After multiple championships and two quarter-final finishes in European competition, it is not surprising that his major heroes were the Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk leaders, such as Hennadiy Lytovchenko and Oleh Protasov.

His Ukrainian Premier League debut occurred on 26 March 1996 against his original home team Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, and ended with a 2–1 Metalurh victory.

Other memorable games include a tie against Dynamo Kyiv in blistering heat on 30 June 1997.

In the summer of 2000, Karyaka was able to impress the at-the-time FC Krylia Sovetov Samara coach Aleksandr Tarkhanov during a trial match against Lada with his approach and style.

[5] During the first part of the 2005–06 season, he would feature regularly in Benfica's side where he was primarily used by coach Ronald Koeman as a substitute.

[8] Following the interview, Benfica's manager Ronald Koeman publicly expressed his opinion on the situation and said that he was surprised by Karyaka's statements and that he did not favor the clubs Brazilian players.

[9] One day following the publication of the interview in the Russian sports newspaper, Benfica suspended Karyaka.

Under the new management of Fernando Santos for the 2006–07 season, he was primarily used as a fringe player in Benfica's squad.

His most notable moment of his second season with Benfica was scoring against Celtic in a 2006–07 UEFA Champions League group stage match.

[18] His three-year spell with Saturn proved to be successful as he managed 108 appearances, scoring eighteen goals.