Биография: Павел Погребняк

Pavel Viktorovich Pogrebnyak (Russian: Павел Викторович Погребняк) (born November 8, 1983 in Moscow) is a Russian international footballer. The striker earned his place in the national team while playing for FC Tom Tomsk. On November 28, 2006, FC Zenit Saint Petersburg announced a three-year contract with Pogrebnyak.

Pavel started playing football at the age of 6 for the FC Spartak Moscow football school. In 2001, he made his debut for the FC Spartak reserve team and one year later he was selected for the main squad. Between 2001 and 2003 he scored 8 goals in 23 appearances.

In 2003 Pavel played 40 matches and scored 15 goals for FC Baltika Kaliningrad. The following season he returned to FC Spartak Moscow, having appeared 16 times and scoring 2 goals. The same season he also score 6 goals for FC Khimki in 12 appearances. In 2005 Pavel played for FC Shinnik Yaroslavl and scored 4 goals in 23 matches. Playing for FC Tom' Tomsk in 2006 was the breakthrough season for Pogrebnyak, as he scored 13 goals in 26 matches and became one of the favorites of the local fans.

Pavel also attracted the attention of the Russian national team and was signed in the off season by FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. In 2007 he and Zenit Saint Petersburg won first place at the Russian Premier League.

In 51 official matches for Zenit, Pogrebnyak has scored 28 goals. In the Russian Championship he has scored 12 goals in 30 matches.

He, sharing the first place with Luca Toni from Bayern Munich, became a top scorer at the 2007-08 UEFA Cup with 10 goals, helping Zenit St. Petersburg reach the final of the tournament. He could not play in the final due to an accumulation of yellow cards, but the team won the cup.

Pogrebnyak was called for the squad of the Russian national football team for UEFA Euro 2008, but because of a knee injury he picked up in a friendly match, he was replaced before Russia began the tournament.