Zhabchenko, Igor Valentinovich

Pupil of the Sports School "Dynamo" (Kiev). He got into the sports school at the age of 8 from the Zhekovsky team with the assistance of coach Alexander Alexandrovich Shpakov. Since then, he has completely devoted himself to preparing for big football ^[2] .

In 1986 he was credited to the double of Dynamo Kyiv (Kiev) . however, he soon received an injury (leg fracture) during training and dropped out. In 1987 he returned to the double, scored 2 goals in a season. In 1988, he played 4 games for the USSR Football Federation Cup. In early 1989, he moved to the club of the 2nd league of the USSR Championship Dynamo (Bila Tserkva) , for which he spent 4 games. Since the 2nd half of 1989 - in the team of KFK “Sula” Lubny, which included 11 goals.

In 1990, following the Ukrainian specialist Anatoly Konkov, he went to Leningrad, hoping to gain a foothold in the basis of the local Zenith. Shortly after the start of the tournament in the first league, Konkov was dismissed. Many football players who came in the offseason left the club with him ^[3] . Zhabchenko returned to the Sula club, where he scored 3 goals in several games. In the same 1990 he made his debut in the team of the 2nd league " Flint ". He spent 4 full seasons in Kremenchug, played 107 matches, scored 23 goals.

In 1993, representatives of the Odessa “ Chernomorets ” Grigory Bibergal and Vadim Ploskina specially came for him in Kremenchug , offering to move to Odessa. Zhabchenko practically without hesitation agreed. Nevertheless, already in Odessa he had doubts about the right choice and he was back in Kremenchug, but Viktor Prokopenko did everything possible to make Zhabchenko move to Chernomorets ^[2] . In the new club was also a base player, often scored.

As part of Odessa, he won the 1994 Cup of Ukraine , was a 2-time silver medalist of the Ukrainian Championship (1995, 1996) and a bronze medalist (1994). In addition, he made his European debut - he played 2 matches in the Cup of Cups against the Swiss Grasshopper .

In 1995, representatives of the Israeli club Bnei Yehuda attended the match of the Ukrainian football championship Chernomorets - Krivbass . They looked at Yuri Sak , but in the end they opted for Zhabchenko, since the last one in that game was the team leader - made an assist and scored a free-kick. Zhabchenko himself was not opposed to moving to Israel, and Chernomorets leased the player.

He stayed in the new club for three months, but did not become a base player - he spent only 3 games on the field ^[4] . As a result, he returned to Odessa, where he continued to play for Chernomorets.

After Viktor Prokopenko became the head coach of the Volgograd Rotor , Zhabchenko also decided to move to the Russian championship. However, the football player started having back problems, a large hernia was discovered, after which he was treated for a long time.

In 1997, he entered into an annual contract with Donetsk Shakhtar , but even there, due to injuries, he failed to prove himself.

Then, until 2001, he played in several teams of Ukraine and Russia. In 2001, he played 1 game for Sistema-Boreks club, where he ended his playing career after two serious injuries.

In total, in the major Ukrainian league in the positions of the flank defender and midfielder he spent 152 matches and scored 21 goals.

At the end of his career, he is a coach. He worked with the Sistema-Boreks team (2001-2002).

Since March 2003, he led the junior team of Ukraine U-16.

In 2008-2010 he was the head coach of the football club "Star" (Kirovograd) ^[5] .

In 2010-2011 he headed the PFC Sumy , a club from the 2nd league. Under him, the team took 2nd place in the league (the sumskins lost in a butt match for the right to enter the 1st league to Burshtynsky Energetika ).

Before the start of the 2011/12 season, he again headed the “Star” from Kirovograd ^[6] , but left the club in November 2011.

He played 11 matches for the Ukrainian team . Debut on October 28, 1992 in a friendly match with the national team of Belarus .

• Cup Winner of Ukraine : 1994
• Silver medalist of the Championship of Ukraine (2): 1994/95 , 1995/96
• Bronze medalist of the Championship of Ukraine : 1993/94
• Intertoto Cup Finalist: 1996
• In the lists of the best football players of Ukraine (2): 1993/94, 1994/95

Married, has a daughter.

• Profile on the website of the Ukrainian Football Association (in Ukrainian)
• Profile on the Odessa Football website
• Profile on the Football Ukraine website (neopr.) . Archived December 3, 2012.