Answer
Yuriy Nikiforov did retire from professional football. He announced his retirement on 17 June 2009 after 18 years of professional football, and after playing for a total of 13 seasons with Dynamo Kyiv. He also played for Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Metalurh Donetsk and Shakhtar Donetsk during his career. Nikiforov won the Ukrainian Premier League with Dynamo Kyiv five times, and the Ukrainian Cup twice.