Roman Yosypovych Hryhorchuk (; born 22 March 1965) is a Ukrainian professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

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Early life

Since the fourth grade, around 11 years of age, Hryhorchuk was interested in handball and competed for local village team at district level. For two years he never missed a training session and later had a chance to enroll in the Kyiv sports boarding school, but his mother was against it. Around that time trying to get Roman be involved in music, his father gave him a silver flute as a gift. Also, coincidentally in Kornych was created a football team for which Hryhorchuk played on weekends. Eventually Hryhorchuk graduated from Chernivtsi music school and had an opportunity to enroll in a conservatory but decided to concentrate on football career.

Playing career

Following his obligatory service in the

Soviet Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, the Red Army (1918–1946) and the Soviet Army (1946–1991), were the armed forces of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republi ...

, he started playing for Silmash Kolomyia at amateur level in KFK competitions, until he received an invitation to Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk. Hryhorchuk made his professional debut in 1988 playing for Prykarpattia at the Soviet third tier. During the 1990 season, he played for the newly created Temp Shepetivka which played at the amateur level and qualified for professional level. In 1991, he returned to Prykarpattia which placed second at the Ukrainian conference of the Soviet Second League B and qualified for the newly established Vyshcha Liha, today Ukrainian Premier League. Along with Prykarpattia, Hryhorchuk participated in the first season of the league, playing only six games. Due to poor performance, the club relegated moving to the second tier. During the 1992–93 Persha Liha season, Hryhorchuk was one of the top league scorers and scored his first career hat-trick in a home win against Avtomobilist Sumy. During the winter break of the next season, he was transferred to St. Poelten which played in the 1993–94 Austrian Football Bundesliga. He appeared in three matches as VSE St. Poelten eventually relegated, while Hryhorchuk returned to Prykarpattia. At the same time the Ivano-Frankivsk club placed first at the second tier and qualified again for the top division. Without finishing the first half of the 1994–95 Vyshcha Liha season, in October Hryhorchuk moved to Petrochemia Plock. Following the 1994–95 season, Petrochemia Płock was relegated and Hryhorchuk returned to Ukraine. For the 1995–96 season, he joined Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih, before moving to Russian second tier club Saturn Ramenskoye at the end of the season. During mid-season of 1997, Hryhorchuk moved to Latvian Virsliga club Dinaburg, but did not play a match for the first team until the next season. In 1998, he finally made his debut in the European clubs' competitions, the Intertoto Cup. In 1998, Dinaburg placed 4th in the league, with and was Hryhorchuk ending the season as a runner-up among the league's top scorers with 21 goals.

Coaching career

In his coaching career, he was a successful manager in Latvia with

Ventspils Ventspils () is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It is situated on the Venta River and ...

winning the Latvian championship three times from 2006 to 2008 as well as the Latvian Cup in 2005 and 2007. During the 2009–10 Ukrainian Premier League season, Hryhorchuk was hired by Metalurh Zaporizhzhia. He stayed in that position only until the end of the season, though. On 16 November 2010, Hryhorchuk was appointed as the manager of Chornomorets Odesa. He brought the club back into the Ukrainian Premier League after his 1st season in charge. On 4 March 2012 his team won 1–0 against FC Illichivets Mariupol and couple of weeks later defeated Vorskla Poltava. A year later Chornomorets won another 1-0 match against Metallurg Donetsk which made it possible for it to appear at 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 ...

by May of the same year. On 23 August 2013 his team played against KF Skënderbeu Korçë. Hryhorchuk was appointed manager of Azerbaijan Premier League side Gabala on 21 December 2014, on an 18-month contract. On 20 December 2015, Hryhorchuk extended his Gabala contract for another season, until the end of the 2016–17 season. Following defeat to Keşla in the 2017–18 Azerbaijan Cup final, Hryhorchuk left Gabala after his contract was not extended. Roman Hryhorchuk was the first Gabala coach in the club's history to lead the team to group stages of

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

two consecutive seasons. In their European campaigns, Gabala achieved wins over teams such as Panathinaikos, LOSC Lille, and

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

. On 1 June 2018,

Astana Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...

announced Hryhorchuk as their new manager. On 13 January 2020, Hryhorchuk left Astana by mutual consent. In his first year, Hryhorchuk took Astana to group stage of Europa League where they competed with

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 ...

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

and Jablonec. In his second season in charge, Astana again reached the group stages of Europa League, where they achieved a 2–1 home win over

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. On 5 September 2020, he was hired by Belarusian club Shakhtyor Soligorsk. On 26 June 2024 Hryhorchuk signed a 2-year contract with Azerbaijan Premier League club Neftçi, becoming the club's head coach. On 7 October 2024 his contract with the club was terminated by mutual agreement. Under his leadership, Neftçi played in 9 rounds of the Azerbaijani Premier League, recording 5 draws and 4 losses. In December 2024, Roman Hryhorchuk returned to Ukraine and headed FC LNZ Cherkasy. After the end of the 2024–25 season, Hryhorchuk left the club.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

Temp Shepetivka * KFK competitions: 1990 (group winner) Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk *

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 ...

: 1993–94 Individual * Ukrainian First League top scorer: 1992–93 Ukrainian First League

As a manager

Ventspils * Virslīga:

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 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Latvian Cup The Latvian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Latvian football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Gaming Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due to the sponsorship by sports betting company ...

: 2005, 2007 * Livonia Cup: 2008 Chornomorets Odesa * Ukrainian First League: 2010–11 *

runners-up: 2012–13 * Ukrainian Super Cup runners-up:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Astana *

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 ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

* Kazakhstan Super Cup:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Shakhtyor Soligorsk *

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League (, ''Vyšejšaja Liha'' or ''Vysheyshaya Liga''; ; "Top League"), also called the BETERA Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Belarus and the highest level of the B ...

Individual * Ukrainian Premier League Manager of the Month: February–March 2023, July–August 2023

References

External links