Serhiy Oleksandrovych Rybalka ( uk, Сергій Олександрович Рибалка, born 1 April 1990) is a Ukrainian professional

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 ...

who plays as a

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 ...

for

Oleksandriya Oleksandriia () is a city located in Oleksandriia Raion, Kirovohrad Oblast (region) in central Ukraine. Administratively, Oleksandriia serves as the administrative center of Oleksandriia Raion (district). Oleksandriia also hosts the administrat ...

Club career

Arsenal Kharkiv

Born in Yamne,

Sumy Oblast Sumy Oblast ( uk, Сумська́ о́бласть, translit=Sumska oblast; also referred to as Sumshchyna – uk, Су́мщина) is an oblast (province) in the northeastern part of Ukraine. Population: The oblast was created in its most r ...

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

, Rybalka was the top scorer in Arsenal Kharkiv's history, by scoring 20 goals and surpassing Yuriy Martiniuk who had 19 goals. He caught the interest from many clubs, including from the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

club

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...

who saw him as a very talented and perspective youth player. However, he chose to go to

FC 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 ...

Dynamo Kyiv

Rybalka made his senior team debut on 21 September 2011 in the

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� ...

3–2 victory against

Kremin Kremenchuk Football Club Kremin Kremenchuk ( uk , ФК Кремінь Кременчук; ru , Кремень Кременчуг, translit=Kremen Kremenchug) is a professional football club based in Kremenchuk, Ukraine. The current club is administered b ...

. He opened the score in the 14th minute, hitting the free kick into the upper corner. A month later, on 23 October 2011, he made his

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'') ...

debut, coming on at half time in a 6-1 thrashing of

Zorya Luhansk FC Zorya Luhansk ( uk, ФК «Зоря» Луганськ ) is a Ukrainian football team. Zorya Luhansk is based in the city of Luhansk, Ukraine. However, because of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the team play their games at Slavutych-Arena in Zapori ...

. After the debut, Rybalka struggled to establish himself in the squad. In order to help his development, it was decided to loan him to

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

club

Slovan Liberec FC Slovan Liberec (), commonly referred to as Slovan Liberec or simply Slovan, is a Czech football club based in the city of Liberec. The club is one of the most successful in the Czech Republic, having won three league titles and the domesti ...

until the end of the 2012–2013 season. Rybalka immediately became one of the key players for Slovan, and in the summer of 2013 his loan was extended for one more season. Rybalka again featured prominently in the side, helping Slovan reach the Round of 32 in the

2013–14 UEFA Europa League The 2013–14 UEFA Europa League was the 43rd season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the fifth season under its current title. The 2014 UEFA Europa League Final was played between Sevil ...

. After a successful loan spell, Rybalka returned to Dynamo for the 2014–15 season. New team manager

Serhii Rebrov Serhiy Stanislavovych Rebrov ( uk, Сергій Станіславович Ребров; born 3 June 1974) is a Ukrainian professional football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is in charge of UAE Pro League side Al-Ain. R ...

put a lot more trust in him than did Dynamo's previous managers

Yuri Syomin Yury Pavlovich Syomin (russian: Юрий Павлович Сёмин; born 11 May 1947) is a Russian football coach. He has managed FC Lokomotiv Moscow for 4 different stints, for a total of over 23 years. The recent history of the Russian club ...

and

Oleh Blokhin Oleg Vladimirovich Blokhin, or Oleh Volodymyrovych Blokhin ( uk, Оле́г Володи́мирович Блохі́н, rus, Оле́г Влади́мирович Блохи́н; born 5 November 1952), is a former Ukrainian and Soviet footbal ...

, by making him a permanent fixture in midfield. On 17 May 2015, in a 1-0 Ukrainian Premier League victory against

Dnipro Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

, Rybalka assisted on what became the title-clinching goal by

Domagoj Vida Domagoj Vida (; born 29 April 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Super League Greece club AEK Athens and the Croatia national team. He is capable of playing in any defensive position but is mostly deployed ...

. On 16 September 2015, Rybalka made his

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 ...

debut in a 2–2 draw against Portuguese team

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

in the group stage, he assisted Dynamo's second goal which was scored by Vitaliy Buyalskyi on the 89th minute which gave Dynamo a draw.

Sivasspor

On 8 September 2017, Rybalka was loaned to

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Demir Grup Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department competes in Süper Lig, as of 201 ...

, who had just returned to the

Turkish Super League Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

after a one-year absence. After a season on loan, Sivasspor bought Rybalka out of his Dynamo Kyiv contract, and signed him to a three-year deal.

International career

Rybalka was part of the Ukraine U-19 team that won the

2009 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship 2009 Final Tournament was held in Ukraine in the cities of Donetsk and Mariupol. Players born after 1 January 1990 were eligible to participate in this competition. Qualification Qualification for the final ...

. On 27 July 2009, in the last match of the group stage against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, with hosts Ukraine playing a man down and facing elimination from the tournament, Rybalka scored in the 85th minute to establish the final score (1-0), and to propel Ukraine into the semifinal round. He ended up playing in three of his team's five matches, including the Final against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. On 31 March 2015, Rybalka made his senior team debut for

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, coming on at half-time for Dynamo Kyiv teammate Denys Garmash. He became a regular player for Ukraine for the remainder of the

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

, featuring in the last six matches, including the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. Rybalka was on Ukraine's squad for the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

final tournament in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, but did not play in any of his team's matches.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Dynamo Kyiv *

: 2014–15, 2015–16 *

: 2014–15 *

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 ...

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 ...

Other *

2009 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship 2009 Final Tournament was held in Ukraine in the cities of Donetsk and Mariupol. Players born after 1 January 1990 were eligible to participate in this competition. Qualification Qualification for the final ...

: Champion

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rybalka, Serhiy 1990 births Living people Ukrainian footballers Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players Ukrainian Second League players FC Slovan Liberec players Czech First League players Süper Lig players Ukrainian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic FC Arsenal Kharkiv players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv players Association football midfielders Ukraine international footballers Ukraine under-21 international footballers Ukraine youth international footballers Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic UEFA Euro 2016 players Sivasspor footballers FC Oleksandriya players Expatriate footballers in Turkey Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Sportspeople from Sumy Oblast