Driving Zenit Forward: Anatoly Tymoschuk

Artem Chobanian

Anatoly Tymoschuk was born on March 30th, 1979 in Luzk, a town in western Ukraine. Started playing as a Volyn Luzk player in 1995 (62 matches, 8 goals), then moved to Donetsk and became a Shakhtar player in 1998 (227 matches, 32 goals). Was bought by Zenit St. Petersburg in February 2007 where immediately he became the captain (all games — 83, goals — 14).

Tymoschuk achievements:

1999 and 2000 — Ukraine vice-champion

2001 — vice champion and Ukrainian Cup holder

2002 — Ukrainian Cup winner and The Best Player of Ukrainian Vyscha Liga

2003 — Ukrainian Cup winner

2004 — vice champion and Ukrainian Cup holder

2005 — champion of Ukraine and Supercup winner

2006 — champion of Ukraine, The Best Player of Ukrainian Vyscha Liga

2007 — champion of Russia

2008 — Russian Supercup winner

Anatoly Tymoschuk spent his early childhood in a remote but beautiful part of western Ukraine where people mostly engage in farming and know almost nothing about life in the large cities. However, his talent was noticed by scouts from the Kyiv sport boarding school and he was offered to move to Kyiv. His father had a firm belief his son would become a good player and let him go. Tymoschuk says he is grateful to his father for that, also remembering how he used to play football with his dad in their flat, breaking mirrors and crockery, to the despair of his mother.

Tymoschuk showed great potential and especially a flair for understanding the instructions of the coach straight away. He was usually put in the games between the senior boys and played very well. Sometimes he almost picked up serious injuries because a five-year difference between him and those boys he was playing with was too much, but he survived. Moreover, he managed to study well, finished the boarding school with excellent grades, and after that graduated from Volyn State University, faculty Olympic and professional sports. Soon after he left the boarding school, he received an offer from Volyn Luzk, which Tymoschuk accepted with delight. Although he confesses that he dreamt of Dynamo Kyiv at that time, he was happy to play for Volyn because he was hungry to begin his professional career.

The first season was a big success! Tymoschuk performed excellently and after just his second season with Volyn he received several offers at the same time. The best ones were from Chernomorets Odesa and Austrian side Wacker Tirol. Tymoschuk went to Tirol on trial. He was lucky, because at that time Stanislav Cherchesov played there, a famous Soviet/Russian goalkeeper who took care of Tymoschuk, invited him to live with the Cherchesov family and tried to show the Tirol management how much talent Tymoschuk possessed. But the dreams of the young man were not going to be realized. The agents could not agree a transfer fee and so the move for Tymoschuk was rejected. The situation was so absurd that he even lived in Tirol without knowing he had been rejected. When Cherchesov learnt about the breakdown of the move he tried to use all his influence at club, but somehow they did not want to listen to him. Tymoschuk’s foreign voyage ended before it really began.

On his return he was soon cheered up by an offer from domestic giants Shakhtar Donetsk. Tymoschuk was very self confident at this time: he had been told so many times by so many people that he was very talented and any club would take him without hesitation, and that made him extremely ambitious. He wanted to play for a foreign team or a Ukrainian one that was equal to Dynamo Kyiv. At that time, Shakhtar Donetsk were becoming stronger. The owner of the club, Rinat Ahmetov was searching for young gifted players and Tymoschuk was certainly one of them. He accepted Rinat Ahmetov’s offer only after he guaranteed that he would invest to make the team one of the leaders in Ukrainian football and a regular participant in Europe.

His first weeks at Shakhtar were not easy. Tymoschuk moved to Donetsk when the main team were in Germany at their training camp. It was not possible to send him to Germany to join the players of his new club. He had to spend that winter training alone, furious and “blood-thirsty” like a character in some kung-fu movie. When the team returned he was not a 19-year-old boy any more — he looked more like a master waiting for his apprentices. There were so many players at the club who grew to look at him as a role-model. Shakhtar was a completely new experience for him, but he passed the test with reliability with dignity.

From him very first matches he became a fan favourite. Fast, aggressive, serious and concentrated on only one idea — to win. His teammates and the manager could not believe how easily he adapted to the club and how great was his desire to be the best. Tymoschuk remembers how he used to dream of becoming the captain of Shakhtar to lead his players forward, to be an example for them and, what was and is the most important for him, to be responsible for everything that happened in the team.

The management of the club noticed that and very soon the young boy, but mature footballer, became the captain of Shakhtar. That was one of his dreams, his other dream was to play for the national team and he realised he had to improve still further to be chosen for that honourable position of national team player. This dream though was to be realised quite soon and that fact did not surprise anybody in Ukraine.

Shakhtar’s various coaches, like Bernd Schuster, Nevio Scala and later Mircea Lucescu, could not imagine the club without Tymoschuk. His play was and is magnificent. He resembles a young Beckham in his workrate: runs all over the pitch trying to get the ball and create an attack. He is a bit too aggressive sometimes, but that is only because he is so enthusiastic and cannot stop himself. He was the centre of the team, a real leader. When Shakhtar were coming onto the pitch, you could catch yourself searching for Tymoschuk and following his figure during the whole match. He is not just a good leader and team-mate. He is very good at penalties and an exceptional free kick specialist. It has even been said that his shooting skills resemble those of Roberto Carlos, he can tear the goal’s net with his kick!

Tymoschuk has proved to be a real warrior of football, but apart from that, he is a very sociable and honest man, a loving husband and a true friend. When Alexei Belik had to leave Shakhtar, Timochuk visited him and Belik started sobbing, hugged Tymoschuk and said, “I’ll miss you, pal!” And then leaving the house, “All right… Bye mum!” His mama told him, “I know you are an adult now and love your friends more than your mum… But I am not offended, because I love Anatoly as much as I love you, sonny”.

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Tymoschuk is a very responsible and conscientious man. When Shakhtar bosses were offered €15M for Tymoschuk, Anatoly did not know what to do. On the one hand, he used to dream of playing for another European club, but on the other hand Zenit St. Petersburg was not quite a club from abroad — Russia had never been considered as a foreign country in Ukraine. Moreover, Zenit offered such a huge sum of money — and that was indeed a record transfer fee the territory of the former USSR — understanding how precious Tymoschuk was for Shakhtar and buying the captain meant depriving Shakhtar of the soul of its team, its core, its commander-in-chief on the pitch!

Tymoschuk was worried about the fans and the club, and asked Luchescu for advice. The coach said he had already discussed the matter with Rinat Ahmetov and they agreed that Tymoschuk had to go. That wasn’t an easy decision, but they realised Anatoly needed to grow and develop himself in a new environment. Moreover, Shakhtar’s bosses were planning to buy some new and very expensive players, so that €15M million would be very useful. Ahmetov also suggested that Tymoschuk gathered his fans together to explain everything and say goodbye. Tymoschuk said he was thinking about that and he hoped the fans would understand him, and for him that meeting would be the hardest thing.

Some days after the contract was signed, Tymoschuk announced a meeting with the fans and hundreds of thousands of fans and even just people who respected Antoly gathered near the Olympiysky Stadium to listen to the captain of Shakhtar.

Tymoschuk was very brief and serious. He explained everything to the people, giving them his personal reasons for leaving and clarifying the club’s policy, asking the fans to understand how it all worked. He also said that his leaving was not a betrayal and he hoped the fans understood that. In the end, he added, that no matter how his career developed, he would dream of ending his playing days at Shakhtar again and he asked the fans if they would not mind that. There was a minute silence in the crowd and then the people started shouting, “Go ahead, Anatoly! We’ll be waiting for you!” and other encouraging phrases. He was seen off like a hero, with hugs and kisses, and tears…

Tymoschuk came to Zenit in Russia when the team had a leader — Andrey Arshavin. Russia’s media expected a serious battle between them for the place of the leader in the club, but they got nothing! Dick Advocaat gathered the players and announced who he was going to make the captain and asked if there was anyone against it. Not all of the players knew what kind of person Tymoschuk was, but this Ukrainian was so praised in the media that all of the players agreed on Advocaat’s idea. When journalists asked Advocaat of his decision he said, “Have you seen the man play? Do you know what he was for Shakhtar? If he wasn’t made the captain, he would die, because he has been born to be a leader!”

The first season in Russia proved that Advocaat was 100 per cent right. Zenit became champions and the sport journalists announced Tymoschuk as the Best Player of the Season 2007. Anatoly said he was honoured to be named best player because all he had tried to do was to play the way he was used to and if people thought he was the best then he had done everything right. He added he would try to play even better next season, or at least not worse than in the previous one.

After the 2007 season Juventus asked the bosses of Zenit if they were willing to negotiate Tymoschuk’s transfer the summer 2008. The fans on the official Zenit site said unanimous “NO!” to Juventus and gathered near the stadium waiting for Tymoschuk to prove or refute the rumours.

When Tymoschuk appeared, one of the “ultras” approached him as close as he could and shouted, “We know how much you meant for Shakhtar. But now you mean the same for us and for Zenit. Will you leave us all?” Tymoschuk answered that football equaled business and if Zenit wanted to sell him, they would. But he would be honoured to play for Zenit for many years, to lead the team to more victories and glory. The fans seemed to be satisfied with the answer and all we have to do is to wait until this summer and see if Juventus really want Tymoschuk so badly.

The beginning of the 2008 season was and still is quite successful for Tymoschuk and his team. They have performed magnificently in the UEFA Cup, but lost some points in the Russian championship, though they do not worry much because the championship has just started. Tymoschuk is in good shape and in the game against Bayer Leverkusen was his dominant self. He was the ‘landlord’ of the centre and did not allow any Bayer player to feel free there.

To conclude we should say that we hope Tymoschuk has a great future. Perhaps he will never have the same status as Shevchenko, but that’s okay, because their roles on the pitch are different. Tymoschuk says he is happy to be in one team with Shevchenko, Voronin, Gusev and other Ukrainian players for he feels united with his friends. He says he was imagining himself as the famous Scottish rebel William Wallace when he was putting on the captain’s armband in the dressing room of the Stade de France and felt he was so lucky to be living his dream and leading his teammates into the battle against one of the best national teams of the world.

As the countries from Eastern Europe begin to punch their weight in European competitions, we can be sure we will see much more of Anatoly Tymoschuk.