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Yevhen Konoplyanka
2015 UEFA Super Cup 96 (cropped).jpg
Konoplyanka with Sevilla in 2015
Personal information
Full name Yevhen Olehovych Konoplyanka
Date of birth (1989-09-29) 29 September 1989 (age 35)
Place of birth Kirovohrad, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Winger
Youth career
2002–2004 Olimpik Kirovohrad
2004–2005 DYuSSh-2 Kirovohrad
2006 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2008 Dnipro-2 Dnipropetrovsk
2007–2015 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 157 (35)
2015–2017 Sevilla 32 (4)
2016–2017 Schalke 04 (loan) 17 (1)
2017–2019 Schalke 04 40 (5)
2019–2021 Shakhtar Donetsk 28 (4)
2022–2023 Cracovia 36 (2)
2023 CFR Cluj 3 (0)
Total 313 (51)
International career
2006 Ukraine U17 1 (0)
2007–2008 Ukraine U19 9 (3)
2008–2011 Ukraine U21 16 (5)
2010–2023 Ukraine 87 (21)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Yevhen Konoplyanka (born on September 29, 1989) is a Ukrainian former professional footballer. He was known for playing as a winger, which means he played on the sides of the field, helping with both offense and defense.

Konoplyanka started his professional journey at Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in 2007. He played in over 200 matches for them and scored 45 goals. He also helped his team reach the final of the Europa League in 2015. After that, he moved to Sevilla in Spain. He won the Europa League with Sevilla in his first season.

Later, he played for Schalke 04 in Germany. In 2019, Konoplyanka returned to Ukraine to play for Shakhtar Donetsk. He also had short periods playing for Cracovia in Poland and CFR Cluj in Romania.

Yevhen Konoplyanka played for the Ukrainian national team from 2010 to 2023. He played in more than 80 international matches and scored 21 goals. He represented Ukraine in the 2012 and 2016 European Championships. He was also named Ukrainian Footballer of the Year three times. He announced his retirement from professional football on July 17, 2024.

Football Journey

Starting Out in Football

When Yevhen was seven, he started taking karate classes. He did karate at the same time as playing football and even earned a black belt! He learned to play football in the youth system of Olimpik Kirovohrad. His coach there was Yuriy Kevlych. He also played in the Ukrainian National Youth Competition.

Time at Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

Konoplyanka joined Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk as a young player when he was 16. In 2006, he moved up to the reserve team. His first salary was $300.

Yevhen Konoplyanka2013
Konoplyanka with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in 2013

He played his first senior team match on August 26, 2007. It was a Ukrainian Premier League game against Zakarpattia Uzhhorod. The game ended in a 0–0 draw. Konoplyanka came into the game in the 83rd minute.

He scored his first goal in the Ukrainian Premier League on February 28, 2010. It was in a home game against Zorya Luhansk, which ended 2–2. In the second half of the 2009–10 season, Konoplyanka played every minute of the remaining games.

In January 2014, Konoplyanka almost moved to the English team Liverpool. The transfer fee was about £16 million. However, the president of Dnipro, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, decided not to let the transfer happen.

Konoplyanka was a very important player for Dnipro in the 2014–15 season. He helped them finish 3rd in their league. He also helped them reach the Europa League final. Because of his great performance, he was chosen for the competition's best team of the season.

Playing for Sevilla

Sev tren 2016 (9)
Konoplyanka with Sevilla during a 2016 press conference.

On July 2, 2015, Sevilla announced that Konoplyanka was joining their team. A week later, he officially signed a four-year contract. He joined them for free after his contract with Dnipro ended.

He played his first game for Sevilla on August 11, 2015. It was in the 2015 UEFA Super Cup against Barcelona. He came on as a substitute and scored a goal in the 81st minute, making the score 4–4. However, Sevilla lost the game 5–4 after extra time. He scored his first goal in the UEFA Champions League on September 16, helping Sevilla win 3–0 against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Konoplyanka was an unused substitute in the 2016 UEFA Europa League Final. Sevilla won that final 3–1 against Liverpool, claiming their fifth Europa League trophy. On August 9, 2016, he scored a penalty in the 2016 UEFA Super Cup against Real Madrid. Sevilla lost that game 3–2 after extra time.

Time at Schalke 04

On August 30, 2016, Konoplyanka moved to Schalke 04 in Germany. He first joined them on loan, and then the move became permanent for €12.5 million. He played his first game for Schalke on September 9, 2016, against Bayern Munich. He scored his first goal for them on October 20 in a Europa League game against Krasnodar. He also scored two goals in a German Cup game against 1. FC Nürnberg.

Return to Ukraine with Shakhtar Donetsk

On September 2, 2019, Konoplyanka signed a three-year contract with Shakhtar Donetsk. This meant he returned to play football in his home country, Ukraine.

Later Career: Cracovia and CFR Cluj

After leaving Shakhtar, Konoplyanka joined Cracovia, a club in Poland, on February 11, 2022. He played for them for about a year and a half, scoring two goals in 36 league matches. He left Cracovia after the 2022–23 season.

On July 25, 2023, Konoplyanka joined the Romanian team CFR Cluj. He played his first game for them on August 3, 2023, in a European competition match. He was released by CFR Cluj on January 3, 2024, after playing only four games. On July 17, 2024, Yevhen Konoplyanka announced that he was retiring from professional football.

Playing for Ukraine

Mikael Lustig - Yevhen Konoplyanka 20120611
Konoplyanka challenging Sweden's Mikael Lustig at Euro 2012

In April 2010, Yevhen Konoplyanka was called up to play for the senior national team for the first time. He made his international debut on May 25, 2010, in a friendly game against Lithuania. Ukraine won that game 4–0. Four days later, he scored his first goal for Ukraine in a friendly match against Romania.

Konoplyanka played in all three of Ukraine's matches at the Euro 2012 tournament. Ukraine was one of the host countries for this tournament. In their first game, he helped Andriy Shevchenko score the winning goal against Sweden.

On September 11, 2012, Konoplyanka scored an amazing long-range goal against England at Wembley Stadium. The game ended in a 1–1 draw. He scored two more goals in Ukraine's qualifying games for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Konoplyanka scored two goals in 11 matches as Ukraine qualified for Euro 2016. This was Ukraine's first time successfully qualifying for the tournament on their own. He was the team captain for their play-off win against Slovenia in November 2015. He was part of Ukraine's squad for Euro 2016 in France.

Achievements

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

Sevilla

Shakhtar Donetsk

Individual Awards

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Yevhen Konoplyanka para niños

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