Sergey Ovchinnikov is an athlete who played in several clubs in Russia, the CIS countries and in the prestigious championship of Portugal. He is the idol of many fans, he is respected in the football community of our country and abroad. Ovchinnikov successfully played for the national team, including at international tournaments.
Key Biography Facts
Sergei Ivanovich Ovchinnikov - a Muscovite, was born on November 10, 1970. He studied at the sports school of the capital “Dynamo”, in the same club he began to play at a professional level. He played in Abkhazia, then returned to Russia in Lokomotiv. In the mid 90's he became a legionnaire in the championship of Portugal.
Successfully played in the national team of the country. In the early 2000s he returned to his homeland, played in Dynamo, Lokomotiv, clubs from Kiev and Minsk. Now engaged in coaching in the Russian team. Sergei Ovchinnikov, whose personal life is very complicated and at the same time interesting, married twice.
Career in the championship of Russia
He began to study football skills at the school of FC Dynamo, where he held the first official games in the USSR Championship. In 1990, he moved to the Sukhumi Dynamo, where he was noticed by breeders from the Moscow Lokomotiv. Tom helped the match between the two clubs. In the game, which took place on September 4, 1990, Sergei hit a penalty. In March of the following year, Ovchinnikov made his debut for Lokomotiv (in the match against Metallurg) and very soon became the main goalkeeper of the new team. According to the results of the 1994 season, he became the best goalkeeper of the Russian championship (according to the “Spark” version), in 1995, together with Lokomotiv, he won the silver medal in the national championship.
In 1997, Sergey moved to the Portuguese championship. The Russian returned to his homeland in 2002 and spent a great season for Lokomotiv, winning the “gold” of the Russian Premier League. In 2006, he moved to Dynamo, where he played part of the season, and a year later completed his goalkeeper career. Sergey Ovchinnikov played at different times in the Russian national team. In total, from 1993 to 2006, he played in the main team of the state 35 matches, played at the European Championships 1996 and 2004.
Career Team
The first games under the national flag of the country, Sergey began in his youth, entering the Russian national team U-21 (players under 21 years old), and before that - in the national teams, where children aged 15-16 years play. But already in 1993, Sergei played the first official match in the "adult" team (in the game against El Salvador). Ovchinnikov was periodically called into the national team of his state from 1993 to 2006. In total, during this period he spent 35 matches, was able to participate in the European Championships of 1996 and 2004. In 2002, Sergei Ovchinnikov played one half as the goalkeeper of the world team and left the goal intact.
Careers in Portugal
After successful appearances for the Moscow Lokomotiv, a talented goalkeeper was noticed in Europe. The breeders of the strong Portuguese championship prompted the coaches of one of the country's leading clubs, Benfica, to pay attention to a Russian player named Sergey Ovchinnikov. Photos of a promising athlete dazzled on the pages of the football press, his name was known in Europe. So, in 1997, Sergei began playing for the Lisbon club. True, in the first season he was a substitute, giving way to an experienced Michel Prudumm at the gate. But already in 1998, both goalkeepers played alternately and had equal chances to enter the starting lineup of Benfica.
Soon a new coach, the German Jupp Heynckes , joined the team . He decided that age goalkeepers needed to prepare a replacement at the expense of the younger generation. So Ovchinnikov lost his place in the composition, and the club put him on a transfer. The Russian decided to try himself in another team of the Portuguese championship, Alverke. Ovchinnikov conducted it so brilliantly that he was invited by the famous club “Porto”. As part of this team, Sergey wins several prestigious national trophies.
Coaching career
In 2006, Ovchinnikov ended his career as a football goalkeeper. But in the spring of 2007, he began working as a goalkeeper coach at Lokomotiv. His talent was in demand in Ukraine. In 2008, Sergei moved to Dynamo Kiev to the position of assistant head coach of the team. In 2009, Ovchinnikov returned to the Russian championship to "increase". He was appointed head coach of the Krasnodar club Kuban. In 2010, he decided to try coaching forces at the club from the second division - Dynamo from Bryansk.
Remaining faithful to his native football brand, in 2011 he moved to the club of the same name from Minsk and headed it until the end of the year. In 2012, he served as the sports director of the Konoplev Football Academy (Togliatti). In May 2012, he worked as a goalkeeper coach in the national team of Russia. Ovchinnikov still holds this position. In March 2014, without leaving work in the main team of the country, Sergey came to the Moscow club CSKA, where he became a head coach.
Achievements
Sergey Ovchinnikov is a football player who won honorary achievements. In 1994-1995 he was recognized as the best goalkeeper of the national championship by the magazine "Spark". In 1997 he received the prestigious Sagittarius Award in the nomination "The most successful player from Russia, playing abroad." In 2002, he became the champion of Russia and again recognized as the country's best goalkeeper. That season, Sergei Ovchinnikov spent 20 matches without goals, setting a Russian championship record. Among the goalkeepers who have played more than 100 matches in the national Russian championship, Ovchinnikov takes second place in terms of reliability - 0.83 goals conceded per match on average. These statistics indicate that Sergey is one of the best football players in the recent history of Russia.
Goalkeeper with an iron character
Many players believe that Ovchinnikov, when he was playing on the field, was able to inspire confidence in teammates. According to colleagues, he performed his work highly, fully justifying the expression “goalkeeper - half-team”. He received the nickname "Boss", because he did not have the slightest pity for his mistakes and teammates, was not shy in folklore when managing defenders in the game. Fans of Lokomotiv, despite the fact that Ovchinnikov had played in other clubs for a long time, treated him like a native after hanging out at the stadium with huge Boss Number One banners. Ovchinnikov’s particular quality is character. By all means, in resolving any issues, Sergey traditionally defends the principles of truth and justice.
Interesting and funny facts.
In childhood, Sergei Ovchinnikov had the nickname "goose." This is because he always wore bright red boots and wore them until they were thin. At school, Sergei Ovchinnikov studied perfectly before the 8th grade, he had a chance to finish his studies with a gold medal, but physical education failed: when he needed to jump over a goat at one of the lessons, he refused to do this, for which he received a four. I got into football, thanks to the efforts of my grandmother, who worked as an accountant at Dynamo Stadium and recorded her grandson to attend this club’s sports school. The idol of Sergei Ovchinnikov’s childhood is goalkeeper Nikolai Gontar. In 1998, a young goalkeeper got a chance to train with a famous Soviet athlete.
Portuguese life
Arriving in Portugal, Sergei Ovchinnikov received a residence permit. The country issues this document for several years, and if the immigrant has real estate and there are no problems with the law, it automatically extends the validity period. In Portugal, Sergei formalized his relationship with Inga Virce - an employee of the Russian consulate put stamps on passports for spouses. The same thing was done by an official from a Latvian institution. True, then all the documents had to be certified in Russia and Latvia.
Sergei and his wife made friends in Portugal, whom they invited every year for Christmas to Riga. Inga herself was engaged in housekeeping, since in this southern country it is not accepted that the wives of football players work.
Family and divorce
In the mid-80s, as a teenager, Sergei Ovchinnikov met Riga's Inga Virse. Then the Moscow football players came to training in the capital of Latvia. Inga was engaged in swimming at the base located next to the training block of the team of Sergey.
Already matured, young people met each other for the second time - in Moscow. Virce at that time was engaged in interior design and owned his own business. She and Sergey were in the company of mutual friends, and on the same evening Ovchinnikov made Inge an offer. At the time of that meeting, the Riga woman had a nine-year-old son, Zhenya, for whom Sergey Ovchinnikov could become a very close person. The footballer’s wife admitted that the Russian was an ideal husband - he gave flowers, gifts, and courted.
But in 2008, a crisis broke out in family relations of spouses. In 2009, they divorced. Soon, a new name was opened to the public - Anna Ovchinnikova, the wife of Sergei Ovchinnikov in his second marriage.