On 10 April 2016, four goals from Fedor Smolov helped FC Krasnodar defeat his former team FC Ural Ekaterinburg at home. In doing so, he became the first Russian to score four goals in the one game in the Russian Premier Liga.

The second spring month is a memorable one in the career of the Saratov native. On 21 April  2007, a 17-year-old Smolov was included in Dynamo Moscow's matchday squad for the first time in the 2-1 win over FC Khimki. A week later he made his debut in a 1-0 win away to Luch-Energia Vladivostok when Andrey Kobelev released the youngster for a couple of minutes of added time.

“Fedor was already 16-17 years old and attracting attention with the qualities that he uses successfully today,” the former head coach of Dynamo told the weekly publication Football in 2017. “Even then, he had a very good build, ran fast not only without the ball, but also with it, and had a strong shot. But for all the individual attacking virtues, he also stood out for his intelligence and smart decisions, which sometimes none of his opponents expect.”

Smolov's Dynamo career, including loans, lasted more than eight years. On 13 August 2014, the forward played for the blue and white team in the 2-0 win over Ufa and soon after went to FC Ural. After the loan spell in Ekaterinburg, where the player scored eight goals in 22 RPL matches and helped the team escape relegation by the skin of their teeth, he ended his contract with the Moscow club. Smolov was only a free agent for 24 hours: on 2 June 2015, he moved to FC Krasnodar.

Even at the pre-season training camp, his new manager Oleg Kononov noted that the striker was approaching a decent level and brought a lot of benefits to the team. Thus from the first matchday, Smolov played in the starting lineup almost uninterrupted. His first goal came in his fourth game for the Bulls, helping them to a 1-1 draw in the derby against FC Kuban.

In the RPL, the striker finished the first part of the season with six goals and was in the top 10 scorers in the championship. After the league’s resumption, Smolov maintained his performance, and in the home match against FC Ural it reached a peak. He scored four times for FC Krasnodar as they won 6-0. In the history of the RPL, this was the third ‘poker’ - previously Jo (2006) and Vagner Love (2008) had managed the feat - but the first made by a Russian player.

"I’ve always said that Fedya is a big player. It's just a pity that he didn’t score four goals for us,” said FC Ural president Grigoriy Ivanov, while the Russian Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko called Smolov "our everything". The man himself calmly accepted his achievement. "I will say this: I will try to score as much as possible, considering that this is my direct responsibility as a striker," the player told Sport-Express.