Oleg Anatolyevich Salenko (russian: Олег Анатольевич Саленко, uk, Олег Анатолійович Саленко; born 25 October 1969) is a Russian-Ukrainian former
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 ...
er who played as a
forward. He scored a record five goals in a group-stage match in the
1994 World Cup, helping him earn the
Golden Boot as joint-top tournament goalscorer.
Club career
Salenko was born to a Ukrainian father and a Russian mother in
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
,
Russian SFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
,
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 nationa ...
. He played for
Zenit Leningrad
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 ...
,
Dynamo Kyiv,
Logroñés,
Córdoba,
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...
,
Rangers and
İstanbulspor
İstanbulspor is a Turkish football and sports club founded by Istanbul High School students in 1926. In 2004–05 they were relegated from the Turkish Süper Lig (Super League) to TFF 1. Lig. For many decades it was the fourth most famous and ...
during his club career, that lasted from 1986 to 2000.
Eventually, he faded from the international football scene and finally had to end his career prematurely, at the age of 31, for health reasons stemming from injuries. Salenko returned to playing professional football in the 2000–01 season and signed for
Pogoń Szczecin. He retired after playing a single game however due to his physical conditioning.
International career
Salenko played for the
Soviet Union under-20 team at the
1989 FIFA World Youth Championship, becoming the tournament top scorer with 5 goals. He played a total of only nine international matches, including the
Ukraine 1–3 Hungary friendly, which was the first international game for the
Ukrainian 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. U ...
to be recognised by FIFA. He also had eight appearances for
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
and scored six goals, all of them at the
World Cup in which he was joint top scorer. His last international appearance was 6–1 win against
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the ...
when he scored five times.
As of 2022, he is the only player to win the Golden Boot at both the
U-20 World Cup
The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when ...
and
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 has ...
.
1994 FIFA World Cup
Salenko set a
World Cup record by scoring five goals in one game in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
's 6–1 win against
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the ...
on 28 June 1994. He finished the
1994 World Cup with six goals, having scored from the penalty spot against
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
in the previous match and shared the
Golden Boot with
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 Macedo ...
n
Hristo Stoichkov after being knocked out in the first round and having played only three matches while
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 Macedo ...
played a total of seven matches and achieved a fourth-place finish.
As of 2022, Salenko is the only player ever to win the Golden Boot award on a team eliminated from the World Cup finals at the group stage.
Beach football
In 2003, Salenko was appointed as manager of the
Ukraine national beach soccer team. His team played three games, the only win being over USA 6–5, and losing the other two to Brazil and Spain. The tournament took place at the end of July in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
under the name ''Mundialito''.
List of matches of the national team in Ukrainian
After the tournament, he was dismissed. He was later taking part of FFU assisting staff, but later stopped involving in football to focus on his business.
Career statistics
International
Appearances and goals by national team and year
International goals
:''Scores and results list Russia's goal tally first.''
Honours
;Dynamo Kyiv
* Soviet Top League: 1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...
*Soviet Cup
The Soviet Cup, or USSR Cup (russian: Кубок СССР),, be, Кубак СССР, uz, СССР Кубоги, kk, КСРО Кубогы, ka, სსრკ თასი, az, ССРИ кубоку, lt, TSRS taurė, ro, Cupa URSS ( Moldov ...
: 1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...
Individual
* FIFA World Youth Championship Golden Shoe: 1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
* FIFA World Cup Golden Boot: 1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...
References
External links
*
RSSSF
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salenko, Oleg
1969 births
Living people
Russian emigrants to Ukraine
Footballers from Saint Petersburg
Association football forwards
Soviet footballers
Russian footballers
Ukrainian footballers
Soviet Top League players
Scottish Football League players
Rangers F.C. players
Ukrainian Premier League players
FC Dynamo Kyiv players
FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players
Ekstraklasa players
Pogoń Szczecin players
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Valencia CF players
CD Logroñés footballers
Córdoba CF players
İstanbulspor footballers
Süper Lig players
1994 FIFA World Cup players
Soviet Union under-21 international footballers
Ukraine international footballers
Russia international footballers
Russian expatriate footballers
Russian expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Russian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey
Russian people of Ukrainian descent
Ukrainian expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Scotland
Expatriate footballers in Turkey
Expatriate footballers in Poland
Dual internationalists (football)
Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Russian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland
Russian expatriate sportspeople in Poland
Russian expatriate football managers