Andriy Mykolayovych ShevchenkoROMANIZATION OF UKRAINIAN. BGN/PCGN 2019 Agreement (PDF). (, ; born 29 September 1976) is a Ukrainian former football manager and player. Shevchenko is considered one of the greatest strikers of all time and Ukraine's greatest ever player. He is the all-time top scorer for the Ukraine national team with 48 goals.
Shevchenko began his career at Dynamo Kyiv and won five league titles in a row, as well as three domestic cups, before signing for AC Milan. In Milan, he established himself as one of the top strikers in Europe, and won Serie A in 2004. He later played for Chelsea (where he won both domestic cups in his first season), and returned to play for Milan on loan, and for Dynamo, where he finished his career. While playing for Milan and Chelsea, Shevchenko made the Champions League final on three occasions: winning in 2003 and as a runner-up in 2005 and 2008. He was named in the FIFA World XI for 2005. In 2004, he was named as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration, and in the same year, he also received the Ballon d'Or. In his international career, he led Ukraine as captain to the quarter-finals in their first ever FIFA World Cup appearance in 2006, and also took part at UEFA Euro 2012 on home soil.
Shevchenko is ranked as the ninth top goalscorer in all UEFA club competitions with 67 goals. With a tally of 175 goals scored for Milan, he is the second most prolific player in the history of the club, and is also the all-time top scorer of the Derby della Madonnina (the derby between Milan and their local rivals Inter Milan) with 14 goals.
Quitting football for politics in 2012, he stood for election to the Ukrainian Parliament in the October 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, but his party failed to win parliamentary representation. He returned to football in 2016, as assistant coach of the Ukraine national team February to July, at the time led by Mykhaylo Fomenko. In July 2016, Shevchenko was appointed Ukraine's head coach, and led the nation to the quarter-finals at UEFA Euro 2020. Following a short stint at Genoa, Shevchenko became the Vice President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine on 17 November 2022. He left the National Olympic Committee in January 2023 due to disagreement with the results of the election of its new President Vadym Gutzeit. In January 2024, Shevchenko was elected President of the Ukrainian Football Association.
Early life Shevchenko was born in Dvirkivshchyna, Ukrainian SSR, in 1976, into the family of Praporshchik Mykola Hryhorovych Shevchenko. In 1979, his family moved to the newly built neighbourhood in Kyiv – Obolon (Minsk District was created in 1975). In Kyiv, Shevchenko went to the 216th City School and in 1986 (aged 9) enrolled into the football section coached by Oleksandr Shpakov. Because of the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, together with his sport group he was evacuated temporarily from the city. At an early age, he also was a competitive boxer in the LLWI Ukrainian junior league, but eventually he elected to move on to football.
Club career Dynamo Kyiv In 1986, Shevchenko failed a dribbling test for entrance to a specialist sports school in Kyiv, but happened to catch the eye of a Dynamo Kyiv scout while playing in a youth tournament, and was thus brought to the club. Four years later, Shevchenko was in the Dynamo under-14 team for the Ian Rush Cup (now the Welsh Super Cup); he finished as the tournament's top scorer and was awarded a pair of Rush's boots as a reward by the then-Liverpool player. At the age of 15, his reputation was further enhanced as he scored twice in a televised match between the youth teams of Ukraine and Netherlands (2-2).
Shevchenko started out his professional career at age 16 when he came on for only 12 minutes as a substitute in a 0–2 home loss to the Odesa second team Chornomorets-2 Odesa on 5 May 1993. He was a substitute for the last six home games of the 1992–93 Ukrainian First League and did not score any goals. The next 1993–94 season in the second tier, Shevchenko was the top goalscorer for Dynamo-2 with 12 goals, and he made his first appearance in the starting XI. Shevchenko scored his first goal against Krystal Chortkiv in a 1–1 home draw on 7 October 1993. During the same season, he recorded his first hat-trick in a home game against Artania Ochakiv on 21 November 1993 which Dynamo-2 won 4–1. Shevchenko stayed with Dynamo-2 until the end of 1994 and was once again called up for one game in late 1996.
He made his Vyshcha Liha debut for Dynamo Kiev on 8 November 1994 in an away game against Shakhtar Donetsk when he was 18. It was actually his second game for the senior squad overall after he had played a home game of the National Cup on 5 November 1994 against Skala Stryi. That year, Shevchenko became a national champion and a cup holder with Dynamo. He won his second league title the next season, scoring 6 goals in 20 matches. He scored a hat-trick in the first half of a 1997–98 UEFA Champions League away match against Barcelona, which Dynamo won 4–0; no other visitor to the Camp Nou scored a Champions League treble until 2021. His 19 goals in 23 league matches and six goals in ten Champions League matches (including a hat-trick over two legs against Real Madrid) were followed by a total of 33 goals in all competitions in the 1998–99 season. He won the domestic league title with Dynamo in each of his five seasons with the club.
AC Milan In 1999, Shevchenko joined Italian club Milan for a then-record transfer fee of $25 million. He made his league debut on 28 August 1999 in a 2–2 draw with Lecce. Alongside five other players – Michel Platini, John Charles, Gunnar Nordahl, István Nyers, and Ferenc Hirzer – he managed, as a foreign player, to win the Serie A best goalscorer award in his debut season, finishing with 24 goals in 32 matches. Shevchenko maintained his excellent form into the 2000–01 season, scoring 24 goals in 34 matches, including nine goals in 14 Champions League games. During the same season, he also reunited with Kakha Kaladze as teammates when Milan signed the Georgian defender from Dynamo Kyiv in January 2001.
Despite netting only five times in 24 matches, mainly due to injuries, Shevchenko became the first Ukrainian-born player to win the Champions League after Milan lifted their sixth trophy in 2002–03. He scored the crucial away goal against rivals Inter Milan in the semi-final, and then scored the winning penalty in the shoot out against Juventus in the final, which had ended goalless after extra time. Following Milan's Champions League victory, Shevchenko flew to Kyiv to put his medal by the grave of his former manager Valeriy Lobanovskyi, who died in 2002. He also scored the winning goal in the 2003 UEFA Super Cup victory over Porto. Shevchenko finished top goalscorer in Serie A in 2003–04 for the second time in his career, scoring 24 goals in 32 matches as Milan won the Scudetto for the first time in five years, leading to Milan's second trophy of the season. In August 2004, he scored three goals against Lazio as Milan won the Supercoppa Italiana. Shevchenko capped off the year by being awarded the 2004 Ballon d'Or, becoming the third Ukrainian player ever to win the award after Oleg Blokhin and Igor Belanov. In the same year, Shevchenko was also inducted into the FIFA 100.
He scored 17 goals in the 2004–05 season after missing several games with a fractured cheekbone. Shevchenko made Champions League history the following season; on 23 November 2005, he scored all four goals in Milan's 4–0 group stage drubbing of Fenerbahçe, becoming only the fifth player to accomplish this feat; his company includes Marco van Basten, Simone Inzaghi, Dado Pršo and Ruud van Nistelrooy (while Lionel Messi joined that group in the 2009–10 season and Robert Lewandowski in 2012–13 and 2019–20), and Shevchenko was the only player to have done it in an away game until Olivier Giroud did so for Chelsea, away to Sevilla, in the 2020–21 season. Milan eventually lost the tournament when Shevchenko missed the deciding penalty in the final shoot-out against Liverpool. In the 2005–06 Champions League, he scored his last Milan goal in the second leg of the quarter-final as they eliminated Lyon after a last-minute comeback in a 3–1 victory. In the semi-final, Milan lost to eventual winners Barcelona 1–0, a match where Shevchenko controversially had a last minute equaliser denied by the referee. Despite this, he still ended up being the top scorer of the whole competition with 9 goals in 12 games.
On 8 February 2006, Shevchenko became Milan's second highest all-time goalscorer, behind Gunnar Nordahl, after netting against Treviso. He finished the season as joint fourth-top scorer with 19 goals in 28 games. Shevchenko ended his seven-year stint with Milan with 175 goals in 296 games.
Chelsea During the summer of 2005, there were persistent reports that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich offered a record sum €73 million and striker Hernán Crespo to Milan in exchange for Shevchenko. Milan refused the monetary offer but took Crespo on loan. Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon was quoted as saying, "I think Shevchenko is the type of player we would like. At the end of the day to improve what we have got, it has to be a great player and Shevchenko certainly comes into that class." Shevchenko cited that the persistence of Abramovich was a key factor in his move. Milan, desperate to keep the striker, offered Shevchenko a six-year contract extension.
On 28 May 2006, Shevchenko left Milan for Chelsea for £30.8 million (€43.875 million), topping Michael Essien's transfer fee from the previous year and also breaking the record for a player signed by an English club. He received the number seven shirt, as Chelsea manager José Mourinho said that Shevchenko could continue wearing it.
Shevchenko made his debut for Chelsea on 13 August 2006 in the FA Community Shield, scoring his side's goal in a 2–1 loss to Liverpool. On 23 August, he scored his first Premier League goal – and his 300th in top-flight and international football – in a 2–1 loss to Middlesbrough. He scored goals sporadically throughout the season, including equalisers against Porto and Valencia in the 2006–07 Champions League and another against London rival club Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup to help take his side into the semi-final. He finished with a total of 14 from 51 games. During the campaign, he netted his 57th career goal in European competitions, leaving him second behind Gerd Müller on the all-time European goalscorers list, before Filippo Inzaghi made the record his own in the 2007–08 Champions League. Shevchenko's 2006–07 season was cut short due to injury and a hernia operation. He missed the Champions League semi-final against Liverpool and the FA Cup final against Manchester United at the new Wembley Stadium on 19 May 2007. He did, however, start for Chelsea in the 2007 League Cup final victory over Arsenal in which he hit the crossbar which would have given Chelsea a 3–1 lead.