Serhiy Rebrov Issues Apology for Playing Padel with Vasily Berezutsky
Serhiy Rebrov has issued a public apology after a video of him playing padel with former Russia international Vasily Berezutsky triggered a backlash in Ukraine.
The clip, filmed in Marbella, Spain, showed the pair as doubles partners and quickly spread across Ukrainian social media in recent days. The exact date of the recording remains unknown, but the reaction was immediate and fierce, with many fans accusing the former Ukraine head coach of crossing a line at a time of war.
Under pressure, Rebrov addressed the incident on Instagram.
He stressed that he knew about Berezutsky’s public antiwar stance but said he had not realized the former defender had recently returned to Russia to work as a coach.
“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.”
The apology underlined the sensitivity surrounding any contact with figures linked to Russian football, regardless of their individual position on the war.
Rebrov, a former Dynamo Kyiv and Tottenham striker, took charge of Ukraine’s national team in 2023. His tenure ended in the spring of 2026 when Ukraine failed to qualify for the World Cup, a setback that prompted his resignation. He has since moved upstairs, now serving as a vice president of the Ukrainian Association of Football, which only sharpened the scrutiny on his actions off the pitch.
Berezutsky, for his part, is a familiar name to anyone who followed Russian football in the 2010s. A stalwart of CSKA Moscow and a regular for the Russian national team, he built his reputation as one of the country’s most reliable defenders. On February 24, 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he was among the few Russian athletes to speak out publicly, posting the message “No to war” on social media.
At that time, he was working on the CSKA coaching staff under his twin brother, Alexei Berezutsky. When CSKA dismissed Alexei as head coach in the summer of 2022, Vasily left and moved to Spain, stepping away from Russian club football.
The break did not last forever. In December 2025, Berezutsky accepted the role of head coach at Russian club Ural. His spell there was brief and ultimately unsuccessful: Ural failed to win promotion from the First League to the Russian Premier League, and he departed at the end of the season.
That return to Russian football sits at the heart of the storm now swirling around Rebrov. The padel court in Marbella may have been far from any stadium, but for Ukrainian fans, the choice of partner still mattered.
