Oleksandr Vladimirovich Zinchenko is a Ukrainian football player, midfielder and left-back of the football club “Ajax” and the national team of Ukraine.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on December 15, 1996 in Radomyshl, Zhytomyr region. From an early age he was fond of football. The first mentor for him was his father Volodymyr Zinchenko, who was a football player himself in the past.
On September 1, 2004, at the age of 7, Zinchenko was enrolled in the Radomyshl Children’s and Youth Sports School. He began playing for the team of the Carpathia Sports School.
Oleksandr’s first professional coach was Serhiy Boretskyi.
Career
Shakhtar
At the age of 16, Zinchenko moved to Donetsk and joined Shakhtar. Subsequently, he became the captain of the team in the age category under 19 years old.
In 2013, during the debut season of the UEFA Youth League, he scored a goal in a match against English Manchester United. In total, he played 7 games for the Donetsk youth team in this tournament.
In 2014, the Russian Rubin showed interest in the player, but the parties could not agree with the player’s agents.
“Ufa”
On February 12, 2015, Zinchenko signed a contract with Ufa. His debut in the Russian Premier League took place on March 20, 2015 in a match against Krasnodar, which ended in a 0-2 defeat for his team.
The footballer scored his first goal in the Russian championship on July 25 in the match of the 2nd round against Rostov – 1:2. Later, on December 3, 2015, in the game of the 18th round against Zenit, Zinchenko opened the scoring with a header in the 37th minute and brought Ufa ahead.
After that, there was information about the interest in the player from Roma, Borussia Dortmund, Dynamo and Shakhtar.
Manchester City
On July 4, 2016, Zinchenko signed a 5-year contract with Manchester City. He made his debut in a friendly game against Bayern Munich, appearing in the starting lineup.
In the summer of 2016, he went on loan to PSV. He played 12 matches for the Dutch club and gave 3 assists.
After returning to England on February 25, 2017, together with Manchester City, he won the Football League Cup of the 2017/18 season.
After the loan, another temporary transfer was actively discussed, in particular to Fenerbahce or Napoli, but head coach Josep Guardiola kept the Ukrainian in the team.
He made his debut in the English Premier League on December 14, 2017 in a match against Swansea. Zinchenko appeared on the field in the 72nd minute of the game of the 17th round and played as a left back.
In the semi-finals of the League Cup of the 2018/19 season against Burton, the footballer scored his first goal for Manchester City.
On February 10, 2019, in the game of the 26th round of the Premier League against Chelsea, Zinchenko gave 2 assists – in the 13th and 80th minutes. In the same season, he again won the English League Cup and was recognized as the best player of the final match against Chelsea according to Whoscored.
On May 29, 2021, he became the third Ukrainian in history to play in the UEFA Champions League final.
“Arsenal”
In the summer of 2022, Zinchenko became a player of London Arsenal. The transfer amount was 35 million euros. Already in the first official match for the new team, he gave an assist.
He started the autumn part of the season as a player of the main team, but in September and October he missed games due to injury. After a pause for the World Cup, he gained a foothold on the left flank of defense.
On February 18, 2023, in a match against Aston Villa, he scored his first goal for Arsenal, which was his debut in the Premier League. On February 25, in a game against Leicester City, he brought the team to the field with the captain’s armband for the first time, becoming the second Ukrainian after Oleg Luzhnyi with such a status in the club.
On November 11, 2023, Zinchenko scored a goal in the match against Burnley. This ball was his first in the 2023/2024 season.
National team
Zinchenko began his performances for the national teams in the U-16 youth team, for which he played 4 matches. In 2013, he played for the national team of Ukraine U-17 at the European Championship and according to the results of the tournament entered the top ten players according to UEFA.
National team of Ukraine
Zinchenko began his performances for the national teams in the U-16 youth team, for which he played 4 matches. In 2013, he played for the national team of Ukraine U-17 at the European Championship and according to the results of the tournament entered the top ten players according to UEFA.
Euro 2015 (U-19)
In 2015, Zinchenko was called up to the Ukrainian U-19 national team to participate in the group stage of Euro 2015. The team began the tournament with a defeat from the hosts of the competition – Greece. In the second match, the Ukrainians lost to France 1:3, and the final game against Austria ended in a draw.
At the end of the group, the national team stopped playing at the tournament.
Euro 2016
Zinchenko made his debut for the national team in the game against Spain.
On May 29, 2016, in a friendly match with the Romanian national team, he scored his first goal – 3 minutes after coming on as a substitute. This goal made him the youngest goal scorer in the history of the Ukrainian national team.
Zinchenko played his first match at Euro 2016 against the German national team, appearing on the field at the end of the game. He also appeared in the last 5 minutes in the match against Northern Ireland, for which, according to statistics, he made 7 effective actions on the field.
World Cup 2022
In the opening match of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers against France, Zinchenko led the team onto the field with the captain’s armband. He became the youngest captain in the history of the national team of Ukraine in official matches.
