Roman Zozulya


Roman Vyacheslavovych Zozulya is a Ukrainian footballer who plays as a striker for Spanish club Albacete Balompié and the Ukrainian national team.

Club career

Dynamo Kyiv

Born in Kyiv, Zozulya was a product of the Dynamo youth system progressing through Dynamo-3 and Dynamo-2. In 2008 after the 2007–08 season he was promoted to the main team.

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

On 27 February 2014, in a Europa League match against Tottenham Zozulya was sent off after he directed a head-butt towards Jan Vertonghen. Zozulya was sent off and had to be restrained from attacking Vertonghen, who was accused of faking the degree of contact. Tottenham went on to win the game 3-1, knocking Dnipro out of the Europa League.

Betis

On 27 July 2016, Zozulya signed a three-year contract with La Liga side Real Betis.

Rayo Vallecano

On 31 January 2017, Zozulya joined Rayo Vallecano on loan until the end of the season. His arrival was met with protests from the club's fans, unhappy over his purported far-right links after a picture of him wearing a shirt with the Tryzub and lyrics of poet Taras Shevchenko was misinterpreted as featuring the logo of the Right Sector. Zozulya vehemently denied any such links in an open letter to Rayo's fans, declaring that he has only assisted the legitimate Ukrainian army during the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. On 1 February 2017, Zozulya had his contract cancelled due to the reactions of Rayo fans and returned to Betis. This meant that he could not play anymore in the 2016–17 season because the Royal Spanish Football Federation rules say players cannot register for more than two teams in one campaign.

Albacete

On 8 September 2017, free agent Zozulya signed a one-year contract with Albacete Balompié. On 25 March 2019 Zozulya endured more harassment during an Albacete away game against CD Lugo, when the fans of the latter club sang chants aimed at Zozulya, explicitly wishing him death for supposedly supporting the Nazi political movement. As a result of the incident, the fans of Albacete requested that La Liga seriously punish Lugo. Zozulya received the best player award for the month of October 2019, based on the fans' votes. On 15 December 2019, the league game between Rayo Vallecano and Albacete was abandoned by the referee, after abuse and threats from the home fans over Zozulya's alleged far-right-wing political views. The second half of the game was scheduled to be played the following June, following the resumption of football after the coronavirus pandemic.

International career

Roman debuted for Ukraine on 2 June 2010 against Norway at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo. He scored a goal after Yevhen Konoplyanka fired a long shot at Jon Knudsen, who fumbled with the ball and let Roman kick the ball into the net. He was substituted in the 81st minute. He was member of the Ukrainian 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016.

Outside of football

Civil involvement

Zozulya is the founder of the Narodna Armiya organisation which is a part of the civil volunteer movement helping Ukrainian forces in the war in Donbass. In particular Zozulya's organisation is providing food, clothing and technical equipment to Ukrainian Army and helps families of the military. In 2016, he received a special commendation from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for his support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Together with Ruslan Rotan Zozulya is also the co-founder and sponsor of the Rotan and Zozulya Academy of Football in Dnipro.

Accusations of Nazi sympathies

In December 2019, a match between the Spanish teams Rayo Vallecano and Albacete was suspended, when the former club's fans loudly accused the player of being a sympathizer of Nazi ideology, due to his known support of the Azov Battalion as well as other images he had posted on his Twitter account, which contained references to Nazi symbolism or organizations claimed to support Nazism.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Source:
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.2 June 2010Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo, Norway0–10–1Friendly
2.22 March 2013National Stadium, Warsaw, Poland1–31–3WC 2014 Qual
3.15 November 2013Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex, Kiev, Ukraine1–02–0WC 2014 Qual
4.29 May 2016Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Turin, Italy1–13–4Friendly

Honors

Dynamo Kyiv
FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk