Sergey Makarov

Sergey Makarov's first big moment in football came at youth level, when he converted the winning penalty for Russia's under-17 side in the 2013 European Championship final against Italy. The same year he was awarded the title of Master of Sport of Russia. Two years later he added a silver medal with the under-19 side at the 2015 European Championship, on top of caps for the under-21 team.

He came through the Lokomotiv Moscow academy without breaking into the senior side, and the path that followed took him through a string of loan and free moves: Minsk, where he had his first sustained run of first-team football, a spell at Anorthosis Famagusta without a senior appearance, then SKA-Khabarovsk and Isloch Minsk Raion.

It was at Rotor Volgograd, which he joined in January 2020, that Makarov established himself, eventually wearing the captain's armband. A free transfer took him to Akron Tolyatti in 2022, where he helped the club to a bronze medal in the 2023/24 FNL season, played primarily in central and defensive midfield roles but also used at right-back. After a short stint at Alania Vladikavkaz, he returned to Rotor in January 2025.

That second spell brought a painful reminder of his old club: in the May 2025 FNL promotion play-offs, Rotor lost 0:2 to Akron with Makarov as captain. Afterwards he pointed to the experience Akron's players carried. Injuries restricted him to just four league matches before he moved on as a free agent to FK Chelyabinsk in the middle of 2026.