Oleksandr Babych

Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Babych (Олександр Олександрович Бабич; born 15 February 1979) is a Ukrainian professional football manager and former player, who is the current head coach of Ukrainian club Chornomorets Odesa.

Early years
Oleksandr Babych is a product of the Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Youth system.

Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk and Kremin Kremenchuk
After playing for Dnipro-2 in 1997, he left to play for Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk and Kremin Kremenchuk during the 1997–98 season.

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
From 1998 to 2001, Babych stayed again with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. He spent most of his playing time with the reserve teams Dnipro-2 and Dnipro-3; he did, however, play in a few games for the senior team.

Polihraftekhnika Oleksandriya
He was transferred to Polihraftekhnika Oleksandriya for the 2001–02 season. Babych scored the only goal in the relegation play-off game against Polissya Zhytomyr that allowed the Oleksandriya team to stay in the top tier.

Anzhi Makhachkala
He was then spotted by the Russian Premier League side Anzhi Makhachkala and was transferred to the club in 2003, playing there until 2005.

Metalist Kharkiv
His next stop was Metalist Kharkiv. At Metalist, he soon became the vice-captain and played a vital role in the team's defence.

Chornomorets Odesa
In February 2009, he moved to Chornomorets Odesa, where he was chosen captain on 15 July 2010, prior to the start of the 2010–11 season. The subsequent two seasons of his career were, however, marred by injuries, and Babych had to retire as a player on 2 March 2012.

Managerial career
He immediately became the manager of the Chornomorets youth squad, though.

In the summer of 2022 Babych moved to Constantsa, Romania after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where he met Viktor Bakurevic, owner of a newly established team Fratria, with the help of Oleksandr Lavrentsov and become manager of the team, despite the fact the team was in A Regional Varna, which is the 4th level of Bulgarian football. On 5 February 2024 Babych took over Bulgarian First League club Pirin Blagoevgrad.

At the beginning of July 2024 Babych became the head coach of the FC Chornomorets Odesa.

Personal life
Babych is currently married to Natalia and has a daughter named Violetta.