Introduction
Vladimir Volkov (Serbian Cyrillic: Владимир Волков; born 6 June 1986) is a Montenegrin footballer who plays for Radnički Niš and the Montenegrin national team.
Club career
Early career
Born in Serbian capital Belgrade, back then still Yugoslav capital, Volkov started playing football in youth categories of FK Radnički Beograd when he was seven years old. Later, already as a senior, he played for FK BSK Borča from 2006 to early 2008, when he was moved to Portimonense. After that, Volkov spent the first part of the 2008–09 season with OFK Beograd, before moving to Moldovan champions FC Sheriff in 2009.
Partizan
Volkov was transferred to FK Partizan before the end of the 2010–11 season, signing a three-year contract on 14 May 2011. He quickly established himself as first choice of coaches Aleksandar Stanojević and Avram Grant mostly because of his good games in qualification stages of 2011–12 UEFA Champions League.
Mechelen
In summer 2015, Volkov signed a two-year deal with Belgian side KV Mechelen. He was officially presented the following day and was given the number 3 shirt.
Lech Poznań
On 30 January 2016 he was loaned to Lech Poznań on a half-year deal.
Radnički Niš
On 13 January 2017, Volkov signed with Radnički Niš. The official presentation was on January 17 at club media-center, where Volkov, Anid Travančić and Ryota Noma were presented as the first signings of the winter-break and crucial reinforcements of Radnički for the second-half of the 2016–17 Serbian SuperLiga.
International career
On 4 November 2011, the caretaker of the Serbian national team Radovan Ćurčić, called-up Volkov for two friendly matches against Mexico and Honduras. He debuted on 15 November, playing the full match against Honduras.
Under new FIFA rules, a player who has dual citizenship and has played only one match for one of the two countries can change the decision to play for the other national team. As the Serbian national team "showed no interest", Volkov accepted Brnović's call to join the Montenegrin national team. On 25 May 2012, Volkov made a debut for the Montenegrin national team as a starter in a friendly match against Belgium.
Personal life
Born in Belgrade, Serbia, Vladimir's paternal great-grandparents migrated from Russia to Serbia in 1917. Besides his native Serbian, he also speaks English, Portuguese and Russian.
Career statistics
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Sheriff | 2008–09 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2009–10 | 28 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 44 | 8 | |
| 2010–11 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 28 | 6 | |
| Total | 45 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 21 | 2 | 73 | 15 | |
| Partizan | 2011–12 | 21 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 28 | 2 |
| 2012–13 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 24 | 1 | |
| Total | 33 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 52 | 3 | |
| Career total | 78 | 15 | 20 | 0 | 36 | 3 | 134 | 18 | |
Honours
- Sheriff Tiraspol
- Moldovan National Division (2): 2008–09, 2009–10
- Moldovan Cup (2): 2008–09, 2009–10
- CIS Cup (1): 2009
- Partizan Belgrade
- Serbian SuperLiga (3): 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15