Yaroslav Volodymyrovych Rakitskyi ( uk, Ярослав Володимирович Ракіцький, ; born 3 August 1989) 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 currently plays as a defender for

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'') ...

club

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

. He is best known for his passing ability and free-kicks. He was also a member of the Ukraine national team, making his international debut on 10 October 2009 and scoring his first goal on 14 October of the same year. Rakitskyi has amassed over 50

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for Ukraine and represented his country at

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 ...

and

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 ...

Club career

Shakhtar Donetsk

2009–10 season

He moved up to the first team during the 2009–10 season, making his debut, at the age of 20, in a 6–1

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� ...

win against Dnister Ovidiopol (now called FC Odesa). He made his league debut for the club 16 days later, coming as a substitute on 31 August in a 3–1 victory over

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 ...

. His first goal for Shakhtar came in the following round of the Ukrainian Cup in a 3–1 victory over Yednist' Plysky. He also set up the third goal of the match for

Oleksandr Gladkiy Oleksandr Mykolayovych Hladkyi ( uk, Олександр Миколайович Гладкий, born 24 August 1987) is a Ukrainian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Chornomorets Odesa. He has also appeared for the Ukraine nat ...

. Rakytskiy scored his second goal of the season in a 4–1

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...

win over

Partizan Belgrade Jugoslovensko sportsko društvo Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Југословенско спортско друштво Партизан, lit=Yugoslav Sports Society Partizan), commonly abbreviated as JSD Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, ЈСД Партизан, link ...

in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. He ended his first season in the Shakhtar first team with 37 appearances, of which 24 came in the league, and 2 goals. He picked his first trophy at Shakhtar, with the team winning the league.

2010–11 season

Rakytskiy started the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

with success in the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

as Shakhtar comprehensively defeated

Tavriya ''Tavriya'' (russian: Таврия) is a 1959 Soviet drama film directed by Yuriy Lysenko. Based on the novel of the same name by Oles Honchar. Plot Taurida Governorate, Falz-Fein steppe empire. The fates of the two friends Vusti and Hanna are ...

7–1. His first league goal came in a 3–1 victory over

Kryvbas :''Kryvbas'' ''may also refer to the FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih, the football team in Kryvyi Rih. See also Kryvbas (disambiguation)'' Kryvbas (, full name Kryvorizkyi Iron Ore Basin, ) is an important economic and historical region in central Ukraine ...

on 10 July 2010. He also scored Shakhtar's only goal in a 6–1 aggregate lose to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in the Champions League quarter final, scoring in the 5–1 first leg defeat at

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

. He played in Shakhtar's 2–0

win over

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 ...

. He made a total of 34 appearances in the 2010–11 season, scoring twice as Shakhtar retained the Premier League title.

2011–12 season

Shakhtar won 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 ...

and the

in the 2011–12 season. On 29 October Yaroslav picked up a red card in a 3–2 victory over

Oleksandria 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 ...

, after receiving two yellow cards. His first goal of the season came in a 2–0 victory over

at the

Donbass Arena Donbass Arena ( uk, Донба́с Аре́на ; is a stadium with a natural grass pitch in Donetsk, Ukraine, that opened on 29 August 2009. The facility is located in the center of the city, in the Lenin Comsomol park. With a capacity of 52,187 ...

on 7 April. He scored another goal a few weeks later in a 3–1 victory over Tavriya. He finished the season with 2 goals in 37 appearances, 27 of which were in the league. Shakhtar won the Premier League title for the third year in a row and also retained the

in a 2–1 extra time victory over

Metalurh Donetsk Football Club Metalurh Donetsk ( uk, Футбо́льний клуб «Металу́рг» Доне́цьк, ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Donetsk that went bankrupt in July 2015. History Club predecessor Football ...

Oleksandr Kucher Oleksandr Mykolayovych Kucher ( uk, Олександр Миколайович Кучер; born 22 October 1982) is a Ukrainian former professional footballer and current manager of Ukrainian club Dnipro-1. He was a powerful defender who was g ...

scored the winning goal, after a rebound from Rakytskiy's shot.

2012–13 season

He played in Shakhtar's 2–0

victory over Metalurh Donetsk on 10 July, keeping a clean sheet. He managed clean sheets in a 6–0 win against

Arsenal Kyiv Football Club Arsenal Kyiv () is a Ukrainian football club based in Kyiv. In 2019, the club's professional team was dissolved, but its junior teams continue to compete in city competitions. The club claims to be a successor of Kyiv Arsenal fa ...

on 15 July, a 1–0 victory over

on 29 July and a 4–0 win over

Volyn Lutsk Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. Th ...

on 6 September. On 26 August he assisted

Henrikh Mkhitaryan Henrikh Mkhitaryan ( hy, Հենրիխ Մխիթարյան, ; born 21 January 1989) is an Armenian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for club Inter Milan. Mkhitaryan won four Armenian Premier League titles wi ...

for the third goal in a 3–0 victory over

Karpaty Lviv Football Club Karpaty Lviv ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Lviv. History Early years (1963–68) The team of Karpaty was founded on 18 January, 1963. In 1961 Silmash Lviv won the championship of Lviv Oblast but lost its p ...

and kept a clean sheet. and was named Man of the Match. On 15 September he kept a clean sheet in a 3–0 victory against

2017–18 season

He scored in the final as Shakhtar beat rivals Dynamo Kyiv in the 2017–18 Ukrainian Cup final.

Zenit Saint Petersburg

On 28 January 2019, he signed a 3.5-year contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

FC Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in ...

. Some Ukrainians have derided Rakitskyi as a "traitor" for moving to the Russian league, as Zenit are based in Russia and the

War in Donbas War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

was ongoing, despite the fact that

Anatoliy Tymoshchuk Anatoliy Oleksandrovych Tymoshchuk ( uk, Анатолій Олександрович Тимощук ; born 30 March 1979) is a Ukrainian football coach and a former midfielder, currently an assistant coach of the Russian Premier League club Ze ...

, another famous Ukrainian footballer, is also working as assistant manager for Zenit. His move to Russia during the war led to him being stopped from being called up to the national team, which led to his official retirement from international football. He became a starting player for Zenit, and a favourite of the fans, who made positive songs about him. He also became one of the leaders of the Russian league in accuracy of passes. At the end of the 2019–20 season, he was voted by the league players as the 8th best player in the league, and number one in his position. For his time in Zenit, Rakitskyi was praised for his versatility in the defence and for his help to the attack. On 24 February 2022, Rakitskyi was dropped from Zenit's line-up to play

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

in the

knockout round play-offs following a social media post that spoke out against the

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 ...

that started that very day. On 2 March 2022, Rakitskyi left Zenit by mutual consent.

Adana Demirspor

On 23 July 2022, Rakitskyi joined Adana Demirspor on a one-year deal, plus an optional year.

Return to Shakhtar Donetsk

On 16 January 2023 Rakitskyi rejoined Shakhtar Donetsk on a deal that lasted to the end of the season. He joined the club as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. In the spring of 2022 Rakitskyi had already played in Shakhtar Donetsk charity matches during Shakhtar's " Global Tour for Peace".

International career

Rakitskyi made his debut for 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 exam ...

on 10 October 2009, at the age of 20, in a 1–0 victory over

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 ...

in a World Cup qualifier. His first goal for Ukraine came just four days later and a 6–0 win against

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

. He scored his second goal in a 2–1 friendly win over

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

on 7 September 2010 and scored his third goal in another friendly match, a 2–2 draw with

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

which saw Ukraine take victory 4–2 in a penalty shootout and the finals of this tournament came out (

Cyprus International Football Tournaments The Cyprus International Football Tournament was an annual winter association football friendly competition for national teams that takes place in Cyprus. It was traditionally held in February as a friendly tournament since at least 1997, and last ...

2011 Since the start of the War in Donbas, Rakitskyi faced repeated questioning in the press about his refusal to sing the

Ukrainian national anthem "" ( uk, Ще не вмерла України і слава, і воля, , lit=The glory and freedom of Ukraine has not yet perished), also known by its official title of "State Anthem of Ukraine" (, ') or by its shortened form "" (, ), is the ...

when he played for Ukraine. He has not been called up to the national team since his transfer to Zenit Saint Petersburg. The popular opinion was that he stopped being called up to the national team due to political reasons, when some commented how not calling him up was unprofessional, while others accused Rakitskyi of "putting himself before the interests of the national team" by moving to Russia. Rakitskyi subsequently retired from the national team in 2019.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Ukraine's goal tally first.''

Honours

Shakhtar Donetsk *

: 2009–10,

, 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

, 2011–12,

, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18 *

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 ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Zenit Saint Petersburg *

: 2018–19, 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22 * Russian Cup: 2019–20 *

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Russian Cup winners. If the Premie ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Individual awards * ''List of 33 Best Football Players of the Year'': No. 1 - 2019/20, 2020/21; No. 2 - 2018/19.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rakitskyi, Yaroslav 1989 births Living people People from Pershotravensk Serhiy Bubka College of Olympic Reserve alumni Ukrainian footballers Ukraine international footballers Ukraine youth international footballers Ukraine under-21 international footballers Association football defenders FC Shakhtar Donetsk players FC Shakhtar-3 Donetsk players FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players Adana Demirspor footballers Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian Second League players Russian Premier League players Süper Lig players UEFA Euro 2012 players UEFA Euro 2016 players Ukrainian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Russia Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Turkey Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Sportspeople from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast