Taras Burlak

Taras Burlak was born on February 22, 1990 in Vladivostok, Soviet Union. When a boy Taras didn’t have the opportunity to watch football matches live because of the great time difference and his father, being a blue-water sailor, recorded games and brought them to his son. Burlak took up football in his native town and while defending the colours of the local Aqualine won a prestigious youth tournament being named its best defender. Such a success did not pass unheeded for the scouts from several big-name clubs and in 2003 Taras Burlak joined the youth ranks of FC Lokomotiv Moscow.

In 2007, Taras was included into the reserve side and in September 2008, he made his first appearance for the main squad. This debut took place in the Russian Cup match against FC Vityaz Podolsk.

Having spent the beginning of the following season in the second team, in 2009 Burlak joined FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod on loan, but there he made only one appearance and soon returned to Lokomotiv. In July 2010, Taras finally made his Premier League debut.

In the season 2011/12 Burlak became a first-choice defender of the squad and José Couceiro, the Lokomotiv manager, even called him the best player of the national youth football team. That season Taras suffered an injury in the match versus FC CSKA Moscow and had to miss several games but nevertheless at the end of the season the executive committee of the Russian Football Union included him into the list of the 33 best football players of the Russian Championship and awarded him the third position in the centre-back category.

In January 2014 Burlak moved to Rubin Kazan.

In 2008, Taras Burlak was capped for the U-19 national football squad but in 2010 he was already shortlisted for the Russia U-21 national football team he has been representing since. In 2011, the defender also got his first cap for the senior national squad.