Anatoliy Tymoshchuk

"Tymoschuk" redirects here. For the composer, see Jeff Tymoschuk.

Anatoliy Tymoshchuk
Анатолій Тимощук

Personal information
Full name	Anatoliy Oleksandrovych Tymoshchuk
Date of birth	30 March 1979 (1979-03-30)
Place of birth	Lutsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current club	Bayern Munich
Number	44
Youth career
1994–1995	Volyn Lutsk
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1995–1997	Volyn Lutsk	62	(8)
1998–2007	Shakhtar Donetsk	227	(32)
2007–2009	Zenit	67	(10)
2009–	Bayern Munich	61	(3)
National team‡
2000–	Ukraine	112	(4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 February 2012. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 November 2011

This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Oleksandrovych and the family name is Tymoshchuk.

Anatoliy Oleksandrovych Tymoshchuk (Ukrainian: Анатолій Олександрович Тимощук; Ukrainian pronunciation: [ɑnɑˈtɔlʲi tɪmɔˈʃtʃuk]; born 30 March 1979 in Lutsk) is a Ukrainian football midfielder who plays for German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Ukrainian national team.

Tymoshchuk began his professional career with his local Volyn Lutsk. He moved to play for Ukrainian giants, Shakhtar Donetsk, whom he captained and with whom he won the Ukrainian Premier League, Ukrainian Cup, and Ukrainian Super Cup titles. In 2008, Tymoshchuk won the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup as the captain of Zenit St. Petersburg. He also won a Russian Premier League and Russian Super Cup title. With Bayern, Tymoshchuk has already won the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, and the DFB-Supercup titles. He is also a UEFA Champions League runner-up in 2010.

Tymoshchuk is a leader of the Ukraine national football team. He frequently captains the team in the absence of Andriy Shevchenko. Tymoshchuk is also the current all-time most capped player of the team. He took part in Ukraine's first-ever FIFA World Cup in 2006. He won the Ukrainian Footballer of the Year on three occasions.

Club career

Volyn Lutsk

Anatoliy Tymoshchuk started his career playing for his hometown team Volyn Lutsk, having risen through the ranks at the team. Following two successful seasons, the player began to attract attention from bigger clubs.

Shakhtar Donetsk

In 1997 at age 18, Tymoshchuk was bought from Volyn by Shakhtar. At Shakhtar, Tymoshchuk was a key member of the team which won three Ukrainian Premier League titles, three Ukrainian Cups, and a Ukrainian Super Cup. His time with Shakhtar is credited with establishing him as a great midfielder in Europe.

In 2006, having captained Shakhtar for a number of years, Tymoshchuk became linked with a string of European clubs, including Juventus, Feyenoord, Celtic, and Roma.

Zenit St. Petersburg

Tymoshchuk training with Zenit St. Petersburg.

Tymoshchuk on a tour with the UEFA Cup in Volyn, Ukraine

On 27 February 2007, Tymoshchuk transferred to Zenit St. Petersburg for a fee reported to be about €15 million. He was soon named as the new captain of the team. Manager Dick Advocaat was very impressed with him, saying: "About Tymoschuk I can say only good things, and not only the player but also the person. Tymoschuk - is a professional from head to toes. I never had complaints to him about discipline. While Tymoschuk and I are at the club, he will be the captain of Zenit."

His first season at the club ended in success, with Zenit winning the Russian Premier League title for the first time in the club's history. This trophy constituted the club's first league title since its 1984 Soviet Top League triumph. At the end of the season, Tymoshchuk was included in the annual list of the best 33 players of the Russian Premier League, and was also voted as league player of the year by popular sports magazine Sport-Express.

After FC Zenit Saint Petersburg won the championship title, cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko known as a fan of the team, waved Zenit shirt with Tymoshchuk's name on it while in space. Zenit became the first team to have its uniform shown in space.

During the 2007–08 European season, Tymoshchuk captained Zenit to the 2008 UEFA Cup, in which they defeated Scottish Premier League club Rangers 2–0 in the final. The club then went on to claim the 2008 UEFA Super Cup in a 2–1 victory over Manchester United.

Bayern Munich

In February 2009, Uli Hoeneß, the general manager of Bayern Munich, announced Tymoshchuk had agreed that he would join the club. Initially, Zenit announced that there was no agreement yet between the two clubs, but on 18 February, Bayern announced that Tymoshchuk would join the club in July 2009, in order to let Tymoshchuk play for Zenit until the summer. He played his last games with Zenit on 14 June 2009.

Tymoshchuk officially joined Bayern on 1 July 2009 with a contract that will expire on 30 June 2012. The transfer fee was undisclosed but German media reports put the deal at €14 million.

Tymoshchuk played his first game for Bayern Munich against AC Milan during the 2009 Audi Cup, coming on as a second half substitute. He also started in the final against Manchester United where he was substituted off in the 77th minute. Bayern won the match 7–6 on penalties. He scored his first goal for Bayern Munich against Juventus in the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League. On 8 May 2010 Tymoshchuk won his first trophy with Bayern, the Bundesliga 2009–10 followed a week later by the DFB-Pokal. In total Tymoshchuk made 21 Bundesliga appearances in the 2009–10 season, ten as a substitute, but failed to start a game in the whole of the second half of the season.

Late July 2010, Bayern coach Louis van Gaal described Tymoshchuk's prospects as "not very bright" and added to this "If a player doesn't play or doesn't have bright prospects then I would leave if I were them." Nevertheless from October 2010 till March 2011 Tymoshchuk started in all of Bayern's games. Tymoshchuk was given a chance to start in games at the time the team was plagued with injuries, filling in at the centre of defense.

International career

Tymoshchuk singing the national anthem of Ukraine

Since his 2000 debut, Tymoshchuk has become a key member of the Ukrainian national team. He gained recognition for his performance during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in which Ukraine reached the quarter-finals, earning a Man of the Match award during Ukraine's win over Tunisia.

Tymoshchuk has been described as one of the catalysts for Ukraine's first FIFA World Cup appearance. He is currently the vice-captain of the team, captaining in the absence of Andriy Shevchenko. On 11 October 2010, in a friendly match against Brazil, Tymoshchuk became the second player to have 100 caps for senior team, after Andriy Shevchenko who reached the triple digits in a friendly versus Canada two days earlier.

On 20 December 2011, Tymoshchuk has been named the best footballer in the history of his home country Ukraine. The 32-year-old Bayern midfielder came top of a nationwide poll to determine the key individuals in the Ukrainian game since the nation's independence in 1991.

Personal life

Tymoshchuk is married to Nadiya Tymoshchuk. The couple met in his hometown Lutsk while living in the same neighborhood. Their twins were born three months prematurely in April 2010. In July, it was determined that the children were growing well and would be released from hospital.

In June 2008, Tymoshchuk was awarded the title of "Honorary citizen of Lutsk"

His favorite player is Lothar Matthäus and he admitted that the historical team in which he most wanted to play with was the German national team in 1990, alongside Matthäus. He is also a fan of the Ukrainian band Okean Elzy and Russian painter Mikhail Vrubel. He is an avid collector of wines, t-shirts, and icons.

Tymoshchuk's lucky number is four "It brings me luck". He can speak Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, some basic Croat and German.

Tymoshchuk and his father has since 2000 organised tournaments, the International Anatoliy Tymoshchuk Junior Cup, for children from Ukraine and neighbour states in the city of Volhynia, Ukraine. The winners get cups and money awards. The mission of the tournament was to encourage children to continue their football training by giving them a chance to participate in a real competition.

Tymoshchuk has twice played with Zinedine Zidane in charity matches, an experience he truly enjoyed.

Career statistics

As of 22 February 2012.

Club	Season	League		Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Volyn Lutsk	1995–96	10	1	1	0	0	0	-	-	11	1
	1996–97	38	6	2	0	0	0	-	-	40	6
	1997–98	14	1	2	0	0	0	-	-	16	1
Total		62	8	5	0	0	0	-	-	67	8
Shakhtar Donetsk	1997–98	9	3	0	0	0	0	-	-	9	3
	1998–99	18	2	3	0	2	0	-	-	23	2
	1999–00	23	0	3	0	2	0	-	-	28	0
	2000–01	25	4	5	1	11	0	-	-	41	5
	2001–02	26	3	7	1	6	1	-	-	39	5
	2002–03	30	4	6	1	4	0	-	-	40	5
	2003–04	29	6	6	1	6	0	-	-	41	7
	2004–05	25	4	6	0	10	0	-	-	41	4
	2005–06	27	5	2	1	8	0	1	0	38	6
	2006–07	15	1	2	1	8	0	1	0	26	2
Total		227	32	40	6	57	1	2	0	326	39
Zenit	2007	29	4	5	5	8	1	-	-	42	10
	2008	27	6	0	0	16	0	1	0	44	6
	2009	11	0	0	0	3	2	-	-	14	2
Total		67	10	5	5	27	3	1	0	100	18
Bayern Munich	2009–10	21	0	3	0	7	1	-	-	31	1
	2010–11	26	3	4	0	6	1	1	0	37	4
	2011–12	14	0	4	0	8	0	0	0	26	0
Total		61	3	11	0	21	2	1	0	94	5
Career	Total	417	53	61	11	105	6	4	0	587	70

• Other - National Super Cup

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	17 April 2002	Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine	Georgia	2–1	Win	Friendly
2.	8 October 2010	Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine	Canada	2–2	Draw	Friendly
3.	1 June 2011	Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine	Uzbekistan	2–0	Win	Friendly
4.	6 June 2011	Donbass Arena, Donetsk, Ukraine	France	1–4	Loss	Friendly
Correct as of 6 June 2011

Honours

Club

Shakhtar Donetsk

• Ukrainian Premier League: 2001–02, 2004–05, 2005–06
• Ukrainian Cup: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04
• Ukrainian Super Cup: 2005

Zenit St. Petersburg

• Russian Premier League: 2007
• Russian Super Cup: 2008
• UEFA Cup: 2007–08
• UEFA Super Cup: 2008

Bayern Munich

• Bundesliga: 2009–10
• DFB-Pokal: 2009–10
• DFB-Supercup: 2010

Individual

• Ukrainian Footballer of the Year: 2002, 2006, 2007
• Ukrainian Bravery Order III Degree: 2006
• Eurosport best player of the year in Russia: 2007
• Honorary citizen of Lutsk: 2008
• The Best Footballer in the history of Ukraine (since the nation’s independence in 1991): 2011

External links

• Official website (English) (Ukrainian) (Russian) (German)
• Profile on Bayern München official website
• Anatoliy Tymoshchuk at National-Football-Teams.com
• Tymoshchuk statistics in Shakhtar
• Anatoliy Tymoshchuk career stats by KLISF

Preceded by Valiantsin Bialkevich

Ukrainian Premier League MVP 2002

Succeeded by Valiantsin Bialkevich