«When I was 9 years old, my family and I decided to go to Turkmenistan, to visit relatives», says 26-year-old Serdar Azmun, an Iranian footballer of Turkmen origin, in an exclusive interview with the Internet program «Pishgoo», which is very popular in Iran. The host of the program, Pejman Jamshidi, is no less competent in this topic, since he himself is a former Iranian professional football player and a current famous actor and TV presenter in Iran.
As a guest of the «Pishgoo» program, Serdar Azmun told about his childhood and how he started playing football with children in Ashgabat, and how it happened that he turned from a volleyball player into a football player, about how playing football with Turkmen children finally motivated and paved the way for professional sports.
«At that time I was playing more volleyball than football. My father (Khalil Azmun) and I were walking around Ashgabat and I saw children playing football at the school stadium. I wanted to persuade my father to let me go to play football. My father allowed, and I began to play with the local people, scoring several successful goals against the opponent. It was only after this incident that my father, who still insisted that I play volleyball, just because he was the head coach of the Iranian national volleyball team, and my uncles and cousins were active volleyball players, felt the potential of a football player in me».
It was noticeable how Azmun plunged into pleasant memories. Moreover, he continued: «After successfully playing matches with local Ashgabat guys, I was able to happily tell my father that I am doing much better with football than with volleyball, and this experience determines my further path - the path to football».
One can argue from the stories of Azmun himself that playing with local children at the Ashgabat school stadium became an excellent motivation for him and the first experience of playing with a foreign team, which Azmun now proudly recalls.
Serdar Khalil Azmun was born on January 1, 1995, Gombede-Kavus, Mazandaran – Iranian footballer of Turkmen origin, striker of the Zenit club and the Iranian national team, the second striker among all foreigners in the history of the Russian championships after the Brazilian Wagner Love.
From the age of 15, Azmun played for the Isfahan club «Sepakhan», from the top division of the Iranian championship. He joined Rubin Kazan at the age of 17, in December 2012, becoming the second Iranian in the team after goalkeeper Alireza Hagigi. He became the youngest Iranian player in history to play for a foreign club.
Azmun played his first official match for Rubin on July 25, 2013 in the Europa League against Serbian «Yagodina».
After joining Rubin Kazan, he played 40 matches in the Russian Championship in two seasons and scored 10 goals. On February 1, 2019, he left Rubin and moved to Zenit.
Last season, the Iranian forward played 29 matches for Zenit, scored 19 goals and assisted partners 6 times.
Prepared by Janmamed Gulamov
