Ivan Khomukha

Ivan Khomukha arrived at Neftekhimik as the club's first summer signing, joining on a one-year deal after his release from FC Ufa. He said the move owed much to a phone call from head coach Robert Evdokimov, with whom he had already worked at Kuban Krasnodar.

The centre-back's career began in the Spartak Moscow academy, where he stayed on the books through 2018 without ever making a competitive appearance for the first team, playing instead for the reserve side, Spartak-2. What followed was a long tour of Russia's lower and middle divisions: spells at SKA-Khabarovsk, Rotor Volgograd and Yenisey Krasnoyarsk gave way to two separate stints at Volgar Astrakhan, either side of short runs at Chayka Peschanokopskoye, KAMAZ and Kuban Krasnodar.

At youth level, Khomukha was a regular fixture for Russia, capped at under-16, under-17, under-18 and under-19 level, including appearances in UEFA European Championship qualifiers for the under-17s. He never progressed to senior international recognition.

Khomukha brings that itinerant experience to a Neftekhimik side competing in the Russian First League, wearing the number 22 shirt.