Oleh Valeriyovych Protasov (; born 4 February 1964) is a Ukrainian and Soviet former footballer who played as a striker. He was a key member of the Soviet Union national team throughout the 1980s; his 29 In 1983, he was on the champion's roster of Dnipro, which gained its first domestic title. While playing for Dnipro during the 1985 season, he became the top goalscorer of the season with 35, which became the record of goals scored in a single season.

Managerial career

After retiring as a player, Protasov went into coaching, and led Olympiacos to the Greek title in 2003. In 2005, he coached Romanian team Steaua București.

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

In December 2005, Oleh Protasov returned in Ukraine to coach his hometown team, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, after an impressive UEFA Cup performance with Steaua București. Protasov left by his own choice and was on very good terms with the entire team and owners of the club.

In his first 2005–06 season as Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk's coach, Oleh Protasov led the team to a 6th-place finish in the Ukrainian Premier League. In the next, 2006–07 season, Protasov improved on this, finishing 4th in the league.

In the 2007–08 season his side unexpectedly led the title race ahead of the winter break, before a poor second half left his side in 4th once again. Dnipro sacked him on 29 August 2008 after an embarrassing defeat from AC Bellinzona in UEFA cup qualification match.

Kuban Krasnodar

After that, Protasov took over FC Kuban Krasnodar in the nearby region of Russia. Kuban had been recently relegated to the Russian First League. Under Protasov's leadership, the club finished 2nd in the league, with an 8-point lead over their nearest competitors. This finish earned them right to be promoted to the Russian Premier League.

However FC Kuban was affected by the 2008 financial crisis, which greatly decreased the club's budget. In a mutual agreement with the club, Protasov left the club on 19 November 2008.

Iraklis

Then, he signed a two-year deal worth 400,000 euro per year with Iraklis, starting from the summer of 2009. On 30 October, it was announced by Iraklis the termination of their contract, after 5 continual defeats in Super League and Greek Cup.

Astra Giurgiu

On 13 October 2014, Oleg became manager of FC Astra Giurgiu. He was sacked on 2 March 2015.

Aris

Protasov agreed on a three years contract with Aris, though Arvanitidis expulsion as head of the football department of the club, led to amateur Aris to terminate the deal after 15 minutes of its announcement.

Personal life

Protasov is married to Natalia (née – Lemeshko), a daughter of Yevhen Lemeshko.

Career statistics

Club

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

|-

!rowspan="2" width="100"|Club

!rowspan="2"|Season

!colspan="2"|League

!colspan="2"|Cup

!colspan="2"|Continental

!colspan="2"|Total

|-

!width="40"|Apps

!width="40"|Goals

!width="40"|Apps

!width="40"|Goals

!width="40"|Apps

!width="40"|Goals

!width="40"|Apps

!width="40"|Goals

|-

|rowspan="6"|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

|1982

|4||1||0||0||0||0||4||1

|-

|1983

|21||7||2||0||0||0||23||7

|-

|1984

|34||17||2||2||6||0||42||19

|-

|1985

|33||35||2||1||6||4||41||40

|-

|1986

|23||17||1||1||2||0||26||18

|-

|1987

|30||18||4||3||0||0||34||21

|-

|rowspan="3"|Dynamo Kyiv

|1988

|29||11||5||2||0||0||34||13

|-

|1989

|26||7||6||2||3||1||35||10

|-

|1990

|16||12||1||1||0||0||17||13

|-

|rowspan="4"|Olympiacos

|1990–91

|29||11||2||1||0||0||31||12

|-

|1991–92

|21||15||6||3||0||0||27||18

|-

|1992–93

|24||14||9||3||4||1||37||18

|-

|1993–94

|9||8||4||1||1||0||14||9

|-

|rowspan="2"|Gamba Osaka

|1994

|27||11||4||4||3||0||34|| 15

|-

|1995

|28||13||0||0||0||0||28||13

|-

|rowspan="2"|Veria

|1997

|30||4||4||1||0||0||34||5

|-

|1998

|32||7||1||0||0||0||33||7

|-

|Proodeftiki

|1998

|28||5||0||0||0||0||28||5

|-

!colspan="2"|Career total

!444!!213!!53!!25!!25!!6!!522!!244

|}

International

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year

|-

!National team!!Year!!width="40"|Apps!!width="40"|Goals

|-

|rowspan="8"|Soviet Union

|1984||5||2

|-

|1985||12||8

|-

|1986||3||0

|-

|1987||9||2

|-

|1988||18||10

|-

|1989||8||3

|-

|1990||11||3

|-

|1991||2||1

|-

!colspan="2"|Total!!68!!29

|-

|Ukraine

|1994||1||0

|-

!colspan="2"|Total!!1!!0

|}

:Scores and results list the Soviet Union's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Protasov goal.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ List of international goals scored by Oleh Protasov

|-

!scope="col"|No.

!scope="col"|Date

!scope="col"|Venue

!scope="col"|Opponent

!scope="col"|Score

!scope="col"|Result

!scope="col"|Competition

|}

Honours

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

  • Soviet Top League: 1983
  • USSR Federation Cup: 1986

Dynamo Kyiv

  • Soviet Top League: 1990
  • Soviet Cup: 1989–90

Olympiacos

  • Greek Cup: 1991–92
  • Greek Super Cup: 1992

Soviet Union

  • UEFA European Championship runner-up: 1988

Individual

  • ADN Eastern European Footballer of the Season: 1985
  • Soviet Footballer of the Year: 1987
  • Soviet Top League top scorer: 1985, 1987, 1990
  • UEFA Silver Boot: 1986 (behind Marco van Basten, holder of the European Golden Shoe)
  • Oleh Blokhin club: 275 goals
  • Gazeta Sporturilor Romania Coach of the Year: 2005

References

  • Info on Dnipro official website (in list)
  • Oleh Protasov at Kopanyi-Myach.info