Oleg Salenko

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Anatolyevich and the family name is Salenko.

Oleg Salenko

Salenko in 2014
Personal information
Full name	Oleg Anatolyevich Salenko
Date of birth	(1969-10-25) 25 October 1969
Place of birth	Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Position	Striker
Youth career
	Smena Leningrad
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1986–1988	Zenit	47	(10)
1989–1992	Dynamo Kyiv	91	(28)
1993–1994	Logroñés	47	(23)
1994–1995	Valencia	25	(7)
1995–1996	Rangers	16	(7)
1996–1998	İstanbulspor	18	(11)
1999–2000	Córdoba	3	(0)
2000–2001	Pogoń Szczecin	1	(0)
Total		248	(86)
International career
1984–1991	Soviet Union U20	4	(5)
1992	Ukraine	1	(0)
1993–1994	Russia	8	(6)
Medal record Representing the Soviet Union UEFA European Under-21 Championship Winner 1990 Europe UEFA European Under-18 Championship Winner 1988 Czechoslovakia
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Oleg Anatolyevich Salenko (Russian: Оле́г Анато́льевич Сале́нко; born 25 October 1969) is a Russian former 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 to a Ukrainian father and a Russian mother in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), Russian SFSR, which was then part of the Soviet Union. He played for Zenit Leningrad, Dynamo Kyiv, Logroñés, Córdoba, Valencia, Rangers and İstanbulspor during his 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 injury reasons. Salenko returned to playing professional football in the 2000–01 season and signed for Pogoń Szczecin. He retired after playing a single game 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 Ukraine 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 2024, 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.Salenko is the only player ever to win the Golden Boot award while playing for 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 was later taking part of FFU assisting staff, but later stopped being involved in football to focus on his business.

Personal life

He is the father of Ukrainian footballer Roman Salenko, who made his debut with Dynamo Kyiv, the second team Oleg played for, in November 2024.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League cup		Europe		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Zenit Leningrad	1986	Soviet Top League	11	3	3	1	5	0	—		19	4
	1987	Soviet Top League	10	0	2	0	2	2	0	0	14	2
	1988	Soviet Top League	26	7	1	0	2	2	—		29	9
	Total		47	10	6	1	9	4	0	0	62	15
Dynamo Kyiv	1989	Soviet Top League	26	3	5	0	0	0	6	1	37	4
	1990	Soviet Top League	21	4	5	8	—		4	2	30	14
	1991	Soviet Top League	28	14	3	4	—		8	3	39	21
	1992	Vyshcha Liha	16	7	4	1	—		4	1	24	9
	Total		91	28	17	13	0	0	22	7	130	48
Logroñés	1992–93	La Liga	16	7	0	0	—		—		16	7
	1993–94	La Liga	31	16	6	5	—		—		37	21
	Total		47	23	6	5	0	0	0	0	53	28
Valencia	1994–95	La Liga	25	7	6	3	—		—		31	10
Rangers	1995–96	Scottish Premier Division	16	7	0	0	2	1	2	0	20	8
İstanbulspor	1995–96	Süper Lig	15	11	—		—		—		15	11
	1996–97	Süper Lig	1	0	0	0	—		—		1	0
	1997–98	Süper Lig	2	0	0	0	—		0	0	2	0
	Total		18	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	18	11
Córdoba	1999–2000	Segunda División	3	0	2	0	—		—		5	0
Pogoń Szczecin	2000–01	Ekstraklasa	1	0	0	0	—		—		1	0
Career total			248	86	37	22	11	5	24	7	320	120

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Ukraine
	1992	1	0
	Total	1	0
Russia
	1993	1	0
	1994	7	6
	Total	8	6
Career total		9	6

International goals

Scores and results list Russia's goal tally first.

No	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	24 June 1994	Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, United States	Sweden	1–0	1–3	1994 FIFA World Cup
2.	28 June 1994	Stanford Stadium, Stanford, United States	Cameroon	1–0	6–1	1994 FIFA World Cup
3.				2–0
4.				3–0
5.				4–1
6.				5–1

Honours

Dynamo Kyiv

• Soviet Top League: 1990
• Soviet Cup: 1990

Rangers

• Scottish Football League Premier Division: 1996

Individual

• FIFA World Youth Championship Golden Shoe: 1989
• FIFA World Cup Golden Boot: 1994
• Oleh Blokhin club

See also

• List of FIFA World Cup top goalscorers

External links

• Oleg Salenko at National-Football-Teams.com
• RSSSF
• Player profile (in Russian)
• Oleg Salenko at FootballFacts.ru (in Russian)
• Oleg Salenko at UAF (in Ukrainian)