“During the match, your sense of danger completely disappears. You’re thinking mainly about playing the ball and avoiding making contact with the striker. And only later do you think back on how you played, and what could have happened.”
-Serhiy Perkhun, in his last ever interview
He was always fearless on the pitch. Always willing to come out and challenge for the ball without any regard for his own safety. Always putting the team ahead of himself. On August 18th, 2001, sensing danger as the opposing striker was running on to a lofted pass toward his goal, he came rushing out of his box to head the ball clear. But this time, he couldn’t avoid making contact. This time, he did not get the chance to think back on the play. This time, the sense of danger that he so often ignored to keep the ball out the net could have saved his life. Several hours after a violent collision with the striker, Serhiy Perkhun slipped into a coma. After ten days, he was dead.
Early Struggles
Serhiy Perkhun began his career playing for the youth team of Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, his hometown club. He made his first team debut against local rivals Kryvbas in October of 1993 after an injury crisis left the senior side without a single healthy goalkeeper. At just 16 years of age, Perkhun was and remains the youngest goalkeeper to ever make an appearance in the Ukrainian Premier League. The following year he was a key member of the Ukraine side that took home the bronze medal from the Under-16 European Championships in Ireland, the first international success for an independent Ukraine.
This is a guest piece written for Football’s Fallen. To read the rest of the article, click here.