In the second half of the 90s, the Russian national team was impossible to imagine without Valery Karpin, a midfielder who could completely change the rhythm of the game and lead his partners, literally forcing them to play attacking football. It was Karpin who, by fate, became a real talisman for the Russian national team in the qualifying matches for Euro 2000.
Valery Karpin was born on February 2, 1969, in the small Baltic town of Narva, known, perhaps, only for the fact that at the beginning of the 18th century a battle between Russian and Swedish troops took place near it, unsuccessful for Tsar Peter I. As a child, Valery trained in a team under the leadership of Yuri Shalamov. By his own admission, Karpin remembered these first training sessions for the rest of his life and already then realized that football was more than serious.
At the age of sixteen, Valery left to play in Tallinn. He continued his football career at Moscow's CSKA, where he did military service, and at Voronezh's Fakel. But he developed into a true master playing for Moscow's Spartak (1990-1994). As part of the red-and-whites, Valery became vice-champion of the USSR (1991) and twice became champion of Russia (1992, 1993).
However, the level of the Russian championship did not meet the ambitions of the talented footballer. Therefore, in the summer of 1994, after the World Cup, Karpin left for Spain, signing a contract with the first division club Real Sociedad. The famous Welsh coach John Toshack, who later managed Real Madrid, invited the Russian to his team. After arriving in San Sebastian, Valery immediately began to learn Spanish. He was the only Russian in the team and understood what discomfort he would have to experience communicating with players and coaches through an interpreter. Soon after his debut for Real Sociedad, he performed a song in Spanish on live television, literally winning the hearts of local fans and journalists.
Two years later, Valery ended up at Valencia, and then at Celta Vigo. The move from Valencia to Celta was not accidental. A significant role was played by the fact that his former Spartak teammate Alexander Mostovoi played in Vigo. It was at Celta that Karpin's star shone with renewed vigor. The Russian tandem pulled the middle-of-the-table club into the elite of Spanish football. In 1999, Celta spent a long time in the group of championship leaders, but stumbled in the final rounds and lost a place in the prestigious tournament – the Champions League.
Nevertheless, this season can be called successful for Karpin. He became a key figure in Celta's midfield and was recognized as the best midfielder in the country in his role. The footballer also performed successfully for the Russian national team. It was in 1999 that Valery scored winning goals in the Euro 2000 qualifying matches against the national teams of France and Iceland.
Another match from that qualifying tournament is also memorable – against the Ukraine team in Moscow. Karpin opened the scoring with a powerful free kick, but victory slipped away from the Russians after a fatal error by goalkeeper Alexander Filimonov in the final minutes of the match, made when Andriy Shevchenko took a free kick. The Russian national team did not win and lost the chance to qualify for Euro 2000. “The result of the match against Ukraine is the biggest disappointment of my football career. I have never been so upset. Even last season, when Celta ended up outside the Champions League at the very last moment,” Valery admitted after the match.
However, failures did not break him. Karpin was still in a leading role at Celta, and in the national team he had no competition for the right midfielder position. And in November 2000, Valery won an important victory, though not on the football field. A Madrid court ruled that Karpin has the right to play on equal terms with footballers who are citizens of the European Union. In other words, the Russian footballer received the status of an EU citizen.
In the process against the Spanish Football Federation, the Football League, and Celta, Karpin spoke out against discrimination against players from countries that are not members of the European Union. According to him, he more than once experienced oppression from clubs, because according to the rules in Spain, each team may have no more than five foreigners.
In 2002, Celta was again close to the Champions League. However, as three years earlier, it stumbled in the final round and had to settle for participation in the UEFA Cup. Disappointment also befell Karpin at the World Cup in Japan. The Russian midfielder, although he scored a goal against the Tunisians, did not take the team out of a group that was fairly average in terms of the level of opponents.
Even before the championship, Valery repeatedly stated that he would stop playing for the national team. However, in February 2003, eight months later, Karpin again appeared in the national team lineup. The invitation to the country's main team was largely facilitated by the Russian's successful play for his new club – Real Sociedad from San Sebastian. Karpin was one of the creators of the sensation: the provincial team led the Spanish championship for a long time, ahead of Real Madrid itself, but had to settle for second place at the finish.
In the same 2003, in August, Valery changed his citizenship – from Russian to Estonian. This was announced during the off-season, during the Real Sociedad midfielder's visit to his native Narva. It was in his homeland that Karpin renounced Russian citizenship in favor of Estonian.
This decision was not easy for Valery and was made in the spring of 2003 after he stopped receiving invitations to the Russian national team. During this time, all documents for obtaining citizenship were being put in order in Estonia. Valery Karpin is a citizen by succession on the paternal line; his parents were born and lived on the territory of Estonia at the beginning of the last century. However, under the law, to obtain an Estonian passport, he had to renounce his Russian one.
To be continued.