Serhiy Oleksandrovych Popov ' onMouseout='HidePop("10454")' href="/topics/Makiivka">Makiivka

Makiivka

Makiivka, also spelled Makiyivka is an industrial city located in eastern Ukraine within the Donetsk Oblast , from the capital Donetsk. As of the 2001 Ukrainian Census, the city's population is 389,589 inhabitants, of these 178,475 are men and 211,114 are women. It is an important steel...

) is a former footballer from Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. A former Zenit St. Petersburg defender, Popov made a name under Ukrainian soccer giants, Shakhtar Donetsk, helping them in many of their successful finishes in the Ukrainian Premier League

Ukrainian Premier League

The Ukrainian Premier League is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Supreme League it was founded in 1991 after the fold of the Soviet Union's Vysshaya Liga. In 2008 it was reformed into a more autonomous entity of the Football Federation of Ukraine and changed...

. The hard-nosed defender was also a regular member of the Ukraine national football team

Ukraine national football team

The Ukraine national football team is the national football team of Ukraine and is controlled by the Football Federation of Ukraine. After Ukrainian Independence and breakaway from the Soviet Union, they played their first match against Hungary on 29 April 1992...

from 1993 to 2003, having appeared in 54 international matches (among the cap leaders for Ukraine) and notching 5 goals.