Oleksandr Kovalenko

Kovalenko made his professional debut in the Ukrainian Second League in 1993 for FC Metalurh Kostyantynivka, after which he moved to the ranks of "Bazhanovets" from Makiivka (later the club changed its name to "Shakhtar"). In the Makiivka club, Kovalenko quickly became one of the leading players, on whom the team's game was based. After his initial professional stint he played for different Ukrainian Premier League clubs. At the beginning of the 1996/97 season, the young midfielder was invited to the FC Dnipro. In the same season, Kovalenko achieved the greatest success with the Dnipro team, becoming a finalist in the 1996/97 Ukrainian Cup (the footballer himself played only 2 minutes in the final match against FC Shakhtar). In the 1997/98 season, Oleksandr was one of the key players of Dnipro, having played 25 matches and scoring three goals. Kovalenko played four matches for the Ukraine national under-21 football team in 1997. The following season, Kovalenko started as part of Shakhtar Donetsk, but things were clearly not going well for him in the new team. The midfielder was satisfied mainly with performances in the second team of the "miners", instead he played only four matches in the higher league. The situation changed radically the following year, after Oleksandr Kovalenko decided to transfer to FC Metalurh. Along with the playing experience, new achievements came - in the 2001/02 season, Metalurh won the bronze medal of the national championship. However, in the…