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BIOGRAPHY

Andriy Shevchenko
	BIOGRAPHY | GALLERY | GOSSIP

Andriy Shevchenko, born 29 September 1976, in Dvirkivschyna, Kiev Oblast,is a Ukrainian football striker who plays for Chelsea F.C. in the FA Premier League.

Shevchenko won the 2004 European Footballer of the Year award, and was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in 2004. He is also the second-highest goal scorer of all-time in European club competitions with 57 goals, behind only Gerd Müller.

Andriy was nine when the Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred in April 1986. His village, not far from Chernobyl, was also affected by the disaster, and his family was one amongst the thousands who had to abandon their homes and relocate to the coast to escape the after effects. At an early age, he was a competitive boxer in the LLWI Ukrainian junior league, but due to his size, he was forced to move on to football, where he flourished.

Shevchenko has 71 caps and 33 goals for the Ukraine national team, whom he represented at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In October 2005, Ukraine finally managed to qualify for the WC finals when they topped their 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification group with seven wins, four draws and only one loss.

Shevchenko was instrumental in this inspired performance by the team, scoring six goals out of the total eighteen by Ukraine. He scored twice as Ukraine went on a surprising run in the finals, which included a lopsided 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia and the defeat of Switzerland (in which Shevchenko's penalty was saved) in a penalty shoot-out, until they were eventually eliminated in the quarter-finals by the eventual champions Italy.

Shevchenko has been consistently top scorers for many years in his career: Ukrainian League Top Scorer: 1998-1999; Serie A Top Scorer: 1999-2000, 2003-2004; UEFA Champions League Top Scorer: 1998-1999, 2000-2001, 2005-2006; Ukrainian Player of the Year: 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003; and UEFA Best Forward 1999, 2006, just to mention a few.