At the moment the White-Blues are preparing for important Europa League fixture against FC Thun. Anyway birthday is a good reason to recall the start of Andriy’s career.
When he was breaking fresh ground in Dynamo first team Yarmolenko was criticized a lot. Never the less he was making headway and eventually became one of the leaders of our team.
Andriy Yarmolenko was born in St. Petersburg. Three years later he moved to Chernihiv with his family. According to Andriy’s mother he started playing with a hand-made ball when he was 4. Once the boy was spotted by coach Mykola Lypovyi who invited him to football school. Andriy missed training sessions very rarely.
He featured in Ukrainian National Youth Competition for FC Desna Chernihiv. When he was 13 Andriy was invited to FC Dynamo Kyiv, but having spent a year in the capital of Ukraine he returned to Chernihiv.
Three years later Yarmolenko came to Kyiv again. At first he performed for Dynamo-2 and netted 4 goals in his first season (15 appearances). The following year he made 22 appearances and scored 6 goals. Andriy also played for Dynamo U-21 (13 appearances, 8 goals).
It was quite clear that the young striker was ready to make a step up. On May 11 2008 Yarmolenko made a substitute appearance 8 minutes before the time in Dynamo last home match of the season against FC Vorskla Poltava and scored the decider.
In 2008/2009 season Andriy scored 5 goals in 3 matches of the Ukrainian Cup. Still he lacked game practice within the Ukrainian Premier League. The situation changed for better in May of 2009 when Valery Gazzaev became the White-Blues head coach. He made Andriy play as left winger.
In September of 2009 Yarmolenko was capped for the first time by Ukraine and scored against Andorra. He also made his debut in the UEFA Champions League as Kyivans faced FC Rubin Kazan.
Today Andriy is Dynamo and Ukraine national team irreplaceable player. Media often emphasize interest of European top clubs to him. Still Yarmolenko wants to achieve success with the White-Blues first of all.
