Oleh Luzhny

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Oleh Luzhny
Image:Oleh_Luzhny.jpg
Personal information
Full name Oleh Romanovych Luzhny
Date of birth August 5, 1968 (1968-08-05) (age 39)
Place of birth    Lviv, Soviet Union
Playing position Coach, former defender
Club information
Current club Dynamo Kyiv
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1985–1988
1988
1989–1999
1999–2003
2003–2004
2005
 Torpedo Lutsk (Div 2)
SKA Karpaty Lviv (Div 1)
Dynamo Kyiv
Arsenal F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
FK Venta (player-coach)
Total		 88 (1)
29 (0)
253 (13)
75 (0)
6 (0)
5 (0)
456 (14)   
National team
1989–1990
1992–2003
 USSR
Ukraine
Total		 8 (0)
52 (0)
60 (0)
Teams managed
2005
2006–
2007		 FK Venta (player-coach)
Dynamo Kyiv (assistant coach)
Dynamo Kyiv (interim coach)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Oleh Romanovych Luzhny (Ukrainian: Олег Романович Лужний, born August 5, 1968 in Lviv, Ukraine) is a former Ukrainian football player, currently assistant coach at FC Dynamo Kyiv. His name is alternatively Romanised as Oleg Luzhny.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Dynamo Kyiv

Luzhny first played for Ukrainian clubs Torpedo Lutsk (1985-88) and SKA Karpaty Lviv (1988). He signed for Dynamo Kyiv in 1989 and became a regular at right back, winning the USSR domestic double in 1990 and seven consecutive Ukrainian league titles between 1993 and 1999. He was the captain of Dynamo Kyiv's Champions League side that defeated FC Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate in the 1997-98 season and eliminated holders Real Madrid 3-1 on aggregate en route to the semi-finals in 1998-99.

[edit] Arsenal

Luzhny signed for English club Arsenal in the summer of 1999 after impressing manager Arsène Wenger in Kyiv's 4-2 aggregate defeat of Arsenal in the Champions League. He was signed as cover for Lee Dixon, although he was unable to fully displace the England international. While never a regular starter with the Gunners (the young Spanish-Cameroonian Lauren was signed a year later as Dixon's long-term replacement), Luzhny 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.[1] In the 2001-02 season he won a double (the FA Premier League and the FA Cup) with Arsenal. His last match for the Gunners was the 2003 FA Cup final (which Arsenal won, beating Southampton 1-0), one of Luzhny's best performances for the club.[2]

[edit] Wolverhampton Wanderers

Luzhny signed for newly-promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers 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.

[edit] International career

On the international stage, Luzhny made his debut at the age of 20 for the Soviet Union in 1989, winning eight caps but missing the 1990 World Cup because of injury. After the USSR's dissolution, Luzhny went on to play for Ukraine, 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.

A banner with Luzhny's portrait at a Dynamo Kyiv game on his 39th birthday.
A banner with Luzhny's portrait at a Dynamo Kyiv game on his 39th birthday.[3]

Luzhny 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.[4] Luzhny received the fourth biggest number of votes, behind only to Oleg Blokhin, Andriy Shevchenko and Anatoly Demyanenko.

[edit] Managerial career

Luzhny had a brief spell at Latvian side FK Venta as player-coach 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 Dynamo Kyiv.

Luzhny was named interim manager of Dynamo Kyiv on the 5th of November 2007 after the resignation of Yozhef Sabo. He led the club to three league wins in three matches, including a 2-1 home victory against perennial rivals Shakhtar Donetsk, as well as into the semifinals of the Ukrainian Cup. However, during the same period Dynamo suffered heavy Champions League defeats away at Manchester United and Sporting Lisbon and at home to Roma. On December 8, 2007 Dynamo Kyiv unveiled a new permanent manager, Yuri Semin, and a few days later it was announced that Luzhny would continue as an assistant coach under the new manager.

[edit] Honours

FC Dynamo Kyiv

Arsenal F.C.

USSR Under-21

Personal Honours

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Club career

Club Season League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Torpedo Lutsk 1985 13 0 ? ? 0 0 ? ?
1986 34 0 ? ? 0 0 ? ?
1987 30 0 ? ? 0 0 ? ?
1988 11 1 ? ? 0 0 ? ?
All 88 1 ? ? 0 0 ? ?
Karpaty Lviv 1988 29 0 ? ? 0 0 ? ?
All 29 0 ? ? 0 0 ? ?
Dynamo Kyiv 1989 27 0 ? ? 5 0 ? ?
1990 12 0 ? ? 0 0 ? ?
1991 28 0 ? ? 8 0 ? ?
1992 13 2 3 0 9 0 25 2
1992-93 26 3 ? ? 3 0 ? ?
1993-94 34 1 ? ? 2 0 ? ?
1994-95 24 4 ? ? 6 0 ? ?
1995-96 24 1 ? ? 1 0 ? ?
1996-97 28 2 ? ? 2 0 ? ?
1997-98 16 0 ? ? 9 0 ? ?
1998-99 21 0 ? ? 13 0 ? ?
All 253 13  ?  ? 58 0  ?  ?
Arsenal 1999-00 21 0 4 0 6 0 31 0
2000-01 19 0 2 0 8 0 29 0
2001-02 18 0 5 0 3 0 26 0
2002-03 17 0 3 0 4 0 24 0
All 75 0 14 0 21 0 110 0
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2003-04 6 0 4 0 0 0 10 0
All 6 0 4 0 0 0 10 0
FK Venta (player-coach) 2005 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
All 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Career totals 456 14  ?  ? 79 0  ?  ?

[edit] International career

National team Season Apps Goals
USSR 1989 5 0
1990 3 0
Total 8 0
Ukraine 1991-92 1 0
1992-93 0 0
1993-94 3 0
1994-95 5 0
1995-96 5 0
1996-97 6 0
1997-98 2 0
1998-99 7 0
1999-00 6 0
2000-01 6 0
2001-02 5 0
2002-03 4 0
2003-04 2 0
Total 52 0
Career total 60 0

[edit] References

  1. ^ Luzhny at last shows fans his animal magic. Guardian Unlimited (January 11, 2003). Retrieved on October 19, 2007.
  2. ^ Luzhny looks to Charlton. BBC Sport (June 2, 2003). Retrieved on October 19, 2007.
  3. ^ DynamoMania.com - "Динамо" - "Днепр" 1:3. Фоторепортаж. Часть I
  4. ^ a b Best Ukrainian players of the XX century. UkrainianSoccer.net (December 29, 2000). Retrieved on October 19, 2007.

[edit] External links