Ivan Kalyuzhnyi


Ivan Volodymyrovych Kalyuzhnyi is a Ukrainian professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Ukrainian Premier League club Oleksandriya and the Ukraine national team.

Club career

Youth and early career

Born in Zolochiv Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, Kalyuzhnyi started his youth career from FC Arsenal Kharkiv after which he moved to Metalist Kharkhiv. His first trainers in Metalist were Volodymyr Linke and Oleh Kramarenko. Later he moved from Kharkiv to Dynamo Kyiv. He played for Dynamo Kyiv U19 team from 2015 to 2018. Kalyuzhnyi managed to score one goal from 12 matches in the UEFA Youth League.
In 2018, Kaliushny was loaned to Metalist 1925 Kharkiv. He made his professional debut with them in the 2018-2019 season and scored one goal in 27 appearances. He was loaned to [FC FC Rukh Lviv|Rukh Lviv|Rukh] in 2019. Kaliushny made his debut in the Ukrainian Premier League for Rukh on 23 August 2020, playing in a losing away match against FC Vorskla Poltava.
In February 2021, Kaliushny made a permanent move to FK Oleksandria. In 23 games total, he scored two goals and provided four assists. Two of these goals were in the Ukrainian Premier League. Kaliuahny made the third loan spell in his career by playing for the Icelandic top division club Keflavik. He arrived at the start of 2022 and made seven appearances.

Kerala Blasters

On 18 July 2022, Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters announced the signing of Kalyuzhnyi, on a season-long loan deal from Oleksandriya for the 2022–23 season. He made his Kerala Blasters debut on 7 October against East Bengal Club by coming in as a substitute for Apostolos Giannou in the 79th minute and scored his debut goal two minutes after in the 81st minute. He doubled his tally in the 89th minute with a left-footed volley from 25 yards and helped the Blasters to seal a 3–1 win, which also won him the Hero of the Match Award. He scored again in their next match against ATK Mohun Bagan FC on 16 October, where he gave an early lead for the Blasters in the 8th minute but the Blasters lost the match 2–5 at full-time. On 13 November, Kalyuzhnyi went top of the ISL goals chart with a long-range screamer in the 52nd minute in a 3–1 win against FC Goa, which helped the Blasters' to win their first match against Goa since 2016, and was also chosen as the man of the match. He won his third MOTM award in their next match versus Hyderabad FC, which they won 0–1.

International career

On 11 October 2024, in the game against Georgia, he made his first senior appearance for Ukraine.