Oleg Salenko, whose biography is presented in this article, is a well-known Soviet, Ukrainian and Russian football player at the same time. He gained fame after he became the best goalscorer in the 1994 world championship in the Russian team. Himself, as before, continues to be considered a purely Soviet person.
Childhood
The future famous football player was born in Leningrad on October 25, 1969. His mother was Russian, and his father was Ukrainian. From childhood, the boy began to play sports in the youth club "Friendship". Later, he moved to the Smena school in Leningrad, which he eventually graduated from. Oleg Salenko is the first Soviet footballer to transfer money to another team. In particular, the Zenit club laid out for him 36 thousand rubles.
The first professional clubs
As part of a team from his hometown, the player first played in an official match at the age of sixteen. This happened on March 1, 1986. Then the striker replaced in the second half of the match against Dynamo Moscow and scored a decisive goal. “Zenith” won that meeting with a score of 3: 4. Oleg spent three seasons with Leningraders. Here he managed to quickly become a favorite of the local public. It is not surprising that his transfer to Dynamo (Kiev) in 1989 was perceived by most fans as a betrayal not only of the team, but also of his native city.
In the capital of Ukraine, Oleg Salenko did not achieve much success. Experts are inclined to believe that this is due to the presence of more skilled players in the team, against which the guy could not fully reveal his potential. As a result, in 1992 he was forced to accept the offer of an outsider of the Spanish championship - the Logronies club. It was with this team that the conquest of the young men of the European fields began. During his first season here, in the 31 matches held, the footballer scored sixteen productive hits. It should be noted that more than one player from the countries of the former Soviet Union who have ever played in the La Liga has so far failed to repeat this result.
Glasgow Rangers
Since 1995, Oleg Salenko has been a football player for the Rangers Club in Glasgow, with whom he signed a three-year contract. According to the athlete himself, the motivation for his move to Scotland was primarily the desire to play in the Champions League, as well as a decent level of pay. Despite this, he did not succeed in staying for a long time in the new club. First of all, the athlete was disappointed in the level of local championship. Moreover, the house in which he lived was robbed, and his wife was pregnant. All this, combined with domestic disorder, prompted the athlete to change the situation.
Career ending
In the winter of 1996, Oleg Salenko received an offer to continue his career at the Istanbulspor club from Turkey, which he accepted without much thought. According to the results of the first year spent here, he became one of the best goalscorer of his team. Along with this, health problems affected him more and more. As the footballer himself later admitted, he began to feel growing pains in his knee even during the Scottish period of his career. As a result, he spent the next two seasons in Turkey on the sidelines. After the expiration of the agreement with the club, the player tried to return to the Spanish “Cordoba”, but this attempt was unsuccessful. In 2000, the athlete decided to end his professional career. At that time he performed as part of the Polish Chase.
National teams
In 1992, the player spent his only match in a T-shirt of the Ukrainian national team against Hungary. The next season, he was already playing for Russia. The real finest hour of the striker fell on the 1994 world championship. Here, Oleg Salenko's goals against Cameroon as part of the group stage glorified him all over the planet. More specifically, he hit the opponents' goal five times, which allowed him to become the top scorer of the world Cup. Moreover, the striker set a world record for the number of goals scored in one match of the World Cup. Despite this, the team could not leave the group.
This fight was the last for the striker for the national team. After Oleg Romantsev came to the coaching bridge, the footballer ceased to be called to the location of the national team. According to the player himself, this was due to the fact that the mentor did not want to see a player in his team whose authority exceeds the coaching one. Be that as it may, after leaving the team of Romantsev Oleg Salenko was also not invited to the team. This time, the cause was permanent injuries and a long rehabilitation course.
Summary
Summing up, it should be noted that in the championships of the Soviet Union the footballer took part in 111 matches, in which he defeated the opponents' goal 28 times. In addition, he has 7 goals in 28 Euro Cup matches. Currently Oleg lives in Kiev. After the end of his professional career, the player became the first coach of the Ukrainian beach soccer team after the country's independence. He did not achieve much success here. In the summer of 2014, Salenko led the Tiger team from the Kiev region.