Anatoliy Oleksandrovych Tymoshchuk ( uk, Анатолій Олександрович Тимощук ; born 30 March 1979) is a Ukrainian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and a former

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, currently an assistant coach of the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, acco ...

(since 2017). Tymoshchuk is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

and

, and is also a former

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the Ukraine national team. Tymoshchuk began his professional career with his local

Volyn Lutsk Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. Th ...

. He moved to play for Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk, which he captained and won the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League'') ...

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( uk, Кубок України) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003� ...

and

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup ( uk , Суперкубок України) is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football (soccer), football competiti ...

titles with. In 2008, Tymoshchuk won the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

and the

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

as captain of Zenit Saint Petersburg. He also won a Russian Premier League and

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Russian Cup winners. If the Premie ...

title. After joining German club

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

, Tymoshchuk won the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

and the DFB-Supercup titles. With Bayern, he also won the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and finished as runners-up in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. A former captain of the Ukraine national team, Tymoshchuk is the nation's all-time most capped player with 144 caps. He took part in Ukraine's first-ever

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and their first European Championship in 2012. He won the

Ukrainian Footballer of the Year The Ukrainian Footballer of the Year is an annual journalist award given by the ''Ukrainskiy Football'' ("Ukrainian Football") newspaper to the best professional Ukrainian footballer since 1991. The Ukrainian Footballer of the Year award is given to ...

on three occasions. In 2022, the

Ukrainian Association of Football The Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) ( uk, Українська асоціяція футболу, Ukrayins'ka Asotsiyatsiya Futbolu) is the governing body of football in Ukraine. Before 2019 it was known as the Football Federation of Ukr ...

stripped Tymoshchuk of his (Ukrainian) coaching licence and titles because he did not speak out against Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and stayed on as assistant coach at Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Club career

Volyn Lutsk

Tymoshchuk started his career playing for his hometown club

, having risen through the ranks at the team. Following two successful seasons, the player began to attract attention from bigger clubs.

Shakhtar Donetsk

In 1997, at age 18, Tymoshchuk's contract was purchased from Volyn by

. At Shakhtar, he was a key member of the team which won three

titles, three

s and a

. His time with Shakhtar is credited with establishing him as a great midfielder in Europe. In 2006, having

ed Shakhtar for a number of years, Tymoshchuk became linked with a string of European clubs, including

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

and

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

Zenit Saint Petersburg

On 27 February 2007, Tymoshchuk transferred to

for a reported €15 million fee. He was soon named as the new captain of the team. Zenit manager

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former football player and coach who is currently the head coach of Eerste Divisie side ADO Den Haag. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a coach, including three sti ...

was very impressed with him, saying, "About Tymoshchuk I can say only good things, and not only the player but also the person. Tymoshchuk – is a professional from head to toes. I never had complaints to him about discipline. While Tymoshchuk and I are at the club, he will be the captain of Zenit." His first season at the club ended in success, with Zenit winning the

title for the first time in club history and the club's first league title since its 1984

Soviet Top League The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу: Высшая лига), served as the top division of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The professional top level ...

triumph. At the end of the season, Tymoshchuk was included in the annual list of the best 33 players of the Premier League, and was also voted as league player of the year by popular sports magazine ''

Sport-Express ''Sport-Express'' (russian: Спорт-Экспресс) is a Russian daily sports newspaper founded by Vladimir Kuchmiy. Printed in 31 cities of Russia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and the United States, it is the biggest-selling sports ...

''. After Zenit won the championship,

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Yuri Malenchenko Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko (russian: Юрий Иванович Маленченко; born December 22, 1961) is a retired Russian cosmonaut. Malenchenko became the first person to marry in space, on 10 August 2003, when he married Ekaterina Dmit ...

—known as a fan of the team—waved Zenit shirt with Tymoshchuk's name on it while in space. In so doing, Zenit became the first team to have its uniform shown in space. During the 2007–08 European season, Tymoshchuk captained Zenit to the

title, in which they defeated

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

club Rangers 2–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. The club then went on to claim the

2008 UEFA Super Cup The 2008 UEFA Super Cup was the 33rd UEFA Super Cup, a football match played between the winners of the previous season's UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup competitions. The 2008 competition was contested by Manchester United of England, who won ...

in a 2–1 victory over

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Bayern Munich

Anatoly Tymostchuk in Saint-Peterburg, 18 May 2011

In February 2009,

general manager

Uli Hoeneß Ulrich "Uli" Hoeneß (, ; born 5 January 1952) is the former president of German football club Bayern Munich and a former footballer for West Germany who played as a forward for club and country. Hoeneß represented Germany at one World Cup and ...

announced Tymoshchuk had agreed to join Bayern. Initially, Zenit announced no agreement had yet been reached between the two clubs. However, on 18 February, Bayern announced Tymoshchuk would join the club in July 2009 in order to allow Tymoshchuk to play for Zenit until the summer. He played his last match with Zenit on 14 June 2009. Tymoshchuk officially joined Bayern on 1 July 2009 with a contract set to expire 30 June 2012. The transfer fee was undisclosed, but German media reports estimated the deal at €14 million. Tymoshchuk played his first match for Bayern against

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in the 2009

Audi Cup The Audi Cup is a biennial two-day pre-season friendly football tournament that features four teams, hosted by the German club Bayern Munich, and is staged at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. It is held on odd years since 2009, opposite the ...

, coming on as a second-half substitute. He also started in the final against Manchester United, where he was substituted off in the 77th minute; Bayern won the match 7–6 on penalties. He scored his first goal for Bayern against

in the

2009–10 UEFA Champions League The 2009–10 UEFA Champions League was the 55th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 18th under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played on 22 May 2010, at the Santiago Bernabéu St ...

. On 8 May 2010, Tymoshchuk won his first trophy with Bayern, the

2009–10 Bundesliga The 2009–10 Bundesliga was the 47th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. The season commenced on 7 August 2009 with the traditional season-opening match involving the defending champions VfL Wolfsburg and VfB Stuttgart. ...

, followed one week later by the

2009–10 DFB-Pokal The 2009–10 DFB-Pokal was the 67th season of the annual German football cup competition. The competition began with the first round on 31 July 2009 and ended on 15 May 2010 with the final which is traditionally held at Olympiastadion in Berlin. ...

title. In total, Tymoshchuk made 21

appearances in the 2009–10 season, ten as a substitute, but failed to start a match in the whole of the second half of the season. In late July 2010, Bayern manager

Louis van Gaal Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former football player and manager. At club level, he served as manager of Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, as well as having three spel ...

described Tymoshchuk's prospects as "not very bright", adding, "If a player doesn't play or doesn't have bright prospects then I would leave if I were them." Nevertheless, from October 2010 until March 2011, Tymoshchuk started all of Bayern's matches. In 2011, new Bayern manager

Jupp Heynckes Josef "Jupp" Heynckes (; born 9 May 1945) is a German retired professional footballer and manager. The majority of his player career was as a striker for Borussia Mönchengladbach in its golden era of the 1960s and '70s, when they won many nati ...

said Tymoshchuk would play more under him. Tymoshchuk was given a chance to start in matches at the time the team was plagued with injuries, filling in at central defence. He started in central defence alongside

Jérôme Boateng Jérôme Agyenim Boateng (born 3 September 1988) is a German professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for French Ligue 1 club Lyon. Boateng started his career at Hertha BSC where he developed from the youth ranks to the first team. Aft ...

in the

Champions League final The UEFA Champions League is a seasonal football competition established in 1955. Prior to the 1992–93 season, the tournament was named the European Cup. The UEFA Champions League is open to the league champions of all UEFA (Union of European ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, which Bayern lost to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

on penalties. Before the final, Heynckes said, "Tymoshchuk is a great team player. He's really important for us, and in situation, when three players are disqualified, his experience and ability to play in different positions is really useful for us." Because Tymoshchuk played a bigger role under Heynckes than under Van Gaal, he became an important part of the team. Goalkeeper

Manuel Neuer Manuel Peter Neuer (; born 27 March 1986) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper and captains both club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers in the history of the ...

said of Tymoshchuk, "For me the main job – not to let goals in. As a result, I love partners who have the same job. Anatoliy – is quite an aggressive footballer, but it's a smart aggression. He knows perfectly, when to choose the right position, to stop the attack of the opponent, and when to use such a move, like taking the ball harshly. No doubt, Tymoshchuk is doing a great job at Bayern!"

Return to Zenit Saint Petersburg

After winning the

2012–13 Champions League 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

with Bayern, Tymoshchuk returned to Zenit, despite receiving offers from different clubs around Europe. Russian media claim Tymoshchuk was signed by Zenit not only because of his skills as player, but for his ability to integrate the Russians and the foreigners in the team and stop the rumoured conflicts among groups in the squad. Tymoshchuk himself said the return to Zenit was the last transfer in his career, indicating he would finish his playing career with the club. In 2014, Zenit lost 4–2 to

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

, with Dortmund scoring twice in the first five minutes of the match. Tymoshchuk has said there was a chance for his team to score when the scoreline was 3–2, but they never did.

Kairat

On 6 July 2015, Tymoshchuk signed an 18-month contract with

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League ( kk, Қазақстан Премьер Лигасы, ''Qazaqstan Premer Ligasy''), commonly referred to as Kazakh Premier League or simply Premier League, is the top division of football in Kazakhstan ...

side Kairat. He captained the team in his league debut. He helped the team to its

2015 Kazakhstan Cup The 2015 Kazakhstan Cup is the 24th season of the Kazakhstan Cup, the annual nationwide football cup competition of Kazakhstan since the independence of the country. The competition began on 29 March 2015 and will end with the final in November 201 ...

title. Tymoshchuk left Kairat upon the completion of his contract in November 2016. Without officially announcing his retirement, he began studying for his PRO coaching license.

International career

Since his debut in 2000, Tymoshchuk has become a key member of the Ukraine national team. He gained recognition for his performance during the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

in which Ukraine reached the quarter-finals, being named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

in Ukraine's victory over

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. Tymoshchuk has been described as one of the catalysts for Ukraine's first

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

appearance. In 2009, he won

Cyprus International Football Tournaments The Cyprus International Football Tournament was an annual winter association football friendly competition for national teams that takes place in Cyprus. It was traditionally held in February as a friendly tournament since at least 1997, and last ...

. On 11 October 2010, in a friendly match against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, Tymoshchuk became the second Ukraine player to earn 100 caps, after

Andriy Shevchenko Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko, or Andrii Mykolaiovych Shevchenko ( uk, Андрій Миколайович Шевченко, ; born 29 September 1976) is a Ukrainian football manager, a former professional football player and a former politici ...

, who reached the milestone in a friendly against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

just two days prior. On 20 December 2011, Tymoshchuk was named the best footballer in the history of Ukraine; he finished first in a nationwide poll to determine the key individuals in the Ukrainian game since the nation's independence in 1991. After Shevchenko's retirement in 2012, Tymoshchuk inherited the captaincy of the team. He is the most capped Ukrainian player with 144 appearances as of 29 June 2016. In August 2016, Tymoshchuk officially retired from international football.

Style of play

During his playing career, he was "a deep-lying midfielder who is comfortable on the ball and capable of ferocious long-range shooting".

Personal life

Tymoshchuk is married to Nadiya Tymoshchuk (née Navrotska). The couple met in his hometown

Lutsk Lutsk ( uk, Луцьк, translit=Lutsk}, ; pl, Łuck ; yi, לוצק, Lutzk) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Volyn Oblast (province) and the administrative center of the surrounding Luts ...

while living in the same neighbourhood. Their twins were born three months prematurely in April 2010. In July, it was determined the children were growing well and would be released from hospital. In summer 2016, Nadiya, who currently lives in Munich together with children, announced she was filing for divorce. In June 2008, Tymoshchuk was awarded the title of "

Honorary citizen Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

of Lutsk". Tymoshchuk's favorite player is

Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German association football, football pundit and former professional player and manager. After captaining Germany national football team, West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup whe ...

and he admitted the historical team in which he most wanted to play with was the Germany national team in 1990, alongside Matthäus. He is also a fan of the Ukrainian band

Okean Elzy Okean Elzy ( uk, Океан Ельзи, translation: ''Elza's Ocean'') is a Ukrainian rock band. It was formed in 1994 in Lviv, Ukraine. The band's vocalist and frontman is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. In April 2007 Okean Elzy received ''FUZZ Magazine ...

and Russian painter

Mikhail Vrubel Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (russian: Михаил Александрович Врубель; March 17, 1856 – April 14, 1910, all New Style, n.s.) was a Russian Painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, and sculptor. A prolific and inno ...

. He is an avid collector of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

t-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...

s and

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

s. Tymoshchuk's

lucky number In number theory, a lucky number is a natural number in a set which is generated by a certain "sieve". This sieve is similar to the Sieve of Eratosthenes that generates the primes, but it eliminates numbers based on their position in the remaini ...

four 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

. He can speak

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, some basic Croatian and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. Tymoshchuk and his father have since 2000 organized tournaments, the International Anatoliy Tymoshchuk Junior Cup, for children from Ukraine and neighbour states in Lutsk. The winners get cups and money awards. The mission of the tournament was to encourage children to continue their football training by giving them a chance to participate in a real competition. Tymoshchuk has twice played on

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the most ...

's team at charity matches, an experience he truly enjoyed.

Zenit controversy

On 11 March 2022, the

(UAF) stripped Tymoshchuk of his (Ukrainian) coaching licence and titles because of his role at Zenit St Petersburg and for not speaking against Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The UAF stated that his "conscious choice" to continue at Zenit "damages the image of Ukrainian football". Reports also surfaced suggesting he might be a Russian spy. A Polish sport commentator described his case as that of "a collaborator, erased from Ukrainian sport history". No evidence has been presented to support the claims against Tymoshchuk other than his lack of comment on the war.

Utkin Controversy

When criticising Tymoshchuk, Russian sports journalist

Vasily Utkin Vasily Vyacheslavovich Utkin (russian: Василий Вячеславович Уткин; born in 1972) is a Russian sports reporter, author, former host of the television show '' The Football Club'', TV and radio presenter, entertainer, actor ...

said that " ymoshchukcares only and exclusively about money," and claimed that whilst a player for Zenit, he asked the club for large numbers of tickets with the purpose of reselling them. However, that story was quickly disproved by others. Former Zenit player

Vladislav Radimov Vladislav Nikolayevich Radimov ( rus, Владисла́в Никола́евич Ради́мов, p=vlədʲɪˈslaf nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ rɐˈdʲiməf; born 26 November 1975) is a Russian football coach and a former player who played midfi ...

called it "complete nonsense" and provided a story how Tymoshchuk at one point gave him two tickets to a game, but refused to take money from him for those tickets. Russian sports journalist Alexey Andronov also spoke out in defence of Tymoshchuk, and said how at one point Tymoshchuk gave him and another journalist tickets to a game, but didn't take any money from them for those tickets. He also pointed out how players requesting tickets from their club for friends is a normal practice in Russia, but unheard of in other European leagues.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 21 June 2016. Ukraine score listed first, score column indicates score after each Tymoshchuk goal.''

Honours

Shakhtar Donetsk-2 *

Ukrainian Second League Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * Som ...

: 1997–98 Shakhtar Donetsk *

: 2001–02, 2004–05, 2005–06 *

: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04 *

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Zenit Saint Petersburg *

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, 2014–15 *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

: 2007–08 *

Bayern Munich *

: 2009–10,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

: 2009–10,

* DFL-Supercup:

Kairat *

Kazakhstan Cup The Kazakhstan Cup is the main knockout cup competition in Kazakhstan football, run by the Football Federation of Kazakhstan. The tournament was initially founded in 1936 as a competition for clubs in the Kazakh SSR ; kk, Қазақ Сове� ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Kazakhstan Super Cup The Kazakhstan Super Cup ( kk, Қазақстан Суперкубогы, ''Qazaqstan Sýperkýbogy'') is a one-match football annual competition. The two participating clubs are the Kazakhstan Premier League champion and the Kazakhstan Cup winne ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Individual *Ukrainian Bravery Order III Degree: 2006 *

(by Ukrainian Football): 2002, 2006, 2007 *

: Player of the Year

Top 33 Players – #1 Defensive Midfielder: 2007, 2008 *

: 2008 * UEFA awards 100 caps: 2011 *Best Ukrainian Footballer in History (1991–2011) with

and

Oleksandr Shovkovskyi Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Shovkovskyi ( uk, Олександр Володимирович Шовковський; born 2 January 1975) is a Ukrainian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Dynamo Kyiv in the Uk ...

References

External links

Official website

Profile on Bayern Munich official website
*
Tymoshchuk statistics in Shakhtar
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tymoshchuk, Antoliy 1979 births Living people Footballers from Lutsk Ukrainian footballers Association football central defenders Association football midfielders FC Volyn Lutsk players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players FC Shakhtar-2 Donetsk players FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players FC Bayern Munich footballers FC Kairat players Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players Ukrainian Second League players Ukrainian Amateur Football Championship players Russian Premier League players Bundesliga players Kazakhstan Premier League players UEFA Champions League winning players UEFA Cup winning players Ukraine under-21 international footballers Ukraine international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2012 players UEFA Euro 2016 players FIFA Century Club Ukrainian expatriate footballers Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Kazakhstan FC Zenit Saint Petersburg non-playing staff Ukrainian football managers Ukrainian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Russia