Mykhaylychenko began his football career in the youth system of
Dynamo Kyiv, under the guidance of
Anatoliy Byshovets. He made his debut in the
Soviet Top League in 1981, and went on to have a great career with Dynamo, winning four championships and three runner-up medals. He also won the
Soviet Cup three times. His biggest success with Dynamo came when they won the
1985–86 European Cup Winners' Cup. He was awarded the
Soviet Footballer of the Year award in 1988, as well as two
Ukrainian Footballer of the Year awards in 1987 and 1988. In 1990, he was signed by the Italian club
Sampdoria, who won their first
Serie A title that season. The following season he moved to play with the
Scottish Premier Division team
Rangers, uniting with fellow Ukrainian and Dynamo Kyiv teammate
Oleh Kuznetsov, although the defender had a long-term injury problem and they only played together 20 times in Scotland. His first season at
Ibrox was undoubtedly his most successful, as they completed the double of the Premier Division title and
Scottish Cup and Mykhaylychenko was a regular in the side with 10 goals from 27 league games. He featured in 29 league games as Rangers won a
domestic treble a year later, but managed just five goals. He was an even more frequent selection in the first team during
1993–94, playing 34 games, but again scored only five times. Despite being very successful as a creative and technical central midfielder earlier in his career, at Rangers he was often deployed on the left wing with less impact With Rangers, Mykhaylychenko managed to win another five league winner's medals. All-in-all he won championship medals in three different nations, and for seven consecutive seasons – USSR in 1990, Italy in 1991 and Scotland from 1992 to 1996. ==International career==