Vitālijs Meļņičenko (born 11 November 1987 in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

) is a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

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 lea ...

who plays for Lysekloster IL.

Club career

As a youth player Meļņičenko played for Rīgas Futbola skola, making his first professional appearance in 2005 for Olimps/RFS. 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 La ...

. Unable to prove himself there he was signed by

Skonto Riga Skonto FC was a Latvian professional 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 cor ...

in 2008. He made 2 appearances for the club, being loaned to Olimps/RFS in 2008 and SK Blāzma in 2009. While playing for Olimps/RFS, Meļņičenko managed to score a goal against FK Vindava and all in all played 7 league games. During the loan spell at SK Blāzma he played 10 league matches. In 2010 Meļņičenko was given out on loan to Olimps/RFS yet again. Having played 3 matches for the club, Meļņičenko left for SK Blāzma once again in 2010. At the start of 2011 Meļņičenko went on trial with the

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, ), also known as NB I or Fizz Liga after its title sponsor, OTP Bank's webshop subsidiary, is a professional association football league in Hungary and the highest level of the Hungarian football league system. Twelve ...

club

Zalaegerszegi TE Zalaegerszegi Torna Egylet Football Club (), commonly known as Zalaegerszegi TE, Zalaegerszeg or ZTE, is a Hungary, Hungarian professional association football, football club based in Zalaegerszeg. Zalaegerszeg has won one Hungarian League title ...

in Hungary. The player did not stay in

Zalaegerszeg Zalaegerszeg (; ; ; ) 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 west-southwest of Budapest by road. Hi ...

, but eventually signed a contract with a different Hungarian club - the league newcomers

Szolnoki MÁV Szolnoki may refer to: *Mária Szolnoki (born 1947), Hungarian fencer *Oliver Szolnoki (born 1997), Hungarian pool player *Roland Szolnoki (born 1992), Hungarian football player See also *Szolnoki MÁV FC, Hungarian football club, from the city o ...

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 was a Latvian professional football club based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils. It was one of the most prominent football clubs in the country. The club played in the Latvian Virslīga since 1997. It folded in July ...

. Starting the season as the first-choice keeper, Meļņičenko appeared in 15 league matches, but was later replaced by Maksims Uvarenko. 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, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Footbal ...

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 () 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 Sports Club of the Army'' ...

. In March 2020, Meļņičenko was signed by Norwegian club Lysekloster IL. 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

External links

Meļņičenko: "Ar pendeļu atvairīšanu nekad nav gājis tik labi kā šogad"Meļņičenko pametīs "Ventspili", līgumi pagarināti ar pieciem futbolistiem
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Melnicenko, Vitalijs 1987 births Living people Footballers from Riga Latvian men's footballers 21st-century Latvian sportsmen 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 Lysekloster IL 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