Andriy Shevchenko

Andriy Shevchenko (, nicknamed "Sheva", born 29 September 1976, Dvirkivschyna, Kiev Oblast) is a Ukrainian football striker who is contracted to of the English Premier League, and plays for the national team of Ukraine.

At an early age, Shevchenko was a competitive boxer in the LLWI Ukrainian junior league. Due to his size restrictions, he was forced to move on to football where he flourished. Shevchenko started off his career with Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv, with whom he won five league titles and two national cups in five seasons between 1994 and 1999. He won one Serie A title, one UEFA Champions League, one European Super Cup, one Italian Cup and one Italian Super Cup with AC Milan.

He was named the European Footballer of the Year in 2004.

Shevchenko has represented Ukraine in 69 matches and has scored 31 international goals.

Early life and Dynamo Kyiv career

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. Later the same year, Andriy failed a dribbling test for entrance to a specialist sports school in Kyiv. However he happened to catch the sight 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 in their junior teams. In 1990, Andriy, 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 prize by the player himself.

In 1993-94, Andriy was the top scorer for Dynamo-2 with twelve goals, and made an appearance in the first team list, taking Dynamo to their second successive league victory. He also 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 Barcelona in the Champions League, helping Dynamo produce a shock 4-0 away win over the highly-decorated Spanish side. His 19 goals in 23 league matches, 6 goals in 10 Champions League matches, and another league victory with Dynamo in 1997-98 was followed by 28 goals in all competitions in 1998-99, and the league top-scorer award for his 18 goals there. His 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 with Dynamo each of the five seasons he was with the club. Under the guidance of Valeri Lobanovsky, the manager of Dynamo from January 1997 to May 2002 (his third spell in the post), he flourished into one of the team's most prominent and skillful players.

AC Milan

Shevchenko's current place in world football sees him ranked amongst the best, alongside the likes of Ronaldinho,Adriano and Thierry Henry.

In 1999, Shevchenko joined the then five-time European Cup champions AC Milan for £26 million and was one of their key players.

Shevchenko made his Serie A debut on 28 August 1999 in a 2-2 draw with Lecce. The season turned out to be extremely fruitful personally; Shevchenko's haul of 24 league goals in 32 matches earned him the highest scorer title in Serie A, and in the process, became the first non-Italian player to do so in his début season. In March 2000, Lobanovsky was made the Ukraine national team manager, with the aim to take Ukraine to the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Shevchenko scored 10 goals in the qualifiers, but Ukraine failed to qualify after losing the play-off against Germany.

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 the past two seasons was overcome in 2002-03 as Milan won the Champions League as well as the Italian Cup. Though Shevchenko was not in top goal-scoring form in the league, netting only five times in 24 matches, he scored the winning penalty in the final against arch-rivals Juventus, giving Milan the title. Shevchenko was the first Ukrainian-born player ever to win the Champions League.

2003-04 was another successful season for both Milan and Shevchenko. He was the top scorer in the league for the second time in his career, scoring 24 goals in 32 matches and taking Milan to the league title after a gap of four years. He also scored the winning goal in the UEFA Super Cup victory over Porto, leading to Milan's second trophy of the season.

In December 2004, Shevchenko was named the European Footballer of the Year. He was also named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. Also in 2004, Shevchenko was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine by former President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma.

In August 2004, he scored three goals against Lazio in the Italian Super Cup and earned Milan the title. In the same season of 2004–05, the club finished second in league standings, helped by the seventeen goals of Shevchenko. They also reached the final of the Champions League, with him scoring six goals in ten matches. But the successes of the season were greatly dampened in the final. The game against ended 3–3 after extra time, and went into penalties. Shevchenko missed his spot-kick, giving the English side the title.

In October 2005, Ukraine finally managed to qualify for the finals of a World Cup when they topped their qualification group for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, winning seven games out of twelve, and losing only one. Shevchenko was instrumental in this inspired performance by the team, scoring six goals out of the total eighteen by Ukraine.

During the summer of 2004 there were persistent reports that Roman Abramovich, the owner of , offered a record sum of £50 million and striker Hernán Crespo to A.C. Milan in exchange for Shevchenko. Milan refused but took Crespo on loan. After that, the determined Abramovich was rumoured to offer another record sum of £85 million to AC Milan and another record weekly wage of £225,000 to transfer him to Chelsea, but was again refused.

In the 2005-06 season, Shevchenko scored 19 goals in the 22 games that he played in Serie A. He scored nine goals in 12 total matches for AC Milan in the Champions League, making history along the way. On 23 November 2005, in the second leg of the Champions League group stage match against Fenerbahçe, Shevchenko scored all four times in Milan's 4-0 drubbing of the Turkish side, becoming only the fifth man after Marco van Basten, Simone Inzaghi, Dado Pršo and Ruud van Nistelrooy to do so in one match in the competition. On 4 April 2006, Shevchenko scored his 51st goal in Champions League history, going level with Raúl González of Real Madrid.

Shevchenko netted only once in the last four matches of the quarter-final and semi-final stages as Milan were able to eliminate Olympique Lyonnais thanks to a last-minute comeback, but were then held scoreless in both semi-final legs en route to falling to Barcelona.

He became Milan's second all-time goalscorer, behind legend Gunnar Nordahl, after netting against Treviso on 8 February 2006.

On 31 May 2006, Shevchenko transferred to Chelsea, ending his seven-year career with AC Milan.

Chelsea

On 11 May 2006 Shevchenko announced his intention to leave AC Milan, despite having pledged his future to the club several times, saying:

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... ^*

Before this revelation, he had constantly denied that he wanted to leave AC Milan. He had previously stated that he wanted to become a Milan legend like Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini. This revelation has brought tremendous disappointment to Milan fans who have given Shevchenko a lot of respect for his contribution to the club. On 14 May 2006 during the last Serie A encounter between Milan and Roma, Shevchenko went to watch the first half with the Milan supporters, many of whom cried and begged of him to stay at Milan.

It was rumoured that Chelsea had expressed an interest in acquiring him from Milan, when Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon said: "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." ^*

On 31 May 2006, he signed for Chelsea The fee has not been officially disclosed, but most media outlets put it as high as £30 million ($58 million US, €45m [http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/news/Kind=2/newsId=426507.html) or a little more, which would make it the most expensive transfer in English football and one of the top six in the world. Shevchenko will join up with his new team after the World Cup.

Andriy Shevchenko looks set to wear the number seven shirt next season after José Mourinho indicated the player can continue with number he has sported for many seasons. “He will have his loved number seven in a Chelsea shirt,” confirmed his new boss, Mourinho.

International goals

The following table is up to date as of 23 June 2006.

**Andriy Shevchenko: International Goals**
#	Date	Venue	Score	Result	Competition
1.	May 1, 1996	Samsun, Turkey	3–2	Lost	Friendly
2.	April 2, 1997	Kyiv, Ukraine	2–1	Won	WC 1998 Qual
3.	May 7, 1997	Kyiv, Ukraine	1–1	Draw	WC 1998 Qual
4.	October 11, 1997	Yerevan, Armenia	0–2	Won	WC 1998 Qual
5.	November 15, 1997	Kyiv, Ukraine	1–1	Draw	WC 1998 Qual Playoff
6.	July 15, 1998	Kyiv, Ukraine	1–2	Lost	Friendly
7.	October 9, 1999	Moscow, Russia	1–1	Draw	EC 2000 Qual
8.	November 13, 1999	Ljubljana, Slovenia	2–1	Lost	EC 2000 Qual Playoff
9.	April 26, 2000	Sofia, Bulgaria	0–1	Won	Friendly
10.	September 2, 2000	Kyiv, Ukraine	1–3	Lost	WC 2002 Qual
11.	October 7, 2000	Yerevan, Armenia	2–3	Won	WC 2002 Qual
12.	October 7, 2000	Yerevan, Armenia	2–3	Won	WC 2002 Qual
13.	October 11, 2000	Oslo, Norway	0–1	Won	WC 2002 Qual
14.	March 28, 2001	Cardiff, Wales	1–1	Draw	WC 2002 Qual
15.	September 1, 2001	Minsk, Belarus	0–2	Won	WC 2002 Qual
16.	September 1, 2001	Minsk, Belarus	0–2	Won	WC 2002 Qual
17.	September 5, 2001	Lviv, Ukraine	3–0	Won	WC 2002 Qual
18.	October 6, 2001	Chorzow, Poland	1–1	Draw	WC 2002 Qual
19.	November 14, 2001	Dortmund, Germany	4–1	Lost	WC 2002 Qual Playoff
20.	June 7, 2003	Lviv, Ukraine	4–3	Won	EC 2004 Qual
21.	June 7, 2003	Lviv, Ukraine	4–3	Won	EC 2004 Qual
22.	September 10, 2003	Elche, Spain	2–1	Lost	EC 2004 Qual
23.	October 9, 2003	Kyiv, Ukraine	1–1	Draw	WC 2006 Qual
24.	October 13, 2004	Lviv, Ukraine	2–0	Won	WC 2006 Qual
25.	November 17, 2004	Istanbul, Turkey	0–3	Won	WC 2006 Qual
26.	November 17, 2004	Istanbul, Turkey	0–3	Won	WC 2006 Qual
27.	June 4, 2005	Kyiv, Ukraine	2–0	Won	WC 2006 Qual
28.	October 8, 2005	Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine	2–2	Draw	WC 2006 Qual
29.	June 8, 2006	Luxembourg, Luxembourg	0–3	Won	Friendly
30.	June 19, 2006	Hamburg, Germany	0–4	Won	WC 2006 Group H
31.	June 23, 2006	Berlin, Germany	0–1	Won	WC 2006 Group H

Personal

During a fashion show afterparty, the Ukrainian footballer met his current wife, American model Kristen Pazik, whom he married on July 2004 in a private ceremony on a golf course in Washington, DC. The couple had a son, Jordan (named after NBA legend Michael Jordan), on 29 November 2004, which Andriy celebrated by scoring against Sampdoria the following day (AC Milan won 2–1). He looks up to the Cup Winners' Cup winning Dynamo Kyiv team of 1986 and also admires Romário and former football players like Pelé, Zico and Platini. He is also a close friend of Giorgio Armani and once strolled the catwalk wearing a suit for the Italian stylist, even opening an Armani store with him in Kyiv.

In April 2006, he appeared on a commercial for ESPN, advertising SportsCenter. He talked with anchor Scott Van Pelt about how Americans call European football soccer and that Europeans should call American football soccer in return.

Awards and honours

Ukrainian League: 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99
Ukrainian Cup: 1996, 1998
Serie A: 2003-04
Italian Cup: 2002-03
Italian League Super Cup: 2004
UEFA Champions League: 2002-03
UEFA Super Cup: 2004
Ukrainian League Top Scorer: 1998-1999
Serie A Top Scorer: 1999-2000, 2003-2004
UEFA Champions League Top Scorer: 1998-1999, 2000-2001
Ukrainian Player of the Year: 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003
UEFA Best Forward 1999
Ballon d'Or: 2004

Name

Originally in the Cyrillic alphabet, Shevchenko's name doesn't have one correct way of being transliterated to the Latin alphabet. His first name is spelt Andrii by World Soccer Magazine, and Andrei by Sky Sports, although iy is usually the preferred suffix to Ukrainian names in most English publications. It should be pronounced Andry, as opposed to Ondray or suchlike.

External links

Official website

Andriy Shevchenko's profile and stats from FootballDatabase
ForzaSheva.com - pictures, videos, profile, biography and titles
Profile at ACMilan.com
Profile on the official UEFA site
News article on official site of FIFA
News article on official site of AC Milan
News article from Sky Sports on his possible AC Milan exit
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