Maksym Serhiyovych Kalynychenko (Ukrainian: Максим Сергійович Калиниченко) is a retired Ukrainian football midfielder, who played in central midfield or as a winger. Observers noted his pace, creativity, and accuracy in free kicks / penalties.
Previous to the World Cup, Kalynychenko's appearances for a Russian club and lingering rumours surrounding his departure from Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk led to a low profile in Ukraine's senior national side. Kalynychenko did not feature in the 2006 qualification campaign, His surprise inclusion on the squad was due (by his own reckoning) to his good form in the tail end Spartak's 2005 season. In the run-up to Germany 2006, coach Oleh Blokhin played Kalynychenko in friendlies against Luxembourg, Costa Rica and Italy.
The player also did not feature in the first of Ukraine's proper World Cup games, in which the team were defeated 4–0 by Spain.
Called to the starting 11 in the next game against Saudi Arabia, Kalynychenko provided the opening assist from which Andriy Rusol scored Ukraine's first ever World Cup final goal. He set up another goal headed in by Andriy Shevchenko, who in turn fed Kalynychenko for the 4th and last goal of the game. Kalynychenko was named Man of the Match for his technical contributions. This game was the turning point for Ukraine, paving the way for their subsequent route to the quarter-finals.
Kalynychenko put in a notable performance in the quarter-final against Italy, with dangerous crosses and a shot on goal from a rebounded attempt by Oleh Husyev. However, none of these chances was converted and Ukraine bowed out of the tournament on a score of 3–0 to Italy.
In FIFA of Ukraine's debut, Kalynychenko was described as the 'revelation' of his team's World Cup campaign.
