Nikita Haikin

Nikita Haikin holds 64 saves in a single Champions League season. He also holds the record for the most matches played in European competitions by a Russian goalkeeper at a foreign club, with 80 appearances by March 2026, and set the mark for the most matches by a Russian in a single European campaign, playing 21 times in the 2024/25 Europa League.

Haikin's route to Norway ran through Israel, where he began his professional career at Bnei Yehuda and Hapoel Kfar Saba, having trained as a youngster in academies in Russia, England and Portugal. He joined Bodø/Glimt in March 2019 and became the club's first-choice goalkeeper through a period of sustained success, winning the Norwegian championship four times, in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024, and adding the Norwegian Cup in the 2025/26 season. A brief move to Bristol City in January 2023, on a free transfer, did not work out: he left without making a competitive appearance and returned to Bodø/Glimt.

His international situation has been complicated. Haikin holds Israeli, Russian, British and, since April 2026, Norwegian citizenship, and had hoped to switch his eligibility from Russia to Norway. FIFA rejected the application, ruling that his short spell in England had reset the five-year residency period required for the change. He remains eligible for Russia, for whom he was called up in October 2021 without winning a cap, having earlier played five matches for Russian youth sides.