Valery Vasilyevich Lobanovsky not only entered the history of world football - he created it.
Valery LobanovskyToday, January 6, he would have turned 84 years old. The outstanding coach of our football lived 63 years 4 months 7 days. On May 18, 2002 at 20:35 his indefatigable football heart stopped beating in one of Zaporozhye's clinics. On May 7, after the end of the match of the championship of Ukraine "Metallurg" (Zaporozhye) - "Dynamo" (Kyiv won 3: 1), an ambulance rushed Lobanovsky to the clinic. The best doctors of the country fought for his life. But, alas, a stroke.
under the leadership of Mater, Dynamo achieved a lot in big football. Eight times his wards won the gold of the USSR championship, five times - silver medals, two times - bronze. Kiev won the USSR Crystal Cup six times, the Super Cup three times, and the Commonwealth Cup three times. Five times his wards became the champions of Ukraine, three times they won the Cup of our country.
The achievements of the Lobanovsky team in the European arena have also become significant. His wards are the owners of three European cups: the Cup Winners' Cup in 1975 and 1986, the UEFA Super Cup in 1975. 11 Dynamo Kyiv players are vice-champions of Euro 1988. In 1976, at the Montreal Olympic Games, 10 Kyivans became bronze medalists. Four Dynamo players returned from Munich as bronze medalists of the 1972 Olympic Games. Two Dynamo players are bronze medalists of the 1980 Olympic Games. Alexey Mikhailichenko - champion of the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.
Three players who went through the football school of Lobanovsky, the owners of the Golden Ball: Oleg Blokhin (1975), Igor Belanov (1986), Andrey Shevchenko (2004).
In different conditions and at different times, Lobanovsky managed to create teams that surprised football Europe and delighted the large army of Dynamo fans. They admired his methods, and envied his football intuition.
In May 1986, after a 3-0 victory in Lyon over Atlético (Madrid) in the final of the Cup Winners' Cup, Dynamo was named the second club in the world ranking. And Valery Lobanovsky, according to a World Soccer poll, is the second world coach. In January 2017, UEFA published a list of the ten most outstanding coaches, including the Dynamo Kyiv coach, holder of the UEFA Ruby Order for Merit.
Lobanovsky's school was attended by many of his wards over the years. 40 of them followed in the footsteps of their mentor, becoming coaches. You can't name them all: Blokhin, Buryak, Kolotov, Konkov, Mikhailichenko, Muntyan, Rebrov, Fomenko, Demyanenko, Golovko, Shevchenko...
Maitre - about the profession of a coach
“Being a coach is much more difficult than being a player. On the field, the focus of the player is only the ball, from the coaching bench you lead the team"
“A coach must learn all his life. If you stopped studying, then you stopped being a coach.”
“From the first days of work, I firmly learned for myself: a coach must always remember, not forget for a minute that he works with people who make him a coach”
“A coach, of course, must be perfectly versed in football. But this is one side of the coin. The other is that the coach must have a good understanding of both the soul of the game and the soul of people.”
“This is football. Don't look for logic in it. It was an ugly match, you say? The most beautiful football is the final score on the scoreboard. If we won, then we showed beautiful football"
They talk about the Great Coach
Grigory Surkis: “Outstanding people remain in the memory of the people as they were at the time of achieving the highest successes. This man changed not only in football, he changed more than one generation of compatriots, again and again forcing them to believe in themselves and not be afraid of difficulties.
Leonid Buryak: “I proudly consider myself a pupil of the Great Coach. If it were not for Valery Vasilyevich, there would be no famous Dynamo teams and high-profile victories of our football.”
Oleg Blokhin: “He taught us the main thing - to win. He always had the right words that he knew how to say to the whole team, to each one individually. He was amazing with people."
Alexander Golovko: “I am sure that in every football player who was lucky enough to play under the leadership of Valery Vasilyevich, a piece of the human charm of this outstanding personality remained for life. His energy has always been transferred to us."
Oleg Salenko: “Lobanovsky is a personality of incredible proportions. Lump. He had such authority among the players that sometimes one of his glances was enough. He was a great psychologist: he understood very subtly when to load, when to let the team relax. He did not have a selective approach to his wards - everyone grew up with the team, everyone was in the same line.
Anatoly Demyanenko: “Lobanovsky wanted us to live not only by football, but also develop our intellect. He was interested in everything: politics, literature, theater - and he taught us to do this. He nurtured human qualities in us. He kept repeating: “Young people, study! Study all the time!"
Persistence, fortitude, constancy of views, the desire for self-improvement, external isolation and a soul open to the whole world - all this is he, an extraordinary player, an idol of Kyiv fans, an unsurpassed coach, Valery Vasilyevich Lobanovsky. He served football faithfully for many years. For a long time we will measure our football according to Lobanovsky, the Hero of Ukraine. He is always with us, this football God!
Oleksandr LIPENKO for Dynamo.kiev.ua
