Konoplyov football academy
Yu. Konoplyov football academy (Russian: Академия футбола имени Юрия Коноплева) is a Russian youth football academy based in Togliatti.
History
The academy was founded in 2003 as SDYuShOR Krylia Sovetov. In 2007 the name was changed in honor of its founder Yuri Konoplyov, a local businessman who died in 2006 aged 39.[1] Since then it is sponsored mainly by Abramovich's National Academy of Football.
Present
The academy comprises age-group teams ranging from Under-8's up to Under-18's. Team of Under-18's plays in the Amateur Football League, 4th level of Russian football, under the name of Togliatti-dubl. Russian Second Division's FC Akademiya Togliatti is also fed on the academy players, as was FC Togliatti, now defunct.
Alumni
The best known alumni of the Konoplyov academy are Russian international midfielder Alan Dzagoev[2] and 2006 UEFA U-17 Championship winners Anton Vlasov, Yevgeni Korotayev, Denis Shcherbak, Igor Gorbatenko, Dmitri Ryzhov and Roman Savenkov.[3]
The list of alumni also includes: Artur Yusupov (who signed for Dinamo Moscow), Yevgeni Pesegov (Krylia Sovetov Samara), Aleksandr Stolyarenko (CSKA Moscow), Vladimir Drukovskiy (Krylia Sovetov Samara), Maksim Fyodorov (CSKA Moscow), Ivan Stain (FC Nizhny Novgorod) and Sergei Borodin (FC Nizhny Novgorod).[4]
Two more academy alumni made their Russia national football team debut in 2015: Roman Zobnin and Dmitri Yefremov.
