The news that Dynamo defender Saba Sazonov went to the youth team of Georgia first appeared on Monday in the official Telegram channel of the blue and white.

As it turned out later, at that time they were waiting for the footballer in the camp of the Russian youth team.

According to the team's head coach Mikhail Galaktionov, the 20-year-old player received a call last week.

At the end of the next round of the RPL, all the invited athletes arrived at the base in Novogorsk - with the exception of Dynamo.

“On Monday morning, the player informed the national team manager that he would not come, although he was in touch with the administrative headquarters until the last day.

We do not want to discuss a player's personal decision to play for another national federation, as this is his personal desire.

But we categorically do not accept such behavior in relation to the Russian national team, ”TASS quotes Galaktionov.

The athlete was born in St. Petersburg, his father is Russian, and his mother is Georgian.

Therefore, the young man has dual citizenship.

Saba often visits Georgia since childhood, speaks Georgian fluently.

However, he began playing football in Russia: at the legendary St. Petersburg school "Change", which later became known as the Zenith Academy.

From the second team of blue-white-blue in the summer transfer window of 2021, he moved to Dynamo.

Even then, both federations showed interest in the defender, but the matter did not reach concrete actions.

“Of course, I would like to play for the Russian national team, because I am a student of the Russian football school,” Saba said in an interview in January of this year.

According to the father of the athlete Andrei Sazonov, then he and his son were waiting for a call to the youth team from the RFU, but only formal requests were received from them - for passport data and the size of the form.

And this season there was a hope to get into the main team, headed by Valery Karpin.

“In 2021, the first concrete proposal came from the Georgian national team.

The Federation of Georgia met with Saba at the level of high-ranking officials who spoke with him, convinced him, outlined the prospects.

On the part of the Russian team, this was not the case.

The last straw in the decision was the fact that Saba was not included in the extended list of the main team, ”Championship quotes Sazonov Sr.

At the same time, he stressed that until September 19, the Dynamo player did not receive a call to the youth team, as Galaktionov claims.

“Today's challenge was a formality.

He entered after Saba decided to play for Georgia.

Therefore, we refused today's challenge of the Russian national team, ”the father of the football player emphasized, adding that it was not in the rules of their family to refuse preliminary agreements.

The choice, of course, was also influenced by the exclusion of domestic teams from international tournaments.

And with the Georgian national team, the Dynamo player will be able to play at the European Youth Championship next year.

“First of all, I think about the interests of the player.

Saba himself wants to play football.

You yourself understand what the situation is with the Russian national team now, ”said the athlete’s father.

At the same time, as sports lawyer Yuri Zaitsev explained, Sazonov still has a theoretical opportunity to play under the tricolor in the future: if he plays only for the youth team of Georgia, and not for the main one, then with the permission of FIFA, he will be able to change sports citizenship once.

“If he plays an official match for the main Georgian national team, then there are practically no options to change the national team later.

There are exceptions that almost never work, ”Championship quotes Zaitsev.

In the domestic football environment, Sazonov's decision was met with regret, but without condemnation.

So, the former youth coach Igor Kolyvanov suggested that the Dynamo player wants to play at the European and World Championships.

“I don’t know, maybe they are choking me, maybe some kind of pressure… Maybe relatives are putting pressure on me.

It hurts me when people leave.

Of course, the situation is such that we do not know when we will return to international competitions.

Apparently, he wants to play in the qualifying tournaments.

In general, this is a difficult question, and the answer here is also difficult, ”the Match TV specialist quotes.

Honorary President of the RFU Vyacheslav Koloskov, in turn, wished the young athlete good luck and noted that in the current circumstances, playing for the Georgian national team is a career growth.

“The more and better he plays for the youth team of Georgia, the better he will play for Dynamo.

Everything is connected here.

I don't see any problems.

His decision is justified, ”Sport-Express quotes Koloskov.

And CSKA veteran Vladimir Ponomarev suggested not attaching any importance to this news.

He admitted that he had never even heard of a player like Sazonov.

“Let him play for Georgia.

What to pay attention to?

Is it Pele or Maradona?

Why discuss it at all?

I don’t even want to think about it, ”said the former soldier.

Even State Duma deputy Roman Teryushkov, known for his fundamentally tough position regarding athletes passing under the flags of other states, was sympathetic to the choice of a football player.

He noted that the player did not change citizenship, but had two passports for most of his life. 

“He decided to play for Georgia.

This is absolutely his right.

Sazonov is not a traitor.

Now he just has to be considered a legionnaire.

Well, nothing bad happened.

I called traitors those who, being an athlete of the Russian national team, decide to play for unfriendly countries, ”Sport24 quotes Teryushkov.