Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Aliyev (, ; born 3 February 1985) is a Ukrainian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Debuting at professional level for

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society ...

in 2002 at the age of 17 years and 6 months, Aliyev was known for his spectacular goals from

direct free kick A free kick is a method of restarting play in association football. It is awarded after an infringement of the Laws of the Game (association football), laws by the opposing team. Direct and indirect free kicks Free kicks may be either dire ...

s. His former coach at Dynamo,

Yuri Syomin Yury Pavlovich Syomin (; born 11 May 1947) is a Russian football coach. He has managed FC Lokomotiv Moscow for 4 different stints, for a total of over 23 years. The recent history of the Russian club has been associated with him, as he was also ...

, described him as "...the best free kick taker in Europe". During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Aliyev joined the

Ukrainian army The Ukrainian Ground Forces (SVZSU, ), also referred to as the Ukrainian army, is a land force, and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was formed from Ukrainian units of the Soviet Army after Declaratio ...

Club career

Born in

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...

, Russia, Aliyev began playing football as a child with FC Zaria Khabarovsk before entering the Dynamo Kyiv youth system.

Dynamo Kyiv

Aliyev began his career in Borysfen-2

Boryspil Boryspil (, ) is a city and the administrative center of Boryspil Raion in Kyiv Oblast (region) in northern and central Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Boryspil urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The population was estimate ...

(a second team of

FC Borysfen Boryspil FC Borysfen Boryspil is a formerly professional Ukrainian football club from Boryspil, Ukraine. The club was created as a phoenix club in 1997 by Ihor Kovalevych after disagreement in FC CSKA Kyiv (today FC Arsenal Kyiv). The history of the club ...

) in Druha Liha A. It was a youth club that was participating on the professional level similar to FC Dynamo-3 Kyiv and Aliyev at that time was a

minor Minor may refer to: Common meanings * Minor (law), a person not under the age of certain legal activities. * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Mathematics * Minor (graph theory), a relation of one graph to an ...

(underage). In 2002, he joined

where he was featured mostly in

FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv was the second football team of the Ukrainian football club Dynamo Kyiv based in Kyiv, Ukraine. The team was first created in 1938, and the club ceased its recent operations again after the 2015–16 season. During the Sovie ...

in the

Ukrainian First League The Persha Liha ( ) or Ukrainian First League is a Ukrainian football league system, level of national football competitions (second tier) in Ukraine governed by the Professional Football League of Ukraine, Professional Football League at the disc ...

. He was really successful in the Dynamo-2 so he was loaned of to

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

side Metalurh Zaporizhzhia. With Zaporizhzhia, he managed to get to the

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

finals. After his loan ended, Aliyev was promoted to the main team of Dynamo, where he began to shine especially under new Russian head coach Yuri Semin during the 2008–09 season. In September 2008 Ukraine legend Serhii Rebrov hailed Aliyev's transformation into a "team player", when he thought "Aliyev was just about fun". He was key in Dynamo's campaign in the

2008–09 UEFA Champions League The 2008–09 UEFA Champions League was the 54th edition of Europe's premier club football tournament and the 17th edition under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy, on 27 May 2009. ...

. On 21 October 2008, he scored a free kick from at least 30 yards out to give Dynamo Kyiv the win against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

. On 25 November, at the end of the game against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, Aliyev pushed the referee, Alain Hamer, and received a red card for his action. Later, during the interview he called Hamer a " kozel" (the goat -eng.) which means similarly to "idiot" in this context. Dynamo Kyiv finished third in their Champions League group, moving down to the

2008–09 UEFA Cup The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup association football, football tournament. The 2009 UEFA Cup Final, final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe S.K. (football), F ...

after the winter break. Aliyev was an instrumental player throughout the campaign here too. He played in most of the games, helping Dynamo get to the semi-finals, where they were eliminated by fellow Ukrainian rivals, and eventual UEFA Cup Champions

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

. Dynamo also won the

2008–09 Ukrainian Premier League The 2008–09 Ukrainian Premier League season was the eighteenth since its establishment. The league was restructured and split off from the Professional Football League of Ukraine. It was officially named as the ''EpiCentre Championship of Ukrai ...

that season. Later in 2009–10 season he was a part of starting lineup for Ukrainian Super Cup match against Vorskla Poltava. After a few minutes in that game he got injured and missed few months of the starting season. On recovery Aliyev was not able to secure a starting position and asked for a transfer during the winter break.

Lokomotiv Moscow

As soon as the first half of

2009–10 Ukrainian Premier League The 2009–10 Ukrainian Premier League season was the nineteenth since its establishment and second since its reorganization. Dynamo Kyiv were the defending champions, having won their 13th league title. A total of 16 teams participated in the le ...

Aliyev began negotiations with

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...

in the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

. These negotiations failed and Aliyev remained a Dynamo player until 1 February 2010, when Lokomotiv officially announced the signing of Aliyev to a three-year contract.

Anzhi Makhachkala

In January 2014 Aliyev moved from

to Anzhi Makhachkala on a 2.5-year contract. Aliyev left Anzhi at the end of the 2013–14 season by mutual consent. Shortly thereafter, he re-signed with Anzhi, before having his contract terminated by mutual consent once again in January 2015.

Rukh Vynnyky and amateurs

In 2015 Aliyev returned to Ukraine playing for FC Rukh Vynnyky along with his former teammate

Maksim Shatskikh Maksim Aleksandrovich Shatskikh (born 30 August 1978) is an Uzbekistani professional football coach of Pakhtakor Tashkent and a former player. A prolific striker, he is widely regarded as one of the best Uzbekistani player of all time and was ...

at the 2015 Ukrainian Football Amateur League. In 2016 and 2017 he was taking part at the Kyiv city championship for local amateur club.

Taraz

In June 2016, after eighteen-months without a professional club, Aliyev signed for

FC Taraz FC Taraz () is a Kazakhstani professional football club based at the Taraz Central Stadium in Taraz. A leading club in the early years of the Kazakhstan Premier League, they were champions in 1996, and Kazakhstan Cup winners in 2004. History ...

of the

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League (, ''Qazaqstan Premier Ligasy''), commonly referred to as the Kazakh Premier League or simply the Premier League, is a professional association football league in Kazakhstan and the highest level of the ...

until the end of the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

season. Aliyev left Taraz prior to the expiration of his contract on 6 October 2016.

International career

Aliyev played the under-20

2005 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship was the 15th edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It took place in the Netherlands between 10 June and 2 July 2005. Venues Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 2005 FIFA Worl ...

in Netherlands. He was one of the top scorers of the tournament with five goals, one less than

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

, the top scorer. Aliyev also played in the

Ukraine national under-21 football team The Ukraine national under-21 football team is also known as Youth ootballteam of Ukraine () is one of junior national Association football, football teams of Ukraine for participation in under-21 international competitions. The team is manage ...

in the

2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 15th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. In December 2005, Portugal was selected to host the finals of the competition, which took place from 23 May–4 June 2006. The tournament was w ...

, helping his side reach the final. His set piece goal from more than 40 yards that hit the cross-bar and went in against Turkey in the U-21 Championship has been regarded as one of the best goals in U-21 Football history. He is the current top goalscorer of the Ukrainian under-21 team with eight goals. On 6 September 2008, Aliyev got his first senior cap for

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. He was substituted on for Maksym Kalynychenko starting from the second half.

Coaching career

In March 2018 Aliyev became a manager of Ukrainian amateur club FC Khmelnytskyi which earlier in 2017 started out at the 2017–18 Ukrainian Football Amateur League.

Career statistics

Club

''included only games played at professional level and might not correspond to the actual record of

Football Federation of Ukraine The Ukrainian Football Association (, ; UAF) is the governing body of football in Ukraine. Before 2019, it was known as the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU; ). As a subject of the International Olympic Movement, UAF is a member of the Nation ...

International

:''Scores and results list Ukraine's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Aliyev goal.''

Honours

Dynamo Kyiv *

: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2008–09 *

: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07 *

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup () is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football (soccer), football competition season in Ukraine. Originally it was s ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Ukraine U21 *

UEFA Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

: runner-up

Individual * Top assist provider of the

Ukraine Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992Hun ...

: 2008–09 *

: Silver Shoe

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aliyev, Oleksander 1985 births Living people Footballers from Khabarovsk Russian men's footballers Russian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Russian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Ukrainian men's footballers FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Borysfen-2 Boryspil players FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv players FC Dynamo-3 Kyiv players FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia players Ukraine men's international footballers Ukraine men's youth international footballers 21st-century Ukrainian sportsmen Ukraine men's under-21 international footballers FC Lokomotiv Moscow players FC Dnipro players FC Anzhi Makhachkala players FC Rukh Lviv players Ukrainian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Ukrainian sportspeople in Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian War Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players Ukrainian Second League players Ukrainian Amateur Football Championship players Russian Premier League players Russian First League players Kazakhstan Premier League players Naturalized citizens of Ukraine Russian emigrants to Ukraine UEFA Euro 2012 players Men's association football midfielders FC Taraz players Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Ukrainian football managers Ukrainian military personnel of the Russian invasion of Ukraine 21st-century Russian sportsmen