Vasiliy Vladimirovich Berezutski (Russian: Василий Владимирович Березуцкий; born 20 June 1982) is a Russian football coach and a former player who played as a defender, head coach of the Azerbaijani club Sabah. He began his professional career in 1999 at the age of 17 with Torpedo Moscow, having graduated from their famed academy.[1] He was a Russia national football team regular, earning his 100th cap on 6 September 2016 in a friendly against Ghana.[2] He played as a fullback or centre-back and sometimes was also deployed as wingback or midfielder.
Vasili started to play football in sport school Smena in Moscow before going to Torpedo. His identical twin brother, Aleksei, also came through the Torpedo academy with him and played as a defender for CSKA Moscow.
He officially announced his retirement from playing on 21 July 2018.[3]
International career
Vasili scored his first goal for Russia during a Euro 2008 Qualification match against Macedonia.
He was called up to Russia's Euro 2008 squad and came on as a late substitute in their second game against Greece in Salzburg and started the semi-final against Spain in Vienna.
He was named in Russia's provisional squad for UEFA Euro 2012, but had to drop out before the tournament began due to a thigh injury.
On 2 June 2014, he was included in the Russia's 2014 FIFA World Cup squad,[4] and appointed as the team captain. He was chosen in Russia's squad for Euro 2016 and scored an injury time equaliser in Russia's opening game against England.[5]
On 7 March 2018, he officially retired from international football.[6]
Coaching career
On 3 January 2019, Vasili and his twin brother Aleksei joined Dutch club Vitesse as assistant coaches to Leonid Slutsky, who trained them with CSKA and national team.[7] In August 2020 he returned to CSKA Moscow as assistant to Viktor Goncharenko, where he was joined by Aleksei once again in February 2021. In April 2021, Goncharenko was fired by CSKA and hired by FC Krasnodar, and Vasili followed him as an assistant, with Aleksei staying back at CSKA. On 5 January 2022, Krasnodar fired Goncharenko and Berezutski.[8] On 10 January 2022, he returned to CSKA as an assistant to his brother Aleksei, who was promoted to head coach by that time.[9] On 15 June 2022, he left CSKA by mutual consent, together with his brother.[10]
In early 2024, Berezutski moved to Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua, once again as an assistant to Slutsky.[11]
On November 25, 2024, Berezutski signed a 2.5-year contract with Azerbaijani club Sabah, becoming the team's head coach.[12] He led Sabah FK to a 2:2 (3:1 by penalty) win over Turan Tovuz PFK in the Azərbaycan Kuboku 2024/2025 Round of 16. [13]
