Albert Gabaraev

Albert Gabaraev's career reads as a tour of the postSoviet football map before it settled in Voronezh. Ardon, his home town in North Ossetia, produced him through Vladikavkaz's Yunost academy, but the path to a stable first-team place ran through Crimea, Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan long before it reached central Russia.

He turned professional at Afips without making a senior appearance, then moved into Crimean football with Rubin Yalta and later Favorit-VD-Kafa. A spell with the amateur side Ardon followed before he left Russia altogether in 2020, joining West Armenia. Stints at Belarus's Gorodeya and Russia's Volgar came next, then a return to Armenia with Noah. In 2022 he came back to Russian football at Rodina.

The clearest mark on his record was made in Kazakhstan. Tobol signed him in the winter of 2024 for a fee of 80,000 euros, and over his time there Gabaraev won the Kazakhstan Cup and the Kazakhstan Super Cup.

In January 2025 he joined Fakel Voronezh as a free agent, signing a contract that runs to 30 June 2027. Transfermarkt puts his market value at 500,000 euros. At 190cm and playing as a central defender, he brings size and a well-travelled resume to the club.