Andrey Rusol Football player Date of Birth: 16.01.1983 Country: Ukraine

1. Biography of Andriy Rusol
2. Early Career
3. Career with Dnipro
4. International Career
5. Retirement and Football Official Career

Biography of Andriy Rusol

Andriy Rusol is a former Ukrainian football player, defender, and football official. He is best known for his performances with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and the Ukrainian national team.

Early Career

Rusol began his football career as a youth player at the Zvezda Sports School in Kirovohrad and later at the Krivbass Sports School in Kryvyi Rih. On May 22, 1999, he made his debut in the top league playing for Zvezda against SK Mykolaiv. He then moved to Krivbass, where he became a bronze medalist in the championship and played 23 matches for Krivbass-2.

Career with Dnipro

In 2003, Rusol joined Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and initially played for Dnipro-2. From the 2003/04 season onwards, he became a solid player in the first team and one of the team's leaders. He played at least 25 matches in each season and was appointed captain of Dnipro in 2008. With Dnipro, Rusol reached the finals of the Ukrainian Cup and Intertoto Cup and won a bronze medal in the Ukrainian championship.

International Career

Rusol made his debut for the Ukrainian national team on March 31, 2004, in a friendly match against Macedonia. He received the first yellow card in the history of the Ukrainian national team at the World Cup (in the 17th minute of the match against Spain) and scored the first goal for the national team in World Cups (in the 4th minute of the match against Saudi Arabia). Ukraine reached the quarter-finals of the tournament, which remains their best achievement in the World Cup. In total, Rusol played 49 matches for the national team and scored 3 goals.

Retirement and Football Official Career

In August 2011, Dnipro's head coach Juande Ramos announced that Rusol had retired due to severe back pain that hindered his ability to play and train. Rusol had already known about the need to end his career but had not yet planned to publicly announce it. After retiring, he began working in the selection service of Dnipro and later became the club's executive director. In late 2015, he co-founded a football academy in Dnipropetrovsk with Ruslan Rotan and Roman Zozulya. In January 2017, Rusol left his position at Dnipro and remained unemployed for almost a year until he became the executive director of SK Dnipro-1 in January 2019. He is also one of the co-founders of the club.