Zinchenko: From Concrete Pitches to National Glory

The UEFA Euro 2020 knockout games have been a roller-coaster ride which football fans all over the world are thoroughly enjoying.

After all the surprises, twists and turns, the Round of 16 games finally came to a conclusion with Ukraine vs Sweden. It was the perfect conclusion to the incredible four days of football that we witnessed already, where Ukraine beat Sweden 2-1 with the winning goal being the latest ever goal in Euro history, coming in at the 121st minute in extra time. The hero of the game was Manchester City and Ukraine defender Oleksandr Zinchenko.

With one goal and one assist, he was the deserved player of the match. He also has an incredible story that lead to all this, a story of struggle, sheer determination, passion with incredible highs and lows. This is that story.

Zinchenko was a well-known young talent in Ukraine playing for FC Shakhtar Donetsk in 2014 when he faced the first big obstacle in his career. The 17-year-old was forced to terminate his contract with Shakhtar as he and his family fled to Russia in fear of military conflict in Ukraine. With that, it was the start of the first big battle the talented youngster had to face in his career.

His football career in Russia started with great struggle. Top clubs did not want to recruit him and for a time he had to play in amateur tournaments on concrete pitches to keep himself fit. As if that wasn't enough, when he finally found a football club in FC Rubin Kazan, he had to train there with no salary before finally signing a contract with another club, FC Ufa, where he played for a very low pay.

There, his performance caught the eye of a top European club. In 2016, it was Manchester City who snapped him up for 2 million euros. Like many other City signings, he was loaned to another club and from club sources to fans, everyone believed that he would be sold by the club in near future. But Zinchenko had other plans.

He was primarily a midfielder, but City already had multiple world class players in that position. He just couldn't break in the starting squad and was on the verge of joining Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2018 but stayed back, which later proved to be a great decision. His first big opportunity came when City's 50 million pound leftback Benjamin Mendy was injured and he had to urgently fill that position. He has not looked back since. He kept fighting for the left back position in the starting lineup and eventually became the first choice for Guardiola's side. By this time he also became a regular for Ukraine and also captained the national team for the first time in March 2021.

Fast forward to June 2021 and the 24-year-old has now won the Premier league three times; he is Ukraine's main man, whose heroics pushed Ukraine to the Euro quarterfinals, defying all odds. He is the one under the spotlight and the hot-topic amongst football fans.

Safe to say, we will see more of his heroics in the near future.

Tamjidul Hoque loves talking about football and watching anime. Send him your anime suggestions at tamjidulh@gmail.com