Clubs: FC Shakhtar Donetsk, FC Illychivets Mariupil

UEFA honours
UEFA Cup: winner 2009

• Born in Zaporizhya, Gai joined Shakhtar as a youth and was called up to the Ukraine squad that finished second to France at the 2000 UEFA European Under-18 Championship, although remained unused in the finals in Germany.

• Made a major breakthrough at Shakhtar in 2002/03, scoring five goals in 29 league appearances, but despite winning his first senior international cap in October 2003 − against the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (0-0) − he fared less well for Shakhtar under coach Bernd Schuster and spent the following two seasons at Illychivets.

• Impresive form at Illychivets earned him a return to Shakhtar in July 2006; won the domestic double in 2008, the UEFA Cup in 2009 and another Ukrainian title in 2010.

• Scored his first international goal to earn Ukraine a 2-2 draw in Croatia in a vital 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier; also played 90 minutes of a 1-0 home win against England but did not start either play-off game against Greece.

• An ever-present in the Shakhtar starting lineup during the group stage of the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League, thus taking his number of appearances in UEFA club competition to 40.