Jaro Eremenko's career on senior level started when he made his
Veikkausliiga debut for Jaro in 2004 at the age of 17, when head coach
Hannu Touru used him as a substitute in a match against
MYPA on 29 June 2004. In that match Eremenko appeared on the pitch at the same time with his father, who played for the whole match as a midfielder. Eremenko scored his first goal on senior level on 18 September 2004 in a match against
FC Lahti. He made six appearances for Jaro in his first season. During season 2004 he was also loaned to
Kakkonen club
Jakobstads BK and to
Finnish First Division club
GBK Kokkola. He made his break through in Jaro during season 2005 when he became a regular in the starting eleven. He gained 13 caps and was in the starting line-up 10 times. In those 13 matches he scored two goals.
Udinese In the summer of 2005, Eremenko signed a five-year deal with
Udinese for a transfer fee of €180,000. He made his
Serie A debut on the first day of the
2006–07 season against
Messina. He became the fourth Finnish footballer after
Mika Aaltonen,
Mika Lehkosuo and his brother
Alexei Eremenko Jr to make an appearance in a
Serie A match. He was loaned to
A.C. Siena on 31 January 2007, where he played 11 games. During the summer of 2007, he returned to Udinese. In October 2007, Eremenko,
Andrea Dossena,
Cristián Zapata, and
Simone Pepe were awarded new contracts until June 2012.
Dynamo Kyiv in 2009|left playing for
Dynamo Kyiv in 2010 In August 2008, he was loaned to
FC Dynamo Kyiv, until 31 May 2009. On 22 May 2009, he signed permanently with Dynamo Kyiv until 2014, for a €5 million fee. During his three years at Dynamo, Eremenko established himself as one of the leaders of the team. Eremenko debuted in the
Champions League on 17 September 2008, in a home game against
Arsenal FC. That week, he also scored his first goal in the
Ukrainian Premier League, netting a pass from
Tiberiu Ghioane on the 8th minute of a game against
Chornomorets Odesa. Eremenko scored his first goal in the Champions League on 10 December 2008 on
Fenerbahçe. During the 2009–10 season, he took part in a total of 35 official matches for Dynamo, 26 of which were in the Ukrainian championship, and scored 1 goal. In the 2010–11 season, besides continuing his successful performance for Dynamo domestically, Eremenko became the top assistant of the
Europa League. After a total of three years of playing for Dynamo, Eremenko played in a total of 127 official games, and scored seven goals. He also won the
2008–09 Ukrainian Premier League, and the
Ukrainian Super Cups in 2009 and 2011.
Rubin Kazan In the last stages of the summer transfer window in 2011, Eremenko signed with Russian club
Rubin Kazan for a reported fee of €13 million, which is the highest transfer fee ever paid for a Finnish player. His older brother
Alexei also signed a contract with Rubin Kazan in August 2011. On 26 November, Roman scored his first goal for Rubin, in a 2–0 home victory over
Dynamo Moscow. On 9 May 2012, he scored the game's only goal in
the Russian Cup final.
CSKA Moscow in 2014|left After leaving Rubin Kazan in the summer of 2014, Eremenko signed a four-year contract with
PFC CSKA Moscow on 25 August 2014, for a €6 million transfer fee. He was selected as the Best Player of October and December 2014 and March 2015 in the Russian Football Premier League. He won the Russian Football Premier League MVP of the season 2014–15 award. On 6 October 2016,
Finland announced that Eremenko had been handed a 30-day ban from football by
UEFA. On 18 November 2016, UEFA announced that Roman had been handed a two-year ban from UEFA competitions due to testing positive for cocaine. In December 2016, FIFA extended Eremenko's ban to all football competitions. His appeal was rejected by UEFA and the ban was upheld on 6 March 2017.
Spartak Moscow On 10 August 2018, Eremenko signed with
Spartak Moscow, joining his younger brother
Sergei at the team. His father
Alexei Eremenko Sr. also played for Spartak. His disqualification expired on 6 October 2018 and he made his debut on 7 October against
Yenisey Krasnoyarsk. Spartak released him from his contract on 8 January 2019. in 2018
Rostov On 18 January 2019,
Rostov announced the signing of Eremenko on a 2.5-year contract. Rostov (called FC Rostselmash at the time) was the first club of Roman's father,
Alexei Eremenko Sr. In his third game for Rostov on 16 March 2019, he scored twice in the last 10 minutes to give his club a 2–0 away victory over
Rubin Kazan. On 14 June 2019, Rostov announced that Eremenko had extended his contract with the club for four years. On 23 February 2021, Eremenko left Rostov by mutual consent, partly due to
COVID-19 pandemic.
HIFK After a one-and-a-half-year hiatus from football, on 28 July 2022, Eremenko returned to Finnish football and joined
Veikkausliiga club
HIFK for the rest of the
2022 season, and reunited with the former national team head coach
Mixu Paatelainen.
Honka On 4 May 2023, Eremenko signed with
Honka for the
2023 Veikkausliiga season. He helped the club to reach the
2023 Finnish Cup final.
Gnistan On 1 May 2023, Eremenko signed with newly promoted
Gnistan for their
maiden season in top-tier Veikkausliiga. In January 2025, Eremenko was set to sign with Scottish club
St Johnstone, coached by
Simo Valakari, but was denied a work permit and the deal collapsed. Later in February he renewed his contract with Gnistan. ==International career==