Nikita Vadymovych Rukavytsya ( ; ; born 22 June 1987) is a retired professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player. Born in Ukraine, he played for the Australia national team.

Early and personal life

Rukavytsya was born in Mykolayiv, in the then

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

; his family moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

when he was 14 years old, settling in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. He played junior football for Inglewood United and Perth SC in the Football West State League while attending Mount Lawley Senior High School, before being offered a spot at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

on a football scholarship. Rukavytsya's wife is Israeli; hence, he obtained

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i residency status in August 2016.

Club career

Rukavytsya joined Perth Glory on a short-term replacement deal in the latter stages of the 2006–07 A-League season, making three appearances for the club. In March 2007, he signed a contract with the Glory to keep him at the club until the end of the 2008–09 A-League season. After an excellent pre-season, the start of the 2007–08 A-League season was difficult for both Rukavytsya and Perth Glory. However, with the departure of coach Ron Smith, Rukavytsya turned his form around starting by scoring two goals against the Newcastle Jets in David Mitchell's first game as coach and another two goals against Melbourne Victory at home on 2 December 2007. By the end of the 2007–08 A-League season, Rukavytsya managed to score six goals in the last eight games of the campaign. In April 2008 he was invited to trial with

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

in Germany. It ultimately proved unsuccessful, and he returned to Perth Glory for the start of the 2008–09 season. In January 2009, he undertook a week-long trial at Dutch club

FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

. After the last game of the 2008–09 A-League season, it was announced that he would officially be transferring to FC Twente in a transfer deal rumoured to be worth A$1.2 Million. Rukavytsya scored his first goal for FC Twente in the club's 8–0 Dutch Cup drubbing of SC Joure. On 8 January 2010, KSV Roeselare signed the Australian forward on loan until the end of the season. On 14 July 2010, Rukavytsya signed for

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ; ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked belo ...

side

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

. His first season in the 2. Bundesliga was quite successful. He was a regular starter, scored four goals and ended the season with 12 assists, the second most in the league. At season's end, Hertha BSC were promoted back to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

and he hoped to feature again for the newly promoted team. On 31 August, Nikita signed with Bundesliga club

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...

for a reported fee of €1 million, just hours before the transfer cut-off. His last appearance for Berlin was 72 minutes against

Jahn Regensburg Sport- und Schwimmverein Jahn Regensburg e. V., commonly known as SSV Jahn Regensburg, Jahn Regensburg, SSV Jahn or simply Jahn, is a German football club based in Regensburg, Bavaria. The club plays their home games at Jahnstadion Regen ...

in the

on 24 August 2012. Rukavytsya joined Frankfurt on a year-long loan deal in August 2013, after failing to break into the Mainz first eleven. On 12 October 2014, it was announced that Rukavytsya had returned to Australia to sign for the Western Sydney Wanderers. He made his debut in round 3 against

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League Men, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 ...

. His first goal for the Wanderers came in round 16 against

. In September 2015, Rukavytsya signed for Israeli side

Beitar Jerusalem Beitar Jerusalem Football Club (), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply Beitar (), is an Israeli professional football club based in the city of Jerusalem, that plays in the Israeli Premier League, the top tier in Israeli football ...

. On 8 June 2016, after one season with Beitar Jerusalem, Rukavytsya joined

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa () is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football, Basketball, Weightl ...

on a three-year deal worth €400,000 per season. After an unsuccessful 2016–17 season, the following season he scored nine goals in the first five months, including the final goal in a 3–0 cup win over rivals Maccabi Tel Aviv. In the 2019–20 season, Rukavytsya finished top goal scorer in the league with a total of 22 goals. In the 2020–21 season, Maccabi Haifa won the league and Rukavytsya again won the golden boot with a total of 19 goals in the league. In March 2022, Rukavytsya became the leading foreign goalscorer in the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

International career

While eligible to play for Ukraine, he decided to play for Australia and in 2008, represented Australia in the Australian U-23's Olympic Team at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, locking his commitment to Australia. After a good end to the 2007–08 season, he earned himself a place in the

Olyroos The Australia national under-23 soccer team represents Australia in international under-23 soccer and at the Olympic Games. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), which is currently a member ...

squad for the

Beijing Olympics Beijing Olympics may refer to: * 2008 Summer Olympics, Games of the XXIX Olympiad * 2022 Winter Olympics, XXIV Winter Olympic Games See also * Beijing Paralympics (disambiguation) * Beijing (disambiguation) Beijing, literally "northern capital" ...

and a Socceroos call-up. Rukavytsya scored in a warm-up game for the Olyroos against Adelaide United. He also scored his first international goal for the Australian U-23's, in their 3–0 win over Croatian U-21's at the Intercontinental Cup in Malaysia on 16 May 2008. Rukavytsya was named in Pim Verbeek's 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He made two appearances off the bench for the Socceroos. Rukavytsya scored his first international goal in a friendly against South Korea on 14 November 2012, Australia won 2–1. In May 2018, he was named in Australia's preliminary 26-man squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

in Russia. On 7 June 2021, Rukavytsya came on as a substitute in a World Cup Qualifier against Taiwan.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Twente *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

: 2009–10 Hertha BSC *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Maccabi Haifa *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Hapoel Be'er Sheva *

Israeli State Cup The Israel State Cup (, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involves clubs of all standards p ...

: 2021–22 Individual *

Harry Kewell Medal The PFA Harry Kewell Medal is an annual award given for outstanding performance by an under-23 player playing in the A-League or overseas-based Australian. The award has been presented since 2008–09, and the winner is chosen by a vote amongst t ...

: 2008–09 * PFA A-League Team of the Year: 2008–09 *

top-goalscorer: 2019–20,

References

External links

* *
Nikita Rukavytsya
at Aussie Footballers * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rukavytsya, Nikita 1987 births Living people A-League Men players Australian men's soccer players Olympic soccer players for Australia Australia men's international soccer players Ukrainian men's footballers Perth Glory FC players FC Twente players K.S.V. Roeselare players Hertha BSC players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players 1. FSV Mainz 05 II players FSV Frankfurt players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. players Western United FC players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Belgian Pro League players Eredivisie players Israeli Premier League players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Australian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Australian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Ukrainian expatriate men's footballers People educated at Mount Lawley Senior High School Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics 2010 FIFA World Cup players Footballers from Mykolaiv Ukrainian emigrants to Australia Naturalised soccer players of Australia Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards Australia men's under-20 international soccer players Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Australian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Soccer players from Perth, Western Australia Naturalized citizens of Israel Inglewood United FC players 21st-century Australian sportsmen