Vadim Rakov

Vadim Rakov joined the Lokomotiv academy in 2014/2015 after starting out at Fakel Voronezh, where he had played as a central defender before converting to a forward. The move paid off in the 2021/22 season, when he scored 36 goals in 26 matches for Lokomotiv's youth side in the Youth Football League Division 2 — an absolute league record that brought him both the Top Scorer and Best Player awards. He carried that form into the under-19 side, winning the MFL championship in 2023, and made his senior debut for Lokomotiv Moscow in August 2022.

In July 2025, Lokomotiv sent him on loan to Krylya Sovetov Samara for the 2025/26 season, where he scored five goals in ten Russian Premier League appearances. The loan was cut short in April 2026 after a fracture of the fifth metatarsal, first sustained in September 2025, recurred following surgery in December 2025. Rakov returned to Moscow for rehabilitation.

He was back among the goals for Lokomotiv in the 2026/27 season, scoring against Akhmat in a 4:0 win, against Dynamo Makhachkala in a 2:1 victory, and in the Russian Cup against Orenburg as Lokomotiv won 3:2. His contract with the club was extended in June 2026 to run until 2030.

Rakov has represented Russia at every youth level from under-15 to under-21, collecting 21 caps and four goals, with goals against Croatia and Colombia at under-17 level and against Belarus at under-18 and under-21 level.