Translated with AI
Goalkeeper of the Tajikistan national team and the Russian football club Rostov Rustam Yatimov has been recognized as the best goalkeeper of the Russian Football Cup 2025. This decision was made following a vote conducted on the social networks of the tournament organizers, Fergana.ru reports.
Yatimov was included in the symbolic team of the 2025 Russian Cup with 66% of the fans' votes. In second place was the goalkeeper of Moscow CSKA Vladislav Torop, who received 20% of the votes. As specified, Rostov will meet CSKA in the super final of the tournament.
In the current Russian Cup, Yatimov played seven matches, conceding eight goals and keeping two clean sheets. Despite the fact that Torop conceded only five goals in 11 matches and kept seven clean sheets, Yatimov made more decisive saves, which, according to fans, was the determining factor in the voting.
Rustam Yatimov is a product of the Nizhny Novgorod Volga. In 2017, he moved to Tajikistan, where he was supposed to start his career with Dushanbe Istiklol, but due to delays in obtaining citizenship, he was unable to play for the club. A year later, he received a Tajik passport and was called up to the national team. Since 2019, he has played for Istiklol, and in the summer of 2024, he moved to the Russian club Rostov, where he eventually became the team's main goalkeeper.
The 26-year-old goalkeeper has 46 matches for the Tajikistan national team. He was one of the team's key players at the Asian Cup, where the Tajik team reached the quarter-finals.
According to Transfermarkt, Yatimov's value is 1.5 million euros, making him the most expensive goalkeeper in Central Asia and one of the three most expensive goalkeepers on the continent.
