Valery Karpin

Valery Georgievich Karpin (Russian: Карпин, Валерий Георгиевич) (born February 2, 1969 in Narva, Estonia) is a former Russian football midfielder. Nowadays he lives in the city of Vigo, where he is a businessman and sponsor of several sport teams.

On the club level, Karpin has played for Fakel Voronezh (1989), Spartak Moscow (1990-94), Real Sociedad (1994-96 and 2002-05), Valencia CF (1996-97), and Celta Vigo (1997-2002). Karpin was named Russian Footballer of the Year in 1999. He retired after the 2005 season with Sociedad.

For Russia, Karpin has been capped 72 times, scoring 17 goals (he was also capped once for the USSR). He scored Russia's first goal after the breakup of the Soviet Union, in a 2-0 win against Mexico on August 17, 1992. Karpin played for his country at the 1994 World Cup, Euro 96, and the 2002 World Cup.

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Image:Flag of Russia (bordered).svg	Russia squad - 1994 World Cup	Image:Flag of Russia (bordered).svg
1 Cherchesov \| 2 Kuznetsov \| 3 Gorlukovich \| 4 Galiamin \| 5 Nikiforov \| 6 Ternavski \| 7 Pyatnitskiy \| 8 Popov \| 9 Salenko \| 10 Karpin \| 11 Beschastnykh \| 12 Tetradze \| 13 Borodyuk \| 14 Korneev \| 15 Radchenko \| 16 Kharine \| 17 Tsymbalar \| 18 Onopko \| 19 Mostovoi \| 20 Lediakhov \| 21 Khlestov \| 22 Yuran \| Coach: Sadyrin

Image:Flag of Russia (bordered).svg	Russia squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup	Image:Flag of Russia (bordered).svg
1 Nigmatullin \| 2 Kovtun \| 3 Nikiforov \| 4 Smertin \| 5 Solomatin \| 6 Semshov \| 7 Onopko \| 8 Karpin \| 9 Titov \| 10 Mostovoi \| 11 Beschastnykh \| 12 Cherchesov \| 13 Daev \| 14 Chugainov \| 15 Alenichev \| 16 Kerzhakov \| 17 Semak \| 18 Sennikov \| 19 Pimenov \| 20 Izmailov \| 21 Khokhlov \| 22 Sychev \| 23 Filimonov \| Coach: Romantsev