Andriy Mykolayovych Nesmachnyi ( uk, Андрій Миколайович Несмачний, born 28 February 1979) is a retired Russian-born

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 ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. He has spent his entire career at

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...

in 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'') ...

. He was a skillful, attacking

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

who could also play as

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and

left 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 ...

. Nesmachniy also played for the

Ukraine national football team The Ukraine national football team ( uk, Збірна України з футболу) represents Ukraine in men's international football and is governed by the Ukrainian Association of Football, the governing body for football in Ukraine. Ukr ...

and is the most capped foreign-born player for Ukraine with 67 matches.

Club career

Andriy Mykolayovych Nesmachniy was born on 28 February 1979 in

Bryansk Bryansk ( rus, Брянск, p=brʲansk) is a city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the River Desna, southwest of Moscow. Population: Geography Urban layout The location of the settlement was originally ass ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. He started as a graduate of the

Tavriya Simferopol Sports Club Tavriya ( uk, Спортивний клуб "Таврія") was a Ukrainian football club from Simferopol. Tavriya was a member of the Ukrainian Premier League from its founding and won the first Ukrainian Premier League making them ...

school. He then joined

for the 1997–98 season. He was originally intended for the main team, but spent the next two seasons at the reserve team

Dynamo-2 Kyiv FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv was the second football team of the Ukrainian football club Dynamo Kyiv based in Kyiv, Ukraine. The team was created in 1946, and the club ceased its operations after the 2015–16 season. History In 1965, there was created ...

. Beginning in the 2000–01 season, Nesmachniy appeared much more often on the main team, where he has stayed until 2011.Profile on official website of Dynamo Kyiv
Nesmachniy retired in 2011 to concentrate on his religious beliefs as he became one of

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...

. Nesmachniy almost joined

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

of the English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

during the January 2007 transfer window. Manager

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, and a ...

had confirmed his interest saying that he had "good football intelligence" and "a great international experience". He also confirmed that the defender was training with the squad in late December 2006. However, he did not make a promise that a move was going to be a possibility. Nesmachniy in the end, did not join Blackburn.

International career

Nesmachnyi was first called up to the

in 2000. Since then he has been capped 63 times. His career was highlighted in

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 ...

, when Ukraine made it to their 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 ...

. Ukraine made it to the quarterfinals, getting out to eventual champions

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. During the World Cup in Germany, Nesmachnyi noticeably did not sing the Ukraine national anthem and place his hand on his heart. When asked about this in an interview, Nesmachnyi announced that "My parents and I are

for a long time. Our Bible-based beliefs does not allow us to idolize anyone and anything, such as a flag and an anthem, and to put my hand on my heart. All glory and praise belongs to God,

Jehovah Jehovah () is a Latinization of the Hebrew , one vocalization of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament. The Tetragrammaton is considered one of the seven names of God in Judais ...

." On 17 March, Nesmachnyi announced that he personally decided to retire from the Ukraine national football team, and that he continues to have good relations with head coach

Oleksiy Mykhailychenko Oleksiy Oleksandrovych Mykhaylychenko ( uk, Олексій Олександрович Михайличенко; born 30 March 1963) is a Ukrainian football coach and former professional player. He is a Distinguished Master of Sports of the U ...

. He explained his decision by saying that he wants to concentrate on his club career in Dynamo as well as on his spiritual and family life. Upon retiring, Nesmachniy has played 67 games for Ukraine, the first being against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

on 26 April 2000, and the last being on 10 February 2009 against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

.Андрій Несмачний: "Зосереджуся на виступах за клуб"
– Official Dynamo Kyiv website

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Dynamo-2 Kyiv *

Ukrainian First League The Persha Liha ( uk, Перша ліга) or Ukrainian First League is a professional football league in Ukraine and the second tier of national football competitions pyramid. Members of the league also participate in the Ukrainian Cup. It is th ...

(2): 1998–99, 1999–2000 Dynamo Kyiv *

(7): 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2008–09 *

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� ...

(5): 1999–2000, 2002–2003, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07 *

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 ...

(1):

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

References

Profile on website Football Ukraine

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nesmachniy, Andriy 1979 births 2006 FIFA World Cup players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv players FC Dynamo-3 Kyiv players Living people Sportspeople from Bryansk Ukraine international footballers Ukrainian footballers Ukrainian Jehovah's Witnesses Russian emigrants to Ukraine Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players Ukrainian Second League players Ukrainian Amateur Football Championship players Association football fullbacks