Vitaliy Starukhin

Vitaliy Volodymyrovych Starukhin (Ukrainian: Віталій Володимирович Старухін; 6 June 1949 – 9 August 2000) was a Ukrainian professional footballer who played as a forward. He is considered by many fans to one be the greatest players to ever play for Shakhtar Donetsk.^[1]

Vitaliy Starukhin

Personal information
Full name	Vitaliy Volodymyrovych Starukhin
Date of birth	(1949-06-06)6 June 1949
Place of birth	Minsk, Belarusian SSR
Date of death	9 August 2000(2000-08-09) (aged 51)
Place of death	Donetsk, Ukraine
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1968–1971	SKA Odesa	56	(28)
1971–1972	Budivelnyk Poltava	24	(20)
1973–1981	Shakhtar Donetsk	217	(84)
Total		297	(132)
International career
1980	Soviet Union	1	(0)
Managerial career
1981–2000	Shakhtar Donetsk (youth)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Vitaliy Starukhin's star on Shakhtar's Walk of Fame (Donetsk)

In 1979, he was awarded Player of the year award.^[2] In 1979 Starukhin played couple of games for Ukraine at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR.^[3]

In 2011 Vitaly Starukhin, together with Oleg Blokhin and Igor Belanov was named as "the legends of Ukrainian football" at the Victory of Football awards.^[4]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League		Cup		Europe		Super Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Shakhtar Donetsk	1973	28	10	3	3	0	0	0	0	31	13
	1974	28	11	8	4	0	0	0	0	36	15
	1975	25	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	25	9
	1976 (s)	11	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	14	1
	1976 (a)	10	4	0	0	5	2	0	0	15	6
	1977	26	9	3	1	0	0	0	0	29	10
	1978	25	7	9	4	2	0	0	0	36	11
	1979	32	26	2	1	2	0	0	0	36	27
	1980	21	5	8	7	2	1	0	0	31	13
	1981	11	3	5	2	0	0	1	0	17	5
Total		217	84	41	23	11	3	1	0	270	110

Honours

Shakhtar Donetsk

• Soviet Top League: runner-up 1975, 1979; bronze 1978
• Soviet Cup: 1980

Individual

• Soviet Top League top scorer: 1979 (26 goals)
• Soviet Footballer of the Year: 1979
• Best rookie player: 1973