Vladyslav Viktorovych Vashchuk

Born on 2 January 1975 in Kyiv, Ukraine Vladyslav Vashchuk  is a former professional Ukrainian football player who plays as central defender, and can also be utilized as sweeper.  He is currently working as a director at Arsenal Kyiv.

Vashchuk began his playing days in the Dynamo Kyiv football academy.  The academy had assembled a talented group of boys born in 1975 including Serhiy Fedorov and Oleg Venhlynskyy. The boys would go on to perform at international competitions, and later on for Dynamo-3. On September 25, 1993 he played in his first game for the first team where Dynamo played against Bukovina. Gradually, Vladislav became an indispensable player of the team in defense. His performances for the first team earned him a call up to the national squad in 1996, in a 2-2 draw against Moldova.

Vashchuk became an integral part of the Dynamo team that went on to win so much in the late 90’s and early 00’s including a quarter final of the Champions League in 1997/98 and the semi-final in 98/99, the 1997/98 cup run including the memorable 4-0 victory away from home against Barcelona at the Camp Nou stadium. He made a great partnership at Dynamo with Alexander Holovko and vashchuk was considered to be one of the best defenders in Europe. Another thing which added to his reputation was that he could play out of position as a right back or even push up into midfield, not only doing this, but doing it comfortably.

Later on in his career, Vashchuk was hit with injury and spent alot of time on the bench for Dynamo, this led to the defender signing for one of Dynamo’s fiercest rivals, Spartak Moscow. This caused alot of uproar from the Dynamo fans and ultras, with many of them giving him the nickname ‘Judas’. Despite his performances not pleasing the management, Vashchuk did manage to add a Russian cup to his trophy cabinet whilst at Moscow but achieved noting else in his time there. At the end of the season there had been interest from Hanover, Mainz and Feyenoord, but eventually, he moved to Chernomorets Odessa. Even though he had lost alot of his pace as a player, his experience still helped him gain a new club and the Odessa management saw him as a fit for their team.

His time at Odessa was short lived and in 2005/06 he moved back to his former club, Dynamo Kyiv. Relations with the fans became very tense after appearances for Spartak and Chornomorets, traditional foes for Dynamo fans. The veteran left the team in 2008  after the arrival of a new coach Yuri Semin, who once cleaned the ranks of team players who do not meet the level of the first team. During pre season and the summer of 2008 he trained in  Odessa  for Chornomorets and later accepted the offer to play for FC Lviv. In the summer of 2008 he signed a 1 year deal with newly promoted FC Lviv which only lasted for 6 months. He became one of the leaders of the team and in some games even wore the captain’s armband,  but in winter of 2008/09 due to financial crisis, FC Lviv hit trouble and the new conditions didn’t satisy the player. He expressed his desire to leave the team and on 11 March 2009 he signed a contract for the remainder of the season with FC Chornomorets Odesa.

For the 2009/10 season Chornomorets were relegated and they left the Ukrainian elite. As Vladislav did not want to play in the first league his contract was terminated, making him a free agent. For some time he trained with Arsenal Kyiv but on July 13, 2010 he signed a contract with Volyn Lutsk. Vashchuk only spent a season there before leaving and retiring.

He is currently working as a director for the newly re-found Arsenal Kyiv and is promoting the youth program of the club.

Vashchuk was an ever present for the national team between 1996-2006, winning 63 caps over the ten years. One of his best and worst moments for the national team was in 2006 as Ukraine qualified for their first major tournament since becoming independant. Vashchuk was slected for the squad but in Ukraine’s opening game, was sent off in the 47th minute for a controversial challenge. Ukraine ended up losing the game 4-0.

Vashchuk won many trophies thorughout his career including:

Ukrainian Premier League: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–2001, 2006–07

Ukrainian Cup: 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007

Ukrainian Super Cup: 2006

Vladyslav Viktorovych Vashchuk, we welcome you to the Viktor Leonenko Hall of Fame!

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