_2023_(cropped).jpg) Zinchenko withArsenal in 2023 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Zinchenko[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1996-12-15)15 December 1996 (age 29)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Radomyshl, Ukraine | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[3] | ||
| Position(s) | |||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Ajax | ||
| Number | 47 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2004–2008 | Youth Sportive School Karpatia[4] | ||
| 2008–2009 | Monolit Illichivsk | ||
| 2010–2014 | Shakhtar Donetsk | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2015–2016 | Ufa | 31 | (2) |
| 2016–2022 | Manchester City | 76 | (0) |
| 2016–2017 | →PSV (loan) | 12 | (0) |
| 2017 | →Jong PSV (loan) | 7 | (0) |
| 2022–2026 | Arsenal | 69 | (2) |
| 2025–2026 | →Nott’m Forest (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 2026– | Ajax | 1 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2011–2012 | Ukraine U16 | 2 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | Ukraine U17 | 6 | (1) |
| 2013 | Ukraine U18 | 6 | (1) |
| 2014–2015 | Ukraine U19 | 6 | (1) |
| 2015–2017 | Ukraine U21 | 8 | (1) |
| 2015– | Ukraine | 75 | (12) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 8 February 2026 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 9 September 2025 | |||
Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Zinchenko (Ukrainian:Олександр Володимирович Зінченко; born 15 December 1996) is a Ukrainian professionalfootballer who plays as aleft-back ormidfielder forEredivisie clubAjax and theUkraine national team.
Zinchenko began his career atRussian Premier League teamUfa before joiningManchester City in 2016 for a fee around £1.7 million. He started his career as an attacking midfielder, but eventually converted into a left-back underPep Guardiola. He won four Premier League titles, fourEFL Cups and anFA Cup with the club. He moved toArsenal in July 2022 for a fee of £30 million.
A full Ukrainian international since 2015, Zinchenko represented his country at theUEFA European Championship in2016,2020 and2024.
Zinchenko was born inRadomyshl, Zhytomyr Oblast.[5] He is a product of Youth Sporitve School Karpatiya of his native Radomyshl (with first coach Serhiy Boretskyi),[6] FC Monolit Illichivsk andShakhtar Donetsk, where he became the captain of theyouth team. On 9 December 2013, he scored a goal in a 1–1 draw withManchester United in the2013–14 UEFA Youth League.[7]
He moved with his parents to Russia due to thewar in Donbas.[8] Shakhtar Donetsk wanted him back despite offering no playing time, but he did not return for security reasons. He spent between five and six months in the amateur leagues in Moscow. He then trained withRubin Kazan but the club did not sign him to a contract since Zinchenko was still under contract to Shakhtar, and Rubin would risk incurring a transfer ban if they attempted to sign him.[9][10]
On 12 February 2015, he signed a contract withUfa.[note 1] He made hisRussian Premier League debut for Ufa on 20 March 2015 in a match againstFC Krasnodar.[12] On 25 July 2015, he scored his first goal in a 1–2 defeat againstFC Rostov.[13]
On 4 July 2016, Zinchenko signed forPremier League clubManchester City for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £1.7 million.[14][15] He was described by a Russian football scout as a "real talent", with Bundesliga clubBorussia Dortmund also monitoring him.[16]
Zinchenko was loaned toEredivisie clubPSV on 26 August, for the2016–17 season.[17] He made his debut on 1 October, as a substitute in a 1–1 draw againstSC Heerenveen.[18]
Zinchenko returned to Manchester City for the2017–18 season, and made his debut on 24 October 2017, playing the full match including extra time in a 0–0 draw withWolverhampton Wanderers in theEFL Cup.[19] He made his first Premier League appearance on 13 December 2017, coming off the bench in a 4–0 away win atSwansea City.[20]
On 18 December 2017, Zinchenko scored the winning penalty kick againstLeicester City after a 1–1 stalemate in regulation time, sending Manchester City through to the semi-finals of theEFL Cup.[21]
Zinchenko gained an extended run in the side following injuries to left backsBenjamin Mendy andFabian Delph, putting in a number of consistent performances in the position.[22]
Zinchenko made his first appearance of the2018–19 season in a 3–0 away win atOxford United in theEFL Cup. In the same week, he made his first league start of the season in a 2–0 home win againstBrighton & Hove Albion, due to injuries to Mendy and Delph.[23]
Zinchenko scored his first goal for Manchester City in the EFL Cup semi-final againstBurton Albion on 9 January 2019, a 9–0 home win.[24]
In June 2019, he signed a new contract with the club, to keep him with them until 2024.[25]On 25 October 2019, Zinchenko had a knee surgery in Barcelona.[26] Manchester City coachPep Guardiola told that the recovery from the injury would take from 5 to 6 weeks: "He had a contact with a knee. He felt something in the bone and had to stop. He had something to clean up the knee. It was not a big issue. Five or six weeks."[27] At the beginning of December 2019, Zinchenko returned to full training.[28] On 11 December 2019, he played his first game after the injury againstDinamo Zagreb.[29] On 4 January 2020, he scored his second goal for Manchester City in a 4–1 win overPort Vale in theFA Cup.[30]
On 4 May 2021, Zinchenko was a part of the starting XI that saw Manchester City qualify for their firstUEFA Champions League final, after beatingParis Saint-Germain 2–0 on the night and 4–1 on aggregate.[31] On 29 May, he later started that Champions League Final, which his team lost 1–0 againstChelsea.[32] On the final matchday of the2021–22 season, he came on as a substitute and earned an assist againstAston Villa, overturning a two-goal deficit to eventually win the game 3–2 to hand him his fourth Premier League medal.[33]
On 22 July 2022, Zinchenko signed for Premier League clubArsenal on a long-term contract for a reported fee of £30 million, potentially rising to £32 million in add-ons.[34] On 5 August, he made his club debut and registered his first assist with the club, in a 2–0 away win againstCrystal Palace in the Premier League.[35]
On 18 February 2023, Zinchenko scored his first Arsenal and Premier League goal, which was Arsenal's second in an eventual 4–2 win away over Aston Villa. This result helped Zinchenko's Gunners build their lead at the top of the Premier League.[36] However, Arsenal finished second behind his former club Manchester City, despite being on top for the majority of the2022–23 season.[37] On 20 September 2023, he played his first Champions League match for Arsenal in a 4–0 win against his former club PSV.[38] On 12 March 2025, Zinchenko scored his first goal of the 2024–25 season and his firstUEFA Champions League goal in the second leg of the round of 16 tie against his former clubPSV Eindhoven, which Arsenal won 9–3 on aggregate to advance to the quarter-finals.[39]
On 1 September 2025, Zinchenko signed for fellowPremier League clubNottingham Forest on a season-long loan deal.[40]
On 1 February 2026, Zinchenko signed forEredivisie clubAjax for the coming six months.[41]
On 12 October 2015, Zinchenko debuted forUkraine in aUEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match againstSpain.[42] He scored his first international goal in afriendly match against neighboursRomania inTurin, which Ukraine won 4–3 on 29 May 2016.[43] Zinchenko also became Ukraine's youngest player to score an international goal at the age of 19 years and 165 days, beating a record held since 1996 byAndriy Shevchenko.[43] Zinchenko was included in Ukraine's squad forEuro 2016, appearing as a substitute forViktor Kovalenko in both of Ukraine's first two matches, againstGermany andNorthern Ireland as Ukraine failed to score and were the first team eliminated.[44]
On 24 March 2021, in a match againstFrance, Zinchenko became Ukraine's youngest player captain in their history at the age 24 years and 98 days.[45] Later on, he was included in the squad forUEFA Euro 2020.[46] On 29 June 2021, he scored the first goal and assisted the second goal in the Euro 2020 round of 16 match againstSweden, which ended in a 2–1 win for Ukraine after extra time,[47] for which he was awarded the Star of the Match.[48]
In May 2024, Zinchenko was called up to represent Ukraine atUEFA Euro 2024.[49]
In August 2020, Zinchenko married journalist Vlada Sedan.[50] Their first child, a daughter, was born in August 2021.[51] In August 2023, the couple welcomed their second daughter.[52] Zinchenko identifies as anEastern Orthodox Christian.[53]
He is a vocal opponent of theRussian invasion of Ukraine. On 24 February 2022, he wrote on his Instagram that he wished forVladimir Putin, the President of Russia, to die the most painful of deaths. The post was later deleted, with Zinchenko claiming Instagram had deleted it rather than him.[54] In October 2023, he expressed his support to Israel during theirGaza war.[55] In an interview with the BBC in April 2024, Zinchenko expressed his willingness to fight in his home country should he be called up, and said that he had donated about £1 million to help people affected by the war in Ukraine.[56]
In 2023, Zinchenko founded Passion UA, anesports organisation currently competing inCounter-Strike 2 andDota 2 and formerly inApex Legends.[57][non-primary source needed] Zinchenko would stand-in for hisCounter-Strike team in a YaLLa Compass Spring 2024 Contenders match against Bleed Esports on 8 February 2024, ultimately losing the match 2–1.[58] On 24 November 2024 Passion UA upsetAstralis to qualify to thePerfect World Shanghai Major 2024.[59] On 19 August 2025 Passion UA would purchase the core ofComplexity Gaming's Counter-Strike 2 division following their exit from the scene, becoming a North American based team.[60]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Ufa | 2014–15[61] | Russian Premier League | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 7 | 0 | |||
| 2015–16[61] | 24 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 26 | 2 | |||||
| Total | 31 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 33 | 2 | |||||
| Manchester City | 2016–17[62] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 2017–18[63] | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | — | 14 | 0 | |||
| 2018–19[64] | 14 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5[c] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 1 | ||
| 2019–20[65] | 19 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2[c] | 0 | 1[d] | 0 | 25 | 1 | ||
| 2020–21[66] | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9[c] | 0 | — | 32 | 0 | |||
| 2021–22[67] | 15 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8[c] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | ||
| Total | 76 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 15 | 1 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 128 | 2 | ||
| PSV (loan) | 2016–17[61] | Eredivisie | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 4[c] | 0 | — | 17 | 0 | ||
| Jong PSV (loan) | 2016–17[61] | Eerste Divisie | 7 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 7 | 0 | ||||
| Arsenal | 2022–23[68] | Premier League | 27 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3[e] | 0 | — | 33 | 1 | |
| 2023–24[69] | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6[c] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 1 | ||
| 2024–25[70] | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6[c] | 1 | — | 23 | 1 | |||
| 2025–26[71] | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Total | 69 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 91 | 3 | ||
| Nottingham Forest (loan) | 2025–26[72] | Premier League | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3[e] | 0 | — | 10 | 0 | |
| Career total | 200 | 4 | 17 | 1 | 21 | 1 | 47 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 286 | 7 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ukraine | 2015 | 1 | 0 |
| 2016 | 10 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 10 | 1 | |
| 2019 | 8 | 2 | |
| 2020 | 4 | 1 | |
| 2021 | 13 | 3 | |
| 2022 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 6 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 11 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 6 | 2 | |
| Total | 75 | 12 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 29 May 2016 | Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Turin, Italy | 2 |  Romania | 2–1 | 4–3 | Friendly | [74] |
| 2 | 6 September 2018 | Městský fotbalový stadion, Uherské Hradiště, Czech Republic | 18 |  Czech Republic | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2018–19 UEFA Nations League B | [75] |
| 3 | 7 September 2019 | LFF Stadium, Vilnius, Lithuania | 28 |  Lithuania | 1–0 | 3–0 | UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying | [76] |
| 4 | 10 September 2019 | Dnipro-Arena, Dnipro, Ukraine | 29 |  Nigeria | 1–2 | 2–2 | Friendly | [77] |
| 5 | 3 September 2020 | Arena Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine | 32 |  Switzerland | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2020–21 UEFA Nations League A | [78] |
| 6 | 7 June 2021 | Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv, Ukraine | 39 |  Cyprus | 2–0 | 4–0 | Friendly | [79] |
| 7 | 29 June 2021 | Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland | 43 |  Sweden | 1–0 | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | UEFA Euro 2020 | [80] |
| 8 | 16 November 2021 | Bilino Polje Stadium, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina | 48 |  Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification | [81] |
| 9 | 9 September 2023 | Stadion Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland | 54 |  England | 1–0 | 1–1 | UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying | [82] |
| 10 | 19 November 2024 | Arena Kombëtare, Tirana, Albania | 69 |  Albania | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2024–25 UEFA Nations League B | [83] |
| 11 | 7 June 2025 | BMO Field, Toronto, Canada | 72 |  Canada | 2–4 | 2–4 | 2025 Canadian Shield | [84] |
| 12 | 10 June 2025 | BMO Field, Toronto, Canada | 73 |  New Zealand | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2025 Canadian Shield | [85] |
Manchester City
Individual
kassad's posts came shortly after BLEED just barely edged out a 2–1 victory over Passion UA in YaLLa Compass Contenders, a series in which the Ukrainian organization had to use their founder, Arsenal left-back Oleksandr "Zinchenko" Zinchenko, as a stand-in for the second and third maps.
Ukraine squads | |||||||||||||||||||
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