Dmytro Chygrynskiy

Dmytro Chygrynskiy

Personal information
Full name	Dmytro Anatoliyovych Chygrynsky
Date of birth	November 7, 1986 (1986-11-07) (age 24)
Place of birth	Iziaslav, Ukrainian SSR
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	Shakhtar Donetsk
Number	27
Youth career
	Karpaty Lviv
2001–2003	Shakhtar Donetsk
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2009	Shakhtar Donetsk	83	(7)
2005–2006	→ Metalurh (loan)	15	(2)
2009–2010	Barcelona	12	(0)
2010–	Shakhtar Donetsk	2	(1)
National team‡
2007–	Ukraine	24	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:01, 30 July 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14:01, 12 June 2010 (UTC)

Dmytro Anatoliyovych Chygrynskiy (Ukrainian: Дмитро Анатолійович Чигринський; sometimes transliterated Chyhrynsky) born on 7 November 1986) is a Ukrainian international footballer who currently plays for Shakhtar Donetsk.

Early life

Chygrynskiy was born in Iziaslav, Khmelnytsky Oblast, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union. He was a player in the Karpaty Lviv youth system before moving to Donetsk at the age of 14, completing his development at the Shakhtar academy.^[1] He holds a Master's degree in liberal arts.^[2]

Club career

Shakhtar Donetsk

Chygrynskiy earned his debut in the Ukrainian Premier League in 2004, at the age of 17. In 2005, he was loaned out to Ukrainian club Metalurh Zaporizhzhya, where he experienced continuous top flight football. After a successful stint at Metalurh, Dmytro was brought back to Donetsk. He quickly emerged as a consistent defender and a leading figure, and first experienced Champions League football when coming on as a substitute against Barcelona during the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League. The young player cemented a starting position at the team in the 2006–07 season, by the end of which, at the age of 20, he captained Shakhtar in the Ukrainian Cup final against Dynamo Kyiv in the absence of the regular captain, Matuzalém.

During the 2007–08 season, Chygrynskiy was selected as the vice-captain of the team. During the season, he was voted man of the match in the 2–0 win over rivals Dynamo Kyiv in the Ukrainian Cup Final. Also in the same season, he won the Ukrainian Premier League with Shakhtar.

At the beginning of the 2008–09 season, Chygrynskiy helped the squad win the Ukrainian Super Cup. With Shakhtar, he played in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, finishing third in the group behind Barcelona and Sporting Clube de Portugal. This was not the end of the club's European journey, however, as they parachuted down to the UEFA Cup. He helped them team make it to the quarter-final stage, defeating 1993 European Champions Olympique de Marseille. They then progressed to the semi-finals, where they played Ukrainian rivals Dynamo Kyiv. Shakhtar progressed to the 2009 UEFA Cup Final against DFB-Pokal champions Werder Bremen — Chygrynskiy and Shakhtar won the trophy 2–1 in extra time.

Barcelona

On 26 August 2009, after long negotiations between Shakhtar and Barcelona,^[3] a deal was reached for the transfer of Chygrynskiy.^[4] The transfer was valued at around €25 million and included the clause that Chygrynskiy play in the UEFA Super Cup for his former club, coincidently against Barcelona.^[5][6] On 31 August 2009, Barcelona confirmed that Chygrynskiy had passed a medical and signed for five years.^[7] Chygrynskiy was the first Ukrainian player to ever play for Barcelona.^[8]

Chygrynskiy made his debut for Barcelona on 12 September 2009 match in La Liga against Getafe.^[9] He played a full 90 minutes on his debut, a 2–0 victory.^[10]

Though Barça retained the title, 2009-10 was a poor season personally for Chygrynskiy as he was voted the worst player in La Liga. He has been described as "completely out of his depth at this level" and "incapable, incompetent, and undeserving of his place in a title-winning squad", with his final appearance for the club against Xerez called "nightmarish".^[11] Despite this, manager Pep Guardiola had been keen to keep Chygrynskiy.^[12]

Return to Shakhtar Donetsk

On 6 July 2010, the 23-year-old centre-back signed a five-year deal to return to his former club Shakhtar Donetsk for a fee of €15 million, making Shakhtar a profit of 10€ million.^[13] after spending just one season with the Catalonian football giant, playing just 14 times^[14]. Dmytro signed a five-year contract with Shakhtar^[15].

International career

After a successful 2005–06 season, Chygrynskiy was called up to the Ukrainian 2006 World Cup squad by coach Oleg Blokhin, following the injury to Serhiy Fedorov. Shortly before the World Cup, Chygrynskiy was a member of the Ukraine under-21 team, which finished as runners-up in the UEFA U-21 Championship 2006. Showing impressive form during the championship, he was selected as a member of the team of the tournament by UEFA.^[16] Although set to be a starter in Ukraine's World Cup campaign, Chygrynskiy picked an injury during the closing stages of under-21 competition, which forced him out of the entire forthcoming tournament.

Following his recovery from injury, Chygrynskiy established himself as a starter for the Ukrainian football team in the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

Career statistics

As of 6 July 2010

Honours

Club

Shakhtar Donetsk

• UEFA Cup: 2009
• Ukrainian Premier League: 2005–06, 2007–08
• Ukrainian Cup: 2004, 2008
• Ukrainian Super Cup: 2008

FC Barcelona

• La Liga: 2009–10
• FIFA Club World Cup: 2009

Individual

• European Under-21 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2006

References

External links

• Official player page
• Biography at FC Barcelona's website
• Player Profile on VotePlayers.com

Ukraine squad – 2006 Euro Under-21 Championship (runner-up) 1 Pyatov • 2 Romanchuk • 3 Ischenko • 4 Nevmyvaka • 5 Yatsenko (c) • 6 Chygrynskiy • 7 Feschuk • 8 Aliyev • 9 Pukanych • 10 Milevskiy • 11 Fomin • 12 Rybka • 13 Pylypchuk • 14 Cheberyachko • 15 Yarmash • 16 Kryvosheyenko • 17 Mykhalyk • 18 Hodin • 19 Maksymov • 20 Sytnyk • 21 Oberemko • 22 Shyryayev • Coach: Mykhaylychenko

Ukraine squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Shovkovskiy • 2 Nesmachnyi • 3 Yatsenko • 4 Tymoshchuk • 5 Yezerskiy • 6 Rusol • 7 Shevchenko (c) • 8 Shelayev • 9 Husyev • 10 Voronin • 11 Rebrov • 12 Pyatov • 13 Chygrynskiy • 14 Husin • 15 Milevskiy • 16 Vorobey • 17 Vashchuk • 18 Nazarenko • 19 Kalynychenko • 20 Byelik • 21 Rotan • 22 Sviderskyi • 23 Shust • Coach: Blokhin