Oleksandr Kucher

Oleksandr Mykolayovych Kucher (Ukrainian: Олександр Миколайович Кучер; born 22 October 1982) is a Ukrainian former professional footballer and current manager of Ukrainian club Dnipro-1.

He was a powerful defender who was good in the air and provided good coverage in the back. He could also play as a defensive midfielder.

A Shakhtar Donetsk player from 2006 until 2017, he won many honours including Premier League titles and the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. He made his senior international debut in 2006 and represented Ukraine when they co-hosted UEFA Euro 2012.

Club Career

Kucher started his career with Youth Academy alumnus "Athlete" Kyiv and Arsenal Kyiv, playing 59 times and scoring 5 goals. He joined Metalurh Donetsk in 2002, spending a season on loan at Arsenal Kharkiv during the 2002–03 season, a season at Armenian side Banants Yerevan during the 2003–04 season and another spell with Arsenal in the 2004–05 season. He made 26 appearances for Arsenal over his two seasons on loan. He scored 3 goals in 19 appearances for Banants. Having made 9 appearances for Metalurh, Kucher moved to Metalist Kharkiv during the 2005–06 season playing 28 matches with his only two goals coming in 5–2 defeat to Chornomorets Odesa. Oleksandr joined Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2006–07 season. He made his debut for Shakhtar as a substitute in a 5–0 victory over his former club Metalist. He scored in a 4–1 victory over Metalurh Donetsk on 9 August 2009. He netted an extra time winner in the final of the 2011–12 Ukrainian Cup. Kucher scored a brace in a 3–1 victory over Dynamo Kyiv on 4 September 2012 in a man of the match performance.

On 11 March 2015, he was given the quickest red card in the history of the Champions League when he was sent off for foul on Thomas Muller in the third minute of a last 16 second leg against Bayern Munich which Bayern won 7–0.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Александр Кучер (russian)