Pavel Polekh

On 5 August 2026, Pavel Polekh scored against Orenburg in the Russian Cup and became the youngest goalscorer in Spartak Moscow's history, at 16 years and 246 days. The record had stood to Jano Ananidze since 2009 — the year Polekh was born.

His route to that goal ran through the same opponent. Polekh had made his Russian Premier League debut for Spartak against Orenburg on 22 March 2026, aged 16 years, 3 months and 20 days, which made him the club's second-youngest debutant behind Alexei Rebko and the youngest player to appear at the Lukoil Arena. He is also the first player born in 2009 to feature in the Russian Premier League.

The path there was not a straight line. Polekh started at DYSSh No. 17 in Svetly and was taken into the Krasnodar academy in 2012, at the age of three. He stayed a decade, leaving in 2022 after reported conflicts with academy staff and disciplinary problems. Scouts from both Zenit and Spartak had noticed him; he chose Spartak, joining the Moscow academy at 13, and worked upwards through the Youth Football League and Spartak-2 in the Second League, Division B.

He was part of the Spartak squad that won the Russian Cup in 2025/26. With Russia's youth sides he has four caps and a goal at under-16 level, and ten caps, five goals and three assists at under-17. In February 2026 he was in the under-17 squad that took silver at the Development Cup in Minsk, beaten 0-2 by Belarus in the final.