Bucha Fortuna have added two more players: 20-year-old striker Ihor Nesterenko and 21-year-old midfielder Artem Hrokholskyi. The first comes from Pryluky, where this year he scored more than anyone in the Chernihiv region championship. The second grew up in the Dynamo Kyiv academy and spent two seasons in the Ukrainian Second League.

This was announced on 1 October by FC Bucha Fortuna. “Welcome to the team, lads!” the club told the newcomers.

Ihor Nesterenko: 31 goals in 14 matches

Ihor Nesterenko was born on 1 May 2006. The Chernihiv Regional Football Association describes him as a product of the Pryluky youth sports school. According to the Ukrainian Football Association register, he was first registered in 2019 with the Manzhosivka youth sports school and scored five goals in five matches of the regional youth championship.

In 2021 the striker moved to the Barsa sports school in Sumy and played for it in the National Future League: 15 matches and six goals, all six in the 2021/22 season for the under-16 side. Futsal followed: in 2024/25 Nesterenko played three matches for Karbon-2 Cherkasy in the regional championship and scored four goals.

In May 2026 he was registered by FC Pryluky, and a season began that got the whole region talking about him. In the Chernihiv region championship Nesterenko scored 31 goals in 14 matches, two of them penalties, and became the competition’s top scorer. His nearest rival, Pavlo Kuzmenko, finished 11 goals behind.

The striker also made 11 assists and topped the goals-plus-assists ranking, while FC Pryluky won the regional title.

According to the register, Nesterenko scored three or more goals in six matches. His best was five in an 8-1 away win over K-21 of Pryluky on 11 July, and he twice scored four against Horodnia.

In June the association presented a new monthly award for the best player of the championship for the first time, and Nesterenko was its first winner. At that point he had 11 goals and five assists in five matches. That is the trophy he is holding in the photo the club used to announce the signings.

Artem Hrokholskyi: Dynamo academy and the Second League

Artem Hrokholskyi was born on 12 May 2005 and plays in central midfield. He is 171 cm tall and weighs 66 kg, according to the Ukrainian Premier League. He was trained at the Dynamo Kyiv academy: according to the Ukrainian Football Association register, from 2018 to 2022 he played 64 National Future League matches for the under-14 to under-17 sides and scored six goals.

In the summer of 2023 Hrokholskyi joined Polissia Zhytomyr. In the 2023/24 under-19 championship he started all 24 matches and scored five goals. For the next two seasons the midfielder played for Polissia-2 in the Second League: 38 matches and three goals, and the Zhytomyr side ended last season with the league’s third-place match.

An old team-mate of Mykyta Dzen

The most interesting detail in Hrokholskyi’s career involves another Bucha player. He and striker Mykyta Dzen, who moved to Bucha in September, were born two months apart and have been team-mates for years. According to the register, they have been on the pitch together in 71 official matches: 57 for Dynamo, from under-14 to under-19, and 14 for the Polissia under-19 side.

In their joint matches for Dynamo the team won 43 of 57 and lost only four. They first played together on 8 September 2018, when both were 13. Now they are in the same team again, this time in Bucha, where Dzen has already scored twice in a Ukrainian Amateur Cup match.

What awaits Bucha in October

October is a busy month for the club. On 3–4 October Bucha play the away second leg of the Kyiv Region Cup last 16 against the Anatolii Trubin Academy, having won the first match 9-0. On 7 and 14 October they face Tytan Kyiv in the quarter-finals of the Ukrainian Amateur Cup.

As a reminder, on 26 September an air raid alert stopped the Kyiv region championship match against Tytan, in which Bucha were leading 2-1.

Nota bene

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