Oleksandr Hladkyy

Oleksandr Hladkyy
Personal information
Full name	Oleksandr Mykolayovych Hladkyy
Date of birth	24 August 1987
Place of birth	Lozova, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukrainian SSR
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Position(s)	Forward
Club information
Current team	Zorya Luhansk
Number	11
Senior career*
National team‡
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 25 October 2020; ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16 March 2019

Oleksandr Mykolayovych Hladkyy (Ukrainian: Олександр Миколайович Гладкий, born 24 August 1987) is a Ukrainian football forward who plays for Zorya Luhansk. He has also appeared for the Ukraine national team. His last name is variously transliterated into English as Hladkiy,[2] Gladkiy[3] and Gladkyy.[4]

Club career

Kharkiv

Hladkyy began his career in Metalist Kharkiv's football academy, and soon after, the young player was invited to another professional club from the Kharkiv, FC Kharkiv. Under direction of coach Volodymyr Bessonov, Hladkyy became a regular player for the club and soon established himself as one of the best strikers in the league. His first fame came in the 2006–07 season, when after scoring 13 goals to finish as the Ukrainian league's top scorer.

Shakhtar Donetsk

After this success, Hladkyy attracted the notice of giants Shakhtar Donetsk, and on 8 June 2007, he signed a five-year deal worth €2.5 million with the club. On his Shakhtar debut, a friendly match, he scored the winning goal. He scored two goals in another friendly.

On 7 May 2008, in the Ukrainian Cup final, during which he scored and also received a red card, Hladkyy earned the first trophy in his career when Shakhtar defeated rivals Dynamo Kyiv 2–0.

Hladkyy won the Premier League with Shakhtar that season, but fell one goal short of making Ukrainian Premier League history by being the top goalscorer for two consecutive years. However, with the addition of strikers Yevhen Seleznyov and Marcelo Moreno, and with coach Mircea Lucescu using only one forward in a 4-5-1 formation, Hladkyy had difficulty keeping his spot in the starting line-up or even a place on the bench, leaving his future in doubt . After 10 league games with only 1 win, Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu started Hladkyy, who scored in the 28th minute in a 3–0 win over Chornomorets Odessa. Mircea gave Hladkyy another starting opportunity due to an injury to Luiz Adriano, and he scored the third goal in Shakhtar's 4–2 win over FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih. Hladkyy scored a winner for Shakhtar against Olexandria in the 93rd minute in a Ukrainian Cup quarter final, although he also injured his own side's second-choice goalkeeper Rustam Khudzhamov during a collision in the Shakhtar penalty area. He scored his first two UEFA Champions League goals in a historic 3–2 victory in Spain over F.C. Barcelona, ending the latter's streak of 20 games without defeat. As a result of the win, Shakhtar collected more points in the group stage than ever before (9).

Unable to gain a regular place at Shakhtar Donetsk, he transferred to Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on 17 August 2010.[5]

Shakhtar Donetsk return

In May 2014, Hladkyy departed for FC Shakhtar Donetsk, signing a two-year contract.[6]

Dynamo Kyiv

Upon the expiration of his contract with Shakhtar Donetsk, Hladkyy signed a 3-year contract as a free agent with the Ukrainian champions, Dynamo Kyiv, on 23 May 2016.

Karpaty Lviv

On 2 March 2017 it was officially announced that Hladkyi is being loaned to Karpaty Lviv.[7] It was his second stint in the club over his career. In July of 2017 Dynamo has given Hladkyi a status of free agent and he signed a full-fledged contract with Karpaty.[8][9] While playing for Karpaty in April of 2017 he was recognized as a player of the month in the Ukrainian Premier League.[10]

Turkish Super League

Before signing his first contract with foreign club in August of 2018 and moving to Turkey,[11][12] Hladkyi earlier in 2018 spent his time playing for Chornomorets Odesa that struggled to stay in the Ukrainian premiers.[13]

International career

Oleksandr Hladkyy was a regular member of the Ukraine national under-21 football team and scored 6 goals in 12 games. On 22 August 2007, he made his debut for the senior Ukraine national football team in a friendly against Uzbekistan and scored the opening goal, his only goal in 11 matches for Ukraine's senior squad.[14] Since 2007, he has been called up to the main squad by Oleg Blokhin and then Oleksiy Mykhailychenko, but has not appeared for Ukraine since 2015.

Career statistics

Club

As of 16 March 2019

Club	Season	League		Cup		Europe		Super Cup		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Metalist Kharkiv	2003–04	8	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	3
	2004–05	9	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	11	1
	Total	17	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	19	4
Kharkiv	2004–05	10	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	4
	2005–06	25	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	27	2
	2006–07	29	13	1	0	0	0	0	0	30	13
	Total	64	18	3	1	0	0	0	0	67	19
Shakhtar Donetsk	2007–08	29	17	7	1	9	2	1	1	46	21
	2008–09	26	4	5	1	10	2	1	0	42	7
	2009–10	22	6	2	1	6	1	0	0	30	8
	2010–11	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	6	2
	Total	82	27	14	3	25	5	3	3	124	38
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	2010–11	19	2	4	2	2	0	0	0	25	4
	2011–12	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
	Total	23	2	6	2	2	0	0	0	31	4
Karpaty Lviv	2011–12	8	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	10	4
	2012–13	23	5	3	0	0	0	0	0	26	5
	2013–14	28	10	2	0	0	0	0	0	30	10
	Total	59	18	7	1	0	0	0	0	66	19
Shakhtar Donetsk	2014–15	19	11	7	4	3	0	1	1	30	16
	2015–16	17	4	3	2	10	3	1	0	31	9
	Total	36	15	10	6	13	3	2	1	61	25
Dynamo Kyiv	2016–17	8	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	11	0
Dynamo Kyiv	Total	8	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	11	0
Karpaty Lviv	2016–17	13	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	4
	2017–18	9	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	10	1
	Total	22	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	23	5
Chornomorets Odesa	2017–18	9	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	2
Chornomorets Odesa	Total	9	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	2
Çaykur Rizespor	2018–19	8	0	4	3	0	0	0	0	12	3
Çaykur Rizespor	Total	8	0	4	3	0	0	0	0	12	3
Adana Demirspor	2018–19	5	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	3
Adana Demirspor	Total	5	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	3
Career total		333	94	47	16	43	8	5	4	428	122

International