5 most successful football players of the Ukrainian national team who made their debut under Fomenko

The end of April brought sad news for all fans of Ukrainian football. At the 76th year of his life, after a long battle with cancer, the heart of Mikhail Fomenko , a man who achieved a lot in domestic football, stopped beating, and the “swan song” in his career was working as the head coach of the Ukrainian national team from 2012 to 2016.

It is the work at the head of the “blue-yellows” that is most memorable for all Ukrainian fans, young and old, as they say in such cases. Under Fomenko, the Ukrainian national team had a very decent selection for the 2014 World Cup, taking second place in the group and losing only one point to the British, who won a direct ticket to the World Cup. In the playoffs, the draw chose the French team as the opponents for the “blue-yellows,” and in the first match in Kyiv our team created a sensation, winning 2:0. Alas, Ukraine lost 0:3 on the road and was unable to fulfill the dream of millions of its fans…

However, Fomenko still led Ukraine to Euro 2016, and again had to play the playoffs. This time, the “blue-yellows” played against Slovenia for the right to go to the championship, and were able to get the required result on aggregate (2:0, 1:1). Yes, Euro 2016 itself turned out to be a failure for the Ukrainian national team, for which many “hanged all the dogs” on Fomenko, but in that situation, colossal responsibility for the result lay with the FFU functionaries, who wanted to interfere in the work and structure of the coaching staff, replacing Alexander Zavarov on Andrey Shevchenko , which de facto upset the entire balance in the “blue-yellow” camp…

However, we definitely won’t talk about any troubles today. Instead, we invite you to remember all the debutants of the Ukrainian national team under the tenure of Mikhail Fomenko, and talk in more detail about the five most successful of them from the point of view of the history of the “blue-yellows”.

So, under Fomenko, a total of 24 players made their debut in the Ukrainian national team. In particular, these are Andrey Bogdanov, Dmitry Grechishkin, Alexander Kovpak, Denis Dedechko, Dmitry Khomchenovsky, Evgeny Makarenko, Ivan Ordets, Kirill Kovalchuk, Artem Gromov, Philip Budkovsky, Denis Boyko, Andrey Pilyavsky, Vitaly Vernidub, Sergey Rybalka, Pavel Ksenz, Maxim Malyshev, Nikita Kamenyuka, Ivan Petryak, Artem Putivtsev, as well as…

Sergei Sidorchuk

Date of debut in the national team : October 9, 2014
Age of debut: 23 years 5 months 7 days
Club from which they called to the national team: “Dynamo”

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A graduate of the Zaporizhzhya Metallurg academy, Sergei Sidorchuk moved to Kyiv in January 2013, but at first he did not play much in the first team of the white-blues, being a wide rotation player. Sidorchuk managed to become an important figure for Dynamo during the 2014/15 season, and this immediately affected his international career.

Already on October 9, 2014, Sidorchuk received the opportunity to make his debut for the Ukrainian national team. Sergei played his first match in the Euro 2016 qualification against the Belarusians away (2:0), when Fomenko brought on the young midfielder as a substitute in the 64th minute instead of Ruslan Rotan. At that time, the score in the match was 0:0, and the Ukrainians needed to take some unconventional actions to snatch victory. The “blue-yellows” managed to take three points from Belarus, first of all, due to an own goal from Martynovich, as well as a goal from Sidorchuk, who distinguished himself in his debut match for the national team when he converted a pass from Yarmolenko into a goal in the 90th + 3rd minute.

Subsequently, Sidorchuk took part with the Ukrainian national team at Euro 2016 (2 matches), and after that, with Andrei Shevchenko as head coach, he managed to go to Euro 2020 (5 matches).

As of now, Sidorchuk already has 60 matches and 3 goals scored in the Ukrainian national team jersey. Last September, serious changes occurred in Sergei’s club career, and now in the national team he no longer represents Dynamo, but the Belgian Westerlo.

Ruslan Malinovsky

Date of debut in the national team: March 31, 2015
Age of debut: 21 years 10 months 27 days
Club from which they called to the national team: “Zarya”

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Ruslan Malinovsky is one of the best graduates of the Shakhtar academy among those who were never given the opportunity to play a single official match for the first team of the Orange-and-Blacks. The attacking midfielder improved his skills on loan for a long time (Sevastopol, Zarya, Genk) before he was finally released to Belgium for 2 million euros.

Malinovsky was lucky enough to make his debut for the Ukrainian national team at the end of March 2015, when he was a representative of Zorya (on loan from Shakhtar). At that time, Ruslan became a solid player in the core of the Lugansk team, which showed itself very well in the UPL at the end of the 2014/15 season (fourth place – behind Dynamo, Shakhtar and Dnepr).

On March 31, 2015, Ukraine held a sparring match against the Latvian national team in Lvov (1:1), and Malinovsky appeared on the field as a substitute five minutes before the end of the match. Ruslan replaced Roman Bezus, and when he entered the field, our team took the lead, but lost the victory in stoppage time for the match.

Subsequently, in the national team under Fomenko, Malinovsky played only two more matches: one minute during the qualifying for Euro 2016 against North Macedonia (1:0), and 10 minutes in the first match of the playoff qualifying for that European Championship against Slovenia (2: 0). Then Ruslan injured the cruciate ligament of his knee and remained in the hospital for a long time, returning to the national team under the coaching of Andrei Shevchenko.

In total, Malinovsky currently has 59 matches and 7 goals scored for the Ukrainian national team. At 30 years old, the midfielder represents the Italian Genoa in the blue-and-yellow camp, where he became a full-fledged player in January of this year.

Alexander Karavaev

Date of debut in the national team: October 9, 2015
Age of debut: 23 years 4 months 7 days
Club from which they called to the national team: “Zarya”

UAF

Karavaev, like Malinovsky, went through Shakhtar’s academy, but in the Pitmen’s first team he never got the opportunity to play in any of the matches. Alexander played on loan for Sevastopol, Zorya and Fenerbahce, and then signed a full-fledged contract with the Lugansk club.

The 2015/16 season turned out to be one of the most successful in Karavaev’s professional career. As part of the UPL, Alexander played 25 matches for Zarya, scoring 15 goals (7 goals and 8 assists). At the same time, the right full-back got the opportunity to make his debut in the national team. This happened on October 9, 2015, as part of the qualification for Euro 2016 in an away match against North Macedonia (2:0).

In the 85th minute of that match, Karavaev replaced Andrei Yarmolenko, spending the remaining playing time as a right winger. It is noteworthy that, as in the case of Sergei Sidorchuk, the debutant only had a few minutes to distinguish himself with his first truly useful action for the “blue-yellows”. In the 87th minute, Karavaev assisted Artem Kravets, who scored the second goal and set the final score on the scoreboard – 2:0.

Subsequently, under Fomenko, Karavaev played in two more matches for the national team (both times he came on as a substitute at the end of the matches), and also went as a “tourist” to Euro 2016, where he never showed up on the field. After Mikhail Ivanovich left the post of head coach and Andrei Shevchenko took over this position, Karavaev became a player in the starting lineup of the national team, including playing all five matches of the “blue-yellows” in the final part of Euro 2020.

As of now, 31-year-old Karavaev has 49 matches and 3 goals scored for the Ukrainian national team. Since July 2019, this football player has represented the capital’s Dynamo in the national team.

Alexander Zinchenko

Date of debut in the national team: October 12, 2015
Age of debut: 18 years 9 months 27 days
Club from which they called to the national team: “Ufa”

Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine

Oleksandr Zinchenko was the captain of Shakhtar’s youth team and one of its most gifted players, but at some point a black cat ran between him and the management of the Donetsk club. As a result, Zinchenko unilaterally terminated the agreement with the Pitmen, and not without a scandal left the camp of the Orange-and-Blacks, who threatened to sue the footballer himself and subject the club that would sign the next labor agreement with him to penalties.

Zinchenko managed to find a job only in the Russian Ufa. There they took the risk of signing a contract with the disgraced Ukrainian, and did not regret it, since Alexander very quickly made his way into the first team and became one of the leaders of the first team. Soon in Russia they began to discuss the need for emergency naturalization of Zinchenko, so that he not only would not be considered a foreign player for the RPL, but would also have the opportunity to represent the 404 team on the international stage.

The Football Federation of Ukraine (at that time this organization still had that name) had to act almost with lightning speed so as not to lose the opportunity to play for the “blue-yellow” promising performer. As a result, Mikhail Fomenko substituted Zinchenko in the 88th minute in the match against Spain (0:1) in the qualifying match for Euro 2016. For this decision of the coach, many then criticized him very harshly, because it was clear that Fomenko gave the chance to play Zinchenko solely for strategic purposes: to play with the football player, but not for the sake of the opportunity to save a positive result in that match.

As a result, under Fomenko, the young midfielder played five more matches, and came on as a substitute in each of the three matches of the Ukrainian national team at Euro 2016. And in general, at the time of his debut against the Spaniards, Zinchenko became the third (later he was surpassed by Ilya Zabarny and Georgy Sudakov) the youngest football player to play for the “blue-yellows” in history (after Rebrov and Shevchenko).

Already under Andriy Shevchenko as the head coach of the Ukrainian national team, Alexander Zinchenko was lucky enough to become one of the leaders of the “blue-yellows”. After the footballer moved to Manchester City, and after some time began to receive stable playing practice in the “citizens” camp, he is one of the fundamental figures on the field in almost all matches of the national team.

Currently, 27-year-old Zinchenko has 60 matches and 9 goals in the Ukrainian national team jersey. Since the summer of 2022, he has represented London Arsenal in the Blue and Yellow camp.

Victor Kovalenko

Date of debut in the national team: March 24, 2016
Age of debut : 20 years 1 month 10 days
Club from which they called to the national team: Shakhtar

UAF

Another top graduate of Shakhtar’s academy in recent years, Viktor Kovalenko, also played his first match in the national team under the tenure of Mikhail Fomenko. This happened on March 24, 2016, when an experienced mentor released the young midfielder for the second half in a sparring match against Cyprus (1:0). Then the Ukrainian national team was preparing to start at Euro 2016, and Kovalenko played in two more friendly matches of the “blue-yellows” that preceded the European championship – against Wales (1:0; 90 minutes) and against Albania (3:1; 45 minutes) .

Kovalenko deserved a call to the national team due to a combination of factors. Firstly, in 2015, Victor, along with the Hungarian Bence Mervo, became the top scorer (5 goals each) at the FIFA Youth World Cup, where Ukraine U-20, led by Alexander Petrakov, reached the 1/8 finals, and then lost to Senegal in penalty shootout. Secondly, in the 2015/16 season, Kovalenko began to receive stable playing practice in his native Shakhtar, where he earned the trust of Mircea Lucescu very early on.

It is not surprising that Mikhail Fomenko decided to take Kovalenko to Euro 2016. At the tournament in France, the young midfielder played all three matches, but none of them played on the field from whistle to whistle.

Subsequently, Kovalenko became a fairly important figure in the Ukrainian national team already under Andriy Shevchenko, but in recent years the midfielder has not been going through the best stage in his career. In February 2021, Victor left Shakhtar and signed a contract with Atalanta, where he was never able to play, and for the past season he has been playing on loan for another team – now it is Empoli.

In total, at the age of 28, Kovalenko played 33 matches for the Ukrainian national team, and surprisingly, he still hasn’t scored any goals. Moreover, Victor’s last match in a blue-yellow T-shirt is dated November 11, 2021. It was a sparring match against Bulgaria (1:1), in which our national team was still led by Alexander Petrakov.