Hennadiy Popovych

Hennadiy Ivanovych Popovych (Ukrainian: Геннадій Іванович Попович; Russian: Геннадий Иванович Попович) (9 February 1973 – 4 June 2010) was an Ukrainian professional footballer. He was born in Dniprodzerzhynsk. He made his professional debut in the Soviet Second League B in 1991 for FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih.

Popovych was a trainee of the sport academy of Mettalurg from Dniprodzerzhynsk. He was playing for various teams at the early stage of his career including Prometei (1990), Kryvbas (1991–1994), Zirka (1994–1995), Shakhtar (1995–1996). In 1997 he moved to Russia, where he started to play for Zenit from Saint Petersburg, where he performed more than 100 caps and scored 41 goal. Together with "Zenit" he reached a peak of his career. In 2000 he scored two goals in the final of Intertoto Cup against Celta. Nevertheless, his goals did not help Zenit to win the cup. In 2001 Popovych won the bronze medal of Russian championship with Zenit also being the first sniper of the team in the season of 2001. In the end of 2001 according to strong recommendation from medics finished his football career due to the problems with heart.

Between 2002 and 2005 he was working as an administrator of Zenit. Between 2005 and 2008 he was a coach of Zenit youth team. In 2009 Popovych became a coach of Zenit Academyand since 2010 youth team of Lokomotiv. In his spare time he liked playing hockey and fishing.

Popovich died on 4 June 2010 after a heart attack. 4 days after the visitation was organized at the Petrovskiy Stadium. He was buried at Smolensky Cemetery in Saint Petersburg.

In January 2011 in the youth sport complex Zenit the tournament in the name of Popovich was organized.

In June 2012 on the Petrovskiy Stadium Zenit fans opened the memorial tablet dedicated to Popovich.

Saint Petersburg band "Bivny" mentioned Popovich in their song "Forwards" ("Форварды" in Russian).

• Russian Premier League bronze: 2001.
• Russian Cup winner: 1999.
• Russian Cup finalist: 2002 (played in the early stages of the 2001/02 tournament for FC Zenit Saint Petersburg).

With FC Zenit Saint Petersburg.

• UEFA Cup 1999–2000: 2 games.
• UEFA Intertoto Cup 2000: 7 games, 5 goals.