Sergey Kiryakov is 55!

Sergey was born on January 1, 1970 in Orel, where he started playing football at the local Spartak school. Further in his career were the capital SC FSM and Dynamo, an invitation to which he received in 1986.

It was in Dynamo that Kiryakov's talent was revealed. For six years in the Moscow club, Sergey played 109 matches and scored 12 goals, won bronze medals of the USSR championship and the Russian championship. As a Dynamo player, he won the European Youth and Youth Championships as part of the USSR national team (1988, 1990).

Kiriakov read the game perfectly, had a set shot with both feet, correctly chose positions in the penalty area and had a unique stroke technique. Starting a feint, the forward constantly changed the direction of movement and the position of the body, so it was very difficult to stop him without violating the rules.

In 1992, he left to conquer the German Bundesliga and scored three times in the third match for Karlsruhe. It was the first hat-trick of a Russian player in the European top leagues. At the end of the 1992/93 season, Kiryakov, with 11 goals in 29 matches, became the team's top scorer, and Karlsruhe entered the UEFA Cup for the first time in its history. In the same 1993, Kiryakov was nominated for the Golden Ball, where he took 21st place.

After six years in Karlsruhe, there were two more seasons in Germany – in Hamburg and Tennis Borussia. In the early 2000s, Kiriakov moved to China, where he completed his professional career in 2003. Later he played for the Russian national beach soccer team.

He started his coaching career in 2006, heading the club from Latvia "Ditton" (now – "Daugava"). He also worked in Germany ("Carl Zeiss"). In 2008, he returned to Russia, where he was the coach of Orel, Tula Arsenal and Leningradets. With the St. Petersburg team, Kiryakov won Group 2 of the Second League (in the 2022/23 season) and led it to the First League. He has experience in the youth and junior national teams of Russia.