Andriy Viktorovych Voronin ( uk, Андрій Вікторович Воронін, born 21 July 1979) is a Ukrainian 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'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ca ...

manager and a former player. Voronin spent five full seasons in the Bundesliga of Germany, and last played as a striker or

attacking 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 boundari ...

for

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

. His previous professional clubs include

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional football club based in Mönchengladbach, Nort ...

, Mainz 05, 1. FC Köln,

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional association football, football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Char ...

and

. In the 2002–03 season, Voronin became top goalscorer in the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

, which earned him a transfer to the Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln. At international level, Voronin played 74 matches for Ukraine from his debut in 2002. He was in their squad for 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 ...

and

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

, after which he retired from international football.

Early life and personal life

Voronin was born in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

on 21 July 1979, to a

Ukrainian Jewish The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Some of the most important Jewish religious an ...

mother and a

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 p ...

father. Both of his grandfathers fought against the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Voronin is married to his wife Yulia and they have three children together; Maria, Andriy Jr. and Sonja. He is a Ukrainian Orthodox Christian.

Career

Borussia Mönchengladbach

Voronin left his youth club

Chornomorets Odessa FC Chornomorets Odesa ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Odesa. The club's home ground is the 34,164 capacity Chornomorets Stadium opened in 1935 and rebuilt in 2011. According to the club's website, it was formed in 1936 a ...

in 1995 to move to Germany, where he joined

. He made his debut in the German Bundesliga against

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 play ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic (1997 film), Titanic'', the List of highest-grossing films, highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; ...

at the age of 18, but went on to spend a couple of years mainly in Mönchengladbach's youth teams. Having played just seven games and scored one goal in the top division, he saw his team relegated and after one season and just two matches in the 2. Bundesliga joined fellow second division strugglers

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Mainz ...

for a fee of €45,000.

Mainz 05

Voronin became Mainz' leading striker in his two seasons at the club, and in his third season became the top scorer in the 2. Bundesliga with 20 goals. Voronin's start to the 2002–03 season with Mainz prompted the following quote from German football daily

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

: "The star of the 23 year old forward is on a rise due to the new role he plays for the team – he has complete freedom of actions." This led to speculations about his future, with

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was offici ...

reported to be willing to bring him back to Ukraine.

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB St ...

, Bologna and a number of other clubs were then reported to approach his agent and Mainz initiated negotiations to extend his contract. UEFA.com described Voronin as "one of the most sought-after talents in Germany." However, come the end of the season Mainz failed to win promotion. Voronin decided not to renew his contract and ultimately chose to continue his career with 1. FC Köln, who had just been promoted to the top division.

1. FC Köln

Köln were relegated at the end of the season, however Voronin stayed in the top flight after signing for

. Bayer had been interested in Voronin since his time at Mainz and were also impressed with his performance for Köln in a 2–2 draw against them when Voronin scored one and created the other of Köln's goals. After that game Express called him "the only true good footballer at Köln" and

Bild ''Bild'' (or ''Bild-Zeitung'', ; ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper '' Bild am Sonntag'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, whic ...

wrote: "Köln's only striker (Voronin) was more dangerous than Bayer's entire star attack ( Schneider, Ponte, Neuville and Berbatov)."

Bayer Leverkusen

After a successful first two seasons with Bayer as well as at the international level (culminating in participation in the

in Germany where Ukraine reached the quarterfinals), Voronin's contract was running out at the end of the 2006–07 season and he was reported to have declined Bayer's offer of an extension. According to the player, he was approached by clubs from France, Spain, Italy and Scotland (

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 Foo ...

were reported to be contemplating a move).

Liverpool

On 26 February 2007,

announced that they had signed Voronin on a free transfer and that he would join the team during the summer. Voronin was unveiled as a Liverpool player on 6 July 2007 after signing a four-year deal. Voronin made his Premier League debut on 11 August 2007, coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute against Aston Villa in a 2–1 victory. A few days later on 15 August 2007, he scored his first ever goal for Liverpool in the 1–0 1st leg Champions League qualifier against Toulouse. Liverpool manager Rafa Benítez was clearly impressed with Voronin, saying:

"He is clever, has great game awareness and gives us so many more options in attack. He can play behind a main striker, lead the line himself, or come into the attack from the flanks."

On 25 August 2007, Voronin scored his first Premier League goal against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the historic county of Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on the River Wear's mouth to the North Sea. The ri ...

in the 87th minute. He then scored his next goal in the next league game against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

which Liverpool comfortably won 6–0 to move top of the

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 ...

table. He also scored the first goal in the 2–2 draw with

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

on 7 October 2007. He carried on his scoring record against Tottenham Hotspur by scoring in a win over the north London club on the last day of the season. On 25 January 2008, Voronin injured his ankle during training. He underwent surgery and made a small number of appearances at the end of the season but failed to make an impact. This led to rumours that Benítez would sell him in order to raise funds for the summer 2008 transfer window, however Voronin played some of the summer friendlies scoring a total of 3 goals in the process. He made his first start of the 2009–10 season in the Champions League group stage game against

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of th ...

. He had a particularly poor day as he missed various opportunities to score including a one-on-one with Hugo Lloris. He was later substituted for

Ryan Babel Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elect ...

who scored Liverpool's goal.

Hertha BSC

On the last day of the transfer market Andriy Voronin agreed to be loaned to

for a season. He had two goals in a 2–1 victory over

on 14 February, to propel Hertha into first place in the Bundesliga. On 7 March he netted a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus ( Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...

. On 11 April 2009, following a retaliatory foul against

Leon Andreasen Leon Hougaard Andreasen (born 23 April 1983) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. He won 20 caps and scored three goals for the Denmark national team. Biography Born in Aidt, Jutland, Andreasen sta ...

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

, he was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

, receiving the 1000th red card in Bundesliga history. Voronin was unable to secure a permanent move back to Germany during the summer of 2009, and as a result he returned to the Liverpool squad for the start of the 2009–10 season.

Dynamo Moscow

On 8 January 2010, it was announced that Liverpool had accepted a £4 million offer for him from

, Two days later, Voronin officially signed for FC Dynamo Moscow.

Fortuna Düsseldorf

On 31 July 2012,

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

announced to have signed Voronin for one year on loan from Dynamo Moscow.

International career

While at Mainz, Voronin was called up initially to Ukraine's Under-21 team and in January 2002 to the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

, at the age of 22. He made his international debut in a 4–1 friendly defeat to

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

in March 2002. However, he was dropped after that match, with coach Leonid Buriak explaining, "I've been to Germany twice to watch him and made a conclusion that Andriy cannot compete with ndriy

Shevchenko Shevchenko (alternative spellings Schevchenko, Ševčenko, Shevcenko, Szewczenko, Chevchenko; ua , Шевченко), a family name of Ukrainian origin. It is derived from the Ukrainian word ''shvets'' ( uk, швець), " cobbler/shoemaker", and ...

, erhii Rebrov, and ndriy Vorobei as a forward. He can play in

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

as well, but he still has to improve some aspects of his game. Anyway, we count on Voronin, especially considering his young age." Voronin was ultimately recalled to the national side, scoring his first international goal in a 2–0

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

qualifying win over

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

in September 2002 and a second one in a 2–2 draw against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in March 2003. He was in the Ukrainian squad for the

, in which Ukraine got to the quarter-finals, beaten by the eventual winners, Italy. played in the finals of Cyprus International Football Tournaments 2009, where Ukraine beat Serbia(1:0)

Coaching career

On 14 October 2020 he returned to

as an assistant manager to Sandro Schwarz. He left the club on 1 March 2022 after

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

began, stating "I do not see any possibility of staying in a country (Russia) whose army destroys our (Ukrainian) cities & fires at civilians.”

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Ukraine's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Voronin goal.''

Honours

Dynamo Moscow * Russian Cup runner-up: 2011−12 Individual *

top scorer: 2002–03 * Baltic and Commonwealth of Independent States Footballer of the Year: 2011 *

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 ...

: 2011 * Ukrainian Bravery Order III Degree: 2008

References

External links

Thisisanfield.com player profile
* *
Leverkusen who's who

Voronin profile and statistics by season at kicker.de

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120406010515/http://www.legioner.kulichki.com/index.php?id=11&lang=en&player=4 Voronin profile, fotos and all goals* * *
LFChistory.net player profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Voronin, Andriy Ukrainian footballers Ukrainian expatriate footballers Ukraine international footballers Borussia Mönchengladbach players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players 1. FC Köln players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Liverpool F.C. players Hertha BSC players Fortuna Düsseldorf players 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2012 players Footballers from Odesa Ukrainian people of Russian descent Ukrainian people of Jewish descent 1979 births Living people Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Premier League players Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Russia FC Dynamo Moscow players Russian Premier League players Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in England Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Ukrainian football managers Ukrainian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Germany Expatriate football managers in Russia Association football midfielders Association football forwards Eastern Orthodox Christians from Ukraine