Maksym Koval

Maksym Anatoliyovych Koval (Ukrainian: Максим Анатолійович Коваль; born 9 December 1992 in Zaporizhya, Ukraine) is a professional Ukrainian football goalkeeper who plays for FC Dynamo Kyiv.

Career

FC Metalurh Zaporizhya

2009–10

Koval is a product of Metalurh Zaporizhya Youth school system. He first appeared on the bench for the first team on 26 July 2009. He was there for just 5 games before he was given his chance. Mainly due to the number of absentees, he appeared in goal for Round 12 of the Ukrainian Premier League on 1 November; He kept a clean sheet in a 3–0 win. After a fine performance, he kept his place for the next two games, keeping two more clean sheets in the process. Even when he did concede, it was only a single goal in a 1–1 draw with Dynamo Kyiv, a game in which he also saved a 94th minute penalty kick from Artem Milevskiy, saving the point.^[2] Metalurg's form rose, and he kept his place from then on. A 0–4 drubbing by Metalist was the only real blip on his seasons performance. He ended with 6 clean sheets and having only conceded 23 in 19 games.

Dynamo Kyiv

2010–11

Koval on his debut with Ajax's Luis Suárez.

After a fine debut season, starting whilst he was aged just 16, Dynamo Kyiv showed interest. This was intensified after a superb performance against them during the season. He signed for them just 3 games into the 2010–11 season.

He made his debut for Dynamo in a UEFA Champions League play-off game against AFC Ajax, and with an impressive performance^[3] subsequently established himself as the first-choice goalkeeper with his new club in the absence of the injured Oleksandr Shovkovskiy, at the age of only 17. When Shovkovskiy returned from injury in the second half of the 2010–2011 season, Koval was moved to the back-up goalkeeper position.

In November 2010, Koval was named by Spanish football magazine, Don Balón as one of the 100 best young players in the world alongside David de Gea, who has recently moved to Manchester United.^[4]

2011–12

He was very much a substitute goalkeeper throughout the 2011–2012 season, making just 5 appearances up until mid-late April. He kept clean sheets in 4 of them, and conceded 1 in a 6–1 thrashing of FC Zorya Luhansk in October. However, at the end of April, he got a breakthrough, and due to injury to Oleksandr Shovkovskiy (and injury that would rule him out of Euro 2012) he played in the final 3 matches. Coming on initially as a halftime substitute away at Volyn Lutsk, he kept a 5th clean sheet of the season. Next up was Zorya Luhansk again, an though there was not to be a thrashing on this occasion, Koval kept a 6th clean sheet in 7 appearances, and Dynamo drew 0–0. His final chance to impress was against Tavriya Simferopol on 10 May. The game started well with Dynamo taking the lead, only for Koval to rush from his line as the opposing player made a dash forward, and foul him just outside the box with a poor tackle. He was sent off for preventing a clear goal scoring opportunity.^[5] In the 2011–12 season, he also made a single appearance in Ukrainian Cup (conceding 2 in a 3–2 win) and Europa League (conceding 3 in a 3–3 win).

2012–13

For the upcoming 2012–2013 season, it is widely thought that he will become the first choice keeper. As of 22 August 2012, he has started in all 7 of Dynamo Kyiv's opening games. In the 4 league games he has conceded 2 goals in 4 games, keeping 2 clean sheets. In the champions league he conceded 1 in a 2–1 home win over Feyenoord, and kept a clean sheet in the surprise 1–0 away win. He then went on to concede just once and make a string of saves in a shock 3–1 away win over Borussia Mönchengladbach.

2015-16: Loan to Odense Boldklub

On 30 August 2015, Koval was loaned out to Danish club Odense Boldklub for a season long loan.

International

Koval was called up to the senior national team in June 2011 for matches against Uzbekistan and France, but did not play in any of these games. He finally made his debut on 1 June 2012, as a second-half substitute in the 2:3 loss against Austria in a friendly match. Koval was included in Ukraine's squad for the Euro 2012 tournament.

Career statistics

Club

Statistics accurate as of 17 May 2013

Apps – Appearances; Conc. – Goals conceded; ClnSh. – Clean sheets. | Other – This includes games such as national super cups, shields, playoffs and other games that aren't officially under other headings.

Achievements

Team

• Ukrainian Cup: 2013-14
• Ukrainian Premier League Runners-up 2010–11, 2011–12
• Ukrainian Premier League Third place 2012–13

Personal

• Ukraine's best young (Under 21) football player (according to Golden talent of Ukraine): April 2013,^[6] July 2013^[7]

References

External links

• Maxim Koval at Twitter
• Profile at FFU Official Site (Ukr)
• Maksym Koval on Soccerway

Ukraine squad – UEFA Euro 2012
1 Koval 2 Selin 3 Khacheridi 4 Tymoshchuk 5 Kucher 6 Harmash 7 Shevchenko (c) 8 Aliyev 9 Husyev 10 Voronin 11 Yarmolenko 12 Pyatov 13 Shevchuk 14 Rotan 15 Milevskiy 16 Seleznyov 17 Mykhalyk 18 Nazarenko 19 Konoplyanka 20 Rakitskiy 21 Butko 22 Dević 23 Horyainov Coach: Blokhin