Yaroslav Vladimirovich Rakitskyi was born on 3 August 1989 in Pershotravensk, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Ukraine and at the age of six started playing football in his home town, at 13 he moved to the Shakhtar Academy in Donetsk.

Yaroslav made his debut for Shakhtar Donetsk in August 2009 in the Ukrainian Cup match against the Dniester and has played a total of 326 matches and scored 14 goals for the Donetsk side. Yaroslav is a seven-time Ukrainian league winner and six-time winner of the Ukrainian Cup.  He has won 54 caps and has scored 4 goals for his country. The tough-tackling central defender also represented Ukraine at the European Championships in 2012 and 2016.

Everyone at the blue-white-sky blues is delighted to welcome Yaroslav Rakitskyi to St. Petersburg!