Viktor Kovalenko
Kovalenko with Shakhtar Donetsk in 2015
Personal information
Full name Viktor Viktorovych Kovalenko
Date of birth (1996-02-14) 14 February 1996 (age 28)
Place of birth Kherson, Ukraine
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Empoli
(on loan from Atalanta)
Number 8
Youth career
2008–2015 Shakhtar Donetsk
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2021 Shakhtar Donetsk 130 (23)
2021– Atalanta 1 (0)
2021–2022 → Spezia (loan) 26 (1)
2022–2023 → Spezia (loan) 19 (0)
2023– → Empoli (loan) 6 (2)
International career‡
2011–2012 Ukraine U16 13 (4)
2010–2013 Ukraine U17 20 (11)
2013–2015 Ukraine U19 20 (5)
2015 Ukraine U20 5 (5)
2015–2018 Ukraine U21 13 (6)
2016– Ukraine 33 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 9 December 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11 November 2021

Viktor Viktorovych Kovalenko (Ukrainian: Віктор Вікторович Коваленко; born 14 February 1996) is a Ukrainian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Empoli, on loan from Atalanta. He also plays for the Ukraine national team.

Club career

Shakhtar Donetsk

Kovalenko is product of youth team of Shakhtar Donetsk.[2] He made his début in the Ukrainian Premier League for Shakhtar in the game against Vorskla Poltava on 28 February 2015.[3] On 9 May 2015, he made his first direct contribution for the first team when assisting the fifth and sixth goals for Shakhtar in a 7–3 win over Hoverla Uzhhorod.

On 20 February 2020, Kovalenko scored the winning goal in Shakhtar's 2–1 win against Benfica in the first leg of their Europa League Round of 32 clash.[4]

On 17 October 2020, Kovalenko scored twice in the first 18 minutes of Shakhtar's 5–1 hammering of FC Lviv in the Ukrainian Premier League.[5]

Atalanta

On 1 February 2021, with less than six months remaining in his contract with Shakhtar, Kovalenko signed a four-and-a-half-year deal with Serie A club Atalanta for a reported fee of €700,000.[6] He made his debut for the club on 21 March, as an 87th-minute substitute for fellow countryman Ruslan Malinovskyi in a Serie A 2–0 win at Verona.[7]

Loans to Spezia

On 8 August 2021, Kovalenko joined fellow Serie A side Spezia on a season-long loan.[8]

On 2 August 2022, he returned to Spezia on another loan, with Spezia holding an obligation to buy if the club avoids relegation.[9]

International career

Kovalenko was called up by Ukraine to play in the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand. He scored two goals in a 6–0 victory over Myanmar[10] and added a hat-trick against the United States to secure 3–0 win at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland, as the team reached the round of 16.[11] He won the Golden Boot of the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup with five goals.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 12 November 2023.[12]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Shakhtar Donetsk 2014–15 Ukrainian Premier League 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
2015–16 Ukrainian Premier League 23 0 7 2 15[a] 2 1 0 46 4
2016–17 Ukrainian Premier League 28 7 1 0 8[b] 3 1 0 38 10
2017–18 Ukrainian Premier League 27 4 4 1 5[c] 0 1 0 37 5
2018–19 Ukrainian Premier League 25 7 3 0 6[d] 0 1 0 37 7
2019–20 Ukrainian Premier League 17 1 1 0 9[e] 1 0 0 27 2
2020–21 Ukrainian Premier League 8 4 0 0 3[c] 0 0 0 11 4
Total 130 23 18 3 48 6 4 0 200 32
Atalanta 2020–21 Serie A 1 0 0 0 — — 1 0
Spezia (loan) 2021–22 Serie A 26 1 1 0 — — 27 1
Spezia (loan) 2022–23 Serie A 19 0 1 0 — — 20 0
Empoli (loan) 2023–24 Serie A 4 1 0 0 — — 4 1
Career total 180 25 20 3 48 6 4 0 252 34
  1. ^ Seven appearances in UEFA Champions League, eight appearances and two goals in UEFA Europa League
  2. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  3. ^ a b Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  4. ^ Six appearances in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League
  5. ^ Five appearances in UEFA Champions League, four appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League

International

As of 11 November 2021
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Ukraine 2016 10 0
2017 6 0
2018 4 0
2019 6 0
2020 4 0
2021 3 0
Total 33 0

Honours

Shakhtar Donetsk

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Viktor Kovalenko". Atalanta B.C. Archived from the original on 2 March 2021.
  2. ^ Віктор Коваленко (in Ukrainian). Shakhtar's Academy Site. 1 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  3. ^ Чемпіонат Прем'єр-ліги. 15 тур. Матч № 102 28 February 2015 (in Ukrainian). UPL Official Web Site. 1 March 2015.
  4. ^ Patrick. "Castro's Shakhtar top Benfica in narrow first-leg triumph". portugoal.net. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  5. ^ ""Шахтар" — "Львів" — 5:1". UPL (in Ukrainian). 17 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Official: Kovalenko to Atalanta". Fotball-Italia. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  7. ^ "Kovalenko's Atalanta debut at Verona". Atalanta B.C. 21 March 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Ufficiale Viktor Kovalenko è un nuovo calciatore dello Spezia". Spezia Calcio (in Italian). 8 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  9. ^ "OFFICIAL: VIKTOR KOVALENKO BACK WITH THE EAGLES". Spezia. 2 August 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  10. ^ "Ukraine hit Myanmar for six". FIFA. 2 June 2015. Archived from the original on 22 June 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  11. ^ "Kovalenko treble puts Ukraine on top". FIFA. 5 June 2015. Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  12. ^ "V. Kovalenko". Soccerway. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  13. ^ "FIFA World Youth Championship New Zealand 2015". FIFA. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  14. ^ "Визначено лауреатів сезону 2015/16!". .upl.ua. Retrieved 5 October 2017.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Viktor Kovalenko (footballer).
Empoli FC – current squad
Ukraine squad – UEFA Euro 2016
FIFA U-20 World Cup awards
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