A Premier League icon married a Topless pop star but his career and life soon fell apart as his legendary status crumbled around him after his lifestyle was questioned
A former Premier League star had the world at his feet when he married a Topless pop star, but his career soon came crashing down around him.
Alexander Hleb is regarded as the best footballer Belarus has ever produced and he made his mark in England with Arsenal in the mid-late Noughties when he starred alongside the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri on the right wing, wowing fans with his technical ability and dribbling skills.
Hleb, who celebrated his 44th birthday on Friday (May 1), played 130 times for the Gunners between 2005 and 2008, playing in the Champions League final defeat to Barcelona in 2006, before earning a move to Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Catalans. A move he admitted he cried over when Arsene Wenger made desperate last-ditch attempts to keep him in north London.
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His talent propelled him to the highest celebrity status in Belarus and that fame brought him many suitors, one being pop singer Anastasia Kosenkova, a member of Belarusian pop group Topless. Yes, that was really their name.
The two tied the knot in 2008, but his relationship with the leggy blonde singer – a former beauty pageant queen – fell apart six years later, when his career had completely deserted him.
After leaving Arsenal in 2008 to join Barcelona in a deal worth around £13million, the Belarusian played just 28 times for the Blaugrana in his first and only season at the club.
Hleb joined Pep Guardiola’s side in their treble winning campaign but only started five league games, featured briefly in the Copa del Rey final, but did not play when Barcelona beat Manchester United in Rome in the Champions League final.
The midfielder could have been the first player in history to win back-to-back trebles when he rejected the chance to join Inter the following season, instead returning to his former club Stuttgart on loan.
Hleb failed in his return to the Bundesliga and fared even worse in another loan spell with Birmingham City in the Premier League the following year. Another miserable loan to Wolfsburg was the final straw as his Barcelona contract was cancelled by mutual consent in January 2012.
Such was Hleb’s struggles with form and fitness, Belarus coach Bernd Stange visited Birmingham to confront the midfielder about his drop off.
The 80-time Belarus international’s career never recovered and he spent the remaining seven years journeying around Russia, Belarus and Turkey until he retired in 2019.
Don’t feel too sorry for him though, as he’s happily married now to stunning blogger and businesswoman Sviatlana, also 44. The pair welcomed their first child in 2016 before they had a second daughter, while Sviatlana has a 27-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, who is married to Belarus striker Vladislav Klimovich.