Oleg Salenko

Oleg Salenko
	Salenko in 2014
Personal information
Full name	Oleg Anatolyevich Salenko
Date of birth	25 October 1969 (age 55)
Place of birth	Leningrad, Russian SFSR,; Soviet Union
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
	Smena Leningrad
Senior career*
Years	Team
1986–1988	Zenit
1989–1992	Dynamo Kyiv
1993–1994	Logroñés
1994–1995	Valencia
1995–1996	Rangers
1996–1998	İstanbulspor
1999–2000	Córdoba
2000–2001	Pogoń Szczecin
Total
International career
1984–1991	Soviet Union U20
1992	Ukraine
1993–1994	Russia
Medal record
Representing the Soviet Union
UEFA European Under-21 Championship
UEFA European Under-18 Championship
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Oleg Anatolyevich Salenko (Russian: Оле́г Анато́льевич Сале́нко, Ukrainian: Олег Анатолійович Саленко; born 25 October 1969) is a Russian-Ukrainian former footballer who played as a forward. He scored a record five goals in a group-stage match in the 1994 World Cup, helping him earn the Golden Boot as joint-top tournament goalscorer.^[2]

Club career

Salenko was born to a Ukrainian father and a Russian mother in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. He played for Zenit Leningrad, Dynamo Kyiv, Logroñés, Córdoba, Valencia, Rangers and İstanbulspor during his club career, that lasted from 1986 to 2000.

Eventually, he faded from the international football scene and finally had to end his career prematurely, at the age of 31, for health reasons stemming from injuries. Salenko returned to playing professional football in the 2000–01 season and signed for Pogoń Szczecin. He retired after playing a single game due to his physical conditioning.

International career

Salenko played for the Soviet Union under-20 team at the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship, becoming the tournament top scorer with 5 goals. He played a total of only nine international matches, including the Ukraine 1–3 Hungary friendly, which was the first international game for the Ukraine national football team to be recognised by FIFA. He also had eight appearances for Russia and scored six goals, all of them at the World Cup in which he was joint top scorer. His last international appearance was 6–1 win against Cameroon when he scored five times.

As of 2024, he is the only player to win the Golden Boot at both the U-20 World Cup and FIFA World Cup.

1994 FIFA World Cup

Salenko set a World Cup record by scoring five goals in one game in Russia's 6–1 win against Cameroon on 28 June 1994.^[3] He finished the 1994 World Cup with six goals, having scored from the penalty spot against Sweden in the previous match and shared the Golden Boot with Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov after being knocked out in the first round and having played only three matches while Bulgaria played a total of seven matches and achieved a fourth-place finish.^[4] As of 2022, Salenko is the only player ever to win the Golden Boot award on a team eliminated from the World Cup finals at the group stage.^[4]

Beach football

In 2003, Salenko was appointed as manager of the Ukraine national beach soccer team. His team played three games, the only win being over USA 6–5, and losing the other two to Brazil and Spain. The tournament took place at the end of July in Portugal under the name Mundialito.^[5] After the tournament, he was dismissed. He was later taking part of FFU assisting staff, but later stopped involving in football to focus on his business.

Career statistics

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[6]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Ukraine
	1992	1	0
	Total	1	0
Russia
	1993	1	0
	1994	7	6
	Total	8	6
Career total		9	6

International goals

Scores and results list Russia's goal tally first.^[6]

No	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	24 June 1994	Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, United States	Sweden	1–0	1–3	1994 FIFA World Cup
2.	28 June 1994	Stanford Stadium, Stanford, United States	Cameroon	1–0	6–1	1994 FIFA World Cup
3.				2–0
4.				3–0
5.				4–1
6.				5–1

Honours

Dynamo Kyiv

Rangers

Scottish Football League Premier Division: 1996

Individual

References

^ "Players Appearing for Two or More Countries". RSSSF. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
^ "Interview with Oleg Salenko". football24.ua.
^ "Russia 6-1 Cameroon". FIFA.com. 28 June 1994. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Behind the World Cup record: Oleg Salenko". FIFA.com. 27 March 2017. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
^ List of matches of the national team in Ukrainian Archived 26 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b "Oleg Salenko". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 21 June 2018.

External links

Oleg Salenko at National-Football-Teams.com
RSSSF
Player profile (in Russian)
Oleg Salenko at FootballFacts.ru (in Russian)
Oleg Salenko at UAF and archived FFU page (in Ukrainian)

[1] "Players Appearing for Two or More Countries". RSSSF. Retrieved 10 July 2014.

[2] "Interview with Oleg Salenko". football24.ua.

[3] "Russia 6-1 Cameroon". FIFA.com. 28 June 1994. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2018.

[Salenko-4] "Behind the World Cup record: Oleg Salenko". FIFA.com. 27 March 2017. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.

[5] List of matches of the national team in Ukrainian Archived 26 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine

[NFT-6] "Oleg Salenko". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 21 June 2018.

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