Aleksei Bugayev, a former player on Russia’s national football team who participated in Euro 2004, has been killed during the 34-month-long war in Ukraine. Russian media reported the news on Sunday, citing his father and agent.
“Sadly, the news about Aleksei’s death is true. It happened today,” TASS news agency quoted his father, Ivan Bugayev, as telling Sport24.
Bugayev’s agent, Anton Smirnov, confirmed that intense fighting in the area made it impossible to recover the former footballer’s body for burial, according to RIA news agency.
Bugayev, who was just 43 years old, played two matches for Russia during the 2004 European Championship. One of these was the Group A game against hosts Portugal, featuring football legends like Luis Figo, Rui Costa, and a young Cristiano Ronaldo.
He also played for Moscow clubs Torpedo and Lokomotiv, as well as other provincial teams, before retiring in 2010 at the age of 29.
In September, Bugayev was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison in southern Russia on drug trafficking charges. However, he later decided to join the Ukraine war, taking advantage of Russia’s recruitment efforts targeting prisoners.
Bugayev’s tragic death marks a somber end to the life of a footballer whose career once showed great promise.
