Ilya Borisovich Zabarnyi is a Ukrainian football player, central defender of the English club Bournemouth and the national team of Ukraine.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on September 1, 2002 in the city of Kyiv.
Club career
He began his career as a football player at the Troyeshchyna club, after which he continued his studies at the football academy of Dynamo Kyiv.
Since 2015, he played for the youth team of Kyiv, participated in the matches of the Ukrainian Children’s and Youth League and in the Youth Champions League.
In the fall of 2020, Zabarnyi first appeared on the field as part of the main team of Dynamo.
In September, he played his debut match in the Ukrainian championship, entering the field against Chernihiv “Desna”. He appeared as a substitute in the 36th minute after an injury to Oleksandr Tymchyk.
A few days later, the young defender played in the Champions League against the Dutch Alkmaar Zanstreak. The game ended with a 2-0 victory for Dynamo. Zabarnyi was one of the youngest players of the club who took the field in European competitions.
In the 2020/2021 season, in the 23rd round of the Ukrainian Championship, Zabarnyi opened the scoring at the beginning of the match against Petrovsky Inhulets. The victory provided Kyiv with an early championship – three rounds before the finish they became unattainable for opponents.
In April 2021, the footballer was recognized as the best player of the Ukrainian championship. The very next month, he won his second trophy in his career – the Cup of Ukraine. During his debut season in adult football, the defender played 21 matches in the league, two matches in the Cup and 15 games in European competitions.
In the 21st round of the championship, Zabarnyi was seriously injured after a collision with Dnipro-1 striker Artem Dovbyk. Doctors diagnosed a displacement of the bones of the nose, and for some time the footballer was forced to enter the field in a protective mask.
In February, he was included in the list of the fifty most promising players in the world according to L’Equipe. And already in May, there were reports of the interest of London Chelsea, which was allegedly ready to pay 12 million euros for the transfer of the defender. However, Dynamo did not receive official offers.
At the beginning of 2023, Zabarnyi signed a five-year deal with English Bournemouth. Shortly after signing the contract, he was injured, which is why his debut in the English championship took place only in April. Despite this, he quickly gained a foothold in the main squad. In March 2024, in a match against Luton, the Ukrainian defender scored his first goal for Bournemouth.
In the 2023/2024 season, he became one of the main players of the team, playing 37 matches in the English Premier League.
In the fall of 2024, there were reports of interest in Zabarny from another English club – Tottenham.
Career in the national team
Since 2018, Zabarnyi has played for the youth national teams of Ukraine – he played six matches as part of the U17 team and two games for the U21. In October 2020, he took the field for the first time in a national team shirt.
In the summer of 2021, head coach Andriy Shevchenko included 18-year-old Zabarnyi in the final application of the Ukrainian national team for the 2020 European Championship, which was eventually postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In the summer of 2023, the defender scored his first goal for the national team during the Euro 2024 qualifier.
Marital Status
In 2023, he married a girl named Angelica. The latter received higher education at the Faculty of Philology of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
