Andrei Karyaka

Early career

Growing up in Dnipropetrovsk in the 1980s, Karyaka was deeply influenced and inspired by the performances of the local club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. After multiple championships and two quarter-final finishes in European competition, it is not surprising that his major heroes were the Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk leaders, such as Hennadiy Lytovchenko and Oleh Protasov. Karyaka attended the Dnipropetrovsk Sports Youth School, coached by W. M. Nikulin, starting at the age of 7, and the Dnipropetrovsk Olympic Reserve School starting at the age of 12. In 1985, he moved to Zaporizhzhia where he initially played for the Metalurh Zaporizhzhia youth team. Karyaka's debut for the main team occurred on 3 March 1996, in the 1/16 round of the Ukrainian Cup against the Shakhtar Donetsk reserve, and ended in a 1–0 victory for Metalurh, while Karyaka earned a yellow card. His Ukrainian Premier League debut occurred on 26 March 1996 against his original home team Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, and ended with a 2–1 Metalurh victory. He scored his first goal on 13 November 1996 in the Ukrainian Cup, and on 10 April 1997 in the Ukrainian Premier League. Other memorable games include a tie against Dynamo Kyiv in blistering heat on 30 June 1997. In 1998, Karyaka transferred to CSKA Kyiv, trained by the former Dynamo Kyiv midfielder Volodymyr Bezsonov. With CSKA, he was able to participate in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, first playing against Cork City, and consequently, against Lokomotiv…

Born in Ukraine, and called up for various of their youth national teams, Karyaka never came on pitch for a single national team game. He received a call up to the Ukraine national team on 24 May 2001, but the Russia and Uzbekistan national teams were interested in him as well. On 29 May, he made the decision to play for the Russian team, and consequently received his first call-up on 7 August of the same year, playing his first game on 16 August against Greece. Since then, Karyaka has been one of the vital players for the Russian midfield, starting 27 games and scoring 6 goals. He was part of the 2004 European Football Championship and played all three games for 140 minutes.

Benfica

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2005