Viktor Kovalenko (footballer)
Viktor Viktorovych Kovalenko (; born 14 February 1996) is a Ukrainian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Spezia, on loan from Atalanta. He represents the Ukraine national team. Club career. Shakhtar Donetsk. Kovalenko is product of youth team of Shakhtar Donetsk. He made his début in the Ukrainian Premier League for Shakhtar in the game against Vorskla Poltava on 28 February 2015. On 9 May 2015, he made his first direct contribution for the first team when assisting the fifth and sixth goals for Shakhtar in a 7–3 win over Hoverla Uzhhorod. On  20 February 2020, Kovalenko scored the winning goal in Shakhtar's 2–1 win against Benfica in the first leg of their Europa League Round of 32 clash. On 17 October 2020, Kovalenko scored twice in the first 18 minutes of Shakhtar's 5–1 hammering of FC Lviv in the Ukrainian Premier League. Atalanta. On 1 February 2021, with less than six months remaining in his contract with Shakhtar, Kovalenko signed a four-and-a-half-year deal with Italian Serie A club Atalanta for a reported fee of €700,000. He made his debut for the club on 21 March , as an 87th-minute substitute for fellow countryman Ruslan Malinovskyi in a Serie A 2–0 win at Verona. Loan to Spezia. On 8 August 2021, Kovalenko joined fellow Serie A side Spezia on a season-long loan. International career. Kovalenko was called up by Ukraine to play in the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand. He scored two goals in a 6–0 victory over Myanmar and added a hat-trick against the United States to secure 3–0 win at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland, as the team reached the round of 16. He won the Golden Boot of  the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup with five goals. Honours. Shakhtar Donetsk Individual