Shevchenko hires his former "think tank": First foreigner to head the national team
Andrea Madera has never headed a team independently — but he already knows Ukrainian players, knows their weaknesses and will fly to Kyiv on May 18. This is either a brilliant shortcut or a very expensive experiment.
By Tetiana Suchkova-Ladik
May 18, 2026 · 2 min read
Andrea Maldera became the first foreign head coach of the Ukrainian national team in its entire independent football history. The UAF signed a two-year contract with an option to extend — on the day of the coach's 55th birthday.
The assistant they called the "brain"
Maldera is not a random choice or a market compromise. From 2006 to 2016, he worked in AC Milan's structure, then from 2016-2021 he assisted Andriy Shevchenko with the Ukrainian national team, participating in 52 matches of the team, including preparation for Euro-2020. Players and colleagues then called him the "brain" of the coaching staff — the person who prepared video analysis of opponents and developed tactical schemes.
"I study how our opponent attacks and defends, their strengths and weaknesses, and I make video reports for Shevchenko"
Andrea Maldera — about his role in the national team's coaching staff
After Shevchenko's contract with the UAF ended in 2022, Maldera followed and joined Roberto De Zerbi — first at Brighton (89 Premier League matches), then at Marseille, where he worked until February 2026. There he implemented attacking football with high pressing and positional ball control.
The key fact that is being downplayed
Maldera has never worked as a head coach in his career. All his experience is as an assistant, player development coach, and analyst. This does not disqualify him a priori: Jose Mourinho once also came from a translator-assistant position. But the difference is that Mourinho had time to work his way up through the club ranks. Maldera is making his debut at the level of a national team.
The appointment was initiated by Andriy Shevchenko, who has headed the UAF since 2024. Essentially, he brought back his former assistant — a person with whom a shared understanding and shared methodology have already been developed. The UAF Executive Committee approved the candidacy.
- 52 matches on the Ukrainian national team's coaching staff (2016–2021)
- 89 matches at Brighton under De Zerbi's leadership (2022–2024)
- Marseille assistant until February 2026
- Zero matches as a head coach
What comes next
Maldera will arrive in Kyiv on May 18. Before him lies the task of rebuilding the team after a failed cycle, finding a balance between experienced leaders and youth, and qualifying for the next major tournament.
The appointment looks logical only under one condition: if Shevchenko hired not a convenient executor, but a truly independent tactician capable of arguing with the federation president. If not, the national team got not a new coach, but a continuation of the old staff with a different title on the business card.
