Serhiy Popov


Serhiy Oleksandrovych Popov is a former footballer from Ukraine. He is the highest scoring defender of the Ukraine national football team.

Career

Popov is a graduate of the Donetsk sports school of Olympic reserve and started to compete at senior level at age of 17 playing for the Novator Mariupol. After being drafted to the army, he defended colors of SKA Kiev and FC Nyva Vinnytsia in 1990-91.
After the fall of the Soviet Union Popov signed with Shakhtar Donetsk of the Ukrainian Premier League, with which he stayed until 2004. In the mid 90s he also spend couple of seasons for the Russian Zenit Saint Petersburg. Before retiring in 2006 Popov played for Metalurh Zaporizhia.

International career

The hard-nosed defender was also a regular member of the Ukraine national football team from 1993 to 2003, having appeared in 54 international matches and notching 5 goals.

Career statistics

International goals