In the days when the Soviet Union was still alive, footballers from Ukraine were required to represent the Soviet Union. It was not until April 1992 that Ukraine began to play football for the first time as a national team.
Looking back at their team history, before 2005, the Ukrainian national team had never reached the final round of an international competition, but the experience of reaching the play-offs of the tournament three times during the period was enough to show that the ukrainians' football strength should not be underestimated.
In fact, in the Soviet era, famous players including Andrey Kanchersky and Oleg Brochin were actually from Ukraine, and the Kyiv Dynamo and Donekts miners of the Ukrainian Premier League would occasionally play the role of giant killers in the European arena.
In 2006, under the leadership and outstanding performance of the famous Shevchenko, Ukraine ushered in its only Appearance in the World Cup finals, reaching the quarterfinals for the first time. Since then, Ukraine has reached the finals of the European Championship three times and has played its all-time best in the quarter-finals in 2020.
Affected by the current situation, it is really difficult to say whether the Ukrainian team will appear in the final circle of the competition in the future. When it comes to the representative players of the history of Ukrainian football, I wonder who you will think of?
In this article, the author will comprehensively take stock of the top ten representative players in the history of the Ukrainian team for reference by synthesizing factors such as fame, strength, national team contribution, club performance and other factors. Of course, due to space limitations, if there is a choice of discussion or lost pearls, fans are welcome to leave a message in the comment area to add.
X. Victor Leonenko
As the first ace in the history of the Ukrainian team, Victor Leonnko was the country's most recognizable player in the early 1990s, winning the Ukrainian Footballer of the Year three times from 1992 to 1994, and playing for Dynamo Moscow for a long time. Unfortunately, although the Ukrainian team was founded in 1992, it did not have the opportunity to participate in FIFA competitions until after 1994, and Victor Leonenko played for the team in his career and scored 6 goals in 14 matches.
IX. Yevne Konoprianka
The 32-year-old Konoprianka, a former Ukrainian footballer, currently plays for Bosnia-Rural League side Krakovia, previously playing for Dnipro, Sevilla, Sevilla and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Known for his sheer speed and dribbling ability, Yevn Konoprianka was once the impressive Ukrainian champion of the year, winning the Ukrainian Footballer of the Year three times in his career, with a maximum value of around 20 million euros in 2014.
On the national team side, Konoprianka has scored 21 goals in 86 appearances since he was selected in 2010, which is the team's breakthrough point on the flanks. Unfortunately, the peak of Yevne Konoprianka is not long, and in recent years it has faded from the mainstream vision of fans.
VIII. Ruslan Malinovsky
With a transfer value of 30 million euros at the current age of 28, Ruslan Malinovsky is already one of the top players in the history of Ukraine's short-lived team.
Ruslan Malinovsky became famous at Genk FC Bijaya and has improved rapidly after joining Serie A Atalanta a few years ago. In the 20-21 season, Malinovsky, who played as a forward, played a representative season of 36 games with 8 goals and 12 assists at Yatlanta, and then entered the discussion of Europe's top forwards.
In addition to excellent organizational skills, outstanding long-range shooting ability, and good handling of set-pieces, Ruslan Malinovsky has both the all-round attributes of the outstanding predecessors of the Ukrainian midfielder, and can also appear in the position of central defender and winger, and is a rare football talent in Ukraine and one of the core players of the current national team.
VII. Sergey Rebrov
Back in the late 1990s, Sergei Rebrov, who had long been famous but whose fame was limited to Ukraine, formed the best partner in the front line with Shevchenko, helping Dynamo Kiev play a dark horse role in the Champions League and create a good record in the final four.
While Shevchenko was favored by European giants, Sergei Rebrov, who was already a mesozoic player and had been in Dynamo Kiev for a long time, was also chased by many well-known teams. Before retiring, he stopped at Tottenham, Fenerbahce, West Ham, Kazan Ruby and other teams, and returned to Dynamo Kiev in the middle, winning a total of nine Ukrainian Premier League titles in his career.
In terms of national team career, between 1992 and 2006, he scored 15 goals in 75 appearances, which can be said to be the most compatible classic partner with Shevchenko, participating in and creating the first football spring in the history of the Ukrainian team.
VI. Andrei Voronin
Andrei Voronin, who has a tough guy's face, is also an impressive Ukrainian striker. During his career, he played for Borussia Mönchengladbach, Mainz, Cologne, Cologne, Liverpool, Hertha Berlin, Dynamo Moscow, Düsseldorf and other teams, with the best performance in the Mainz and Bayer Leverkusen era.
In his heyday, Andrei Voronin, with the strength to be the main force of the upper and middle reaches of the five major leagues, the star temperament may only lose to Sheva in the team, the aura of the tough guy, the blonde braid on the field, and the beautiful wife off the field can attract media attention. Between 2002 and 2012, Voronin scored eight goals in 75 games, giving fans the image of desperately trying to make it to the 2006 World Cup.
V. Alexander Sofkowski
As a goalkeeper, Sovkovsky spent his career playing for Dynamo Kiev from 1993 to 2016, playing a total of 637 games for Dynamo Kiev and winning numerous honors for the team.
In terms of national team career, Alexander Sovkovsky played a total of 92 games between 1994 and 2020. On the stage of the 2006 World Cup, Sovkovsky performed heroically. Back in the dream of the 2006 World Cup ukraine, in the quarter-finals, Ukraine met the impregnable powerhouse Switzerland.
After 120 minutes of hard fighting. The two sides entered a penalty shootout. Shevchenko, the first penalty, missed a penalty under heavy pressure, and the Ukrainian penalty began to collapse, but fortunately, Shovkovsky's repeated saves helped Ukraine pass the penalty shootout and write the best record in history.
IV. Oleksand Zinchenko
As an active player, the Ukrainian star Zinchenko, who can play as a forward and left-back, can play a stable opportunity for Manchester City club under Guardiola, which is enough to show that his strength is definitely not weak, and his personal combat strength can be compared with the history of the Ukrainian team. In fact, the 26-year-old Zinchenko still has the possibility of growing in the future.
At club level, Zinchenko has won three Premier League titles; at the national team level, he wore the captain's armband at the age of 24 and is the youngest captain in the history of the Ukrainian team, scoring eight goals in 48 games. In the last European Championship, he scored a goal in the round of 16 against Sweden, helping Ukraine advance to the quarter-finals and set the best result in The history of the European Championship.
III. Andrey Yarmolenko
The 32-year-old Andrey Yarmolenko, a Ukrainian high school striker who is more powerful than famous, currently plays for West Ham in the Premier League, previously playing for Dynamo Kiev, Dortmund and other teams, and winning the Ukrainian Footballer of the Year four times in his career. During his golden years at Dynamo Kyiv, he averaged 0.45 goals per game, and when he left Dynamo Kyiv to develop and join Borussia Dortmund, he was 28 years old and missed some of his best opportunities.
In the post-Shevchenko era, Yarmolenko was the team's most trusted and powerful striker, scoring 44 goals in 102 games for the team since 2009 and currently ranking third in team history in terms of number of appearances and second in team history. Before the end of his career, he is expected to replace Timoschuk as the team's all-time appearance and more likely to surpass Shevchenko as the team's all-time top scorer.
II. Anatoly Timoshchuk
Anatoly Tymoshchuk, the most iconic midfielder in the history of the Ukrainian team, may not have one of them. With a flowing blond hair, the speed attribute and spiritual attribute are prominent, the running and interception are in place, and there is a literary version of the translated name of "Lonely Autumn Guest", which is the classic impression left by Tymoschuk to the fans.
In terms of club career, this Ukrainian player has played for Volenlutsk, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit, Bayern Munich, Karat and other teams. In terms of the national team, this player who appeared on the stage of the final circle of the 2006 World Cup, the 2012 European Football Championship and the 2016 European Championship, scored 4 goals in a total of 144 games, is the king of Ukrainian team history, and the credit and hard work are great. In his career, he has won the honor of Ukrainian Footballer of the Year three times, and his opponent is Shevchenko, which is enough to show that his strength is not bad.
I. Andrei Shevchenko
There is no doubt that and the former European Ballon d'Or winner and super forward with the reputation of "nuclear warhead" Andrei Shevchenko is definitely the most shining new star in the history of Ukrainian football.
Back in 1994, Shevchenko made his debut at Ukrainian football giants Dynamo Kiev, scoring 60 goals in 117 games in the previous five seasons, and finally joining Serie A giants AC Milan at the age of 23 and spending seven years in Milan. During the AC Milan years, Shevchenko scored 175 goals in a total of 322 games. Before retiring, Shevchenko spent three years of loss at Chelsea, briefly returned to AC Milan, and finally returned to Kiev, where his dream began, to regain some of his former bravery, and finally hung up his boots and retired.
In his club career, Shevchenko won one Serie A title, one Champions League, five Ukrainian Premier League titles, twice named to the European Team of the Year, and his personal victory at the European Ballon d'Or in 2004 was the most glorious moment of his career. In terms of the national team, Shevchenko's excellence has really impressed countless fans.
Between 1995 and 2012, he scored 48 goals in 111 games and was the ukrainian all-time top scorer. In the case of insufficient support in the midfield, Shevchenko often used his personal ability to break through thousands of troops and blast opponents whose overall strength was stronger than Ukraine's.
In the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, the young Shevchenko scored 4 goals and missed the World Cup; in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, Shevchenko scored 10 goals and assisted 1 goal, missing the World Cup; in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, he scored 6 goals and assisted 1 goal at the peak, leading the team to qualify for the World Cup.
In the 2006 World Cup, Shevchenko, who finally waited for the stage of his dreams, contributed 2 goals and 1 assist in 5 games, leading the team to the quarter-finals, and was finally eliminated by the current champion Italy. Taking the strength of the national team as an analogy, Shevchenko and Lewandowski, who are also world-class strikers, are a group of Qin Qiong players who are often compared and debated by fans, and the historical status of the two is inseparable, and the brave leadership and fighting spirit of the national team at the beginning of the national team are the reasons why many fans think that Shevchenko is stronger than Lewandowski.