Oleh Protasov

Oleh Protasov started playing football at the age of 8 years old in his hometown of Dnipropetrovsk in Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, where he played until 1987. His father, who was an engineer at Yuzhmash, brought him to the Meteor Stadium. Later, Protasov enrolled in the Dnipro-75 sports school led by Igor Vetrogonov. In 1983, he was on the champion's roster of Dnipro, which gained its first domestic title. While playing for Dnipro during the 1985 season, he became the top goalscorer of the season with 35, which became the record of goals scored in a single season. For this achievement, on 13 November 1986, he was awarded the European Silver Shoe during the annual award ceremony held at Le Lido. The award was handed to him by former French international footballer Roger Piantoni. In 1987, Protasov moved to play for the Soviet-Ukrainian football giants, Dynamo Kyiv. His transfer to Dynamo, which took place along with Hennadiy Lytovchenko, was arranged as a compulsory military service. In all, in the Soviet Union, he won the Soviet Championship twice and was named Soviet Footballer of the Year in 1987. He scored 125 goals in the Soviet Championship, making him the eighth-best scorer of all time in the Championship. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Oleh Protasov got a chance to play abroad. In 1990, he joined Greek side Olympiacos Piraeus that was coached by Oleh Blokhin. Leaving Olympiacos in 1994, he played in Gamba Osaka, Veria FC, and finally Proodeftiki FC, from where he…

Protasov played for the Soviet Union 68 times, including at the 1986 and 1990 FIFA World Cups, as well as Euro 88, where he scored two goals. He also played one game for the Ukraine national team, in 1994. In 1983, Protasov took part in the Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, representing the Ukrainian SSR.

After retiring as a player, Protasov went into coaching, and led Olympiacos to the Greek title in 2003. In 2005, he coached Romanian team Steaua București.

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

In December 2005, Oleh Protasov returned in Ukraine to coach his hometown team, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, after an impressive UEFA Cup performance with Steaua București. Protasov left by his own choice and was on very good terms with the entire team and owners of the club. In his first 2005–06 season as Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk's coach, Oleh Protasov led the team to a 6th-place finish in the Ukrainian Premier League. In the next, 2006–07 season, Protasov improved on this, finishing 4th in the league. In the 2007–08 season his side unexpectedly led the title race ahead of the winter break, before a poor second half left his side in 4th once again. Dnipro sacked him on 29 August 2008 after an embarrassing defeat from AC Bellinzona in UEFA cup qualification match.

Kuban Krasnodar

After that, Protasov took over FC Kuban Krasnodar in the nearby region of Russia. Kuban had been recently relegated to the Russian First League. Under Protasov's leadership, the club finished 2nd in the league, with an 8-point lead over their nearest competitors. This finish earned them right to be promoted to the Russian Premier League. However FC Kuban was affected by the 2008 financial crisis, which greatly decreased the club's budget. In a mutual agreement with the club, Protasov left the club on 19 November…

Protasov is married to Natalia (née – Lemeshko), a daughter of Yevhen Lemeshko. They met through a post letter exchange. She wrote him a letter after reading his interview in "Nedelya". He is a naturalised citizen of Greece and can speak Greek, alongside English, Russian and his native Ukrainian.