Legendary European goalscorer Andriy Shevchenko has announced his retirement from football.
In an interview published on Dynamo Kiev’s official website, Shevchenko said: “Perhaps, I will shock everyone: my future has nothing to do with soccer. It is related to politics.”
He hasn’t decided whether he will join one of Ukraine’s current political parties or whether he would form his own party, although these details could be expected soon.
Ukraine’s parliamentary elections take place in October.
Shevchenko leaves professional football glittered with many individual honours and domestic trophies. He scored 48 times in 111 international matches for his country and graced Dynamo Kiev, AC Milan and Chelsea at club level.
Dynamo dynamite
Andriy broke into the first team at Dynamo Kiev in 1994 and amassed five league titles in his first stint with his home club.
This included forming a deadly partnership with ex-Tottenham striker Serhiy Rebrov, scoring 60 goals in 117 appearances.
AC Milan saw his goalscoring exploits, indicated by a stunning first half hat-trick in the Nou Camp during the 1997-98 edition of the Champions League.
The Rossoneri paid a record transfer fee at the time, to persuade Shevchenko to join them in 1999.
He spent the next seven years at the San Siro, continuing his reputation as a deadly finisher in world football.
Champions League clincher
Shevchenko won the Ballon d’Or in 2004, becoming the third Ukrainian in history to win this prestigious award.
This came off the back of finishing up as top goalscorer in the 2003-04 Serie A season, as Milan won the title. Surprisingly, it was the only Scudetto that Shevchenko won in his seven years Italian experience.
He reached the pinnacle in 2003, when he converted the deciding penalty in the shootout, to decide the dire Champions League final at Old Trafford against Italian rivals, Juventus.
After clinching this high-status honour, Shevchenko flew back home to Kiev, to put his European medal by the grave of his former boss at Dynamo, Valeriy Lobanovskyi. Lobankovskyi had died in May 2002.
By scoring a new record of 14 times in the famous Milan derby, Shevchenko made himself loved by AC supporters and his final total of goals was 175.
Ill-fated Chelsea spell
When speculation about his future at Milan increased, Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon was quoted as saying; “I think Shevchenko is the type of player we would like.
“At the end of the day to improve what we have got, it has to be a great player and Shevchenko certainly comes into that class.”
The Blues and Roman Abramovich paid Milan £30.8m in the summer of 2006, to tempt Sheva away from Italy but his stint in West London was a disaster.
Despite winning FA Cup and League Cup medals, injuries and a severe loss of form restricted him to just 22 goals in his two seasons at Stamford Bridge.
Milan took him back on a loan deal in 2008 but this was unsuccessful too and a return to Dynamo Kiev followed, on a permanent basis in 2009.
Final memory
Shevchenko went onto score 58 times in the UEFA Champions League and is only behind Ruud Van Nistlerooy and Raul in this statistic.
Now 35, he had a final memory at this summer’s European Championships.
Shevchenko rolled back the years to score the two goals in Kiev that beat Sweden in Ukraine’s group opener.
The co-hosts exited at the group stage and Shevchenko announced his retirement from international football off the back of this, although club football was still being talked about.
However, he had decided to not extend his career in Kiev or make a luxury move to the USA Major Soccer League and will go down a surprising new avenue in his life.
Andriy Shevchenko is a goalscoring legend and it is unlikely that Ukrainian football will see the likes of him again.
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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