Over the past 10-15 years, the topic of naturalization of our national team of players with Russian (Soviet) roots has been popular. The candidacies of a large group of football players, mainly “Russian Germans”, were discussed.
In two cases the stories came to fruition. In 2016, Roman Neustaedter made his debut for the Russian national team and in 2017, Konstantin Rausch. The first played 13 games for our team, the second nine. Both defenders were candidates to participate in the 2018 World Cup, but coach Stanislav Cherchesov did not include them in the final application.
Neustedter now plays in the Belgian championship with Westerlo, while Rausch is done playing professionally. What happened to the fate of other players who, for various reasons, never became players for the Russian national team? We tell you in our text.
How did the careers of Karpin’s first newcomers to the Russian national team develop?
Karpin’s first newcomers to the Russian national team. Who did the coach make a mistake and who did he believe in in vain?
Andreas Beck
Andreas Beck
Photo: Perry van de Leuvert/Getty Images
Beck was born in Kemerovo in 1987 and at the age of three moved with his family to Germany. He grew up in the Stuttgart academy, in this club, and began his professional career in 2005. He was considered a fairly talented football player: he played for the youth and youth teams of Germany.
In 2007, the right-back could have ended up in the Russian Championship. According to Beck himself, he “already had one foot in Spartak.” But at that point they began to trust Andreas in Stuttgart and Beck changed his mind about leaving. And after the successful Euro 2008 for the Russian team, the “German Russian” admitted that he was ready to discuss the possibility of playing for our team.
“If Hiddink called him and invited him to the Russian national team, I would probably think about it… But I have already played a lot of games for the German youth team, I feel German and would prefer to play in the Bundesteam,” Beck said.
The question disappeared by itself when in February 2009 Andreas made his debut in the German first team. He played for the Bundesteam until November 2010, playing nine games and giving one assist. According to Beck, no one from the RFU approached him with an offer to play for the Russian national team.
In 2014 they wrote about Zenit’s negotiations with Beck, but the defender again did not reach the RPL. He came to Russia only as a rival of our teams in international matches.
Beck had a good career, but not a stellar one. Andreas played for Hoffenheim and Besiktas (he won the Turkish championship twice), then returned to Stuttgart and finished his spell at Belgian club Eupen. In the summer of 2022 I hung up my boots.
Andrew Wolf
Andrew Wolf
Photo: Alex Grimm/Getty Images
Wolf is a descendant of the Volga Germans. Andreas was born in 1982 in the USSR, in the city of Khujand (then Leninabad). His father played in the second league of the Union Championship and in 1990 the family moved to Germany. Wolf studied football at the Nuremberg school, where he became a professional player.
From 2002 to 2011, the central defender played for Nuremberg. In addition, he played several games with the German youth team and was a candidate for the youth team, but did not make it to the first. About six months before Euro 2008, information appeared about interest in Wolf from Zenit and the coach of the Russian national team, Guus Hiddink. Later, the Dutchman himself admitted: he is looking at the Nuremberg centre-back.
Wolf did not make it to the European Championship, which was a success for Russia. And in November 2010, recalling that period, the defender said: “After 2008, the RFU did not contact me. About two and a half years ago, when they called me up, I tore my cruciate ligaments and missed a lot due to injury. Now I’m playing, I feel great. If they contact me from the RFU, I will think about it.”
At this point the matter calmed down. But over the years, RPL clubs became interested in Wolf: Zenit itself, Anzhi, Krylya Sovetov. According to Andreas himself, with Zenit everything failed “at the last moment.” After leaving Stuttgart, the defender played for Werder Bremen and his last club was Monaco, for which Wolf played from January 2012 to July 2014. The main trophy in the “Russian German’s” career is the German Cup with Nuremberg, won in 2007. In the final against Stuttgart (3-2), Andreas provided the assist in the episode of the winning goal.
Alexander Merkel
Alexander Merkel
Photo: Christof Koepsel/Getty Images
Merkel is also a Volga German. She was born in 1992 in Almaty, where her father played for Lokomotiv. At the age of six, Alexander ended up with his parents in Germany. There he went through the Stuttgart academy, he joined the youth national team and at 16 years old received an invitation to Milan. In Italy, the midfielder moved up to adult football.
Even before signing her first professional contract, Merkel declared her desire to play for our national team. In September 2008, Alexander admitted in an interview:
“I live in Germany and am a member of the Bundesteam, I simply have no choice. But to be honest, I would rather play for Russia. My heart is more with Russia. I feel this country as my homeland, I am proud of it. I have many Russian friends. It’s true that I have never been to Russia. But we have relatives in Novorossiysk, Rostov-on-Don… My performances in the German youth teams will not prevent me from playing in the Russian adult team.”
The RFU reported that Merkel would have to renounce her German citizenship in order to play for our team. In the fall of 2009, Alexander began working with the Milan base, and the midfielder himself did not go to the World Youth Championship with Germany, as he looked in the Russian national team. In December 2010, the midfielder debuted with the Rossoneri first team in the Champions League and complained in an interview that he was still not invited to the Russian national team. “Is the passport a problem? If an American played on the Russian basketball team, couldn’t they really get me a passport? – Alejandro was surprised.
Everything remained at the level of conversations. Furthermore, Merkel herself did not open up as much as she could have. He played 13 games for Milan and then began to change clubs frequently: Genoa, Udinese and Pisa in Italy, Watford in England, Grasshopper in Switzerland, Bochum in Germany, Admira in Austria, Heracles in Holland, Al Faisali in Saudi Arabia. , Gazisehir in Türkiye.
Merkel also had options in the RPL. In 2012, interest in the player was expressed by Zenit and Spartak, in 2013 – Rubin and Terek, in 2015 – Kuban, in 2016 – Tom, in 2020 – Lokomotiv and Sochi. But, surprisingly, in no case did the negotiations lead to a transfer, although the midfielder himself, according to him, was ready to go to the Russian championship.
The topic of the Russian national team finally disappeared in 2015, when Merkel played for the Kazakhstan national team. Now Alexander is finishing his game in the United Arab Emirates: he earns “retirement” at the Hatta Club. The championship with Milan in 2011 remains his only trophy in Europe.
Edgar Prieb
Edgar Prieb
Photo: Nigel Treblin/Getty Images
Prib comes from Yakutia, from the city of Neryungri. He was born in December 1989 and when the boy was two years old the family moved to Germany. In the youth category, Edgar played for Greuther Furth, with this team he also made his professional debut in the 2nd Bundesliga. And starting in the 2012/2013 season, the midfielder began playing in the top category of the German championship, where he made his way with his native Greuther Furth. He then moved to Hannover and in just five seasons he played more than a hundred games in the Bundesliga.
In April 2016, Prieb gave an interview in which he expressed his willingness to play for our national team.
“I would love to play for the Russian national team,” Edgar said. “I was born there and I feel connected to the country. Only I don’t have a Russian passport yet. I am currently in the process of getting it. I had a Russian birth certificate, but when I got German citizenship, it seems they took it away from me. If I was invited to join the Russian national team, I would definitely respond positively. But unfortunately no one from the RFU has contacted me yet.”
Prib hoped that after receiving a Russian passport he would be called up to the national team and invited to the best club in the RPL. But neither one nor the other happened. Hannover were relegated to the Second Bundesliga and Edgar was the captain and leader of the team there. Then the midfielder suffered a torn cruciate ligament and, in addition, there was a relapse. In fact, Prib lost two seasons. However, he returned to the field and continued playing at the same level. He moved to Fortuna from Dusseldorf and went to Turkish Manisa. The career of the “German Russian” is close to the end: since September 2023 he has been in the second team of Greuther Furth.
Max Bezushkov
Max Bezushkov
Photo: Daniel Kopatsch/Getty Images
Bezushkov was born in the German city of Tübingen in May 1997, shortly after his family moved to Germany. Max’s father is from Novosibirsk and her mother is from Kazakhstan, but she lived all her life in our country. Her older brother was also born in Russia.
Bezushkov graduated from Stuttgart, but did not pass the agricultural club. But the midfielder played in German youth teams of all ages and played in the U17 (2014) and U19 (2016) European championships. Overall, he showed some hope. In January 2017 he left for Eintracht Frankfurt for 100,000 euros, where he soon made his debut in the Bundesliga.
However, Bezushkov failed to earn a place in the Eintracht team. Loans followed: Holstein, Belgian Union. In the summer of 2019, the midfielder moved from the second Bundesliga to Jahn Regensburg for the same amount of 100,000 euros, where he was one of the main players for three seasons.
In 2020 they wrote about Lokomotiv’s interest in Bezushkov and, the following year, about Spartak. The player’s agent, Ingo Haspel, answered the question about Max’s possible appearance in the RPL and in the future in the Russian national team:
“Max is close to receiving a Russian passport… Russian clubs have already become interested in the possibility of Max moving to the Premier League and we are heading in that direction. “His father and mother were born in his country, he speaks Russian fluently and would be interested in playing in the RPL.”
But that’s where the story ends for now. In the last two years Bezushkov has not had any movement towards the Russian Championship and towards our team. Since the summer of 2022, Max has been playing for Hannover. This season he played only one Second Bundesliga match while recovering from a heel injury.
Eduard Leuven
Eduard Leuven
Photo: Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images
Leuven was also born in Germany, in January 1997 in the city of Idar-Oberstein. At that time, her parents, Irina and Andrey, had already been living in this country for about two years, having moved from Siberia. The footballer’s agents said that Eduard has German and Russian citizenship.
Leuven went through the academies of Kaiserslautern and Saarbrücken, and at the age of 17 he ended up in Nuremberg. He belonged to this club for three seasons, until the summer of 2019, when he moved to Hertha for 7 million euros. As a Nuremberg player, the midfielder joined the German youth team. And as a Hertha player he went with the under-23 team to the 2020 Olympic Games. Leuven participated in all three games and the Germans themselves failed: unexpectedly they could not qualify from the group.
In 2017 and 2018 they wrote about the negotiations between Spartak and Nuremberg regarding the transfer of Leuven. However, the topic was not developed. The midfielder played 78 games in the Bundesliga and scored 7+8, but Leuven’s career at Hertha obviously did not develop as he would have liked. Eduard was loaned to Augsburg and Bochum. And in the summer of 2022, he unexpectedly moved to the United States: St. Louis City bought the “Russian German” for 1 million euros. Leuven plays quite well in MLS: 28 games, six goals and nine assists.
“Before the 2018 World Cup we spoke with Cherchesov. Do you have the desire to play for the Russian national team now? I can’t answer this question. “If there is interest in Leuven, we will be willing to discuss it… In any case, he now feels very comfortable in the United States,” the midfielder’s representative, Jörg Lengowski, said in September.
Waldemar Anton
Waldemar Anton
Photo: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
Valdemar Anton (born Vladimir Aleksandrovich Riptsov-Anton) – from Almalyk. This is a city in Uzbekistan. The footballer, born in July 1996, has Russian roots. His parents moved to Germany in the second half of the 90s. Waldemar studied at the Hannover academy and played professionally for this team until 2020.
Anton played 11 games with the German youth team, he went to Euro 2019, although he was a substitute in that tournament. Even earlier, at the beginning of 2018, there was talk of the possibility of including him in the Russian national team for the home world championship. But the player did not have the necessary documents.
“We spoke with Valdemar, he does not have a passport, they deceived me,” said Cherchesov. – Valdemar has no right to play for us. If he gets our passport himself and wants to play, we will see.”
Anton recalled his conversation with the coach of our national team in 2020: “Cherchesov called when I was injured. I wished you recovery. As for the national team, FIFA has many different rules that limit your opportunities, even if you have roots in a certain country. “This is a legal issue, specialists deal with it, but for a long time no one has contacted me on this issue.”
According to the universal defender (defender, defensive midfielder), he was willing to consider offers from the RPL. In 2019 they wrote about Lokomotiv’s interest in him and, two years later, Zenit. However, the transfer did not take place.
In the summer of 2020, Waldemar moved from Hannover to Stuttgart for 4 million euros and now Anton is in perfect condition: he is the captain of a team that unexpectedly rose to second place in the Bundesliga. In total, the “German Russian” during his career played 170 matches in the elite of the German championship.
A story about the victory of the Russian national team over Cameroon:
Chalov’s first goal for the Russian team is the victory! But the match with Cameroon brought out Safonov
Which of these players, like Neustaedter and Rausch, do you think would be useful for the Russian national team?
