Andriy Voronin

Andriy Viktorovych Voronin (Андрій Вікторович Воронін; Russian: Андрей Викторович Воронин, born 21 July 1979) is a Ukrainian professional football manager and a former player.

Voronin spent five full seasons in the Bundesliga of Germany, and last played as a striker or attacking midfielder for Dynamo Moscow.

His previous professional clubs include Borussia Mönchengladbach, Mainz 05, 1. FC Köln, Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool, Hertha BSC and Dynamo Moscow.

Voronin was born in Odesa on 21 July 1979, to a Russian father, Viktor Voronin (Russian: Виктор Воронин) and a Jewish mother, Rehina Voronina (Yiddish: רחינאַ וואָראָנינאַ).

Both of his grandfathers fought against the Nazis in the Second World War.

Voronin is married to his wife Yulia and they have four children together; Maria, Andriy Jr., Daniel and Sonja.

He is a Ukrainian Orthodox Christian.

Voronin left his youth club Chornomorets Odesa in 1995 to move to Germany, where he joined Borussia Mönchengladbach.

He made his debut in the German Bundesliga against Bayern Munich in 1997 at the age of 18, but went on to spend a couple of years mainly in Mönchengladbach's youth teams.

Having played just seven games and scored one goal in the top division, he saw his team relegated and after one season and just two matches in the 2.

Bundesliga joined fellow second division strugglers Mainz for a fee of €45,000.

Voronin became Mainz' leading striker in his two seasons at the club, and in his third season became the top scorer in the 2.

Bundesliga with 20 goals.

In the 2002–03 season, Voronin became top goalscorer in the 2. Bundesliga, which earned him a transfer to the Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln.

At international level, Voronin played 74 matches for Ukraine from his debut in 2002.

Voronin's start to the 2002–03 season with Mainz prompted the following quote from German football daily kicker: "The star of the 23 year old forward is on a rise due to the new role he plays for the team – he has complete freedom of actions."

This led to speculations about his future, with Dynamo Kyiv reported to be willing to bring him back to Ukraine.

VfB Stuttgart, Bologna and a number of other clubs were then reported to approach his agent and Mainz initiated negotiations to extend his contract.

UEFA.com described Voronin as "one of the most sought-after talents in Germany."

However, come the end of the season Mainz failed to win promotion.

Voronin decided not to renew his contract and ultimately chose to continue his career with 1. FC Köln, who had just been promoted to the top division.

Köln were relegated at the end of the season, however Voronin stayed in the top flight after signing for Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayer had been interested in Voronin since his time at Mainz and were also impressed with his performance for Köln in a 2–2 draw against them when Voronin scored one and created the other of Köln's goals.

After that game Express called him "the only true good footballer at Köln" and Bild wrote: "Köln's only striker (Voronin) was more dangerous than Bayer's entire star attack (Schneider, Ponte, Neuville and Berbatov)."

He was in their squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012, after which he retired from international football.

After a successful first two seasons with Bayer as well as at the international level (culminating in participation in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany where Ukraine reached the quarterfinals), Voronin's contract was running out at the end of the 2006–07 season and he was reported to have declined Bayer's offer of an extension.

According to the player, he was approached by clubs from France, Spain, Italy and Scotland (Celtic were reported to be contemplating a move).

On 26 February 2007, Liverpool announced that they had signed Voronin on a free transfer and that he would join the team during the summer.

Voronin was unveiled as a Liverpool player on 6 July 2007 after signing a four-year deal.

Voronin made his Premier League debut on 11 August 2007, coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute against Aston Villa in a 2–1 victory.

A few days later on 15 August 2007, he scored his first ever goal for Liverpool in the 1–0 1st leg Champions League qualifier against Toulouse.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benítez was clearly impressed with Voronin, saying:"'He is clever, has great game awareness and gives us so many more options in attack. He can play behind a main striker, lead the line himself, or come into the attack from the flanks.'"

On 25 August 2007, Voronin scored his first Premier League goal against Sunderland in the 87th minute.

He then scored his next goal in the next league game against Derby County which Liverpool comfortably won 6–0 to move top of the Premier League table.

He also scored the first goal in the 2–2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on 7 October 2007.

He carried on his scoring record against Tottenham Hotspur by scoring in a win over the north London club on the last day of the season.

On 25 January 2008, Voronin injured his ankle during training.

He underwent surgery and made a small number of appearances at the end of the season but failed to make an impact.

This led to rumours that Benítez would sell him in order to raise funds for the summer 2008 transfer window, however Voronin played some of the summer friendlies scoring a total of 3 goals in the process.

He made his first start of the 2009–10 season in the Champions League group stage game against Lyon.