Oleg Markov (Belarusian: Олег Маркаў, born 8 May 1996) is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played 23 matches over five years with , after being drafted to the club in the third round of the 2015 AFL National Draft. He made his AFL debut in round 16 of the 2016 season and in 2019 was a VFL premiership player while playing with Richmond's reserves side. Markov was traded to Gold Coast in the 2020 trade period in exchange for a future third round draft selection, and played 25 games for the club over 2 seasons before being signed by the Collingwood Football Club in the Supplemental Selection Period (SSP).
Early life and junior football
Markov was born in Vitebsk, Belarus. He moved with his family to Adelaide at the age of ten months. Markov has a mixed athletic background including high jump. He was particularly talented at the sport, placing fifth one year at the Australian All Schools championships. He began playing football for the first time at age ten, picking up the sport in the playground of his Adelaide school. Markov played his first junior football for Gepps Cross before moving to the North Adelaide Under 13s side.
In 2014 Markov played Under 18's football with the North Adelaide Football Club. His season was limited however by two significant collar-bone injuries.
Markov ultimately went undrafted in 2014 and instead returned to North Adelaide for the 2015 season. He appeared in matches in the club's reserves and senior side. He played for the South Australian side at 2015's National Under-18 championships, appearing in five matches. In the second round of the tournament he kicked five goals and recorded 16 disposals in an impressive performance against Vic Metro.
AFL career
Richmond (2016–2020)
2016 season
Markov was drafted by with the club's second selection and 50th selection overall in the 2015 draft.
Markov made his AFL debut in round 16 of the 2016 season in a match against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium. He recorded 18 disposals and nine marks for the match. The following week he kicked his first career goal, in a round 17 victory against . Markov finished the season having played eight consecutive matches to close out the season and holding averages of 15.4 disposals and 6.3 marks per game. He also ranked ninth at the club for metres gained per match.
2017 season
After spending the first four weeks of the 2017 season in the reserves, Markov was called up to playing his first AFL match of the season in round 5 against . In round 6 he kicked an equal team high (and a career high) two goals in the club's loss to . He remained in the club's senior side for the following two weeks, but was dropped after a six disposal game in the round 8 loss to . Markov returned to senior football for a single match in round 15, being omitted form the side the following week. He had another two match streak in rounds 22 and 23, but was dropped from the club's qualifying final team to play the following week. Markov's year did not end there however, as he played three matches in Richmond's VFL finals run. The streak included playing in the losing grand final against Port Melbourne. At season's end he had played seven senior matches.