Mykhaylo Starostyak

Mykhaylo Volodymyrovych Starostyak (Михайло Старостяк, born 13 October 1973) is a Ukrainian former football player. He started off as a right back, but mostly played as a center back.

Player's career
He started playing football as a member of a children's team from his native village. After completing the 9th grade at school, he moved to Ivano-Frankivsk, where he entered the local college of physical education, majoring in football. Since 1992, he played in the Transitional League of the Ukrainian Championship as a member of the Sokil team (Berezhany). At the beginning of the 1993-1994 season, he joined the Ivano-Frankivsk-based Prykarpattia, and two years later, Shakhtar Donetsk. He made his debut in the Ukrainian Premier League on July 29, 1995, in a game against IFC Mykolaiv (0-0 draw).

After playing nine seasons at Shakhtar, he moved to Russia, where he defended the colors of Shinnik Yaroslavl. In 2006, he returned to Ukraine and played 10 matches for Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih. He ended his football career with performances in the top division of the Azerbaijani championship, where he played in 2007-2009 as part of the Simurgh team.

Appearances for the national team
He made his debut for the national team of Ukraine on March 23, 1997 in a game against the national team of Moldova (victory 1: 0). In total, over 7 years (from 1997 to 2004), he appeared in 17 matches for the national team.