Andriy Mykolayvych Shevchenko was born on September 29, 197 in Dvirkivschyna, Ukraine which at the time was known as the Soviet Union. The 6 foot striker from the Ukraine was about 9 years old in April of 1986 when the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl happened. Andriy's village wasn't far from this incident and it had a profound affect on him and his family who had to leave their home and get away from the affects of the disaster. After all of the madness of the Chernobyl disaster, Andriy was a boxer in a Ukrainian junior league, but he eventually found his calling in football.

From 1986-1996, Andriy played with Dynamo Kyiv's youth club and later was promoted to the professional level with Dynamo Kyiv. Although Andriy spent quite a bit of time with the club, making 117 appearances and scoring 60 goals, his became famous through Europe during his career with AC Milan.

In 1999, Andriy made the move to AC Milan. He became one of Milan's premier players instantly. Receiving the scoring title in Serie A Andriy was the only non-Italian to do that in his first season. Shevchenko was a scoring machine in the seasons that followed, in 51 matches scoring an impressive 34 goals and the next season in 38 competitions scoring 17 goals. Unfortunately for Andriy and AC Milan, they failed to obtain any silverware.

AC Milan's luck changed in the 02-03 season with the club winning the Coppa Italia and the Champions League. Andriy made history in the season by being the only player born in the Ukraine to win a Champions League title. The 03-04 season brought another scoring accomplishment for the Ukrainian striker. Once again Andriy was able take the Serie A scoring title with 24 goals in just 32 matches. In this season, AC Milan also won some trophies like the Scudetto, UEFA Super Cup and Italian Super Cup. Andriy's efforts did not go unrewarded as he became one of only three Ukrainian players ever to win the European Player of the Year along with his scoring title.

To this day Andriy Shevchenko is second on the all-time goal scoring list for AC Milan with only Gunnar Nordahl ahead of the Ukrainian. In 208 appearances, Andriy has scored 127 goals for AC Milan. Unfortunately for Milan, Andriy was transferred to English Premiership League football club Chelsea in 2006 after a few years of speculation.

In August of 2006 Andriy made his debut in a Chelsea uniform against Liverpool. Chelsea lost the match, but Andriy showed the English squad what he was made of scoring the only goal for Chelsea in a losing effort 2-1. At the end of the season, Shevchenko only had 14 goals in 51 matches for Chelsea, which is not up to par for the Ukrainian, but Andriy has said that he promises to find his true form in the up coming 07-08 season.

Ever since 1995, Andriy has been a loyal supporter and player of his national team Ukraine. In 73 appearances for his home country he has scored 33 goals and has tried to get Ukraine to championship form. Along with being no stranger to the international stage, Andriy also has roots in America, as he is married to Kristen Pazik, an American model. The Ukrainian footballer and Pazik have two children named Jordan and Christian, Jordan was named after NBA legend Michael Jordan, so you can see where Andriy's passion for scoring comes from with a role model like MJ.

With Andriy Shevchenko being one of the best goal scorers of the past decade, here are goal stats, in 513 total appearances Andriy has scored 281 goals.