Oleh Luzhnyi

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Oleh Luzhnyi

| image = Oleh Luzhny1.jpeg

| caption = Luzhnyi in his assistant role at Dynamo Kyiv (2010)

| full_name = Oleh Romanovych Luzhnyi{{cite web |url=https://www.upl.ua/en/people/view/62084 |title=Luzhnyi Oleh Romanovych |publisher=Ukrainian Premier League |access-date=18 December 2021}}

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|8|5|df=y}}

| birth_place = Lviv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union

| height = 1.80 m

| position = Right-back

| currentclub =

| youthyears1 =

| youthclubs1 = Sports school "Karpaty"

| years1 = 1985–1988

| clubs1 = Torpedo Lutsk

| caps1 = 88

| goals1 = 1

| years2 = 1988

| clubs2 = SKA Karpaty Lviv

| caps2 = 29

| goals2 = 0

| years3 = 1989–1999

| clubs3 = Dynamo Kyiv

| caps3 = 253

| goals3 = 13

| years4 = 1997–1998

| clubs4 = → Dynamo-2 Kyiv

| caps4 = 2

| goals4 = 0

| years5 = 1999–2003

| clubs5 = Arsenal

| caps5 = 75

| goals5 = 0

| years6 = 2003–2004

| clubs6 = Wolverhampton Wanderers

| caps6 = 6

| goals6 = 0

| years7 = 2005

| clubs7 = Venta

| caps7 = 9

| goals7 = 0

| totalcaps = 462

| totalgoals = 14

| nationalyears1 = 1989–1990{{Cite news|title=Oleh Romanovych Luzhnyi – International Appearances|publisher=The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation|url=http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/luzhny-intl.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609174215/http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/luzhny-intl.html|url-status=live|archive-date=9 June 2008}}

| nationalteam1 = Soviet Union

| nationalcaps1 = 8

| nationalgoals1 = 0

| nationalyears2 = 1992–2003

| nationalteam2 = Ukraine

| nationalcaps2 = 52

| nationalgoals2 = 0

| manageryears1 = 2005

| managerclubs1 = Venta (player–manager)

| manageryears2 = 2006–2012

| managerclubs2 = Dynamo Kyiv (assistant)

| manageryears3 = 2007

| managerclubs3 = Dynamo Kyiv (interim)

| manageryears4 = 2010

| managerclubs4 = Dynamo Kyiv (interim)

| manageryears5 = 2012–2013

| managerclubs5 = Tavriya Simferopol

| manageryears6 = 2016

| managerclubs6 = Karpaty Lviv (joint with Volodymyr Bezubyak)

| manageryears7 = 2017–2019

| managerclubs7 = Dynamo Kyiv (assistant)

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry|{{fb|URS}}}}

}}

Oleh Romanovych Luzhnyi ({{langx|uk|Оле́г Рома́нович Лу́жний}};{{cite web |url=https://www.upl.ua/ua/people/view/37387?id=37387 |title=Лужний Олег Романович |trans-title=Luzhnyi Oleh Romanovych |publisher=Ukrainian Premier League |access-date=18 December 2021 |language=uk}} born 5 August 1968) is a Ukrainian former professional footballer who played as a right-back.

Club career

Luzhnyi 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=

File:Oleh Luzhny2013.jpg

Luzhnyi signed for Dynamo Kyiv in 1989 and became a regular at right-back, winning the 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 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.

=Arsenal=

Luzhnyi 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), Luzhnyi 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.{{cite web | title=Luzhny at last shows fans his animal magic | url=http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9753,872617,00.html |work=The Guardian |location=UK | date=11 January 2003 | access-date=19 October 2007}} 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.{{Soccerbase season|12686|2001|name=Oleg Luzhny|access-date=17 November 2013}} 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.{{cite web | title=Luzhny looks to Charlton | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/2956838.stm |publisher=BBC Sport | date=2 June 2003 | access-date=19 October 2007}}

=Wolverhampton Wanderers=

Luzhnyi 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

File:Oleh-Luzhny.jpg

On the international stage, Luzhnyi 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 Soviet Union's dissolution, Luzhnyi 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.

Luzhnyi 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.{{cite web | title=Best Ukrainian players of the XX century | url=http://www.ukrainiansoccer.net/news/news_article.asp?ID=6318 | publisher=UkrainianSoccer.net | date=29 December 2000 | access-date=19 October 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929123307/http://www.ukrainiansoccer.net/news/news_article.asp?ID=6318 |archive-date = 29 September 2007}} Luzhnyi received the fourth biggest number of votes, behind only to Oleg Blokhin, Andriy Shevchenko and Anatoliy Demyanenko.

Managerial career

Luzhnyi had a brief spell at Latvian side 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.

Luzhnyi 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 semi-finals 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, Yury Syomin, and a few days later it was announced that Luzhnyi 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 Donbas Arena. After the 19th round match against PFC Sevastopol Luzhnyi informed the fans that he will not return after the winter break. He was replaced by Yury Syomin on 24 December 2010.

Personal life

Luzhnyi turned down the chance to coach in England in 2022 in order to fight for Ukraine after the Russian invasion.{{cite news |last1=Phillips |first1=Johnny |title=Ukraine invasion: Former Arsenal defender Oleh Luzhnyi puts coaching career on hold to stay and fight for his homeland |url=https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-invasion-former-arsenal-defender-oleh-luzhnyi-puts-coaching-career-on-hold-to-stay-and-fight-for-his-homeland-12553442 |access-date=26 May 2022 |publisher=Sky News |date=28 February 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Alderman |first1=Elgan |last2=O'Connor |first2=Robert |title='I'll fight for my people' – from the Klitschkos to Oleg Luzhny, the Ukrainian sports stars defending their country |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/ill-fight-for-my-people-from-the-klitschkos-to-oleg-luzhny-the-ukrainian-sports-stars-defending-their-country-cmk5g87cq |access-date=26 May 2022 |work=The Times |date=1 March 2022}}

Career statistics

=Club=

rowspan="2"\|Club !rowspan="2"\|Season !colspan="2"\|League !colspan="2"\|Cup !colspan="2"\|Europe !colspan="2"\|Other{{efn\|Appearances in National Super Cup and League Cup}} !colspan="2"\|Total
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" \|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
rowspan="5"\|Torpedo Lutsk \|1985 \|13	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	13	0
1986 \|34	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	34	0
1987 \|30	0			–	–	–	–
1988 \|11	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	11	1
Total !88	1			0	0	0	0
Karpaty Lviv \|1988 \|29	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	29	0
rowspan="13"\|Dynamo Kyiv \|1988	–	–	2	0	–	–	–	–	2	0
1989 \|27	0	5	0	5	0	–	–	37	0
1990 \|12	0	2	0	2	0	–	–	16	0
1991 \|28	0	2	0	9	0	–	–	39	0
1992 \|13	2	3	0	–	–	–	–	16	2
1992–93 \|26	3	7	1	3	0	–	–	36	4
1993–94 \|34	1	4	0	2	0	–	–	40	1
1994–95 \|24	4	5	0	6	0	–	–	35	4
1995–96 \|24	1	5	0	1	0	–	–	30	1
1996–97 \|28	2	1	0	2	0	–	–	31	2
1997–98 \|16	0	4	0	9	0	–	–	29	0
1998–99 \|21	0	3	0	13	0	–	–	37	0
Total !253	13	43	1	52	0	0	0	348	14
rowspan="5"\|Arsenal \|1999–2000 \|21	0	1	0	6	0	3	0	31	0
2000–01 \|19	0	2	0	8	0	–	–	29	0
2001–02 \|18	0	4	0	3	0	1	0	26	0
2002–03 \|17	0	2	0	4	0	1	0	24	0
Total !75	0	9	0	21	0	5	0	110	0
Wolverhampton Wanderers \|2003–04 \|6	0	2	0	–	–	2	0	10	0
FK Venta \|2005 \|9	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	9	0
colspan="2"\|Career total !460	14			79	0	7	0

=International=

National team	Year	Apps
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" \|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year
rowspan="3"\|Soviet Union \|1989	5	0
1990	3	0
Total	8	0
rowspan="13"\|Ukraine \|1992	1	0
1993	0	0
1994	5	0
1995	6	0
1996	4	0
1997	6	0
1998	3	0
1999	8	0
2000	5	0
2001	8	0
2002	3	0
2003	3	0
Total	52	0
colspan="2"\|Career total	60	0

Honours

Arsenal

Premier League: 2001–02{{cite web |url=https://www.premierleague.com/players/1650/Oleg-Luzhny/overview |title=Oleg Luzhny |publisher=Premier League |access-date=9 July 2023}}
FA Cup: 2002–03{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/3025589.stm |title=Arsenal retain FA Cup |website=BBC Sport |date=17 May 2003 |access-date=9 July 2023}}
FA Charity/Community Shield: 1999,{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/409273.stm |title=Parlour gives Gunners Wembley win |website=BBC News |date=1 August 1999 |access-date=9 July 2023}} 2002{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/2182875.stm |title=Slick Arsenal win Shield |website=BBC Sport |date=11 August 2002 |access-date=9 July 2023}}
UEFA Cup runner-up: 1999–2000{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/752751.stm |title=Penalty heartbreak for Arsenal |website=BBC News |date=17 May 2000 |access-date=9 July 2023}}

Individual

Ukrainian Team of the Century (poll by Ukrainsky Futbol): 2000

Notes

References

External links

{{FFU}}
{{Footballfacts.ru}}
{{Soccerbase}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929123307/http://www.ukrainiansoccer.net/news/news_article.asp?ID=6318 Ukrainian Team of the Century (poll by Ukrainsky Futbol)]
[http://www.fanatukr.com/igrok/luzhny.html Profile on website Football Ukraine]

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Category:1968 births

Category:Living people

Category:Footballers from Lviv

Category:Soviet men's footballers

Category:Ukrainian men's footballers

Category:Men's association football fullbacks

Category:Dual internationalists (men's football)

Category:Soviet Union men's international footballers