As a player, he was deployed at left-back and notably represented Dynamo Kyiv and the USSR national team.

[3] Demyanenko was a longtime Dynamo Kyiv captain and a prolific left-footed player for the Soviet Union[4] who could patrol the entire flank from defence to offence.

In December 2000 he was voted the 3rd best player in the Ukrainian 'Team of the Century' according to a poll by The Ukrainsky Futbol weekly, behind Andrei Shevchenko and Oleg Blokhin.

[6] Demyanenko made history in Azerbaijan, making Neftchi become the first club that managed to get to the third round of UEFA Cup Qualification.

Anatoliy is a father of a Ukrainian football midfielder Denys Demyanenko (born 2000), who began his career in Desna Chernihiv.