SKA forward Mikhail Vorobyov became the team’s top scorer at a recent pre-season tournament. CSKA fans were wondering yesterday how many points the 25-year-old player would score next season. However, the rhetoric around Vorobyov today has changed dramatically: now the fans are not worried about performance, but about his freedom.

According to Match TV correspondent Artem Kocheshev in the All for the Match! program, Vorobyov pleaded guilty to giving a bribe to an official of the military commissariat to release or receive a deferment from serving in the Russian Armed Forces.

fatal summer

And again we have to return to the situation of the ex-CSKA goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov. It was after his scandalous story with the military enlistment office that similar episodes with other hockey players began to appear. Thus, information appeared that Admiral forward Vladislav Lukin, SKA forward Vorobyov and Metallurg goalkeeper Serov Anvar Suleimanov were accused of buying military tickets. Even Kirill Kaprizov was accused of this, however, the entourage of the star forward also quickly denied this rumor.

After such a sharp demand from the military registration and enlistment office for hockey players, lovers of conspiracy theories appeared. Allegedly, other hockey players began to have problems with the army to show that in the case of Fedotov there was no revenge from the former club, but only the law worked.

And then all these stories were quickly forgotten. And it seemed that the hockey players had decided everything with the draft board and were calmly preparing for the season, at least it looked like that from the outside. Forward Vorobyov played four matches at the pre-season tournament in Sochi and scored 6 (3 + 3) points. Players usually show high performance if they are focused only on hockey, and everyday problems do not distract them. So Vorobyov, with his performance in Sochi, convinced everyone that everything was in order with him.

Mikhail Vorobyov / Photo: © KHL / Yury Kuzmin

Although the striker did not go to the last match of the tournament, this did not arouse any suspicions in anyone. Rather, his absence from the squad looked like a well-deserved rest, which the coaching staff provided to the team’s top scorer. But today it turned out that Vorobyov actually went from Sochi to Ufa, where he pleaded guilty in court in the case of buying a military ID. At the same time, Lukin and Suleymanov also appeared in court.

Vorobyov pleaded guilty

In the 2017/18 season, the hockey players were Salavat players and, according to investigators, Farit Samigullin, an ex-officer of the traffic police of Bashkiria, who was detained in April of this year, helped them get fake military tickets. The trial was supposed to take place on July 18, but it was postponed to August 10.

And at a meeting of the Leninsky Court in Ufa, Vorobyov pleaded guilty to the case of giving a bribe to obtain a military ID. Now the hearing of Vorobyov’s case has been postponed until August 22. The rest of the hockey players have not yet responded to the allegations, and their cases are also postponed.

Also, according to RAPSI, criminal cases were opened against hockey players for giving a bribe on a large scale. Under this article, they face a fine in the amount of one million to three million rubles, or in the amount of the wage or other income of the convicted person for a period of one to three years, or in the amount of sixty to eighty times the amount of the bribe, or imprisonment for a term of seven to twelve years with or without a fine of up to sixty times the amount of the bribe.

Rotenberg help?

And if no one spoke out in defense of Fedotov from the world of hockey, then Vorobyov has someone to rely on. SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg has already commented on the situation with the forward.

– Vorobyov admitted that he bought a military ID? We need to check the sources. This was published in the Mutko Against telegram channel, this is not an official source. There has not even been a trial yet, let’s wait for official information. These are fakes. Now there is an information war on all fronts, propaganda, you see what is happening. Let’s not fall for fakes, let’s wait for the official information. Misha flew away, returns in the morning, tomorrow he will be with the team, everything is fine with us. We do not abandon our own, we support as much as possible. Misha and I are in touch, we talked today, we are constantly talking. In my understanding, he did nothing of the sort. This is our player, center forward, plays in Russia, plays for the Russian national team. Remember, at the MFM, he once gave 10 assists to Kirill Kaprizov. These are our diamonds, our everything. We will support and work together with lawyers as much as possible,” Rotenberg said.

Mikhail Vorobyov / Photo: © KHL / Yury Kuzmin

Even if we imagine that Vorobyov gets off easy, the issue with the army remains open. It turns out that the forward will have to serve after the trial. However, this can be solved by a sports company, because he is an SKA player.

At the same time, hockey players themselves complicate life. After all, it was quite legal to get a deferral of study. Many players enter sports departments and go from bachelors to graduate students – at this point, students are 27 years old and no longer need to join the army. And it is unlikely that they can go there to meet the hockey players from the national team and the KHL players. But instead of sessions, hockey players choose meetings.