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. 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.      ! Date !Venue !Opponent !Score !Result !Competition