Nikita Kakkoev

Nikita Kakkoev came through the Zenit St Petersburg academy, playing 23 matches for the reserve side before making his Russian Premier League debut for the first team against Ufa on 1 April 2018. He stayed on Zenit's books until 2020, though a loan spell at Tom in February 2019 gave him regular first-team football: 28 league appearances and a goal as the Tomsk club finished third in the First League that season.

The move that shaped his career came in July 2020, when he left Zenit permanently for Nizhny Novgorod, then playing in the First League. He became a key figure in the side that won promotion to the Premier League, taking bronze in the 2020/21 First League campaign, and has gone on to make more than 170 appearances for the club across all competitions. He has twice been named Player of the Match in the Premier League, against Ural in December 2023 and against Fakel in May 2025.

At youth international level, Kakkoev represented Russia from U18 through U21, with his most productive spell coming at U19, where he won 20 caps and scored once. He was named Best Player of the 2017 Granatkin Memorial while playing for the Russian U19 side.