Oleksandr Kucher

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Mykolayovych and the family name is Kucher.

Oleksandr Mykolayovych Kucher (Ukrainian: Олександр Миколайович Кучер; born 22 October 1982) is a Ukrainian former professional footballer and current manager who is the head coach of Ukrainian Premier League club Chornomorets Odesa.

Oleksandr Kucher

Kucher with Shakhtar Donetsk in 2016
Personal information
Full name	Oleksandr Mykolayovych Kucher
Date of birth	(1982-10-22) 22 October 1982 (age 42)
Place of birth	Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
	Atlet Kyiv
1999	SDYuShOR-19 Kyiv
1999–2000	Dynamo Kyiv
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2000–2002	Arsenal Kharkiv	59	(5)
2002–2005	Metalurh Donetsk	9	(0)
2002	→ Arsenal Kharkiv (loan)	14	(0)
2003–2004	→ Metalurh-2 Donetsk	10	(0)
2003–2004	→ Banants Yerevan (loan)	19	(3)
2004–2005	→ Arsenal Kharkiv (loan)	12	(0)
2005–2006	Metalist Kharkiv	28	(2)
2006–2017	Shakhtar Donetsk	167	(7)
2017–2019	Kayserispor	42	(0)
2019	Karpaty Lviv	4	(0)
2020	Metal Kharkiv	0	(0)
Total		364	(17)
International career
2006–2017	Ukraine	57	(2)
Managerial career
2020–2022	Metalist Kharkiv
2022–2023	Dnipro-1
2025–	Chornomorets Odesa
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

He was a powerful defender who was good in the air and provided good coverage in the back. He could also play as a defensive midfielder.

A Shakhtar Donetsk player from 2006 until 2017, he won many honours including Premier League titles and the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. He made his senior international debut in 2006 and represented Ukraine when they co-hosted UEFA Euro 2012.

Club career

Kucher is a product of several Kyiv city sports schools and football academies, including the "Atlet" sports school and the Dynamo football academy. He began his career, however, away from Kyiv playing for Arsenal Kharkiv, where he participated in 59 third-tier league matches and scored 5 goals. He joined the Ukrainian top league member Metalurh Donetsk in 2002. While being a player of Metalurh Donetsk, Kucher spent a season on loan at Arsenal Kharkiv during the 2002–03 season, a season at Armenian side Banants Yerevan during the 2003–04 season and another spell with Arsenal in the 2004–05 season. He made 26 appearances for Arsenal over his two seasons on loan. He scored 3 goals in 19 appearances for Banants. Having made 9 appearances for Metalurh, Kucher moved to Metalist Kharkiv during the 2005–06 season playing 28 matches with his only two goals coming in 5–2 defeat to Chornomorets Odesa.^[2] Oleksandr joined Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2006–07 season. He made his debut for Shakhtar as a substitute in a 5–0 victory over his former club Metalist. He scored in a 4–1 victory over Metalurh Donetsk on 9 August 2009.^[3] He netted an extra time winner in the final of the 2011–12 Ukrainian Cup.^[4] Kucher scored a brace in a 3–1 victory over Dynamo Kyiv on 4 September 2012^[5] in a man of the match performance.^[6]

On 11 March 2015, he was given the quickest red card in the history of the Champions League when he was sent off for foul on Thomas Müller in the third minute of a last 16 second leg against Bayern Munich which Bayern won 7–0.^[7]

International career

Kucher made his debut for the Ukraine national team on 15 August 2006 in a 6–0 friendly victory over Azerbaijan. He scored his first goal for Ukraine on 11 October 2006 in a 2–0 Euro 2008 qualifying match victory over Scotland.^[8] He was part of Ukraine's squad as they co-hosted UEFA Euro 2012 with Poland, but did not feature in the group stage exit. Four years later, Kucher was again part of his country's 23-man roster to participate in the UEFA Euro 2016. This time, he made one appearance for Ukraine, in a 1–0 loss to Poland, as Ukraine was once again eliminated at the group stage.^[9]

Coaching career

Metalist Kharkiv

He ended his playing career in March 2020.^[10] Subsequently, in July 2020, Kucher was appointed to the position of head coach of the newly formed FC Metal,^[11] which was renamed FC Metalist in June of the following year.^[12]

Dnipro-1

In July 2022, he became the head coach of Dnipro-1. Kucher moved to the Dnipro-1 from Metalist Kharkiv together with his assistant Yuriy Ushmaev, the vice-president of the Kharkiv club Yevhen Krasnikov, the club's sports director Papa Gueye, the selectionist Jader da Silva and six players — Vladyslav Rybak, Volodymyr Tanchyk, Serhiy Horbunov, Eduard Sarapiy, Ruslan Babenko and team captain Farès Bahlouli.^{[13][14][15][16][17]}

Chornomorets Odesa

On 24 March 2025, Ukrainian Premier League club Chornomorets Odesa announced they had appointed Kucher as new head coach.^[18][19] He made his debut against Karpaty Lviv on 30 March 2025.^[20]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup[a]		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Shakhtar Donetsk	2006–07	Vyshcha Liha	14	0	4	1	5	0	–		23	1
	2007–08		21	1	4	0	8	0	–		33	1
	2008–09	Ukrainian Premier League	15	0	2	0	11	0	1[b]	0	29	0
	2009–10		14	1	1	0	10	0	1[c]	0	26	1
	2010–11		10	0	5	0	3	0	–		18	0
	2011–12		21	0	4	1	6	0	1[b]	0	32	1
	2012–13		15	3	4	0	7	0	1[b]	0	27	3
	2013–14		13	1	4	0	8	0	1[b]	0	26	1
	2014–15		11	0	6	1	6	0	1[b]	0	24	1
	2015–16		11	1	3	1	13	1	1[b]	0	28	3
	2016–17		22	0	1	0	6	0	0	0	29	0
	Total		167	7	38	4	83	1	7	0	295	12
Kayserispor	2017–18	Süper Lig	21	0	5	0	–		–		26	0
	2018–19		19	0	5	1	–		–		24	1
	Total		40	0	10	1	–		–		50	1
Career total			207	7	48	5	83	1	7	0	345	13

1. Includes Ukrainian Cup, Turkish Cup
2. Appearance in Ukrainian Super Cup
3. Appearance in UEFA Super Cup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[21]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Ukraine	2006	2	1
	2007	5	0
	2008	4	0
	2009	8	0
	2010	2	0
	2011	7	0
	2012	3	1
	2013	6	0
	2014	6	0
	2015	4	0
	2016	8	0
	2017	2	0
Total		57	2

Scores and results list Ukraine's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kucher goal.

List of international goals scored by Oleksandr Kucher^[21]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	11 October 2006	Olimpiyskyi National Sports Complex, Kyiv, Ukraine	Scotland	1–0	2–0	Euro 2008 qualifying
2	13 November 2012	Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria	Bulgaria	1–0	1–0	Friendly

Managerial

As of match played 24 August 2023

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Metalist Kharkiv		30 July 2020	12 July 2022	49	43	4	2	132	19	+113	087.76
Dnipro-1		29 July 2022	20 August 2023	48	25	10	13	83	55	+28	052.08
Chornomorets Odesa		24 March 2025		2	1	0	1	1	4	−3	050.00
Career total				99	69	14	16	216	78	+138	069.70

Honours

Shakhtar Donetsk

• Vyshcha Liha/Ukrainian Premier League: 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2016–17
• Ukrainian Cup: 2007–08, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16, 2016–17
• Ukrainian Super Cup: 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
• UEFA Cup: 2008–09

Individual

• Ukrainian Premier League Best Coach of the Round : 2022-23 Round 2,^[22]