Taras Mykhalyk

Taras Volodymyrovych Mykhalyk (; born 28 October 1983) is a retired Ukrainian footballer who played as a centre-back. He is a versatile player, having professionally played at every position except goalkeeper.

Club career Mykhalyk is a product of the football youth system of his native Volyn region, where he was a striker.

After graduating from the Vocational technical school in his region, Mykhalyk enrolled in the Institute of Physical Education at the Volyn National University, and played in the team there that participated in the championship of the Volyn Oblast.

The 18-year-old Mykhalyk joined the Ukrainian First League club CSKA Kyiv in 2001. He established himself into the starting line-up of the squad, playing 89 matches in the four seasons that he was there. He also managed to net 10 goals.

Dynamo Kyiv Ukrainian giants Dynamo Kyiv bought Mykhalyk in the 2005–06 season, originally signing a five-year contract.

When Russian coach Yuri Semin took over Dynamo in December 2007, he began to make sweeping reforms. These included reforming the defence and not depending so much on long passes. During this process, Semin had Mykhalyk eventually switch entirely to defence. By the time of the 2008 Channel One Cup in Israel, which Dynamo won, Mykhalyk played the entire competition as a central defender.

During the winter transfer season of 2008–09, Mykhalyk was linked with the Serie A team A.C. Milan and even nicknamed the "Ukrainian Gattuso" due to his impressive performances in Dynamo Kyiv and internationally.

Mykhalyk renewed his contract with Dynamo Kyiv, which was due to expire at the end of 2010, in November 2008. His new contract is to last five years, ending in 2013. After three years in Dynamo, the player has earned the team's trust enough to have even been the captain on several occasions. Не recovered from this injury in October 2009.

Lokomotiv Moscow In the summer of 2013 Mykhalyk, being a free agent, signed 3-year deal with Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow. Under Lokomotiv manager Leonid Kuchuk Mykhalyk usually played at defensive midfield position. His maiden goal in RFPL scored on 5 October 2013, when he levelled the score to get his team a 2–2 draw, coincided with his first red card in Russia.

He left Lokomotiv at the end of the 2018–19 season. He didn't appear in any league games in that season, but played 3 games in the 2018–19 Russian Cup which Lokomotiv won.

International career Mykhalyk was a member of the Ukrainian Under-21 National football team that finished as runners-up in the UEFA U-21 Championship 2006. He was in the main squad in Oleksiy Mykhailychenko's squad even up to the final, which Ukraine lost to the Netherlands 3–0.

Mykhalyk received his first call-up for the senior national team by head coach Oleh Blokhin for a match against Azerbaijan on 15 August 2006. Ukraine went on to win 6–0 and Mykhalyk played 30 minutes of the game.

Mykhalyk's father works in a school as a teacher of physical education, while his mother works in the regional state administration. He is from a large family: he has one older brother and five younger sisters. He stated that he is financially aiding his parents, and helping to pay for the education of one of his sisters at the Kyiv Theological Seminary and another at the National Aviation University.

Honours

Club Dynamo Kyiv Ukrainian Premier League: 2006–07, 2008–09 Ukrainian Cup: 2005–06, 2006–07 Ukrainian Super Cup: 2006, 2007

Lokomotiv Moscow Russian Premier League: 2017–18 Russian Cup: 2014–15, 2016–17, 2018–19

Ukraine under-21 UEFA Under-21 Championship: runner-up 2006