Two Ukrainians and five players from the championship of our country played in the Canaries
Dynamo Kyiv will face Fenerbahce in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. Today it became known that the first match in the confrontation between Dynamo and Fenerbahce will be held on July 20 in Lodz, Poland. For many white-and-blue players, the stadium in this city is familiar – in June, the Ukrainian team played its matches in the League of Nations here. For one Dynamo player – Alexander Karavaev – Fenerbahce is also not a foreign club: the midfielder played half the season in this team.
A month before the first match between Dynamo and Fenerbahce, the Sport Arena remembered the Ukrainian football players and players from the Ukrainian Championship, who used to play for the Canaries.
Learned route
In total, 35 Ukrainian football players played in Turkish clubs. In total, since independence, Ukrainian players have been represented in Turkey in 20 seasons. Moreover, for 10 seasons in a row – from 1991/1992 to 2000/2001 – at least one Ukrainian player was in the application of the Turkish teams. A similar period – from the 2003/2004 season to the 2012/2013 season – passed without Ukrainians in the Turkish Super League. Everything is explained very simply: in the first case, the Ukrainian championship was just beginning its formation and the conditions in Turkish clubs were much better, in the second case, our national tournament was reaching its peak, and there was no point in leaving Turkey: in Ukraine they paid more, the championship was more interesting.
Two Ukrainians visited the “cage” of the Canaries
But even with such scenarios, in the entire history of Ukrainian football since independence, only two Ukrainian football players have played in Fenerbahce. Moreover, both are directly related to Dynamo: Sergei Rebrov and Alexander Karavaev. The first spent a season and a half as part of the Canaries, the second – half. For two, they have a trophy – the gold of the Turkish championship, won by Fenerbahce with Rebrov in the 2003/2004 season.
Rebrov: 39 matches, 4 goals, 6 assists. In Fenerbahce, the striker went on loan from Tottenham, where, after two and a half seasons, he still failed to win a place in the first team. The Ukrainian spent the first six months to adapt to a new place: only 13 matches played in the championship, in which Rebrov scored twice, plus an unpleasant injury that knocked him out of the game for a while. And Fenerbahce, who changed three coaches during the season, did not go well – the sixth final place with 36 points behind Besiktas.
But already in the next season, both Rebrov and the club corrected the situation. The Ukrainian took part in 25 league matches, however, he started most of them on the bench, scored two goals again, but already gave 6 assists. And Fenerbahce, led by Christophe Daum, finished first, ahead of second-placed Trabzonspor by four points.
Alexander Karavaev: 6 matches, goal and assist. The midfielder at Fenerbahce also went on loan from Shakhtar after bright seasons at Zara. And the midfielder started quite cheerfully: having played in the first five matches of the Canaries (three in the championship, two in the Cup) after his arrival at the club, and having recorded a goal and an assist. However, then Fenerbahce’s mentor Dick Advocaat stopped trusting the Ukrainian, releasing Karavaev on the field only once – in the second leg of the 1/4 Cup final against Kayserispor. And in general, the season for Fener was not in the best way: third place in the championship with a 13-point gap from Besiktas and relegation in the Cup semi-finals from Istanbul Basaksehir.
From Fenerbahce to Ukraine, and from Ukraine to Fenerbahce
Speaking in general, only two players who played in Fenerbahce played in the Ukrainian championship in its entire independent history. So, in the 2007/2008 season, Erol Bulut played 18 matches for Donetsk Metalurh, who played four seasons in the Canaries (more than 100 matches). A much brighter mark in Ukrainian football was left by the ex-forward Zari Allahyar, who came to the Luhansk club on loan from Fenerbahce. True, Iranian striker Halla played only three matches for the Canaries.
But more players from the Ukrainian Championship visited Fenerbahce. In addition to the mentioned Rebrov and Karavaev, Jermain Lens, Juliano and Jose Sosa were noted in the Canaries. Lens, who played at Dynamo, spent one season at Fenerbahce, where he went on loan from Sunderland, taking part in 36 matches – five goals and 17 assists.
Giuliano, who left a bright mark in the Dnieper, also played one season in Istanbul – 36 matches, 16 goals and six assists. The next one also started well – a goal in three games played (two in Champions League qualification) – but was sold to Al-Nasr.
And Jose Sosa, who sometimes arranged bright performances in Metallist, spent the last two full seasons in Fenerbahce – 63 matches, four goals, five assists. Trofeev did not win, and his contract with the Canaries expired on 1 July.
Source: Sportarena
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
