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Former Ukraine coach Serhiy Rebrov apologizes for playing padel with ex-Russia national team player Vasily Berezutsky

Source: Sergei Rebrov

Serhiy Rebrov, the former head coach of Ukraine’s national football team, apologized on Instagram for playing padel with Vasily Berezutsky, a former player for the Russian national team.

A video of Rebrov and Berezutsky playing padel as doubles partners in Marbella, Spain, went viral on Ukrainian social media several days ago. It’s not clear when the video was filmed. Many users criticized Rebrov.

“I knew about Berezutsky’s antiwar stance, but I wasn’t aware that he had recently gone to Russia to work as a coach — I don’t follow football in the terrorist state,” Rebrov said. “As a public figure, I want to apologize to the Ukrainians I offended by doing this, but I ask that no one doubt my pro-Ukrainian stance.”

Rebrov took charge of Ukraine’s national team in 2023 and stepped down as head coach in the spring of 2026 after the team failed to qualify for the World Cup. He is now a vice president of the Ukrainian Association of Football.

Berezutsky was one of the best-known players for CSKA Moscow and the Russian national team in the 2010s. On February 24, 2022, he was one of the few athletes to speak out on social media, posting the slogan “No to war.” At the time, he was part of the CSKA coaching staff headed by his brother, Alexei.

After CSKA fired Alexei Berezutsky as head coach in the summer of 2022, Vasily moved to Spain. He became head coach of the Russian club Ural in December 2025 but left his post at the end of the season, when the team failed to win promotion from the First League to the Russian Premier League.

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