Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko

Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko (born 29 December 1981) is an Estonian football coach and former player who currently manages Levadia U17. Zahovaiko played for several professional clubs and was also a member of the Estonian national team.^[3]

Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko

Personal information
Full name	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko
Date of birth	(1981-12-29) 29 December 1981 (age 43)
Place of birth	Lelle, Estonia
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Youth career
	Lelle
	Flora Kehtna
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1995–1996	Lelle SK	2	(1)
1997–1998	Riigikogu SK	1	(2)
1998–1999	Flora Kehtna	19	(9)
1999–2009	Flora	140	(121)
2000	→ Warrior Valga (loan)	23	(4)
2000	→ Lelle	5	(1)
2001–2002	→ Tulevik (loan)	46	(26)
2001–2002	→ Elva	12	(5)
2003	→ Pärnu Tervis	2	(4)
2006–2007	→ Flora II	6	(3)
2007	→ Al Kuwait Kaifan (loan)	0	(0)
2010–2011	U.D. Leiria	13	(0)
2011–2012	Debreceni VSC	2	(0)
2011–2012	→ Debreceni VSC II	4	(2)
2012	KuPS	6	(1)
2012–2014	Sillamäe Kalev	36	(20)
2015–2016	Paide Linnameeskond	53	(36)
International career
	Estonia U16	2	(0)
	Estonia U17	5	(0)
	Estonia U19	2	(0)
2000–2003	Estonia U21	15	(2)
2003–2011	Estonia[1]	39	(8)
Managerial career
2017–2021	Paide Linnameeskond
2022–2023	Real de Banjul
2024–	FCI Levadia U17[2]
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Player career

FC Flora Tallinn

In 2006, he was the world's most effective top division goal scorer with 1.2 goals per game.^[4][5] At the start of 2007, he was loaned out to Al Kuwait Kaifan, but after featuring in just a few friendly games for the Kuwaiti side he was told that his contract was invalid and he was sent back to Estonia. Both his club and his agent sent a complaint to FIFA. He plays the position of forward and is 1.87 m tall.

U.D. Leiria

On 30 December 2009, he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Portuguese team U.D. Leiria.^[6] In the first season he played in 6 league games and one cup game, but failed to score in these.^[7]

Kuopion Palloseura

In April 2012 Zahovaiko joined Finnish Veikkausliiga club Kuopion Palloseura.^[8]

Statistics

Correct as of 27 October 2011.

Season	League level	Country	Club	First team		Reserve team
				Games	Goals	Games	Goals
1995–96	4	Estonia	Lelle SK	2	1	0	0
1997–98	4	Estonia	Riigikogu SK	1	2	0	0
1998	4	Estonia	FC Flora Kehtna	9	4	0	0
1999	3			10	5	0	0
	1	Estonia	FC Flora Tallinn	3	2	0	0
2000	1	Estonia	FC Warrior Valga	23	4	5	1
2001	1	Estonia	JK Tulevik Viljandi	21	6	7	2
2002				25	20	5	3
2003	1	Estonia	FC Flora Tallinn	27	14	2	4
2004				22	28	0	0
2005				15	19	0	0
2006				21	25	5	3
2006–07	1	Kuwait	Al Kuwait Kaifan	0	0	—	—
2007	1	Estonia	FC Flora Tallinn	17	14	1	0
2008				12	6	0	0
2009				23	13	0	0
2009–10	1	Portugal	U.D. Leiria	6	0	—	—
2010–11				6	0	—	—
2011–12	1	Hungary	Debreceni VSC	2	0	2	1

International career

He has played a total of 39 games for Estonia national football team, scoring 8 goals. His first international goal was against Ecuador in a friendly game. He scored his eighth goal against Uruguay in a 2–0 win game.^[9]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2003-02-13	Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito	Ecuador	1–2	1–2	Friendly match
2	2003-12-17	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam	Saudi Arabia	1–1	1–1	Friendly match
3	2004-02-16	Ta' Qali National Stadium, La Valletta	Malta	1–1	2–5	2004 Malta Tournament
4	2004-06-11	A.Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	Macedonia	1–3	2–4	Friendly match
5	2008-03-26	A.Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	Canada	2–0	2–0	Friendly match
6	2008-06-04	A.Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	Faroe Islands	1–0	4–3	Friendly match
7	2008-06-04	A.Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	Faroe Islands	2–0	4–3	Friendly match
8	2011-03-25	A.Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	Uruguay	2–0	2–0	Friendly match
Correct as of 7 October 2015[10]

Coaching career

He won the 2022/23 Gambian top division with his team Real de Banjul.^[11] Same year Gambian sports journalist elected Zahovaiko as the coach of the year.^[12]

Honours

Individual

• Meistriliiga top goalscorers: 2004
• Estonian Silverball: 2008
• Meistriliiga Player of the Month: April 2015,^[13] September 2016^[14]
• Meistriliiga Manager of the Month: July 2019,^[15] August 2020,^[16] March/April 2021,^[17] October 2021,^[18]