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🎂 Today, 29 September

29 September: Shevchenko, the Ballon d'Or from Kyiv

On 29 September Andriy Shevchenko was born, the Ukrainian striker who scored a hat-trick against Barcelona at the Camp Nou, won a Champions League with the decisive penalty and took the 2004 Ballon d'Or. Also born that day was Silvio Piola, the all-time top scorer in Serie A and a world champion in 1938.

Andriy Shevchenko

«Sheva»

🎂 turns 50

In shortAndriy Shevchenko (Dvirkivshchyna, 1976) is the best footballer in Ukraine's history and its all-time top scorer, with 48 goals in 111 games. He came out of Lobanovskyi's Dynamo Kyiv, shone at Milan, where he scored 175 goals, won the 2003 Champions League by taking the decisive penalty and the 2004 Ballon d'Or. He later managed his country.

Born29 September 1976

CountryUkraine

Positionforward

Clubs

FC Dinamo de Kiev 1994-1999 · 60 goals
A.C. Milan 1999-2006 · 127 goals
Chelsea Football Club 2006-2009 · 9 goals
A.C. Milan 2008-2009 · 1 goals
FC Dinamo de Kiev 2009-2012 · 23 goals

National teamUkraine 111 caps · 48 goals

Honours

Ballon d'Or 2004European Cup 2003Serie A 2004UEFA Super Cup 2003FA Cup 2007League Cup 20075 Ukrainian titles in a row (1995-1999)Serie A top scorer 2000 and 2004

Other awards

Orden de Mérito (Ucrania), 3.ª claseOrden al Valor 3ra clase de UcraniaOrden al Mérito de primera claseOrden de Mérito (Ucrania), 2.ª claseOrden del Príncipe Yaroslav el Sabio, 5.ª claseNational legend of UkraineHéroe de Ucrania 2004Ballon d'Or 2004Hero of Ukraine, Order of the State 2004Orden de la Estrella de Italia 2017

↻ Dates, clubs and individual awards come from Wikidata and update themselves

Lobanovskyi's Dynamo

He was born in a village in the Kyiv region and grew up in the capital, where he joined Dynamo's academy very young. There he was shaped by Valeriy Lobanovskyi, the scientific coach of Soviet football, the man of computers and drills timed to the second.

With Dynamo he won five league titles in a row, and in Europe he became famous overnight: in November 1997, in the Champions League group stage, Dynamo won 4-0 at the Camp Nou and Shevchenko scored three in the first half. Two years later he led Dynamo to the competition's semi-finals.

Milan

Milan signed him in 1999 and in his first season in Italy he was capocannoniere, Serie A's top scorer, something very few foreigners had managed in their debut year. He did it again in 2004.

His big night was the 2003 Champions League final at Old Trafford, against Juventus. It finished 0-0 and in the shoot-out Milan's last penalty fell to him. He scored it calmly, sending Buffon the wrong way, and Milan were European champions. The following year he won Serie A and the 2004 Ballon d'Or, the third for a Ukrainian player after Blokhin and Belanov.

He left Milan with 175 goals, the second highest scorer in the club's history, and as the leading scorer in the derby against Inter.

Istanbul and London

The other side came in the 2005 final, in Istanbul. Milan led Liverpool 3-0 at half-time and ended up drawing 3-3. In extra time Dudek pulled off a point-blank double save from him that looked impossible, and in the shoot-out Shevchenko took Milan's last penalty. Dudek saved it. On the other side was John Arne Riise, born five days earlier in the calendar, on 24 September.

In 2006 Chelsea paid a record fee in English football for him. It did not work: in London he won an FA Cup and a League Cup, but he was never the Shevchenko of Milan. He went back to Italy on loan and finished his career where it began, at Dynamo.

Ukraine

He took Ukraine to their first World Cup, Germany 2006, and all the way to the quarter-finals. At Euro 2012, on home soil and aged thirty-five, he scored two headers against Sweden in Kyiv in Ukraine's opening game. They were the last of his 48 international goals.

As manager he took Ukraine to the quarter-finals of Euro 2020, the country's best showing at that tournament.

Also born on 29 September

Silvio Piola, the record that will not fall

🎂 would have turned 113

Born in Robbio, in Lomellina, in 1913, he is the all-time top scorer in Serie A, with 274 goals spread across Pro Vercelli, Lazio, Torino, Juventus and Novara, where he played until he was forty. Totti, born on 27 September, is second on that list.

At the 1938 World Cup in France he led the line for Vittorio Pozzo's Italy, who retained the title: he scored twice in the final against Hungary (4-2). Today the stadiums in Vercelli and Novara both bear his name.

Born29 September 1913

Died3 October 1996

CountryItaly

Positionforward

Clubs

Unione Sportiva Pro Vercelli Calcio 1929-1934 · 51 goals
Società Sportiva Lazio 1934-1943 · 143 goals
Torino Football Club 1943-1944 · 27 goals
Juventus 1945-1947 · 26 goals
Novara F.C. 1947-1954 · 86 goals

National teamItaly 34 caps · 30 goals

Honours

World Cup 1938

Other awards

Vercellese of the Year 1986

↻ Dates, clubs and individual awards come from Wikidata and update themselves

🔴⚪ Sporting Gijón players born this day

They played for Sporting Gijón and were born on this same day. There is only their data here: we would rather name them than leave them out, and rather give the bare facts than invent a story.

Luis Pellicer 🔴⚪

🎂 would have turned 95

Born29 September 1931

Died15 May 2018

Positiondefender

Clubs

Real Sporting de Gijón
Fútbol Club Barcelona

↻ Dates, clubs and individual awards come from Wikidata and update themselves

Another 52 internationally known footballers were born on this day. We do not list them for the sake of it: only those with a story to tell make it here.

📅 The almanac: pick any date

Every day of the year has its story. Highlighted days are already out: click to see who was born or what happened on that date. The faded ones go live on their day, at midnight (Spain time). 13 published.

Football almanac · Elopi23