Ilya Rozhkov

Rozhkov was 18 years and 115 days old when he came on against Lokomotiv Moscow in July 2023, and he left the pitch holding a record: the youngest player to provide an assist for Rubin Kazan in the Russian Premier League. The mark he took over had belonged to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

He had been at the club nearly a decade by then. Rubin took him into their youth system in 2014 from Sports School No. 3 in Zelenodolsk, and he worked through the Youth Football League and the reserve sides before the promotion came.

The debut was not a one-off. Rozhkov played 18 matches in his first senior season, with a goal and two assists, then 27 the following year with two goals. In 2025/26 he was close to a fixture, 28 appearances and two assists, though he did not score. He has never played for another professional club and has not been sent out on loan.

Russia have used him at every youth level from under-15 upwards — 17 caps and two goals across the age groups, with eight of those at under-21. In May 2025 Valeriy Karpin called him into the senior squad for the June training camp, when Russia met Nigeria and Belarus.

A right-footed player who operates mainly at left-back, Rozhkov has kept knocking on the door at the level above without leaving the club that raised him. Four appearances and an assist into the 2026/27 campaign, he remains a Kazan player in the fullest sense: born in the city, schooled nearby, and still in the first team he grew up watching.