Serhiy Rebrov Apologizes for Padel Game with Vasily Berezutsky
Serhiy Rebrov has issued a public apology after a video of him playing padel alongside former Russia defender Vasily Berezutsky sparked outrage in Ukraine.
The clip, filmed in Marbella, Spain, showed the pair as doubles partners on a padel court and spread quickly across Ukrainian social media in recent days. The exact date of the recording remains unknown, but the reaction was immediate and fierce, with many Ukrainians accusing Rebrov of crossing a moral line.
Under pressure, the former Ukraine head coach turned to Instagram to explain himself and address the backlash.
“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 wrote. “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.”
It was a rare misstep for a figure who has long been seen as one of the standard-bearers of Ukrainian football.
Rebrov took over the national team in 2023, tasked with steering Ukraine through a turbulent era on and off the pitch. His tenure ended in the spring of 2026 after the side failed to qualify for the World Cup, a disappointment that prompted his resignation. He stayed within the game’s power structure, though, moving into an executive role as a vice president of the Ukrainian Association of Football.
Berezutsky’s name, meanwhile, carries a very different weight. A stalwart of CSKA Moscow and the Russian national team during the 2010s, he was one of the most recognizable defenders of his generation in Russian football.
On February 24, 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Berezutsky stood out from the silence of many compatriots. He posted “No to war” on social media, one of the few Russian athletes to publicly oppose the invasion. At that time, he was working on the CSKA coaching staff led by his twin brother, Alexei.
The brothers’ paths shifted in 2022. When CSKA dismissed Alexei Berezutsky as head coach in the summer, Vasily left Russia for Spain. He resurfaced in Russian club football in December 2025, taking over as head coach of Ural. The job was short-lived. Ural failed to secure promotion from the First League to the Russian Premier League, and Berezutsky departed at the end of the season.
That recent return to Russian football is precisely what turned a casual padel game into a political storm. For many Ukrainians, any association with figures actively working in Russian sport is unacceptable, regardless of their earlier antiwar statements.
Rebrov now finds himself juggling two demanding roles: senior football executive and public symbol in a country at war. Every gesture, every photograph, every video carries weight. One friendly game in Marbella has underlined just how little margin for error he has left.
