Oleg Salenko


Oleg Anatolyevich Salenko is a retired Russian-Ukrainian footballer who played as a forward. He scored a record five goals in a group-stage match in the 1994 World Cup, helping him earn the Golden Boot as joint-top tournament goalscorer.

Club career

Salenko was born in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. Salenko played at Zenit Leningrad, Dynamo Kyiv, Logroñés, Córdoba, Valencia, Rangers and İstanbulspor in a club career that lasted from 1986 to 2000.
Eventually, he faded from the international football scene and finally had to end his career prematurely, at the age of 31, for health reasons stemming from injuries. Salenko returned to playing professional football in the 2000–01 season and signed for Pogoń Szczecin. He retired after playing a single game however due to his physical conditioning.

International career

Salenko played for the Soviet Union under-20 team at the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship, becoming the tournament top scorer with 5 goals. He played a total of only nine international matches, including the Ukraine 1–3 Hungary friendly, which was the first international game for the Ukrainian national football team to be recognised by FIFA. He also had eight appearances for Russia and scored six goals, all of them at the World Cup in which he was joint top scorer. His last international appearance was 6–1 win against Cameroon when he scored five times.
As of 2017, he is the only player to win the Golden Boot at both the U-20 World Cup and FIFA World Cup.

1994 FIFA World Cup

Salenko set a World Cup record by scoring five goals in one game in Russia's 6–1 win against Cameroon on 28 June 1994. He finished the 1994 World Cup with six goals, having scored from the penalty spot against Sweden in the previous match and shared the Golden Boot with Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov after being knocked out in the first round and having played only three matches while Bulgaria played a total of seven matches and achieved a fourth place finish. As of 2018, Salenko is the only player ever to win the Golden Boot award on a team eliminated from the World Cup finals at the group stage.

Beach football

In 2003, Salenko was appointed as manager of the Ukraine national beach soccer team. His team played three games, the only win being over USA 6–5, and losing the other two to Brazil and Spain. The tournament took place at the end of July in Portugal under the name Mundialito. After the tournament, he was dismissed. He is now currently a part of FFU assisting staff.

Career statistics

International

International goals

NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.24 June 1994Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, United States1–01–31994 FIFA World Cup
2.28 June 1994Stanford Stadium, Stanford, United States1–06–11994 FIFA World Cup
3.28 June 1994Stanford Stadium, Stanford, United States2–06–11994 FIFA World Cup
4.28 June 1994Stanford Stadium, Stanford, United States3–06–11994 FIFA World Cup
5.28 June 1994Stanford Stadium, Stanford, United States4–16–11994 FIFA World Cup
6.28 June 1994Stanford Stadium, Stanford, United States5–16–11994 FIFA World Cup

Honours

Club

;Dynamo Kyiv