Ex-Ukraine midfielder Zakarlyuka dies in car crash

FORMER Ukraine midfielder Serhiy Zakarlyuka has been killed in a car accident, local media reported on Monday.

Serhiy Zakarlyuka in action for Arsenal Kyiv in 2009. Picture: Contributed

The accident comes less than a month after 41-year-old former Ukraine international Andrey Gusin died in a motorbike crash outside Kiev.

FC Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka striker Ruslan Levyha, 31, was injured in the accident.

Zakarlyuka, 38, played nine times for Ukraine between 2002 and 2004, and spent his entire career in his homeland.

He made over 230 appearances for Arsenal Kyiv over two spells, scoring 47 goals in the process.

Zakarlyuka also turned out for Illichivets Mariupol, Metalurh Nikopol and had two spells with Metalurh Donetsk.

He made a handful of appearances for Shakhtar Donetsk in 2003 and last played for FC Poltava in 2012.

He took temporary charge of Arsenal Kyiv in 2013, before assuming the assistant’s role at Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka.

Earlier this year, former Dynamo Kiev midfielder and Belarus international Valentyn Byalkevich died aged 41 after suffering an aneurysm and midfielder Andriy Bal, who won the 1986 European Cup Winners’ Cup with Dynamo Kiev, passed away at the age of 56 following a blood clot.