Valeriy Lobanovskyi

Valeriy Lobanovskyi
Lobanovskyi in 1985
Personal information
Full name Valeriy Vasylyovych Lobanovskyi
Date of birth (1939-01-06)6 January 1939[1]
Place of birth Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)[1]
Date of death 13 May 2002(2002-05-13) (aged 63)[1]
Place of death Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine[1]
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1952–1955 Football School No. 1
1955–1956 Football School of Youth (FShM)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1957–1964 Dynamo Kyiv 144 (42)
1965–1966 Chornomorets Odesa 59 (15)
1967–1968 Shakhtar Donetsk 50 (14)
Total 253 (71)
International career
1960–1961 Soviet Union 2 (0)
Managerial career
1969–1973 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
1973–1982 Dynamo Kyiv
1975–1976 Soviet Union
1979 Ukrainian SSR
1982–1983 Soviet Union
1984–1990 Dynamo Kyiv
1986–1990 Soviet Union
1990–1993 United Arab Emirates
1994–1996 Kuwait
1997–2002 Dynamo Kyiv
2000–2001 Ukraine
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Soviet Union (as manager)
UEFA European Championship
Runner-up 1988 West Germany
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1976 Montreal
Representing  Kuwait (as manager)
Asian Games
Bronze medal – third place 1994 Hiroshima
Arabian Gulf Cup
Winner 1996 Oman
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Valeriy Vasylyovych Lobanovskyi (Ukrainian: Вале́рій Васи́льович Лобано́вський, pronounced [wɐˈlɛr⁽ʲ⁾ij lobɐˈnɔu̯sʲkɪj]; 6 January 1939 – 13 May 2002) was а Soviet and Ukrainian football player and manager.[1] He was Master of Sports of the USSR, Distinguished Coach of the USSR, and a laureate of the UEFA Order of Merit in Ruby (2002) and FIFA Order of Merit, the highest honour awarded by FIFA.[2][3] In 2002 he was awarded the Hero of Ukraine award (posthumously), his nation's highest honour, for his contribution to Ukrainian football. In 2008, Lobanovskyi was ranked 6th in Inter's list of the 100 Greatest Ukrainians following a nationwide poll that saw around 2.5 million people casting their votes.[4][5][6][7]

Lobanovskyi is most famous for his spells managing FC Dynamo Kyiv and the USSR national football team. Lobanovskyi established Dynamo as the most dominant club in Soviet football in the 1970s and 1980s, winning the Soviet Top League eight times and the Soviet Cup six times in 16 years. In 1975 his Dynamo Kyiv team became the first side from the Soviet Union to win a major European trophy when they beat Hungarian side Ferencváros in the final of the Cup Winners' Cup. During the tournament, Dynamo Kyiv won eight games out of nine, resulting in a winning percentage of 88.88% – a record that stood for 45 years encompassing all of the major European club football competitions.[8] Lobanovskyi and his team repeated their Cup Winners' Cup success in 1986, beating Atletico Madrid in the final. In both 1975 and 1986, two of Dynamo's players (Oleg Blokhin and Igor Belanov respectively) were also awarded the Ballon d'Or under his tutelage. During Lobanovskyi's first two stints, the team also reached the European Cup semi-finals in 1977 and 1987 and quarter-finals in 1976, 1982 and 1983. With the Soviet Union national team, Lobanovskyi reached the finals of Euro 1988, losing to eventual winners the Netherlands, and won the bronze medal at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games.

After returning to Dynamo Kyiv in 1997 for the third time, Lobanovskyi led the team to another successful run in European competition. In the first full season of his third spell, Dynamo reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 1998, topping a group that included FC Barcelona, Newcastle United and PSV Eindhoven, famously winning both games against Barcelona, 3–0 in Kyiv and 4–0 at Camp Nou.[9][10][11] The following season, Lobanovskyi and his team reached the semi-finals, where they were knocked out by Bayern Munich, with star striker Andriy Shevchenko finishing third in the 1999 Ballon d'Or poll.

Lobanovskyi is highly regarded due to his achievements as a coach and is widely considered one of the greatest managers of all time.[12][13][14] Throughout his coaching career Lobanovskyi won 33 official trophies, becoming the second most decorated manager of all time (behind Alex Ferguson) and the most successful football manager of the 20th century.[15][16][17][18][19] He also holds several managerial records in Soviet football, including most Soviet Top League titles, most Soviet Cup wins (shared with Viktor Maslov) and most USSR Super Cup wins. Lobanovskyi is the only manager to win a major European competition[8] with an Eastern European club twice. He is one of four managers to win the Cup Winners' Cup twice, and one of two (along with Nereo Rocco) to accomplish the feat with the same team. Lobanovskyi has also won the Ukrainian championship five times out of five – an accomplishment not matched by any other manager. Lobanovskyi has coached three Ballon d'Or winners — Oleh Blokhin, Igor Belanov and Andriy Shevchenko.[20][21][22] In 2007, The Times included him on its list of the top 50 managers of all time,[23] and in 2022, FourFourTwo ranked him at No. 26 on its special list of the Top 100 football managers of all time.[24]

  1. ^ a b c d e Valery Vasilevich Lobanovsky Archived 26 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Encyclopedia Britannica
  2. ^ FIFA Order of Merit holders
  3. ^ Lobanovskyi Tournament news: Russian Super Cup in Kyiv? Archived 21 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine (rus.)
  4. ^ "Великі Українці - сто великих українців від 19 до 1". youtube.com (in Ukrainian). 3 January 2016. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  5. ^ Свобода, Радіо (29 May 2008). "У проекті "Великі Українці" на телеканалі "Інтер" переміг князь Ярослав Мудрий". Радіо Свобода (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Ярослав Мудрий, Микола Амосов, Степан Бандера - ВЕЛИКІ УКРАЇНЦІ". zaxid.net (in Ukrainian). 17 May 2008. Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  7. ^ ""Великі Українці": Ярослав Мудрий обійшов Бандеру". unian.ua (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  8. ^ a b UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Europa League
  9. ^ "Грозное ДИНАМО конца 90-х. Как это было... [ФУТБОЛЬНЫЕ ИСТОРИИ]". GOALNET. 9 March 2018. Archived from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  10. ^ "Три ВЕЛИКИХ ДИНАМО Валерия Лобановского. 1975, 1986, 1999". Portie Drogba. 13 May 2020. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  11. ^ "Динамо – Барселона – 3:0. 15 лет великой победы!". sport.ua. 22 October 2012. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  12. ^ "Greatest Managers, No. 8: Lobanovsky". ESPNFC.com. Archived from the original on 4 May 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Top6FF was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference world-soccer-manager was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ "Рівно 81 рік тому народився легендарний тренер київського Динамо – Валерій Васильович Лобановський". ua-football.com (in Ukrainian). 6 January 2020. Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  16. ^ "The 100 greatest football managers of all time". FourFourTwo. 26 May 2020. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  17. ^ "Lobanovskyi or Lucescu: who has more trophies?". Ukrainian Premier League. 22 March 2019. Archived from the original on 22 March 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  18. ^ "Lobanovskyi and 33 trophies (rus.)". UA-Футбол. 22 March 2019. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  19. ^ "Рівно 81 рік тому народився легендарний тренер київського Динамо – Валерій Васильович Лобановський". ua-football.com (in Ukrainian). 6 January 2020. Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  20. ^ "In memory of Valeriy Lobanovskyi". sports.ru. 13 May 2016. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  21. ^ "In profile: Valeriy Lobanovskyi". sports.ru. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  22. ^ "Lucescu humbled after criticizing Lobanovskyi". sports.ru. 20 March 2019. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  23. ^ The top 50 managers of all time – The Times
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference ranking was invoked but never defined (see the help page).