Oleksandr Kucher

Oleksandr Mykolayovych Kucher (; born 22 October 1982) is a Ukrainian former professional footballer and current football manager. He was a powerful defender who was good in the air and provided good coverage in the back. He could also play as a defensive midfielder.

A Shakhtar Donetsk player from 2006 until 2017, he won many honours including Premier League titles and the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. He made his senior international debut in 2006 and represented Ukraine when they co-hosted UEFA Euro 2012.

Club career Kucher is a product of several Kyiv city sports schools and football academies, including the "Atlet" sports school and the Dynamo football academy. He began his career, however, away from Kyiv playing for Arsenal Kharkiv, where he participated in 59 third-tier league matches and scored 5 goals. He joined the Ukrainian top league member Metalurh Donetsk in 2002. While being a player of Metalurh Donetsk, Kucher spent a season on loan at Arsenal Kharkiv during the 2002–03 season, a season at Armenian side Banants Yerevan during the 2003–04 season and another spell with Arsenal in the 2004–05 season. He made 26 appearances for Arsenal over his two seasons on loan. He scored 3 goals in 19 appearances for Banants. Having made 9 appearances for Metalurh, Kucher moved to Metalist Kharkiv during the 2005–06 season playing 28 matches with his only two goals coming in 5–2 defeat to Chornomorets Odesa. Oleksandr joined Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2006–07 season. He made his debut for Shakhtar as a substitute in a 5–0 victory over his former club Metalist. He scored in a 4–1 victory over Metalurh Donetsk on 9 August 2009. He netted an extra time winner in the final of the 2011–12 Ukrainian Cup. Kucher scored a brace in a 3–1 victory over Dynamo Kyiv on 4 September 2012 in a man of the match performance.

On 11 March 2015, he was given the quickest red card in the history of the Champions League when he was sent off for foul on Thomas Müller in the third minute of a last 16 second leg against Bayern Munich which Bayern won 7–0.

International career Kucher made his debut for the Ukraine national team on 15 August 2006 in a 6–0 friendly victory over Azerbaijan. He scored his first goal for Ukraine on 11 October 2006 in a 2–0 Euro 2008 qualifying match victory over Scotland. He was part of Ukraine's squad as they co-hosted UEFA Euro 2012 with Poland, but did not feature in the group stage exit. Four years later, Kucher was again part of his country's 23-man roster to participate in the UEFA Euro 2016. This time, he made one appearance for Ukraine, in a 1–0 loss to Poland, as Ukraine was once again eliminated at the group stage.

Coaching career Metalist Kharkiv He ended his playing career in March 2020. Subsequently, in July 2020, Kucher was appointed to the position of head coach of the newly formed FC Metal, which was renamed FC Metalist in June of the following year.

Dnipro-1 In July 2022, he became the head coach of Dnipro-1. Kucher moved to the Dnipro-1 from Metalist Kharkiv together with his assistant Yuriy Ushmaev, the vice-president of the Kharkiv club Yevhen Krasnikov, the club's sports director Papa Gueye, the selectionist Jader da Silva and six players — Vladyslav Rybak, Volodymyr Tanchyk, Serhiy Horbunov, Eduard Sarapiy, Ruslan Babenko and team captain Farès Bahlouli.

Chornomorets Odesa On 24 March 2025, Ukrainian Premier League club Chornomorets Odesa announced they had appointed Kucher as new head coach. He made his debut against Karpaty Lviv on 30 March 2025. On 13 January 2026, Kucher has been fired.

Career statistics Club

International

Scores and results list Ukraine's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kucher goal. + List of international goals scored by Oleksandr Kucher