64 Facts About Andriy Shevchenko

Andriy Shevchenko is the all-time top scorer for the Ukraine national team with 48 goals.

Andriy 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.

Andriy Shevchenko later played for Chelsea, and returned to play for Milan on loan, and for Dynamo, where he finished his career.

Andriy Shevchenko was named in the FIFA World XI for 2005.

Andriy Shevchenko is ranked as the seventh top goalscorer in all UEFA club competitions with 67 goals.

Andriy Shevchenko 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, Andriy Shevchenko was appointed Ukraine's head coach, and led the nation to the quarter-finals at UEFA Euro 2020.

Andriy Shevchenko 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, Andriy Shevchenko was elected President of the Ukrainian Football Association.

Andriy Shevchenko was born in Dvirkivshchyna, Ukrainian SSR, in 1976, into the family of Praporshchik Mykola Hryhorovych Andriy Shevchenko.

In Kyiv, Andriy Shevchenko went to the 216th City School and in 1986 enrolled into the football section coached by Oleksandr Shpakov.

In 1986, Andriy 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, Andriy Shevchenko was in the Dynamo under-14 team for the Ian Rush 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.

Andriy Shevchenko stayed with Dynamo-2 until the end of 1994 and was called up for one game in late 1996.

Andriy Shevchenko made his Vyshcha Liha debut for Dynamo Kiev on 8 November 1994 in an away game against Shakhtar Donetsk when he was 18.

That year, Andriy Shevchenko became a national champion and a cup holder with Dynamo.

Andriy Shevchenko won his second league title the next season, scoring 6 goals in 20 matches.

Andriy Shevchenko won the domestic league title with Dynamo in each of his five seasons with the club.

Andriy Shevchenko 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.

Andriy Shevchenko scored the winning goal in the 2003 UEFA Super Cup victory over Porto.

Andriy 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.

Milan eventually lost the tournament when Andriy Shevchenko missed the deciding penalty in the final shoot-out against Liverpool.

On 8 February 2006, Andriy Shevchenko became Milan's second highest all-time goalscorer, behind Gunnar Nordahl, after netting against Treviso.

Andriy Shevchenko finished the season as joint fourth-top scorer with 19 goals in 28 games.

Andriy Shevchenko ended his seven-year stint with Milan with 175 goals in 296 games.

Andriy Shevchenko received the number seven shirt, as Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said that Shevchenko could continue wearing it.

Andriy Shevchenko finished with a total of 14 from 51 games.

Andriy Shevchenko 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.

Andriy Shevchenko finished the season with five league goals in 17 games.

Andriy Shevchenko played a part in a pre-season match which was against his former team, Milan.

Andriy Shevchenko was not used very often in the starting line-up at Chelsea, and with the appointment of Luiz Felipe Scolari, he was deemed surplus to requirements.

Andriy Shevchenko failed to score any league goals and only scored 2 goals in 26 appearances, starting only nine of those games.

Andriy Shevchenko returned to Chelsea for the final year of his four-year contract, where he was joined by his former Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti.

Andriy Shevchenko was not even on the bench for Chelsea's penalty shoot-out victory over Manchester United at Wembley at the weekend in the season-opening Community Shield.

Andriy Shevchenko was mostly used as a left winger and central midfielder, and was named left winger in the 2009 team of the season.

On 28 July 2012, Andriy Shevchenko announced that he was quitting football for politics.

Andriy Shevchenko earned 111 appearances and scored 48 goals for the Ukraine national team, representing the country at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012.

Andriy Shevchenko debuted in 1995 in a friendly match against Croatia and scored his first international goal in May 1996 in another friendly match against Turkey.

Andriy Shevchenko scored six goals in qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, to take his country to its first ever major tournament.

Andriy Shevchenko occupied a wider position as an outright winger on the left flank at times, in particular at the beginning of his career, and during his second stint with Dynamo Kyiv during his later years; he was capable of playing on the right.

Andriy Shevchenko was effective from set-pieces, and was an accurate penalty taker.

Andriy Shevchenko is considered by several pundits to be one of the greatest strikers of all time, as well as one of the best footballers of his generation, and Ukraine's greatest player ever.

In November 2012, Andriy Shevchenko initially refused to accept Football Federation of Ukraine's proposal to become head coach of the Ukraine national team.

From 16 February to 15 July 2016, Andriy Shevchenko served as the assistant manager of the Ukraine national team.

On 15 July 2016, Andriy Shevchenko was appointed as manager of the Ukraine national team.

Andriy Shevchenko signed a two-year contract with the possibility of another two-year extension.

Former Italy and Milan defender Mauro Tassotti, who was assistant coach when Andriy Shevchenko was at Milan, joined his coaching staff, as did former Dynamo coach Raul Riancho, and former Milan Youth System coach Andrea Maldera.

At UEFA Euro 2020, Andriy Shevchenko led Ukraine to reach the quarter-finals of the European Championship for the first time in their history.

Andriy Shevchenko's side finished as one of the four best third-placed teams in the group stage, then beating Sweden in extra time in the round of 16 and suffering an exit to England in the next round.

On 7 November 2021, Andriy Shevchenko was announced as the new head coach of Serie A side Genoa, following the club's takeover by US investment firm 777 Partners, replacing Davide Ballardini.

Andriy Shevchenko signed a contract until 2024 for the 18th-placed team who had won once in 12 games.

On 15 January 2022, Andriy Shevchenko was sacked after two months having won just one match and lost seven during the time.

Andriy Shevchenko became the Vice President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine on 17 November 2022.

Andriy Shevchenko left the National Olympic Committee in January 2023 due to disagreement with the results of the election of its new President Vadym Gutzeit.

Shevchenko's first name has multiple ways of being transliterated from its original spelling in the Ukrainian Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet; Andriy is the spelling used throughout the player's official web site.

Andriy Shevchenko is married to American model Kristen Pazik, daughter of baseball player Mike Pazik.

Andriy Shevchenko commemorated his first son's birth by scoring the only goal against Sampdoria; Milan owner and former Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi was the boy's godfather.

Andriy Shevchenko is a close friend of fashion designer Giorgio Armani, and has modelled for Armani and opened two boutiques with him in Kyiv.

In 2022, Andriy Shevchenko became an ambassador for United24, a government-supported aid organization in Ukraine.

Andriy Shevchenko represented the Rest of the World team against England for Soccer Aid on 8 June 2014.

Besides his native Russian, Andriy Shevchenko speaks English, Italian and to some extent Ukrainian.

Andriy Shevchenko has said that he is working to improve his Ukrainian.

Andriy Shevchenko has appealed for an end to the War in Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Andriy Shevchenko features in EA Sports' FIFA video game series; he was on the cover of FIFA 2005, and was introduced as one of the Ultimate Team Legends in FIFA 14 and was an Ultimate Team Legend until FIFA 18, when he became an Icon, as Legends were rebranded to Icons.