Roman Nikolayevich Shirokov is a Russian international football official and a former player. As a player, he was described as "a deep-lying midfielder with an aptitude for getting forward to score goals".
Shirokov started his first season for Zenit as central back, as then-head coach Dick Advocaat was forced to fill the gaps left in the centre of defence after the departure of Martin Škrtel to Liverpool and severe injury to Nicolas Lombaerts. He adapted to the new position fairly well and featured as a centre-back in the 2008 UEFA Cup Final victory over Rangers, pairing with Ivica Križanac. In 2009, he was moved back to midfield. On 30 June 2014, Shirokov announced that after almost 200 games in six-years for Zenit, that he wouldn't be signing a new contract and will continue his career at another club.
Spartak Moscow
On 18 July 2014 it was announced that Shirokov signed a contract with Spartak Moscow as a free agent. After a long recovery from an injury he made his debut for Spartak on 26 October 2014 in a game against FC Lokomotiv Moscow, scoring a late equalizer in a 1-1 game. On 13 January 2015, he was loaned back to FC Krasnodar. Despite being one of the most important players of the team, Shirokov was benched during the 2015-16 season, in order to not pay him the amount due to him by contract if he plays a certain number of minutes. The President of the RFU, Vitaly Mutko, commented: "He's one of the best footballers in our country. I don't understand why he's not playing. If it's due to the contract clause that's just dishonest." On 23 January 2016, his Spartak contract was dissolved by mutual consent.
On 9 February 2016, he returned to his first club, PFC CSKA Moscow, signing a contract until the end of the 2015–16 season with an extension option. His contract was not extended at the end of the season.
International career
Shirokov made his debut in the Russia national football team on 28 March 2008 during a friendly match in Romania. He was called up for the Euro 2008 and started in the opening group match against Spain, being deployed in the centre of defence as then-manager of Russia Guus Hiddink decided to follow the footsteps of his compatriot Advocaat, thus relegating experienced Sergey Ignashevich to the bench. This move proved unsuccessful as Russia were beaten 1–4 with Shirokov at fault on the number of occasions, including Spaniards' first and third goals. After the game Hiddink slammed his team's performance in defence and revamped the squad, leaving Shirokov out of the first team for the rest of the tournament. After a string of assuring performances in the centre of Zenit's midfield, he was called back to the national team in 2010 for a friendly against Bulgaria. Shirokov celebrated his return by scoring his first international goal, the only one in the game that finished 1–0. He was confirmed for the finalized UEFA Euro 2012 squad on 25 May 2012. He scored the second goal of Russia's opening game of this tournament against the Czech Republic in a 4–1 win. On 2 June 2014, he was included in Russia's 2014 FIFA World Cup squad. He was excluded from the squad on 6 June due to injury. Shirokov was selected in Russia's squad for Euro 2016 in France, making three appearances as Russia were eliminated in the group stage.
Post-playing career
On 5 June 2018, he was appointed by FC Dynamo Moscow as the deputy general director in charge of sports. He left Dynamo on 1 May 2019.
