Oleksandr Babych

Oleksandr Babych (born 15 February 1979 in Alchevsk, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine) is a former professional Ukrainian football defender who last played for FC Chornomorets Odesa in the Ukrainian Premier League and is now coaching their youth squad.

Oleksandr Babych is a product of the Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Youth system. After playing for Dnipro-2 in 1997, he left to play in Hirnyk Sport and Kremin Kremenchuk during the 1997–98 season. From 1998 until 2001, Babych stayed again with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. He spent most of his playing time with the reserve teams Dnipro-2 and Dnipro-3; he did, however, play in a few games for the senior team. He transferred to Polihraftekhnika Oleksandriya for the 2001–02 season, until being spotted by the Russian Premier League side Anzhi Makhachkala. He scored the only goal in the relegation play-off game against Polissia Zhytomyr that allowed Oleksandriya team to stay at the top level. He transferred to Anzhi in 2003 and played there until 2005. His next stop was Metalist Kharkiv. In Metalist, he soon became the vice-captain and played a vital role in the team’s defence. In February 2009, he transferred to FC Chornomorets Odesa, where he was elected captain on 15 July 2010, prior to the start of the 2010–11 season. The subsequent two seasons of his career were, however, marred by injuries, and Babych had to retire as a player on 2 March 2012. He immediately became a coach of the Chornomorets youth squad, though.

Babych is currently married to Natalia and has one daughter named Violetta.