andriy shevchenko biography
Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko (Ukrainian: Андрій Миколайович Шевченко, Andrij Mykolajovyč Ševčenko, born 29 September 1976, Dvirkivschyna, Kiev Oblast) is a Ukrainian football striker who plays for Chelsea in the Premier League.
Shevchenko began his career in the youth team at Dynamo Kyiv and soon played in the first team. He won five consecutive domestic league titles from 1994–99. Shevchenko played for A.C. Milan from 1999–2006, scoring 127 goals in 208 appearances and becoming the club's second-highest all-time goal scorer. He joined Chelsea in 2006.
Shevchenko won the 2004 European Footballer of the Year award, and was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in 2004. He was named a starting striker on the 2005 FIFPro World XI team, and is the second-highest goal scorer of all-time in European club competitions with 59 goals, behind only Gerd Müller.
Contents
Biography
Andriy was nine when the Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred in April 1986. His village, not far from Chernobyl, was also affected by the disaster, and his family was one amongst the thousands who had to abandon their homes and relocate to the coast to escape the after effects. At an early age, he was a competitive boxer in the LLWI Ukrainian junior league, but due to his size, he was forced to move on to football, where he flourished.
Club career
Dynamo Kyiv
In 1986, after his family relocated to escape the Chernobyl disaster, Shevchenko failed a dribbling test for entrance to a specialist sports school in Kyiv. However, he happened to catch the eye of a Dynamo Kyiv scout while playing in a youth tournament, and was thus brought to the club. He was extremely successful in the youth system at the club, honing his skills on the junior teams. In 1990, Shevchenko, playing for the Dynamo Kyiv under-14 team in the Ian Rush Cup in Wales, was top scorer in the tournament, and was awarded a pair of Rush's boots as a prize by the Liverpool F.C. player himself
In 1992-93, he was the top scorer for Dynamo-2 with twelve goals, and he made an appearance in the first team list, taking Dynamo to their second successive league victory. He scored his first international goal in May 1996, in a friendly against Turkey, at Samsun. Shevchenko won the league again next season with Dynamo, scoring 6 goals in 20 games. The next two seasons, 1997-98 and 1998-99, were abundantly productive for Shevchenko. The highlight of his 1997-98 season was his first-half hat-trick against FC Barcelona in the 1997-98 Champions League, helping Dynamo produce a shock 4-0 away win. His 19 goals in 23 league matches, 6 goals in 10 Champions League matches, and another league victory with Dynamo in 1997-98 were followed by 28 goals in all competitions in 1998-99, and the league top-scorer award for his 18 goals there. Shevchenko's exploits in the Champions League took Dynamo to the semi-final stage of the tournament, before they lost to Bayern Munich 3-4 on aggregate.
Shevchenko won the domestic league title with Dynamo in each of his five seasons with the club. Under the guidance of Valeri Lobanovsky, the Dynamo manager from January 1997 to May 2002, Shevchenko flourished into one of the team's most prominent and skillful players.
A.C. Milan
In 1999, Shevchenko joined the then five-time European Cup champions A.C. Milan for $25 million, breaking the club's transfer record (it was later broken by Manuel Rui Costa in 2001) and instantly became one of their top players. He made his Serie A debut on 28 August 1999 in a 2-2 away draw with U.S. Lecce. His impressive haul of 24 league goals in 32 matches earned him the Serie A scoring title, becoming the first non-Italian player to accomplish the feat in his debut season. Over the next two seasons, Shevchenko scored 34 goals in 51 matches then 17 goals in 38 matches in all competitions, but Milan could not win any silverware in either season.
The disappointment of those two seasons was overcome in 2002-03 when Milan won the Coppa Italia, as well as the Champions League, making Shevchenko the first Ukrainian-born player ever to win a Champions League title. Though Shevchenko was not in top offensive form, netting only five times in 24 matches, he scored the winning penalty kick in the shoot out against arch-rivals Juventus in the final, giving the Rossoneri their sixth title. 2003-04 was another successful season for both Milan and Shevchenko. He was the Serie A scoring champion for the second time in his career, duplicating his previous effort of 24 goals in 32 matches en route to Milan winning the Scudetto after a four-year drought. He also scored the winning goal in the UEFA Super Cup victory over F.C. Porto, leading to Milan's second trophy of the season. In August 2004, he scored three goals against S.S. Lazio as Milan won the Italian Super Cup. He capped off the year in dramatic fashion by being named the 2004 European Player of the Year and thus becoming the third Ukrainian player ever to win the Golden Ball, following Oleg Blokhin in 1975 and Igor Belanov in 1986 (latter two won the award as Soviet internationals).
In 2004–05, Milan finished runner-up to Juventus in the Serie A standings, helped in part by the seventeen goals of Shevchenko, but Milan's domestic success was promptly deflated in the wake of the 2005 Champions League final, in which they lost a 3-0 lead to Liverpool F.C. during a six-minute span in the second half. The match ended 3–3 after extra time. Shevchenko's decisive penalty was blocked by Liverpool goalie Jerzy Dudek in the shoot-out, which gave the English side the title.
Shevchenko scored 19 goals in the 22 games that he played in the 2005-06 Serie A campaign to go with nine goals in 12 total matches in the Champions League, making history along the way. On 23 November 2005, Shevchenko scored all four goals in Milan's 4-0 drubbing of Fenerbahçe SK, becoming only the fifth player to do so in a CL match (his company includes Marco van Basten, Simone Inzaghi, Dado Pršo and Ruud van Nistelrooy). However, he scored only once in the last four matches of the quarter-final and semi-final stages as Milan eliminated Olympique Lyonnais thanks to a last-minute comeback, but were then held scoreless in both semi-final legs en route to falling to eventual winners, Barcelona. He ended the season as the CL's fourth-highest scorer with a total of 43 career goals, in addition to ten qualifying-round scores.
On 8 February 2006, he became Milan's second all-time goalscorer, behind legend Gunnar Nordahl, after netting against Treviso.
Chelsea
It is useless hiding things — I was with the president, we talked of many things and also about the possibility that I could leave. There hasn't been a definitive decision. I want to be clear, we are only talking. This has nothing to do with my relationship with Milan, there has always been a great deal of affection, as with my team mates and coaches. The decision that I am considering regards above all my family...
Andriy Shevchenko
During the summer of 2004, there were persistent reports that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich offered a record sum of £50 million and striker Hernán Crespo to A.C. Milan in exchange for Shevchenko. Milan refused the monetary offer but took Crespo on loan. Abramovich upped his offer to £85 million to AC Milan, in addition to a record weekly wage of £225,000, to transfer him to Chelsea, but he was again refused. 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." Meanwhile, Shevchenko repeatedly denied that he wanted to leave, claiming that he wanted to become a Milan legend like Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini.But on 11 May 2006, Shevchenko publicly announced that he would be leaving the club after all, to join the Premier League holders.
On May 14, 2006, during the last Serie A encounter between Milan and Roma, Shevchenko watched the first half in the stands with Milan supporters; two weeks later, he left Milan for Chelsea. The fee was disclosed on the official website of UEFA as €30 million, which would make it the most expensive transfer in English football. Shevchenko joined up with his new team after the 2006 World Cup. He received the number seven shirt, as Chelsea coach José Mourinho said that Shevchenko could continue wearing it.
Shevchenko made his debut for Chelsea on August 13, 2006 in the FA Community Shield, scoring his side's goal in a 2-1 loss to Liverpool. On August 23, he scored his first FA 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 crucial equalisers against FC Porto and Valencia CF in the UEFA Champions League and another against Tottenham Hotspur to help take his side into the FA Cup semi-finals. He finised with a total of 14 from 51 games.
During the campaign he netted his 57th career goal in European competitions, leaving him 2nd in the all-time European goalscorers list, behind Gerd Muller. Shevchenko's 2006/07 season was cut short due to injury and a hernia operation. He missed the Champions League semi-finals against Liverpool and the FA Cup Final against Manchester United at the new Wembley Stadium on May 19, 2007.
In January 2007 ex-Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino suggested that Shevchenko might end up being the biggest flop in British football.
Shevchenko has vowed that he will find his true form in the 2007-08 season, reiterating his desire to remain in London despite interest from Milan president Adriano Galliani to bring Shevchenko back to Italy.Despite it, rumors are speculating that AC Milan are close to bringing back Shevchenko to AC Milan, with his wife stating that she "misses Italy" and that she "wants to go back home."
International career
Shevchenko post stamp in celebration of UEFA's 50th anniversary
Shevchenko post stamp in celebration of UEFA's 50th anniversary
Shevchenko has 73 caps and 33 goals for the Ukraine national team, whom he represented at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
In March 2000, Dynamo manager Valeri Lobanovsky became the Ukraine coach, with the aim to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals. Shevchenko scored 10 goals in the qualifiers, but Ukraine failed to qualify after losing a play-off against Germany. In the Euro Cup 2008 qualifiers, Shevchenko has scored two goals.
Personal life
Shevchenko is married to American model Kristen Pazik. The couple met at a Giorgio Armani afterparty in 2002, and married on July 14, 2004 in a private ceremony on a golf course in Washington, DC. They communicate with each other in Italian,though Shevchenko has made public his desire to learn English. Media commentators have speculated that Pazik was a major influence on Shevchenko's decision to sign with Chelsea, citing her friendship with Abramovich's wife and her desire to raise their children in an English-speaking culture. Shevchenko has stated that his move to Chelsea was "a family decision" about what was best for their children.
The couple has two sons, Jordan (named after NBA legend Michael Jordan), born on 29 October 2004, and Christian, born on 10 November 2006. Andriy commemorated Jordan's birth by scoring against Sampdoria the following day (AC Milan won 1-0). AC Milan supremo Silvio Berlusconi is the Godfather of Andriy's first son, Jordan. The day after Christian's birth, Shevchenko scored in a 4-0 Chelsea victory over Watford, and he and several of his teammates gathered and performed the popular "rock-the-baby" goal celebration as a tribute.
Shevchenko is a close friend of fashion designer Giorgio Armani, and has modelled for Armani and opened two boutiques with him in Kyiv.
In June 2005, Shevchenko became an ambassador for the SOS Children's Villages charity.
Shevchenko began his career in the youth team at Dynamo Kyiv and soon played in the first team. He won five consecutive domestic league titles from 1994–99. Shevchenko played for A.C. Milan from 1999–2006, scoring 127 goals in 208 appearances and becoming the club's second-highest all-time goal scorer. He joined Chelsea in 2006.
Shevchenko won the 2004 European Footballer of the Year award, and was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in 2004. He was named a starting striker on the 2005 FIFPro World XI team, and is the second-highest goal scorer of all-time in European club competitions with 59 goals, behind only Gerd Müller.
Contents
Biography
Andriy was nine when the Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred in April 1986. His village, not far from Chernobyl, was also affected by the disaster, and his family was one amongst the thousands who had to abandon their homes and relocate to the coast to escape the after effects. At an early age, he was a competitive boxer in the LLWI Ukrainian junior league, but due to his size, he was forced to move on to football, where he flourished.
Club career
Dynamo Kyiv
In 1986, after his family relocated to escape the Chernobyl disaster, Shevchenko failed a dribbling test for entrance to a specialist sports school in Kyiv. However, he happened to catch the eye of a Dynamo Kyiv scout while playing in a youth tournament, and was thus brought to the club. He was extremely successful in the youth system at the club, honing his skills on the junior teams. In 1990, Shevchenko, playing for the Dynamo Kyiv under-14 team in the Ian Rush Cup in Wales, was top scorer in the tournament, and was awarded a pair of Rush's boots as a prize by the Liverpool F.C. player himself
In 1992-93, he was the top scorer for Dynamo-2 with twelve goals, and he made an appearance in the first team list, taking Dynamo to their second successive league victory. He scored his first international goal in May 1996, in a friendly against Turkey, at Samsun. Shevchenko won the league again next season with Dynamo, scoring 6 goals in 20 games. The next two seasons, 1997-98 and 1998-99, were abundantly productive for Shevchenko. The highlight of his 1997-98 season was his first-half hat-trick against FC Barcelona in the 1997-98 Champions League, helping Dynamo produce a shock 4-0 away win. His 19 goals in 23 league matches, 6 goals in 10 Champions League matches, and another league victory with Dynamo in 1997-98 were followed by 28 goals in all competitions in 1998-99, and the league top-scorer award for his 18 goals there. Shevchenko's exploits in the Champions League took Dynamo to the semi-final stage of the tournament, before they lost to Bayern Munich 3-4 on aggregate.
Shevchenko won the domestic league title with Dynamo in each of his five seasons with the club. Under the guidance of Valeri Lobanovsky, the Dynamo manager from January 1997 to May 2002, Shevchenko flourished into one of the team's most prominent and skillful players.
A.C. Milan
In 1999, Shevchenko joined the then five-time European Cup champions A.C. Milan for $25 million, breaking the club's transfer record (it was later broken by Manuel Rui Costa in 2001) and instantly became one of their top players. He made his Serie A debut on 28 August 1999 in a 2-2 away draw with U.S. Lecce. His impressive haul of 24 league goals in 32 matches earned him the Serie A scoring title, becoming the first non-Italian player to accomplish the feat in his debut season. Over the next two seasons, Shevchenko scored 34 goals in 51 matches then 17 goals in 38 matches in all competitions, but Milan could not win any silverware in either season.
The disappointment of those two seasons was overcome in 2002-03 when Milan won the Coppa Italia, as well as the Champions League, making Shevchenko the first Ukrainian-born player ever to win a Champions League title. Though Shevchenko was not in top offensive form, netting only five times in 24 matches, he scored the winning penalty kick in the shoot out against arch-rivals Juventus in the final, giving the Rossoneri their sixth title. 2003-04 was another successful season for both Milan and Shevchenko. He was the Serie A scoring champion for the second time in his career, duplicating his previous effort of 24 goals in 32 matches en route to Milan winning the Scudetto after a four-year drought. He also scored the winning goal in the UEFA Super Cup victory over F.C. Porto, leading to Milan's second trophy of the season. In August 2004, he scored three goals against S.S. Lazio as Milan won the Italian Super Cup. He capped off the year in dramatic fashion by being named the 2004 European Player of the Year and thus becoming the third Ukrainian player ever to win the Golden Ball, following Oleg Blokhin in 1975 and Igor Belanov in 1986 (latter two won the award as Soviet internationals).
In 2004–05, Milan finished runner-up to Juventus in the Serie A standings, helped in part by the seventeen goals of Shevchenko, but Milan's domestic success was promptly deflated in the wake of the 2005 Champions League final, in which they lost a 3-0 lead to Liverpool F.C. during a six-minute span in the second half. The match ended 3–3 after extra time. Shevchenko's decisive penalty was blocked by Liverpool goalie Jerzy Dudek in the shoot-out, which gave the English side the title.
Shevchenko scored 19 goals in the 22 games that he played in the 2005-06 Serie A campaign to go with nine goals in 12 total matches in the Champions League, making history along the way. On 23 November 2005, Shevchenko scored all four goals in Milan's 4-0 drubbing of Fenerbahçe SK, becoming only the fifth player to do so in a CL match (his company includes Marco van Basten, Simone Inzaghi, Dado Pršo and Ruud van Nistelrooy). However, he scored only once in the last four matches of the quarter-final and semi-final stages as Milan eliminated Olympique Lyonnais thanks to a last-minute comeback, but were then held scoreless in both semi-final legs en route to falling to eventual winners, Barcelona. He ended the season as the CL's fourth-highest scorer with a total of 43 career goals, in addition to ten qualifying-round scores.
On 8 February 2006, he became Milan's second all-time goalscorer, behind legend Gunnar Nordahl, after netting against Treviso.
Chelsea
It is useless hiding things — I was with the president, we talked of many things and also about the possibility that I could leave. There hasn't been a definitive decision. I want to be clear, we are only talking. This has nothing to do with my relationship with Milan, there has always been a great deal of affection, as with my team mates and coaches. The decision that I am considering regards above all my family...
Andriy Shevchenko
During the summer of 2004, there were persistent reports that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich offered a record sum of £50 million and striker Hernán Crespo to A.C. Milan in exchange for Shevchenko. Milan refused the monetary offer but took Crespo on loan. Abramovich upped his offer to £85 million to AC Milan, in addition to a record weekly wage of £225,000, to transfer him to Chelsea, but he was again refused. 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." Meanwhile, Shevchenko repeatedly denied that he wanted to leave, claiming that he wanted to become a Milan legend like Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini.But on 11 May 2006, Shevchenko publicly announced that he would be leaving the club after all, to join the Premier League holders.
On May 14, 2006, during the last Serie A encounter between Milan and Roma, Shevchenko watched the first half in the stands with Milan supporters; two weeks later, he left Milan for Chelsea. The fee was disclosed on the official website of UEFA as €30 million, which would make it the most expensive transfer in English football. Shevchenko joined up with his new team after the 2006 World Cup. He received the number seven shirt, as Chelsea coach José Mourinho said that Shevchenko could continue wearing it.
Shevchenko made his debut for Chelsea on August 13, 2006 in the FA Community Shield, scoring his side's goal in a 2-1 loss to Liverpool. On August 23, he scored his first FA 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 crucial equalisers against FC Porto and Valencia CF in the UEFA Champions League and another against Tottenham Hotspur to help take his side into the FA Cup semi-finals. He finised with a total of 14 from 51 games.
During the campaign he netted his 57th career goal in European competitions, leaving him 2nd in the all-time European goalscorers list, behind Gerd Muller. Shevchenko's 2006/07 season was cut short due to injury and a hernia operation. He missed the Champions League semi-finals against Liverpool and the FA Cup Final against Manchester United at the new Wembley Stadium on May 19, 2007.
In January 2007 ex-Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino suggested that Shevchenko might end up being the biggest flop in British football.
Shevchenko has vowed that he will find his true form in the 2007-08 season, reiterating his desire to remain in London despite interest from Milan president Adriano Galliani to bring Shevchenko back to Italy.Despite it, rumors are speculating that AC Milan are close to bringing back Shevchenko to AC Milan, with his wife stating that she "misses Italy" and that she "wants to go back home."
International career
Shevchenko post stamp in celebration of UEFA's 50th anniversary
Shevchenko post stamp in celebration of UEFA's 50th anniversary
Shevchenko has 73 caps and 33 goals for the Ukraine national team, whom he represented at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
In March 2000, Dynamo manager Valeri Lobanovsky became the Ukraine coach, with the aim to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals. Shevchenko scored 10 goals in the qualifiers, but Ukraine failed to qualify after losing a play-off against Germany. In the Euro Cup 2008 qualifiers, Shevchenko has scored two goals.
Personal life
Shevchenko is married to American model Kristen Pazik. The couple met at a Giorgio Armani afterparty in 2002, and married on July 14, 2004 in a private ceremony on a golf course in Washington, DC. They communicate with each other in Italian,though Shevchenko has made public his desire to learn English. Media commentators have speculated that Pazik was a major influence on Shevchenko's decision to sign with Chelsea, citing her friendship with Abramovich's wife and her desire to raise their children in an English-speaking culture. Shevchenko has stated that his move to Chelsea was "a family decision" about what was best for their children.
The couple has two sons, Jordan (named after NBA legend Michael Jordan), born on 29 October 2004, and Christian, born on 10 November 2006. Andriy commemorated Jordan's birth by scoring against Sampdoria the following day (AC Milan won 1-0). AC Milan supremo Silvio Berlusconi is the Godfather of Andriy's first son, Jordan. The day after Christian's birth, Shevchenko scored in a 4-0 Chelsea victory over Watford, and he and several of his teammates gathered and performed the popular "rock-the-baby" goal celebration as a tribute.
Shevchenko is a close friend of fashion designer Giorgio Armani, and has modelled for Armani and opened two boutiques with him in Kyiv.
In June 2005, Shevchenko became an ambassador for the SOS Children's Villages charity.
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