Quick Facts
ScorpioBiography
Oleg Anatolyevich Salenko (born 25 October 1969) is a retired Russian-Ukrainian footballer who played as a forward. He scored a record five goals in a group-stage match in the 1994 World Cup, helping him earn the Golden Boot as joint-top tournament goalscorer.
Club career
Salenko was born in Leningrad, Russia. Salenko played at Zenit Leningrad, Dynamo Kyiv, Logroñés, Córdoba, Valencia, Rangers and İstanbulspor in a club career that lasted from 1986 to 2000.
Eventually, he faded from the international soccer scene and finally had to end his career prematurely for health reasons stemming from injuries. Salenko returned to playing professional football in the 2000–01 season and signed for Pogoń Szczecin. He retired after playing a single game however due to his physical conditioning.
International career
Salenko set a World Cup record by scoring five goals in one game, for Russia against Cameroon on 28 June 1994. Salenko finished the 1994 World Cup with six goals (scoring his sixth goal from the penalty spot against Sweden), sharing the Golden Boot with Hristo Stoichkov, a remarkable feat since Russia was knocked out in the first round, and Stoichkov's Bulgaria played another four games in the tournament. This mirrored Salenko's achievement in the 1989 U-20 World Cup in Saudi Arabia, where he was top scorer when he scored 5 goals in the tournament. He is the only player to win the Golden Boot at both the U-20 World Cup and FIFA World Cup.
Salenko played a total of only nine international matches, one of them for Ukraine (the very first one), and he never scored in an international game before or after the 1994 World Cup. In fact, after the match against Cameroon, he never appeared in another international. He remains the sole player ever to win the Golden Boot award on a team eliminated from the World Cup finals at the group stage.
Beach football
In 2003, Salenko was appointed as manager of the Ukraine national beach soccer team. His team played three games, the only win being over USA 6–5, and losing the other two to Brazil and Spain. The tournament took place at the end of July in Portugal under the name Mundialito. After the tournament, he was dismissed. He is now currently a part of FFU assisting staff.
Career statistics
International
| Ukraine national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 1992 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 1 | 0 |
International goals
- Scores and results list Russia's goal tally first.
| No | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 24 June 1994 | Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, United States |  Sweden | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1994 FIFA World Cup |
| 2. | 28 June 1994 | Stanford Stadium, Stanford, United States |  Cameroon | 1–0 | 6–1 | 1994 FIFA World Cup |
| 3. | 2–0 | |||||
| 4. | 3–0 | |||||
| 5. | 4–1 | |||||
| 6. | 5–1 |
Honours
Club
- Dynamo Kyiv
- Soviet Top League: 1990
- Soviet Cup: 1990
Individual
- FIFA World Youth Championship Golden Shoe: 1989
- FIFA World Cup Golden Boot: 1994