Playing position Role Football forward Number 21 Height 1.88 m | Years Team Weight 80 kg Name Oleksandr Hladkyy | |
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Full name Oleksandr Mykolayovych Hladkyy Date of birth (1987-08-24) 24 August 1987 (age 28) Place of birth Lozova, Kharkiv Region, Soviet Union Current teams Ukraine national football team (Forward), FC Shakhtar Donetsk (#21 / Forward) | ||
Oleksandr Mykolayovych Hladkyy (Ukrainian: Олександр Миколайович Гладкий, born 24 August 1987) is a Ukrainian football forward who played for the Ukraine national team. His last name can also be transliterated as Hladkiy, Gladkiy and Gladkyy.
Contents
- Kharkiv
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- Shakhtar Donetsk return
- Dynamo Kyiv
- International career
- Club
- International
- International goals
- Honours
- References
Kharkiv
Hladkyy began his career in Metalist Kharkiv's football academy, and soon after, the young player was invited to another professional club from the Kharkiv, FC Kharkiv. Under direction of coach Volodymyr Bessonov, Hladkyy became a regular player for the club and soon established himself as one of the best strikers in the league. His first fame came in the 2006–07 season, when after scoring 13 goals to finish as the Ukrainian league's top scorer.
Shakhtar Donetsk
After this success, Hladkyy attracted the notice of giants Shakhtar Donetsk, and on 8 June 2007, he signed a five-year deal worth €2.5 million with the club. On his Shakhtar debut, a friendly match, he scored the winning goal. He scored two goals in another friendly.
On 7 May 2008, Hladkyy earned his first trophy in his career when Shakhtar defeated rivals Dynamo Kyiv 2–0 in the Ukrainian Cup final, where he scored and was also sent off.
Hladkyy won the Premier League with Shakhtar that season, but fell one goal short of making Ukrainian Premier League history by being the top goalscorer for two consecutive years. With the addition of Yevhen Seleznyov and Marcelo Moreno, Hladkyy has had difficulty to regain his spot in the starting line-up or even the bench leaving his future in doubt especially with the coach Mircea Lucescu using a 4-5-1 (meaning only one forward) over last years 4-4-2 . After 10 league games with only 1 win Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu gave Hladkyy the start and he scored in the 28th minute in a 3–0 win over Chornomorets Odessa. Mircea gave Hladkyy another starting opportunity due to Luiz Adriano being injured, and Oleksandr scored the third goal in Shakhtar's 4–2 win over FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih. Hladkyy scored a winner for Shakhtar against Olexandria in the 93rd minute in an Ukrainian Cup quarter final, although this pro comes with a con as he injured second choice goalkeeper Rustam Khudzhamov during a collision in the Shakhtar penalty area. He scored his first two UEFA Champions League goals in a historic 3–2 win in Spain beating giants F.C. Barcelona (whom were on a streak of 20 games without defeat.) This was also big for Shakhtar as Shakhtar collected more points in the group stage than ever before (9).
After not gaining a regular place in Shakhtar Donetsk he transferred to Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on 17 August 2010.
Shakhtar Donetsk return
In May 2014, Hladkyy resigned for FC Shakhtar Donetsk, signing a two-year contract.
Dynamo Kyiv
On 23 May 2016, Hladkyy signed a 3-year contract with the Ukrainian champions Dynamo Kyiv, signing as a free agent after his contract with Shakhtar Donetsk has ended.
International career
Oleksandr Hladkyy was a regular member of the Ukraine national under-21 football team and scored 6 goals in 12 games. On 22 August 2007, he made his debut for the senior Ukraine national football team in a friendly against Uzbekistan and scored the opening goal. Since then, he has been called up to the main squad for every game under both Oleg Blokhin, and later, Oleksiy Mykhailychenko.