz city of Gagra. At the age of 17, he signed a contract with Dynamo from Sukhumi, for which he played only one season. In January 1992, the young midfielder moved to the Maykop “Friendship”, playing in the First Division, where he played with his brother Beslan. Ruslan was not able to achieve great successes in the composition of the team from Maykop, but he established himself as a militant footballer and at the beginning of the 1994 season ended up in the Kaliningrad “Baltic”.

"Baltic success"

As part of Kaliningraders, Ruslan Adzhinzhal quickly entrenched in the base, like his brother, becoming an integral part of the team. In the first year of the performance, the midfielder became the bronze medalist of the First League of the Russian Championship, and a year later contributed to the release of Baltika in the Premier League, taking first place at the end of the season with a margin of 13 points. Despite playing in the league a level higher, Ruslan did not lose his place at the base, but continued to confidently play for the “sailors”.

The first season in the Premier League ended for Kaliningraders quite successfully - without any problems, the team entrenched in the middle of the table, finishing 7th. A year later, Baltika again scored 49 points, by the number of which they shared seventh place with two other clubs, but, losing by additional indicators, were only 9. The consolation for the club was getting into the Intertoto Cup, where the “Baltics” confidently reached the third round of the rally, losing to the Serbian “Vojvodina”.

However, the success of Baltika ended there. The following year, the Kaliningrad club was in 15th place in the championship and left the Top Division. Despite the demotion, Ruslan Adzhinjal did not leave the team, but played another season in the First Division, after which he decided to change the club.

Torpedo, Uralan, Terek and Luch

The new team for Ruslan was the Moscow club Torpedo-ZIL. For the “car manufacturers” the midfielder spent only a year and a half, after which he moved to Uralan from Elista. Three years in the “citizens” allowed the player to seriously progress due to regular getting into the starting lineup, and in 2004, Ajinjal moved to “Terek” as the leader of “Uralan”.

In the Grozny club, for which the midfielder spent two years, Ruslan also did not get lost, having become the key link in the team’s game from the first matches. The midfielder’s performance has fallen compared to previous clubs, but the experience of a football player solved a lot of problems during the Terek match. After completing a contract with Grozny residents, in January 2006, the Russian went east, where he settled in Luch-Energia. Playing for the Vladivostok club, Ajinjal proved himself a true creator of attacks, having scored more than 10 points in two years, but, wanting to fight with the team for higher places, the midfielder did not renew his contract with Luch.

Samara take-off

The new club for Agindala was Samara “Wings of the Soviets”. In their composition, the footballer became one of the key midfield players, and in 2009 he tried on the captain’s armband, acting as the club’s leader for two years.

For three years in Samara, Ruslan took part in 72 official meetings, two of which fell on the Europa League, where the “wings” lost to the Irish “St. Patricks” only in the number of away goals. Despite the position of the left midfielder, the Russian was not very successful, providing the team with the result due to the ability to correctly begin the development of the attack. In January 2011, Ajinjal moved to the Volga Nizhny Novgorod for a year and a half, after which he again became part of the Wings, with whom he signed a contract until the end of the 2013/14 season.

New name in Krasnodar

In the summer of 2014, as a free agent, Ruslan Adzhinzhal moved to the Krasnodar football club. Despite his age, the coach of the “bulls” counted on the midfielder not only as an experienced assistant, but also as a player. In the only season for the Krasnodar team, Ajinjal played in 13 matches in various tournaments, including the Europa League, and, becoming the bronze medalist of the Russian championship, in the summer of 2015 announced his retirement, having played more than 700 official matches. But after a year, the fans were again able to see the former player of “Krasnodar” in the club, but already as assistant coach.