b. 1976
Andriy Shevchenko
Footballer, Ballon d'Or winner
He scored his first European goal against Bayern at 18, and in 2004 he won the Ballon d'Or. Andriy Shevchenko won the Champions League with Milan, became Ukraine’s all-time top scorer and later its coach, and in 2024 was elected UAF president.
Key accomplishments
- Five Ukrainian league titles with Dynamo Kyiv
- Champions League winner in 2003 and Italian champion with AC Milan; twice top scorer of Serie A
- Ballon d'Or 2004; Hero of Ukraine (2004)
- All-time top scorer of Ukraine's national team (48 goals); captain of the team that reached the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup
- Head coach of Ukraine's national team (2016–2021): reached the quarterfinals of Euro 2020
- President of the Ukrainian Association of Football (since 25 January 2024; as of October 2026)
Eighteen, and a goal against Bayern
Andriy Shevchenko was born in 1976 in the village of Dvirkivshchyna in the Yahotyn area (Kyiv Oblast). He came through the Dynamo Kyiv sports school and turned professional there in 1992. He scored his first European goal against Bayern Munich when he was just 18; Dynamo lost that match 1–4. Later Valerii Lobanovskyi returned to the club, a coach Shevchenko would call his father and teacher. With Dynamo he won the Ukrainian league five times.
175 goals for Milan
In 1999 Shevchenko moved to AC Milan and in his very first season became Serie A’s top scorer with 24 goals. In 2003 he scored the decisive penalty in the Champions League final and became the first Ukrainian to win the competition. With Milan he also won the Italian league, and in 2004 he received the Ballon d’Or as Europe’s best footballer. That same year he was made a Hero of Ukraine. In all he scored 175 goals in 322 games for Milan. He later played for Chelsea in London, spent another season at Milan, and finished his career at Dynamo.
Captain, coach, president
Shevchenko was the first player to make 100 appearances for Ukraine and became the national team’s all-time top scorer, with 48 goals. He captained the team that, under Oleh Blokhin, reached the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup. In 2016–2021 he coached the national team himself, and at Euro 2020 it again made the last eight. He then briefly managed Genoa in Italy (2021–2022).
In 2012 Shevchenko ran unsuccessfully for the Verkhovna Rada as number two on the list of the Ukraine – Forward! party. After Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 he became the first ambassador of the UNITED24 fundraising platform. On 25 January 2024 the Congress of the Ukrainian Association of Football elected him president of the UAF: 93 of the 94 delegates voted for him, and he himself did not take part in the vote. As of October 2026 he holds this post.
Why it matters today
Shevchenko proved that a footballer from the Ukrainian school of football could become the best in Europe, and then lead the national team as its coach.
