15 Facts About Oleh Luzhnyi

Oleh Romanovych Luzhnyi is a Ukrainian former professional footballer who played as a right-back.

Oleh Luzhnyi first played for Ukrainian clubs Torpedo Lutsk and SKA Karpaty Lviv in Soviet lower football leagues.

Oleh Luzhnyi signed for Dynamo Kyiv in 1989 and became a regular at right-back, winning the domestic double in 1990 and seven consecutive Ukrainian league titles between 1993 and 1999.

Oleh Luzhnyi signed for English club Arsenal in the summer of 1999 after impressing manager Arsene Wenger in Kyiv's clashes with Arsenal in the Champions League.

Oleh Luzhnyi was signed as cover for Lee Dixon, although he was unable to fully displace the England international.

Oleh Luzhnyi signed for newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2003.

Oleh Luzhnyi spent a single season there, but only made ten appearances for the side, and was released by Wolves in the summer of 2004 following their relegation from the Premier League.

Oleh Luzhnyi captained the national side a record 39 times and achieved immense personal recognition in his country.

Oleh Luzhnyi received the fourth biggest number of votes, behind only to Oleg Blokhin, Andriy Shevchenko and Anatoliy Demyanenko.

Oleh Luzhnyi had a brief spell at Latvian side Venta as player-coach in 2005, but left the club after it ran into financial problems.

Oleh Luzhnyi has now retired from playing and in June 2006 became assistant coach at Dynamo Kyiv.

Oleh Luzhnyi was named interim manager of Dynamo Kyiv on 5 November 2007 after the resignation of Yozhef Sabo.

On 8 December 2007, Dynamo Kyiv unveiled a new permanent manager, Yury Syomin, and a few days later it was announced that Oleh Luzhnyi would continue as an assistant coach under the new manager.

Oleh Luzhnyi was replaced by Yury Syomin on 24 December 2010.

Oleh Luzhnyi turned down the chance to coach in England in 2022 in order to fight for Ukraine after the Russian invasion.