Roman Zozulya

Roman Zozulya
Personal information
Full name Roman Vyacheslavovych Zozulya
Date of birth (1989-11-17) 17 November 1989
Place of birth Kyiv, Ukraine
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 Real Betis
Number 18
Youth career
2002–2006 Dynamo Kyiv
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2011 Dynamo Kyiv 35 (3)
2006 → Dynamo-3 Kyiv 1 (0)
2006–2008 → Dynamo-2 Kyiv 59 (11)
2011–2016 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 85 (22)
2016– Betis 6 (0)
2017 → Rayo Vallecano (loan) 0 (0)
National team‡
2005–2006 Ukraine U17 14 (2)
2007–2008 Ukraine U19 15 (4)
2008–2011 Ukraine U21 22 (1)
2010–2017 Ukraine 33 (4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11 February 2017.
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 9 October 2016

Roman Vyacheslavovych Zozulya (Ukrainian: Роман В'ячеславович Зозуля, born 17 November 1989 in Kyiv) is a Ukrainian football striker, who plays as a forward for Spanish club Real Betis and Ukrainian national team.

Career

Dynamo Kyiv

He was a product of the Dynamo youth system progressing through Dynamo-3 and Dynamo-2. In 2008 after the 2007–08 season he was promoted to the main team.

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

On 27 February 2014, in a Europa League match against Tottenham Zozulya was sent off after he directed a head-butt towards Jan Vertonghen.[1] Zozulya was sent off and had to be restrained from attacking Vertonghen, who was accused of faking the degree of contact.[2] Tottenham went on to win the game 3–1, knocking Dnipro out of the Europa League.[3]

Betis

On 27 July 2016, Zozulya signed a three-year contract with La Liga side Real Betis.[4]

Rayo Vallecano

On 31 January 2017, Zozulya joined Rayo Vallecano on loan until the end of the season. His arrival was met with protests from the club's fans, unhappy over his alleged far-right links. Zozulya denying any ultra-right links in a letter to Rayo's fans insisting he did nothing more than volunteering to help the Ukrainian army during the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.[5][6] On 1 February 2017 Zozulya had his contract cancelled due to reactions of Rayo fans and returned to Betis.[7] This meant that he could not play anymore in the 2016-2017 season because the Royal Spanish Football Federation rules say players cannot register for more than two teams in one campaign.[7]

Civil involvement

Zozulya is the founder of the Narodna Armiya (People's Army) organisation which is a part of the civil volunteer movement helping Ukrainian forces in the war in Donbass. In particular Zozulya's organisation is providing food, clothing and technical equipment to Ukrainian Army and helps families of the military. [8][9] In 2016, he received a special commendation from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for his support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine .

This was incorrectly interpreted by Spanish media who accused Zozulya of nazism and supporting rogue paramilitary formations, which both Zozulya and Narodna Armiya denied. [7]

International career

Roman debuted for Ukraine on 2 June 2010 against Norway at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo. He scored a goal after Yevhen Konoplyanka fired a long shot at Jon Knudsen, who fumbled with the ball and let Roman kick the ball into the net. He was substituted in the 81st minute.[10][11] He was member of the Ukrainian 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016.[12]

Career statistics

Club

As of 7 February 2017
Club Season League Cup Europe Super Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Dynamo Kyiv 2007–08 1000000010
2008–09 111301000151
2009–10 112110010133
2010–11 120318100232
Total (Dynamo) 353729110526
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 2011–12 153211000184
2012–13 2382093003411
2013–14 24710104003511
2014–15 131209100242
2015–16 103421000155
Total (Dnipro) 85221133080012633
Betis 2016–17 6000000060
Career total 126251853991018439

International

As of 7 February 2017
Ukraine
Year Apps Goals
2010 11
2011 00
2012 40
2013 92
2014 70
2015 10
2016 111
Total 334

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 2 June 2010 Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo, Norway  Norway 0–1 0–1 Friendly
2. 22 March 2013 National Stadium, Warsaw, Poland  Poland 1–3 1–3 WC 2014 Qual
3. 15 November 2013 Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex, Kiev, Ukraine  France 1–0 2–0 WC 2014 Qual
4. 29 May 2016 Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Turin, Italy  Romania 1–1 3–4 Friendly

Honors

Dynamo Kyiv

FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

References

  1. ↑ Mike Dyce. "Europa League: Roman Zozulya gets straight red for head butting Tottenham player, chaos ensues (GIF)". fanside.com. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "Jan Vertonghen Defends Himself Over Accusations of Simulation for Roman Zozulya Red Card. In May 2015 Zozulya and Dnipro went on to the final of the Europa League, but his team lost, 3-2.". insidefutbol.com. 1 March 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "UEFA Europa League: Tottenham 3 Dnipro 1". FourFourTwo. 27 February 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  4. ↑ "Real Betis signs Roman Zozulya". Real Betis. 27 July 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  5. ↑ "Zozulya: Rayo sign forward following ideology controversy". AS English. 1 February 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  6. ↑ Ukrainians cry foul over accusations of neo-Nazi links against striker Zozulia, UNIAN (1 February 2017)
  7. 1 2 3 Roman Zozulya: Player's Rayo Vallecano loan spell ends as fans call him Nazi, BBC News (1 February 2017)
  8. ↑ Юрий Сай (2015-04-29). "Роман Зозуля презентовал фонд «Народная армия», который будет помогать нашим воинам" (in Russian). fakty.ua. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  9. ↑ "Роман Зозуля совместно с волонтерами Днепропетровска основали фонд «Народная Армия»" (in Russian). dneprpost.com.ua. 2015-04-28. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  10. ↑ (in Ukrainian) God loves Trinity
  11. ↑ Zozulia nets winner on Ukraine debut
  12. ↑ Ukraine team
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