2 January. Today were born... Shovkovskiy - 49

Today has given the world a large number of famous personalities who closely linked their lives with football:

Yevhen Rudakov (1942-2011) was a former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is best known for his performances as a member of Dynamo Kyiv, with which he became seven-time champion and three-time winner of the USSR Cup. In 1975 he won the Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. In the USSR national team he played 48 matches, conceded 35 goals.

Vladyslav Vashchuk (1975) is a former Ukrainian defender. He played most of his career with Dynamo Kyiv. He was a quarter-finalist of the 2006 World Championship. After returning to Dynamo Kyiv in 2005, Vashchuk was constantly subjected to psychological pressure from Kyiv fans because of his transfer to Spartak Moscow. He played 63 matches in the Ukraine national team, scoring 1 goal.

Yevhen Levchenko (1978) is a former Ukrainian footballer who played as a midfielder. He was a player of the Ukraine national team in 2002-2009. Levchenko's last club was Adelaide United in Australia. Currently he is an expert on television.

Ismael Bangura (1985) is a Guinean footballer. From 2007 to 2009 he played for Dynamo Kyiv. In the "white-blue" shirt in the Ukrainian championship he played 46 matches and scored 28 goals. After leaving Dynamo he could not play as brightly anywhere else.

Oleksandr Shovkovskiy (1975) is a legendary Ukrainian goalkeeper. A pupil of Dynamo Kyiv. The record holder of his native club in the number of matches played. 14-time champion of Ukraine. In 1999, Shovkovskiy was included in the list of the top 50 best footballers in Europe ("Golden Ball"). He was the first footballer who played more than 100 matches for Ukrainian teams in European cups.

He played at the 2006 World Cup, where he particularly distinguished himself in the match against Switzerland, not conceding a single goal in the penalty shootout and ensuring the Ukrainian national team's passage to the quarter-finals of the tournament. Oleksandr became the first goalkeeper in history who did not concede a single goal at the World Championships in the penalty shootout.

In October 2016, he received a coaching licence.On 12 December 2016, he announced the end of his career. The last official match for Shovkovs'kyi at Dynamo was the game in the Ukrainian Championship with Zorya Luhansk. Currently, he is the head coach of Dynamo Kyiv.