UKRAINE legend Andriy Shevchenko once played with a RADIOACTIVE football as a child — as he grew up near the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant blast.
The nine-year-old brought a found ball home after a kickabout and revealed his dad’s Geiger counter readings “went mad” before it was quickly incinerated.
Shevchenko, now 47, has a fantastic playing career as he starred for the likes of Dynamo Kyiv, AC Milan and Chelsea.
However, he has now revealed in his youth how he found a radioactive football.
Shevchenko said: "I had brought a little piece of Chernobyl into the family home.
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"A small atomic bomb, hidden away inside my greatest passion.
"My ball was buried in a basin.
"When I walked through the front door, it had been tucked under my arm like a treasured trophy."
The catastrophe at Chernobyl released at least 100 times more radiation than the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Injuries plagued Shevchenko's time at Blues and his new book, My Life, My Football, reveals how his body all but broke down.
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Shevchenko has revealed the issue following the 2006 World Cup in Germany and things never got better with two hernia operations and a back injury.
He said: “I would like people to understand my difficulties were due to physical issues.
“The fans were great with me but sadly I never managed to show them my best. I was afraid I was going to have to retire from football.
After retiring from playing, Shevchenko remained in football.
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The former striker went into coaching and took up roles with the Ukrainian national team.
He coached the u19s and u21s before being named manager of the senior team in 2016.
Shevchenko stayed in the job for five years before he left in 2021 after the end of Euro 2020.
He then took the job managing Serie A side Genoa later that year but was sacked after only two months as he lost seven of eight games.
