Anatolii Tymoshchuk

Volyn Lutsk

Tymoshchuk started his career playing for his hometown club Volyn Lutsk, having risen through the ranks at the team. Following two successful seasons, the player began to attract attention from bigger clubs.

Shakhtar Donetsk

In 1997, at age 18, Tymoshchuk's contract was purchased from Volyn by Shakhtar Donetsk. At Shakhtar, he was a key member of the team which won three Ukrainian Premier League titles, three Ukrainian Cups and a Ukrainian Super Cup. His time with Shakhtar is credited with establishing him as a great midfielder in Europe. In 2006, having captained Shakhtar for a number of years, Tymoshchuk became linked with a string of European clubs, including Juventus, Feyenoord, Celtic and Roma.

Zenit Saint Petersburg

On 27 February 2007, Tymoshchuk transferred to Zenit Saint Petersburg for a reported €15 million fee. He was soon named as the new captain of the team. Zenit manager Dick Advocaat was very impressed with him, saying, "About Tymoshchuk I can say only good things, and not only the player but also the person. Tymoshchuk – is a professional from head to toes. I never had complaints to him about discipline. While Tymoshchuk and I are at the club, he will be the captain of Zenit." His first season at the club ended in success, with Zenit winning the Russian Premier League title for the first time in club history and the club's first league title since its 1984 Soviet Top League triumph. At the end of the season,…

Since his debut in 2000, Tymoshchuk became a key member of the Ukraine national team. He gained recognition for his performance during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in which Ukraine reached the quarter-finals, being named man of the match in Ukraine's victory over Tunisia. Tymoshchuk has been described as one of the catalysts for Ukraine's first World Cup appearance. In 2009, he won Cyprus International Football Tournaments. On 11 October 2010, in a friendly match against Brazil, Tymoshchuk became the second Ukraine player to earn 100 caps, after Andriy Shevchenko, who reached the milestone in a friendly against Canada two days prior. On 20 December 2011, Tymoshchuk was named the best footballer in the history of Ukraine; he finished first in a nationwide poll to determine the key individuals in the Ukrainian game since the nation's independence in 1991. During his playing career, he was "a deep-lying midfielder who is comfortable on the ball and capable of ferocious long-range shooting". After Shevchenko's retirement in 2012, Tymoshchuk inherited the captaincy of the team. He is the most capped Ukrainian player with 144 appearances as of 29 June 2016. In August 2016, Tymoshchuk officially retired from international football.

Club

As of match played 19 November 2016

International

As of match played 21 June 2016. Ukraine score listed first, score column indicates score after each Tymoshchuk goal.

Tymoshchuk was married to Nadiya Tymoshchuk (née Navrotska). The couple met in his hometown Lutsk while living in the same neighbourhood, when they were 15 and 16. Their twins were born three months prematurely in April 2010. In July, it was determined the children were growing well and would be released from hospital. In summer 2016, Nadiya, who lives in Munich with their children, announced she was filing for divorce. Since their divorce, Tymoshchuk's children have remained in Germany with his ex-wife. In June 2008, Tymoshchuk was awarded the title of "Honorary citizen of Lutsk". The honour was rescinded on his 43rd birthday in 2022. Tymoshchuk's favorite player is Lothar Matthäus. He stated that the historical team in which he most wanted to play was the Germany national team in 1990, alongside Matthäus. He is also a fan of the Ukrainian band Okean Elzy and Russian painter Mikhail Vrubel. He is an avid collector of wines, t-shirts and icons. Tymoshchuk considers four his lucky number; he often wore 4 or 44 as his shirt number at both international and club level. Aside from his native Ukrainian, he speaks Polish and Russian as well as basic Croatian and German. Tymoshchuk and his father have since 2000 organized tournaments, the International Anatoliy Tymoshchuk Junior Cup, for children from Ukraine and neighbour states in Lutsk. The winners get cups and money awards. The mission of the tournament was to encourage children to continue their football training by giving…