Vitālijs Meļņičenko (born 11 November 1987 in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

) is a

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 ...

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 for

Lysekloster IL Lysekloster Idrettslag is a Norwegian multi-sports club from Lysefjorden, Os, Vestland. It has sections for association football, handball and athletics. The men's football team plays in the 3. divisjon The Norwegian Third Division, also cal ...

Club career

As a youth player Meļņičenko played for Rīgas Futbola skola, making his first professional appearance in 2005 for

Olimps/RFS JFK Olimps was a Latvian football club, playing in the top division of Latvian football. The club was from the city of Riga. According to a study from January 2011, the club was the youngest team in Europe, with an average age of 19.02 years. ...

. In 2006, he joined FK Eirobaltija, but in 2007 he returned to the higher-level football, joining

FK Rīga FK Rīga was a Latvian football club based in Riga. They played in the Virslīga, the top division in Latvian football. They played their home games at Latvijas Universitātes Stadions. In 1999, its first year of existence, the club won the ...

. Unable to prove himself there he was signed by

Skonto Riga Skonto FC was a Latvian football club, active from 1991 until 2016. The club played at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Skonto won the Virsliga in the first 14 seasons of the league's resumption (15 in total), and often provided the core of the Lat ...

in 2008. He made 2 appearances for the club, being loaned to

in 2008 and

SK Blāzma SK Blāzma is a Latvian football club located in Rēzekne. The club is a continuation of the city's main football club, Dižvanagi. The club competed in Virslīga in the 2008 season following promotion from the 1. Liga in 2007. History The f ...

in 2009. While playing for

, Meļņičenko managed to score a goal against

FK Vindava FK Vindava is a former Latvian football club located in Ventspils. It was founded in 2007 on the basis of FK Honda, which got 4th place in 2006 in Latvian 2. līga, Kurzemes zona. In 2007 it won the 1. līga championships and was promoted ...

and all in all played 7 league games. During the loan spell at

he played 10 league matches. In 2010 Meļņičenko was given out on loan to

yet again. Having played 3 matches for the club, Meļņičenko left for

once again in 2010. At the start of 2011 Meļņičenko went on trial with the

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

club

Zalaegerszegi TE Zalaegerszegi Torna Egylet Football Club (), commonly known as Zalaegerszegi TE, Zalaegerszeg or ZTE, is a football club from the city of Zalaegerszeg in Hungary. Zalaegerszeg has won one Hungarian League title in 2002. History ZTE traces its r ...

in Hungary. The player did not stay in

Zalaegerszeg Zalaegerszeg (; hr, Jegersek; sl, Jageršek; german: Egersee) is the administrative center of Zala County, Zala county in western Hungary. Location Zalaegerszeg lies on the banks of the Zala River, close to the Slovenian and Austrian borders and ...

, but eventually signed a contract with a different Hungarian club - the league newcomers Szolnoki MÁV in February 2011. In July 2011 he was released, having made 13 appearances in the top tier of Hungarian football. Meļņičenko remained unemployed until February 2012, when he was signed by that time Latvian champions

FK Ventspils FK Ventspils is a Latvian football club, based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils city and is one of the most popular football clubs in the country. The club played in the Latvian Virsliga since 1997. It was abolished in 2020, but h ...

. Starting the season as the first-choice keeper, Meļņičenko appeared in 15 league matches, but was later replaced by

Maksims Uvarenko Maksims Uvarenko (born 17 January 1987 in Ventspils) is a Latvian football goalkeeper. Career Uvarenko signed a contract with Slovan Liberec in January 2006. He made his debut the following year. Being a bright talent in Latvia, he played f ...

. Meļņičenko played for Ventspils until the end of the 2013 season, mainly being used as the backup keeper. In March 2014 Meļņičenko joined the

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is Op ...

club Spartaks Jūrmala. He played 23 league matches, keeping 11 clean sheets throughout the season. In January 2015 Meļņičenko was signed by his previous club

as a replacement for Uvarenko who had moved to

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...

. In March 2020, Meļņičenko was signed by Norwegian club

. However, he wasn't presented before June 2020. As of February 2022, he was still playing for the Norwegian club.Lysekloster hadde Varegg på besøk
sportskollektivet.no, 23 February 2022

Honours

Skonto FC

*Latvian Higher League - BRONZE ** 2009

FK Ventspils

*Latvian Higher League - BRONZE ** 2012, 2015 *Latvian Higher League - CHAMPION ** 2013 *Latvian Cup - WINNER ** 2012-13 *Latvian Cup - FINALIST ** 2014–15, 2018 *Latvian Higher League - SILVER ** 2018

FK Spartaks

*Latvian Higher League - CHAMPION ** 2017

FC Fakel

*League Cup - WINNER ** 2017

References

* 6. http://sportacentrs.com/futbols/citi_latvijas_turniri/28042015-melnicenko_ar_pendelu_atvairisanu_nekad_n * 7. http://sportacentrs.com/futbols/virsliga/13112015-melnicenko_pametis_ventspili_ligumi_pagar

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Melnicenko, Vitalijs 1987 births Living people Footballers from Riga Latvian men's footballers Latvian people of Ukrainian descent Latvian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers JFK Olimps players Skonto FC players SK Blāzma players FK Rīga players Szolnoki MÁV FC footballers FK Ventspils players FK Spartaks Jūrmala players FC Fakel Voronezh players FK RFS players Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Norway