Oleg Salenko

Oleg Anatolyevich Salenko (Олег Анатольевич Саленко, Олег Анатолійович Саленко; born 25 October 1969) is a Russian-Ukrainian former footballer who played as a forward.

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 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 2022, he is the only player to win the Golden Boot at both the U-20 World Cup and FIFA World Cup.

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.

Salenko was born to a Ukrainian father and a Russian mother in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.

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.

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.

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.

Salenko returned to playing professional football in the 2000–01 season and signed for Pogoń Szczecin.

He retired after playing a single game however due to his physical conditioning.

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.

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.

Appearances and goals by national team and year

International goals

Individual