Born at Kiev, he debuted for Lokomotiv Kiev and, aged twenty, he moved to Soviet Union's most renowned team, VC CSKA Moscow: with this team he won 9 Soviet championships, 3 Soviet Cups, 6 European Champions Cups (1982, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989) and two European Supercups (1987 and 1988). In 1980 he was part of the Soviet team which won the gold medal in the Olympic tournament. He also won the world title in Argentina in 1982.
Eight years later he won the silver medal with the Soviet team in the 1988 Olympic tournament. In 1989, he was the first Soviet military allowed to play in a foreign country, when he moved to Conad Ravenna in Italy. The following year Panchenko moved to , where he remained until ending his career in 1994.
