Young footballer who left Ukraine obtains Russian citizenship and joins Rostov club

Former Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder, 21-year-old Oleksandr Rosputko, has obtained Russian citizenship and joined the club Chayka.

This information comes from the player’s profile on the official website of Russia’s second-division championship, in which the club competes.

The midfielder’s profile lists Russian citizenship and membership in the team from the village of Peschanokopskoye in the Rostov region. However, Chayka has not officially announced the signing of Rosputko, and his name does not appear among the players on the club’s official website.

Rosputko previously played for Shakhtar’s youth team. In autumn 2023, at the age of 19, he left the club after an away match in Belgium against Antwerp in the UEFA Youth League. It later became known that he had moved to Russia, and the Ukrainian club terminated his contract. At the time, the footballer’s father said that Rosputko intended to obtain Russian citizenship.

For two years, there was no news about the player, and now he has resumed his career in Russia.

This is not the first case of Ukrainian athletes and sports officials leaving the country. In January, Ukrainian karate athletes Yevhen and Daria Pylypyuk did not return to Ukraine after an international competition.

In February, Oleg Avdysh, deputy director general of the Lviv football club Karpaty, also failed to return from a trip abroad.