by Gregors Spricis
Before their crucial win against Nomme Kalju in the Estonian Premier League back on the 17th of August, we asked Mark Maksimkin about his time in football.
The 22-year-old Narva Trans midfielder spoke to us about his road to becoming a concrete starter for his city’s club, how football has changed his lifestyle, as well as highlighted his club’s future goals.
Love for football and the number seven
Mark’s first introduction to football happened when he was about five years old while visiting his grandparents. A match that his grandfather was watching that night sparked an interest in him.
“I was visiting my grandparents, and my grandfather was watching a football match. I just sat down next to him to watch, and I suddenly found it very interesting, so I stayed and watched the whole game with him.”
Only later, aged 20, he figured out what kind of football match it was.
“It turned out to be the Champions League final, where Manchester United played against Chelsea. The score was 1:1, the match went into extra time, and it ended with a penalty shootout victory for Manchester United. That was the very first football match I ever watched in my life.”
After watching that game, he fell in love with football. However, Mark didn’t tell about his wish to play it and, for some time, kept it to himself.
“I understood that football was a really fascinating sport. I wanted to play it myself. But at that time, I didn’t tell my parents about it. It was more like a thought, even a dream, that I kept to myself. Honestly, I didn’t even know that we had any football sections or academies in my city – I was probably just too young to understand.
About a year later, he started his training, meeting with the academy’s coach in a rather interesting scenario.
“My mom and I went to visit my dad at work – he worked in a bar with billiards. He happened to be playing a game of billiards with a football coach. The coach saw me and asked how old I was. I answered that I was six. He looked at me and asked if I wanted to play football. With my eyes lighting up, I told him that I really, really did. And that’s how I got into football.”
During your youth days, was there any player who was your role model from Narva or Estonia in general, someone you looked up to? Also, some players from around the world?
Actually, the first footballer I started to like was David Beckham, mainly because my mom was a huge fan of his. She admired him a lot since he played under number seven – her favorite number – and he was such a bright, standout player. And since he was someone my mom liked, he also became interesting to me. He was the very first footballer I followed and tried to look up to in some way.
Later on, of course, I liked many other world-class players, but in their case, I usually admired specific qualities. For example, with David Beckham, I really liked the way he took set pieces – free kicks and corners. From Ronaldinho, I admired his dribbling and the way he controlled the ball. Wayne Rooney, I loved his long-distance shots. I enjoyed noticing these little details from top players. But in my youth, I didn’t really have one single footballer I fully tried to copy – instead, I tried to take the strongest qualities from different players.
From Narva, the first player I really admired was Kiriil Nesterov, again because he also played under number seven. I wore number seven throughout my entire youth career. That was around 2015-2016, when Nesterov played for Narva Trans for two years. Back then, I would come to matches and work as a ball boy, and I always loved watching him play. He impressed me because in almost every match I saw, he would score goals from long range, outside the penalty box. That really stuck with me. He was also a very technical player and handled the ball well.
I was also very inspired by examples of players from Narva who managed to move abroad. For instance, Georgi Tunjov, who now plays in Italy – he left for Italy at a young age, and that was very inspiring for me. Another one was Vlasi Sinjavski, who, by Estonian football standards, started playing in the top division quite late. But thanks to his hard work, he managed to move to Tallinn, and from there he went abroad. His story was also very inspiring for me.
And of course, Konstantin Vassiljev was an outstanding player. He was probably the very first Estonian national team player I really learned about, because he played at such a high level, contributed a lot to the national team, and also played abroad. Plus, he was featured in advertisements around the city, which made him even more impressive in my eyes.
The breakthrough into the first team
Mark has spent most of his footballing life in Narva, having gone through their academy and played for numerous youth teams. Eventually, he got his opportunity and in 2021 made his debut for the first team.
What was the feeling to finally make the debut for the senior team? Does anything from that day stand out specifically?
“Naturally, I was extremely happy to make my debut for the senior team, as it was the result of a very long journey. As the coaches often say, the transition from youth football to adult football is the most difficult period in a player’s career. So I was really glad that I managed to get through it and finally play at the senior level instead of just the youth level.”
Mark revealed one thing that really stuck in his mind that day was the fast pace of the game.
“I started the match on the bench, and during the first half, I kept thinking to myself how fast and intense the game was. I honestly couldn’t picture myself on the pitch. It felt like I wouldn’t be able to cope with that level, and I told myself that I still had to keep working and improving, because at that moment it all seemed unreachable for me.”
“Then towards the end of the first half, the head coach came up to me and told me to get ready, warm up properly, because I would be starting the second half. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it – I had thought that my chances of playing in that match were basically zero. But I didn’t panic, warmed up well, and then went on for the second half.”
Narva lost that game, but Mark played a solid match and later received praise from the head coach, which only gave him extra motivation.
“It was 0:2 at halftime, and then the final score became 0:4. Still, I believe I played a very solid game. And the next day, during the team’s match review and analysis, the coach praised me in front of everyone and said I did really well. That was a very special and proud moment for me.”
The 2023 season was a breakout one for Mark Maksimkin as he turned into a concrete starter for Narva.
What were the challenges you had to go through to earn your place in the starting XI and earn the trust of the head coach?
Probably the biggest difficulty wasn’t earning the coach’s trust, but keeping it. Any coach will encourage hard work from a young player and will definitely give him a chance to prove himself. But the hardest part is to make the most of that opportunity and then earn a second and a third chance. For me, as a young footballer at that time, that was probably the toughest challenge.
European debut and injury struggles
By being crowned the Estonian Cup winners that same year, Narva earned its spot in the UECL qualifiers. There, they faced the Armenian side Pyunik Yerevan. Mark played both legs and said that these two games completely changed his approach to football.
“To be honest, those two full matches against Pyunik completely changed my attitude and approach towards football. They were by far the toughest games of my life, both physically and mentally. Before those matches, I thought I was already doing enough to improve myself and that maybe in the future I could even move abroad. But after facing Pyunik, I realized that by the standards of world football I was still very weak, and that I had to work much, much harder on myself to achieve something.”
Narva lost the tie as Mark started to put much more effort into his life, both on and off the pitch.
“I started putting much more effort into everything — not only in training but also off the pitch. I changed my diet, adjusted my gym work, started sticking to a proper routine, and overall created a structure for myself that really took me to a new level.”
He also hadn’t previously played on such a high-quality field before in front of so many fans, so it was a real pleasure to experience such an atmosphere.
“It was the first time I traveled abroad with the team, and only my second time flying on a plane, which was really exciting. I really enjoyed the atmosphere in Yerevan – there were about 4,000 fans in the stadium, which felt like an enormous number for me, since before that I had only played in front of maybe 1,000 at most. The crowd was so passionate, with ultras lighting flares and chanting non-stop, and for me it was only positive emotions.”
The next season didn’t exactly go to plan for Mark. He was playing regularly, gaining confidence, and building up experience. But then, in the middle of the season, he suffered a serious injury that kept him out for a long period of time.
“I suffered a serious injury — a rupture of the anterior talofibular ligament in rupture of the anterior talofibular ligament in my ankle, which I picked up during a pre-match training session. It was extremely painful, both physically and mentally, because I felt I was only just beginning to establish myself and gain consistency, and suddenly such a serious setback happened.”
What were the difficulties you encountered during your time off from football?
“The first few days were especially difficult. I never really thought something like that could happen, and I even had thoughts that maybe this was the end, that I wouldn’t be able to return to football. But my older teammates supported me a lot — they told me I would definitely come back, but that I had to come back stronger. Their words really motivated me, and I decided to treat this injury not as something negative, but as an opportunity.”
Mark had to start spending more time in the gym, which, at that time, he didn’t enjoy. However, as time passed, and also with the help of the squad’s goalkeeper, he grew to love it.
“Since I couldn’t train with the team, I focused heavily on gym work and was able to strengthen my body significantly, which has helped me a lot ever since. Of course, there was also constant rehabilitation – traveling to see the physiotherapist and working with him on recovery. One person I’m especially grateful to is our goalkeeper, Aleksei Matrossov, who basically became like a personal trainer for me at that time. Thanks to him. I improved a lot physically, and he also helped me to actually enjoy gym sessions.”
“To be honest, before this injury, I didn’t like the gym at all — it felt more like a chore, and I didn’t fully understand why it was necessary. But after the injury, the gym became my main
“training ground” instead of the pitch, and I grew to love it. I started to find it very interesting, and I also began to take much better care of my body, to understand and listen to it more.”
This whole experience taught Mark a lot of valuable lessons: the importance of pre-activation exercises before training, taking warm-ups very seriously, listening to your muscles, and consistently working on your weaker areas to avoid injuries.
“In the end, even though the injury was very tough, it gave me many positives and helped me grow as a player.”
The 2025 season and captain’s armband
The ongoing 2025 season is already shaping up to be Mark’s best one yet, with him having contributed to 14 of his team’s goals in the league.
“That’s absolutely right. I think I can confidently say that this season has been the best one of my career so far. I’ve managed to be quite productive, l’m a consistent starter, and I’ve been getting a lot of playing time.”
You’ve also captained your side on numerous occasions. Can you tell the story behind you becoming the vice-captain of Narva? As I understand, the main captain is still Elysee, right?
“The story of how I became captain is actually quite interesting. At the start of the season, I was officially the fourth captain. Our main captain is Elysee Irie, the second is Denis Polyakov, and the third is Artyom Shkinyov. Only after them came me as the fourth option — that’s how the head coach laid it out at the beginning of the season when he arrived.”
“But unfortunately, both Denis Polyakov and Artjom Skinjov suffered injuries, and Irie hasn’t been starting regularly. So the captain’s role on the pitch has often fallen to me.”
“The good thing is that all three of those players I mentioned have supported me a lot. They’ve been helping me, and I don’t think they mind at all that l’ve been the one leading the team on the field. Even off the pitch, l’ve had to take on more responsibility – keeping an eye on the team, setting an example for the others. And I’m very grateful to be surrounded by such kind, understanding teammates and people, who support me and make my job easier.”
Narva had a great start to the season, at one point even sitting 2nd in the table. However, during the summer, they’ve won just two out of their eight league games.
“Yes, l agree that we had a great start to the season. As for the fact that at one point we were in second place in the table – honestly, I didn’t even know that. At the beginning of the season, our coach told us that we should only look at the table after the 36th round, once the whole championship is finished. So, I don’t really follow the standings closely, though I have a general idea of who is around the top. But the exact number of points each team has — I honestly don’t know.”
What is the reason behind the team’s form in the summer?
It’s important to mention that out of those eight games, five were against the league leaders. And I’d also say that not all of the results were fully deserved. In some matches, I believe we at least deserved a draw, and in others, maybe even a win. But that’s football.
Regarding the fact that we’ve had only two wins in the last eight games, of course, that’s not the result we were aiming for, especially after the high standard we set and the level we showed at the beginning of the season.
Naturally, everyone wanted more – both us players and our fans. But, as they say, it is what it is.
What is the current atmosphere in the dressing room?
“The atmosphere in the dressing room is professional — every player knows why he is here and what his role is in this team. We all believe in our coaching staff and their philosophy, and we just keep working together toward the same goal. Of course, our ambitions are as high as possible, and with so many matches still ahead, I think we can achieve whatever result we set our sights on.
As for European competitions, that’s exactly what our team is striving for.”
“And I can say that starting from this year, it’s not just words anymore – this year, many positive changes have taken place. Our club is really developing, doing everything possible to bring Narva back to European competitions, just like it used to be when the club regularly played in Europe.”
As of 2nd September, Narva Trans sit 5th in the Estonian Premier League, six points off the spot in the European qualifiers. Their main rivals for that spot are Nomme Kalju and Paide, who are respectively two and six points above them.
In the Estonian Cup, Narva are still in contention as they await their Round of 16 matchup against Saue Laagri.
