[4] His first coaches were Mykola Kryvenko and Petro Ponomarenko who were former players of the Soviet "teams of masters" (professional footballers).

Shcherbakov made his debut for the Shakhtar senior team in the USSR Federation Cup on 16 June 1988 in an away match against FC Kairat out of Almaty.

[4] With dissolution of the Soviet Union, he along with Shakhtar joined the Vyshcha Liha that commenced on territory of the independent Ukraine.

In 1991 following the performance of the Soviet youth teams, Scherbakov was invited to PSV Eindhoven where he spent six weeks, but for uncertain reasons was not able to sign a contract.

[4] The manager was fired following their Uefa Cup exit against Casino Salzburg during winter break of the 1993–94 season with Sporting CP in the lead.

[4] The players hosted a dinner party for him, but afterwards Shcherbakov was involved in a serious car accident that left him paralysed from the waist down, and has used a wheelchair ever since.

[5] Shcherbakov went to a pub used by the Russian community, stayed until early hours and then shot a set of traffic lights.