Chernobyl disaster

At the age of nine, growing up in Soviet Ukraine, Shevchenko had to evacuate Kiev in the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. His home was around 200 kilometres from the accident, and he, like many children, was moved away from the area because of radiation fears. He ended up on the shore of the Sea of Azov, some 1500 kilometres from home, before later returning to Kiev.

Rush boots

Aged 13, representing Dinamo Kiev’s youth team, Shevchenko finished as top goalscorer and won player of the tournament at the Ian Rush Cup in Aberystwyth, Wales. His prize was a pair of boots presented by the Liverpool legend. ‘I treasured those boots for years,’ Sheva later recalled.

‘It meant such a lot because everyone in Ukraine knew about Ian Rush. Funnily enough, the boots were too small for me but I still tried to play in them - until my big toes poked through. I even tried to cover up the holes because I wasn't able to buy new boots as nice as them.’

Sheva x Giroud

In 2005, while playing for AC Milan away to Fenerbahce, Shevchenko became the first player to score four goals away from home in the Champions League. The most recent to achieve that feat? Our own Olivier Giroud, who hit a fantastic four in Seville last December.

Blue record

Upon joining Chelsea in the summer of 2006, Shevchenko became our club record signing, taking over the mantle from Michael Essien, who had arrived a year earlier. He remained so until Fernando Torres joined in 2011.

Single in the Double

Shevchenko’s final Chelsea appearance actually came very early on in our 2009/10 Double-winning campaign. He was a late sub in a 3-1 win at Sunderland in what proved his only Blues game under his former AC Milan boss Carlo Ancelotti. He returned to Dinamo Kiev shortly afterwards.

Quarter-final pride

As a player, Shevchenko captained Ukraine to their first major tournament as an independent nation, the 2006 World Cup, where they impressively reached the quarter-finals before being knocked out by the eventual winners Italy. This summer he has guided his country to a Euros quarter-final for the first time, earning further acclaim in his homeland.

Political Sheva

After retiring in 2012, Shevchenko immediately joined the (aptly-named) Ukraine – Forward! political party. He finished in second place in the party list in the October 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, but nationally Forward! won no representation in parliament and Sheva’s brief political career was over.