Oleh Protasov

Oleh Protasov
Personal information
Full name	Oleh Valeriyovych Protasov
Date of birth	(1964-02-04) 4 February 1964 (age 50)
Place of birth	Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Forward (retired)
Youth career
1972–1981	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1981–1987	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	145	(95)
1987–1990	Dynamo Kyiv	71	(30)
1990–1994	Olympiakos Piraeus	83	(48)
1994–1995	Gamba Osaka	55	(24)
1996–1998	Veria	62	(11)
1998–1999	Proodeftiki	28	(5)
1999–2000	Panelefsiniakos	2	(1)
Total		446	(214)
National team
1984–1991	Soviet Union	68	(29)
1994	Ukraine	1	(0)
Teams managed
2002–2004	Olympiacos Piraeus
2004–2005	AEL Limassol
2005	Steaua Bucureşti
2006–2008	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
2008	Kuban Krasnodar
2009	Iraklis Thessaloniki
2010–2011	Rostov
2012	Astana
2012–2013	Dinamo Minsk
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Oleh Valeriyovych Protasov (Ukrainian: Олег Валерійович Протасов, born 4 February 1964, in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) is a former Ukrainian football striker. He was a key member of the Soviet Union national team throughout the 1980s; his 29 goals for the Soviet Union are second in the team's history, behind Oleh Blokhin's 42. It should be considered that his first name is often spelled as Oleg on most of international rosters, particularly during his playing career.

Playing career

Club

Oleh Protasov started playing football at the age of 8 years old in his hometown of Dnipropetrovsk in Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, where he played until 1987. In 1987, Protasov moved to play for the Soviet-Ukrainian football giants, Dynamo Kyiv. In all, in the Soviet Union, he won the Soviet Championship twice and was named Soviet Footballer of the Year in 1987. He scored 125 goals in the Soviet Championship, making him the 8th best scorer of all-time of the Championship.

Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Oleh Protasov got a chance to play abroad. In 1990, he joined Greek side Olympiacos Piraeus. Leaving Olympiakos in 1994, he played in Gamba Osaka, Veria FC, and finally Proodeftiki FC, from where he retired in 1999.

National

Protasov played for the Soviet Union 68 times, including at the 1986 and 1990 FIFA World Cups, as well as Euro 88, where he scored two goals. He also played one game for the Ukraine national team, in 1994.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Protasov went into coaching, and led Olympiacos Piraeus to the Greek title in 2003. In 2005, he coached Romanian team Steaua Bucureşti.

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

In December 2005, Oleh Protasov returned in Ukraine to coach his hometown team, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, after an impressive UEFA Cup performance with Steaua Bucureşti. Protasov left by his own choice and was on very good terms with the entire team and owners of the club.^[1]

In his first 2005–06 season as Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk's coach, Oleh Protasov led the team to a 6th place finish in the Ukrainian Premier League. In the next, 2006–07 season, Protasov improved on this, finishing 4th in the league.

In the 2007–08 season his side unexpectedly led the title race ahead of the winter break, before a poor second half left his side in 4th once again. Dnipro sacked him on 29 August 2008 after an embarrassing defeat from AC Bellinzona in UEFA cup qualification match.^[2]

Kuban Krasnodar

After that, Protasov took over FC Kuban Krasnodar in the nearby region of Russia. Kuban had been recently derelegated to the Russian First League. Under Protasov's leadership, the club finished 2nd in the league, with an 8-point lead over their nearest competitors. This finish earned them right to be promoted to the Russian Premier League.

However FC Kuban was hard-hit by the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, which greatly decreased the club's budget. In a mutual agreement with the club, Protasov left the club on 19 November 2008.^[3]

Iraklis Thessaloniki

Then, he signed a two-year deal worth 400,000 euro per year with Iraklis Thessaloniki, starting from the summer of 2009. On 30 October, it was announced by Iraklis F.C. the termination of their contract, after 5 continual defeats in Super League and Greek Cup.

Honours

• Soviet Top League (2): 1983, 1990
• Greek Cup (2): 1990, 1992

Career statistics

^[4]

Club

International

^[5]

International goals

References

External links

• Info on Official Dnipro Website (in list)
• Oleh Protasov at Kopanyi-Myach.info (Russian)
• Oleh Protasov career stats by KLISF