Vasili Vladimirovich Berezutski (; born 20 June 1982) is a Russian football manager and former player who played as a defender. He began his professional career in 1999 at the age of 17 with Torpedo Moscow, having graduated from their famed academy. He was a Russia national football team regular, earning his 100th cap on 6 September 2016 in a friendly against Ghana. He played as a fullback or centre-back and sometimes was also deployed as wingback or midfielder.
Vasili started to play football in sport school Smena in Moscow before going to Torpedo. His identical twin brother, Aleksei, also came through the Torpedo academy with him and played as a defender for CSKA Moscow.
He officially announced his retirement from playing on 21 July 2018.
International career Vasili scored his first goal for Russia during a Euro 2008 Qualification match against Macedonia.
He was called up to Russia's Euro 2008 squad and came on as a late substitute in their second game against Greece in Salzburg and started the semi-final against Spain in Vienna.
He was named in Russia's provisional squad for UEFA Euro 2012, but had to drop out before the tournament began due to a thigh injury.
On 2 June 2014, he was included in the Russia's 2014 FIFA World Cup squad, and appointed as the team captain. He was chosen in Russia's squad for Euro 2016 and scored an injury time equaliser in Russia's opening game against England.
On 7 March 2018, he officially retired from international football.
Coaching career On 3 January 2019, Vasili and his twin brother Aleksei joined Dutch club Vitesse as assistant coaches to Leonid Slutsky, who trained them with CSKA and the national team. In August 2020 he returned to CSKA Moscow as assistant to Viktor Goncharenko, where he was joined by Aleksei once again in February 2021. In April 2021, Goncharenko was fired by CSKA and hired by FC Krasnodar, and Vasili followed him as an assistant, with Aleksei staying back at CSKA. On 5 January 2022, Krasnodar fired Goncharenko and Berezutski. On 10 January 2022, he returned to CSKA as an assistant to his brother Aleksei, who was promoted to head coach by that time. On 15 June 2022, he left CSKA by mutual consent, together with his brother.
In early 2024, Berezutski moved to Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua, once again as an assistant to Slutsky.
On 25 November 2024 Berezutski signed a 2.5-year contract with Azerbaijani club Sabah, becoming the team's head coach. He led Sabah FK to a 2:2 (3:1 by penalty) win over Turan Tovuz PFK in the Azərbaycan Kuboku 2024/2025 Round of 16.
On 14 June 2025, Berezutski's contract with Sabah was terminated by mutual consent.
On 11 December 2025, Berezutski was hired by Russian First League club Ural Yekaterinburg. Under his management, Ural dropped from the second place (a direct promotion spot) to 3rd, which meant Ural qualified for promotion play-offs. They lost to Dynamo Makhachkala and remained in the First League.
Career statistics Club ClubSeasonLeagueCupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsTorpedo-ZIL Moscow2000Russian First League3000––302001Russian Premier League26020––280Total290200000310CSKA Moscow2002Russian Premier League200000–202003Russian Premier League2300010202602004Russian Premier League601050001202005Russian Premier League27270152–4942006Russian Premier League2617060104012007Russian Premier League2614070103812008Russian Premier League2804050–3702009Russian Premier League28230101104232010Russian Premier League22010110103502011–12Russian Premier League36060121105512012–13Russian Premier League2901020–3202013–14Russian Premier League2303020102902014–15Russian Premier League3013061104022015–16Russian Premier League1801050–2402016–17Russian Premier League2710050003212017–18Russian Premier League25100140–391Total376941010659053214Career total405943010659056314
International goals Scores and results list Russia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Berezutski goal.
+ List of international goals scored by Vasili BerezutskiNo.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition18 September 2007Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow, Russia221–03–0UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying25 September 2009Petrovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia391–03–02010 FIFA World Cup qualification310 September 2013Petrovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia731–03–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification46 June 2014Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow, Russia791–02–0Friendly511 June 2016Stade Vélodrome, Marseille, France971–11–1UEFA Euro 2016
Managerial statistics
+ Managerial record by team and tenureTeamFromToRecord Sabah25 November 202414 June 2025Total
Honours
Player CSKA Russian Premier League (6): 2003, 2005, 2006, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16 Russian Cup (7): 2001–02, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13 Russian Super Cup: 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013 UEFA Cup: 2004–05
Russia UEFA European Football Championship: 2008 bronze medalist
Individual In the list of 33 best football players of the championship of Russia (9): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2012–13, 2013–14.
Manager Sabah Azerbaijan Cup: 2024–25
See also List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
References
External links
Vasili Berezutski at CSKA Moscow official website