Alexander Kosyrin
Ukraine- Early Life and Club Career
- Return to Ukraine and International Career
- Accomplishments and Legacy
- Personal Life
Early Life and Club Career
Oleksandr Kosyrin is a Ukrainian professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his career with Torpedo Zaporizhzhia in the Ukrainian Second League. At 18, he made his debut in the Ukrainian Premier League with Torpedo, but failed to score in 21 appearances.
Despite his lack of goals at Torpedo, Kosyrin was spotted by scouts from Dynamo Kyiv and invited to join the club in early 1997. However, he faced strong competition for a place in the starting lineup and primarily played for Dynamo-2. In 1999, he was loaned to Cherkasy in the Ukrainian First League, where he scored 11 goals in 18 games, helping the club finish fourth.
Return to Ukraine and International Career
In 2000, Kosyrin was loaned to Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. He helped the club rise to fifth place from seventh, scoring four goals. After his loan spell, Kosyrin returned to Ukraine, joining CSKA Kyiv. From 2002 to 2005, he played successfully for Chernomorets Odessa, scoring 44 goals in 86 games. In the 2004/05 season, he emerged as the Ukrainian Premier League's top scorer with 14 goals.
From 2005 to 2008, Kosyrin played for Metalurh Donetsk. He then returned to Chernomorets, where he played from 2008 to 2010. In 2010, he announced his retirement, but later signed a contract with FC Dniester Ovidiopol. He subsequently played for FC Odessa and Hoverla Uzhhorod.
Kosyrin represented Ukraine at the youth level, making six appearances and scoring four goals. He also made seven appearances for the senior national team, debuting in 2003.
Accomplishments and Legacy
Kosyrin won the Ukrainian Premier League twice with Dynamo Kyiv (1997/98 and 1999/00) and the Ukrainian Cup with Dynamo in 1997/98. He was also the top scorer in the Ukrainian Premier League in the 2004/05 season and in the Ukrainian First League in the 2011/12 season, becoming the only player to achieve this feat.
He is a member of the Oleg Blokhin Bombarders Club, having scored 103 goals at the top level, and the Vadym Plotnikov Bombarders Club, with 71 goals in the Ukrainian First League. Kosyrin also holds the record for the fastest goal in Ukrainian Premier League history, scoring after just 8.9 seconds in a match against Metalist Kharkiv in 2005.
