Oleh Luzhny

Oleh Romanovych Luzhny (Ukrainian: Олег Романович Лужний, born 5 August 1968) is a Ukrainian retired footballer who played as a right-back. His name is alternatively Romanised as Oleg Luzhny.

Oleh Luzhny
Luzhny in his assistant role at Dynamo Kyiv
Personal information
Full name Oleh Romanovych Luzhny
Date of birth (1968-08-05) 5 August 1968
Place of birth Lviv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Right-back
Club information
Current team
Dynamo Kyiv (assistant)
Youth career
Sports school "Karpaty"
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1985–1988 Torpedo Lutsk 88 (1)
1988 SKA Karpaty Lviv 29 (0)
1989–1999 Dynamo Kyiv 253 (13)
1999–2003 Arsenal 75 (0)
2003–2004 Wolverhampton Wanderers 6 (0)
2005 Venta (player–manager) 9 (0)
Total 460 (14)
National team
1989–1990[2] Soviet Union 8 (0)
1992–2003[2] Ukraine 52 (0)
Teams managed
2005 Venta (player–manager)
2006–2012 Dynamo Kyiv (assistant manager)
2007 Dynamo Kyiv (interim manager)
2010 Dynamo Kyiv (interim manager)
2012–2013 Tavriya Simferopol
2016 Karpaty Lviv
2017–2019 Dynamo Kyiv (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Luzhny is a product of the Karpaty sports school (coached by Yuriy Hdanskyi and Yuriy Dyachuk-Stavytskyi) and later studied at the Lviv State School of Physical Culture. He first played for Ukrainian clubs Torpedo Lutsk (1985–88) and SKA Karpaty Lviv (1988) in Soviet lower football leagues.

Dynamo Kyiv

Luzhny 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 sides that defeated FC Barcelona 3–0 at home and 4–0 away in the group stage of the 1997–98 season and eliminated holders Real Madrid 3–1 on aggregate in the quarter finals en route to the semi-finals in 1998–99.

Luzhny while at a game

Arsenal

Luzhny signed for English club Arsenal in the summer of 1999 after impressing manager Arsène Wenger in Kyiv's clashes with 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 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.[3] In the 2001–02 season he won a double (the FA Premier League and the FA Cup) with Arsenal. He contributed 18 league appearances as Arsenal won the 2001-02 FA Premier League.[4] His last match for the Gunners was the 2003 FA Cup Final (which Arsenal won, beating Southampton 1–0), Luzhny's best performance for the club.[5]

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.

International career

Luzhny while featuring for Ukraine

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.

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

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 5 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 8 December 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.

On 1 October 2010, he was again named as interim manager of Dynamo Kyiv after the resignation of Valery Gazzaev. The first match was lost 2–0 to Shakhtar Donetsk at Donbass Arena. After the 19th round match against PFC Sevastopol Luzhny informed the fans that he will not return after the winter break. He was replaced by Yuri Semin on 24 December 2010.

Career statistics

Club

Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Torpedo Lutsk 1985 130130
1986 340340
1987 300????
1988 111111
Total 881??0000??
Karpaty Lviv 1988 290290
Total 290000000290
Dynamo Kyiv 1988 2020
1989 2705050370
1990 1202020160
1991 2802090390
1992 13230162
1992–93 2637130364
1993–94 3414020401
1994–95 2445060354
1995–96 2415010301
1996–97 2821020312
1997–98 1604090290
1998–99 21030130370
Total253134315200034814
Arsenal 1999–00 210106030310
2000–01 1902080290
2001–02 180403010260
2002–03 170204010240
Total75090210501100
Wolverhampton 2003–04 602020100
Total60200020100
FK Venta
(player-coach)
2005 9090
Total90000090
Career total 46014??79070??
  • Other – National Super Cup and League Cup

International

National team Season Apps Goals
USSR 198950
199030
Total80
Ukraine 199210
199300
199450
199560
199640
199760
199830
199980
200050
200180
200230
200330
Total520
Career total600

Honours

Arsenal

Individual

  • Ukrainian Team of the Century (poll by Ukrainsky Futbol): 2000[6]

References

  1. "Player Profile: Oleg Luzhny". Premier League. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  2. "Oleh Romanovych Luzhnyi – International Appearances". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
  3. "Luzhny at last shows fans his animal magic". The Guardian. UK. 11 January 2003. Retrieved 19 October 2007.
  4. "Games played by Oleg Luzhny in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  5. "Luzhny looks to Charlton". BBC Sport. 2 June 2003. Retrieved 19 October 2007.
  6. "Best Ukrainian players of the XX century". UkrainianSoccer.net. 29 December 2000. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 19 October 2007.
  7. "Parlour gives Gunners Wembley win". BBC Sport. 1 August 1999. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  8. "Slick Arsenal win Shield". BBC Sport. 11 August 2002. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  9. "Oleg Luzhny: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  10. "Arsenal retain FA Cup". BBC. 17 May 2003. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
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