Alexander Yatsenko Ukrainian football player Date of Birth: 24.02.1985 Country: Ukraine

1. Biography of Alexander Yatsenko
2. Career in Football Clubs
3. International Career
4. Coaching Career
5. Personal Life

Biography of Alexander Yatsenko

Alexander Yatsenko is a Ukrainian football player who has played for the national teams of Ukraine at all age levels. He was born on February 24, 1985, in Kiev. Yatsenko grew up in the Akademgorodok district, where he started playing football in the youth team "Kiev" under the guidance of coach Yuri Ivanovich Yastrebinsky. At the age of 12, Alexander Alexandrovich Shpakov invited him to join the "Dynamo" system. From 1998 to 2002, Yatsenko played for Dynamo in the youth football league of Ukraine. After that, he went on to play for Dynamo-3 and Dynamo-2 in the Second and First leagues of Ukraine, respectively.

Career in Football Clubs

Yatsenko made his debut in the Ukrainian Premier League for Dynamo on June 2, 2003, in a match against Simferopol's "Tavriya" (4:1). At the age of 18 years and 98 days, he became one of the youngest debutantes in the country's championship. In January 2004, he participated in the Commonwealth Cup, and in March, he played in the La Manga Cup. In the summer of 2005, Yatsenko was loaned to the newly promoted Ukrainian Premier League team, FC "Kharkiv," on the advice of Leonid Burjak. He played for Kharkiv for six months before returning to Dynamo.

Yatsenko had the opportunity to join the Mariupol team "Illichivets" and the Kharkiv team "Metalist," but he was eventually loaned to Dnipro for six months. In February 2007, Yatsenko underwent surgery on his groin in Germany. In July 2007, he signed a three-year contract with the Odessa team "Chernomorets," although he also had the opportunity to join "Tavriya" in Simferopol. In the summer of 2008, he could have joined "Illichivets," but due to an injury, the head coach of the Mariupol team, Alexander Ishchenko, refused his services. During the winter break of the 2009/2010 season, Yatsenko became a player for "Illichivets." On August 6, 2010, he played his hundredth match in the Ukrainian Premier League against "Metallurg" from Zaporizhia.

In January 2012, Yatsenko went on a trial with Voronezh's "Fakel," but eventually signed a one-year contract with the Belarusian team "Belshina." In March 2013, he signed a one-year contract with Kharkiv's "Helios," which played in the Ukrainian First League. After the first half of the 2013/2014 season, he left the team. After that, Yatsenko continued to play at an amateur level, representing Kharkiv's "Electrotyazhmash" in the Ukrainian championship in 2014. The following year, he continued his performances with "Solly Plus," which played in the championship of the Kharkiv region and the amateur championship. In 2016, the team became the winner of the regional championship. In May 2017, "Solly" withdrew from the amateur championship, and Yatsenko joined "Kolos" from Zacheplivka. Together with "Kolos," he became the champion of the Kharkiv region in 2017.

In 2018, Yatsenko moved to "Victoria" from the village of Nikolaevka in the Sumy region. As part of the team, he became the winner of the Ukrainian amateur championship (2017/18, 2019/20), the silver medalist (2018/19), and the finalist of the Ukrainian Cup among amateur teams (2017/18, 2019/20).

International Career

Yatsenko played for the Ukrainian youth national team under 17. In 2002, he participated in an international tournament in Palanga. Together with the under 19 national team, he earned a place in the 2004 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. Ukraine reached the semi-finals, where they lost to the eventual tournament winners, Spain. This success allowed Ukraine to be represented in the next year's World Youth Championship, held in the Netherlands. The head coach of the team, Pavel Yakovenko, also invited Yatsenko to participate in this tournament, in which Ukraine reached the round of 16, losing to Nigeria (0:1).

Yatsenko was the captain of the Ukrainian under 21 national team. Together with the team, he won the bronze medal at the Valeriy Lobanovsky Memorial Tournament in 2006. Before the start of the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko included Yatsenko in the final squad. Ukraine reached the final of the World Youth Championship, where they lost to the Netherlands (0:3). Yatsenko made his debut for the senior national team of Ukraine under the guidance of Oleg Blokhin on October 12, 2005, in a friendly match against Japan (1:0). This match was his only appearance for the national team. Prior to the start of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, when the defender played in the youth championship, Blokhin included Yatsenko in the squad for the tournament, replacing the injured Sergiy Fedorov. However, Yatsenko did not play in the World Cup.

Coaching Career

In December 2014, Yatsenko obtained a coaching diploma of category "C," which allows him to work with youth teams. From 2014 to 2016, he worked as a coach in the Helios academy. In 2017, he became the head coach of "Kolos" from Zacheplivka.

Personal Life

Yatsenko is married and has a daughter named Sofia, who was born in 2007.