Oleh Romanovych Luzhnyi ( uk, Олег Романович Лужний; born 5 August 1968) is a Ukrainian former 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 ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Luzhnyi is a product of the Karpaty

sports school A sports school (russian: Детско-Юношеская Спортивная Школа, ДЮСШ) is a type of educational institution for children that originated in the Soviet Union. Sports schools were the basis of the powerful system of ph ...

(coached by Yuriy Hdanskyi and

Yuriy Dyachuk-Stavytskyi Yuriy Dyachuk-Stavytskyi ( uk, Юрій Михайлович Дячук-Ставицький; 26 January 1947 – 24 June 2020) was a Ukrainian football manager. Career He coached following teams FC Bukovyna Chernivtsi, FC Prykarpattya Ivano-F ...

) and later studied at the Lviv State School of Physical Culture. He first played for Ukrainian clubs Torpedo Lutsk (1985–88) and SKA Karpaty Lviv (1988) in Soviet lower football leagues.

Dynamo Kyiv

Luzhnyi signed for

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 officia ...

in 1989 and became a regular at

, winning the domestic double in 1990 and seven consecutive Ukrainian league titles between 1993 and 1999. He was the captain of Dynamo Kyiv's Champions League sides that defeated

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

3–0 at home and 4–0 away in the group stage of the 1997–98 season and eliminated holders Real Madrid 3–1 on aggregate in the quarter finals en route to the semi-finals in 1998–99.

Arsenal

Luzhnyi signed for English club Arsenal in the summer of 1999 after impressing manager Arsène Wenger in Kyiv's clashes with Arsenal in the Champions League. He was signed as cover for

Lee Dixon Lee Michael Dixon (born 17 March 1964) is an English retired professional footballer and pundit who played as a right-back for Arsenal. Dixon was also capped 22 times for England. A childhood Manchester City fan, Dixon began his footballing ...

, although he was unable to fully displace the England international. While never a regular starter with the Gunners (the young

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 C ...

ian

Lauren Lauren may be a given name or surname.The name's meaning may be "laurel tree", "sweet of honor", or "wisdom". It is derived from the French name Laurence, a feminine version of Laurent, which is in turn derived from the Roman surname Laurentius. ...

was signed a year later as Dixon's long-term replacement), Luzhnyi still played 110 matches in four years at the club, either at right-back or, less frequently, at centre-back, and even captained the team once in the League Cup. In the 2001–02 season he won a double (the FA Premier League and the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

) with Arsenal. He contributed 18 league appearances as Arsenal won the 2001-02 FA Premier League. His last match for the Gunners was the

2003 FA Cup Final The 2003 FA Cup Final was the 122nd final of the FA Cup, the world's oldest domestic football cup competition. The final took place on Saturday 17 May 2003 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, in front of a crowd of 73,726. It was the third co ...

(which Arsenal won, beating

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

1–0), Luzhny's best performance for the club.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Luzhnyi signed for newly promoted

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in the summer of 2003. He spent a single season there, but only made ten appearances for the side and was released by Wolves in the summer of 2004 following their relegation from 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 Fo ...

International career

On the international stage, Luzhnyi made his debut at the age of 20 for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1989, winning eight caps but missing the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being ...

because of injury. After the Soviet Union's dissolution, Luzhnyi went on to play 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 ...

, playing 52 times for his country between 1992 and 2003, although his side never reached a tournament finals, losing three times in the play-offs. Luzhnyi captained the national side a record 39 times and achieved immense personal recognition in his country. In December 2000 he was voted into the Ukrainian 'Team of the Century' according to a poll by The Ukrainsky Futbol weekly. Luzhnyi received the fourth biggest number of votes, behind only to

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 ...

, Andriy Shevchenko and Anatoliy Demyanenko.

Managerial career

Luzhnyi had a brief spell at Latvian side FK Venta as

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

in 2005, but left the club after it ran into financial problems. He has now retired from playing and in June 2006 became assistant coach at

. Luzhnyi was named interim manager of

on 5 November 2007 after the resignation of

Yozhef Sabo Yozhef Yozhefovich Sabo ( uk, Йожеф Йожефович Сабо; hu, Szabó József; born 29 February 1940) is a former Ukrainian football player and football manager. He is of Hungarian background. He is baptized as a Greek-Catholic. ...

. He led the club to three league wins in three matches, including a 2–1 home victory against perennial rivals

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 ...

, as well as into the semifinals of 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� ...

. However, during the same period Dynamo suffered heavy Champions League defeats away at Manchester United and

Sporting Lisbon Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

and at home to Roma. On 8 December 2007, Dynamo Kyiv unveiled a new permanent manager, Yury Syomin, and a few days later it was announced that Luzhnyi would continue as an assistant coach under the new manager. On 1 October 2010, he was again named as interim manager of Dynamo Kyiv after the resignation of

Valery Gazzaev Valery Georgiyevich Gazzaev (russian: Вале́рий Гео́ргиевич Газза́ев; os, Гæззаты Георгийы фырт Валери, translit=Gæzzaty Georgijy fyrt Valeri; born 7 August 1954) is a Russian politician, foot ...

. The first match was lost 2–0 to

Donbas 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 ...

. After the 19th round match against PFC Sevastopol Luzhnyi informed the fans that he will not return after the winter break. He was replaced by Yury Syomin on 24 December 2010.

Personal life

Luzhnyi turned down the chance to coach in England in 2022 in order to fight for Ukraine after the Russian invasion.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Arsenal * FA Community Shield:

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, 2002 *

: 2001–02 *

: 2003 Individual *Ukrainian Team of the Century (poll by Ukrainsky Futbol): 2000

Notes

References

External links

* * *
Ukrainian Team of the Century (poll by Ukrainsky Futbol)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luzhnyi, Oleh 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Lviv Soviet footballers Ukrainian footballers Association football fullbacks Dual internationalists (football) Soviet Union international footballers Ukraine international footballers Soviet Union under-21 international footballers Soviet Top League players Soviet First League players Soviet Second League players FA Cup Final players Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players Latvian Higher League players Premier League players FC Volyn Lutsk players FC SKA-Karpaty Lviv players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv players Arsenal F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players FK Venta players Ukrainian football managers Ukrainian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Latvia Latvian Higher League managers Ukrainian Premier League managers FK Venta managers FC Dynamo Kyiv managers SC Tavriya Simferopol managers FC Karpaty Lviv managers Ukrainian expatriate footballers Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Expatriate footballers in Latvia