Kamran Aliev passed through the entire Khimki system by the age of 21 and has become the club’s leading player in his debut RPL season.

Aliev was born in the Azerbaijani village of Kedabek, then moved with his family to Baku, and at the age of four they went to Moscow. His football career began under the influence of his uncle, who played in Azerbaijan, but ended his career due to an injury and then managed his nephew's business. His uncle also helped Kamran's brother - Kyanan studied at Strogino - but did not reach a professional level.

"As the family story goes, when I was a little boy, we played football with friends," Aliev told the Khimki press service in 2017. "My uncle Roma passed by and decided to watch us, and he realized that I could become a football player.

“He went to his parents and told them about it. They say that my father resisted at first; he wanted me to just study (I had to go to school in a year), but then gave up. So I started playing football first, and then I went to first grade.

“My uncle told me that to become a first-class player, you need to sleep with a ball and boots, so that you can run straight to training in the morning, and I took it literally. It sounds funny now, of course, but my mother tells me that I actually took the ball to bed, hugged it, and fell asleep. I still remember it - a white and blue Select one".

Aliev started in CSKA, but was forced to leave due to no Russian passport

The first football school in Kamran's life was CSKA, where he was coached by Pavel Koval at the age of five, whose main pupil is Igor Akinfeev. The goalkeeper played under Koval for the 1985 age-group team, although he was born in 1986. Among currently active players, Koval also coached Rostov midfielder Pavel Mamaev and Sergey Samodin, who now plays in the FNL for Shinnik Yaroslavl.

Fyodor Chalov, who was the same age as Aliev in 1998, also trained under the coach. In the opening match of the 2020/21 RPL season, the former CSKA teammates played 20 minutes against each other: Aliev came on for Khimki after the break, and Chalov was replaced in the 65th minute.

The young players did not work under Koval for long: the coach moved to Lokomotiv in 2009. Aliev also left CSKA, but for a bureaucratic reason. "When I started playing for CSKA, I didn't even have Russian citizenship," the player explained. “Actually, that's why I was forced to leave after four years of training. Despite the fact that there was literally nothing to be done, they could not wait any longer, according to them."

Aliev also had a short period in his childhood career at Torpedo Moscow from 2008 to 2011, and then he was invited to Khimki.

"I was invited by Alexey Stukalov," Kamran said. “We just had a match with Khimki, which we lost 3-1, but I scored. After the game, Alexey Borisovich approached my father and me and offered to join him at Khimki.

“At home, we talked again, consulted with all our relatives and decided to accept the offer. The coach was interested in me – it was important. It was not difficult to join the new team. On the first day, of course, I didn't communicate with many people, but then everything got better. And Stukalov's support played a big role in this."

He made his debut for the senior team after a productive season - against a former coach

Aliev played under Stukalov after graduating from academy in 2015 for the Khimki youth team. At the same time, he still managed to go to Zenit on trial. "There was a combined training session between Zenit-2 and the youth team, and Vladislav Radimov managed it," Aliev briefly recalled in an interview with Match TV. “It was very professional.”

After returning to Khimki, Kamran regularly played in the youth team, was team captain and scored a lot, finishing 2016 with 15 goals in 18 matches of the LFC championship. In May 2017, the 18-year-old Aliev was brought into the main team, and his debut in the FNL took place in Saratov. It is noteworthy that the same Stukalov worked in the headquarters of their opponents, Sokol.

"Max Pichugin [also a pupil of Khimki, now playing for Rodina in the PFL - Premierliga.ru] and I were sure that we would take the field against our coach, " Aliev said. “We discussed this point with him, because after all, if it wasn't for Stukalov, we might not have taken place as football players. I probably wouldn't have played for Khimki without him. He was our mentor, assistant, and football father. We were a little worried, but we were not afraid, because our task was to go out on the field and do everything we could."

He went to the youth team of Azerbaijan, but dreams of the Russian national team

The following season, both students played more often for the youth sides in the LFC. In 2017, Aliev had already scored 32 goals, and periodically went to the FNL. After the arrival of Igor Shalimov in the summer of 2018, Aliev broke into the main team and finished the season with six goals in 32 games of FNL. Kamran did not immediately establish himself as a starting player for Andrey Talalaev, who came in April 2019, but in the next campaign he became the team's top scorer with eight goals in 25 games. Three times he returned to the youth team to help them at another level, in the PFL.

Under Sergey Yuran, the striker did not play in the starting line-up, but before making his debut in the RPL, he extended his contract with Khimki. New coach Dmitry Gunko only picked Aliev on the bench in two home matches, although the midfielder has started each game on the road. The last away match was a success for Aliev personally: in Tula, he scored his first goal in the RPL after a beautiful solo run. Thanks to this, Kamran was named man of the match, although Khimki could not beat the Gunners in a 1-1 draw.

Aliev now has Russian citizenship and is not considered a foreigner, but he has already represented Azerbaijan at youth level. In May 2018, the midfielder attended a training camp with the national team and participated in a friendly with Macedonia. However, in the future, the player wants to break into the Russian national team. He has already played for the youth team at the 2020 FNL Cup.

"I respect Rashad Sadikhov [the head coach of the youth national team of Azerbaijan, under whom Aliev played for the team - Premierliga.ru], but it's not about the coach; it’s about the prospects of a football career. Therefore, the Russian national team is a priority," Kamran said in an interview with Azerisport in June 2019, as he positively assessed the prospects of breaking into the Russian national team. “I think the chances are good. There have been no invitations yet, but they are watching."

Photo: Kristina Korovnikova/FC Khimki