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CSKA Moscow winger Yuri Zhirkov has been voted Russia's Player of the Year for the first time in a nationwide poll conducted by the country's FA.

The 25-year-old (left) beat Zenit St Petersburg playmaker Andrei Arshavin (right), who was one of the outstanding players at Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.

Russia reached the semi-finals of the European Championships for the first time in 20 years.

Arshavin's failure to win is a surprise as he also led Zenit St Petersburg to the UEFA Cup and Russian Premier League titles last season.

But the 27-year-old has been criticised for inconsistency and had an indifferent second half of the year, when Zenit finished 5th in Russia and he was dropped for several Champions League games by coach Dick Advocaat amidst transfer speculation linking him to Tottenham and Barcelona.

Zhirkov's CSKA team-mate and fellow Russia international Igor Akinfeev was named the country's top goalkeeper.

CSKA finished second in the Russian league and won Group F of this season's UEFA Cup, securing a place in the last 32.

Guus Hiddink (Russia), Dick Advocaat (Zenit St Petersburg) and Kurban Berdyev (Rubin Kazan) jointly won the coach of the year award in another FA poll.

Hiddink led his team to the European Championship semi-finals for the first time in 20 years, fellow Dutchman Advocaat guided Zenit to UEFA Cup glory while Berdyev steered unfashionable Rubin to their maiden domestic title.

Reuters