Serhiy Rebrov Apologizes After Padel Controversy
Serhiy Rebrov has issued a public apology after a video of him playing padel with former Russia international Vasily Berezutsky ignited outrage on Ukrainian social media.
The clip, filmed in Marbella, Spain, showed the pair teaming up as doubles partners. It is not known when the footage was recorded, but once it surfaced online, the reaction in Ukraine was swift and fierce, with many fans accusing the former national team coach of crossing a moral line during wartime.
Under pressure, Rebrov responded on Instagram, stressing both regret and his political stance.
“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.”
The 50-year-old took charge of Ukraine’s national team in 2023, leading them through a turbulent qualification cycle before stepping down in the spring of 2026 after failing to secure a place at the World Cup. He has since moved upstairs, now serving as a vice president of the Ukrainian Association of Football, which only intensified scrutiny over his choice of padel partner.
Berezutsky, by contrast, is a symbol from the other side of the footballing divide. A defensive mainstay for CSKA Moscow and the Russian national team in the 2010s, he was among the very few Russian athletes to speak out on February 24, 2022, posting “No to war” on social media while working on the CSKA coaching staff led by his twin brother, Alexei.
That stance did not anchor him in Moscow for long. After CSKA dismissed Alexei as head coach in the summer of 2022, Vasily left Russia for Spain. His coaching path eventually led him back into Russian football: in December 2025 he was appointed head coach of Ural, then in the First League. The spell was short-lived. Ural failed to win promotion to the Russian Premier League, and Berezutsky departed at the end of the season.
The padel court in Marbella briefly brought these two intersecting careers together. The backlash in Ukraine has now turned that casual game into a political flashpoint, and Rebrov, firmly embedded in the country’s football hierarchy, knows every move he makes will be judged through the lens of a war that shows no sign of ending.
