Column by Alexander Lipenko. Jet Dynamo forward

Once, in a conversation with his coach Valery Vasilyevich Lobanovsky, Leonid Buryak suggested to him that there is a good striker in Chornomorets, who is worth paying attention to.

25-year-old forward Igor Belanov was invited to Dynamo in 1985. He was distinguished by his rapid acceleration, focus on the opponent's goal, strikes from difficult positions, the ability to get rid of his guardian, and the performance of a large amount of work. Belanov immediately fit into the main composition of the people of Kiev.

For five years of playing at Dynamo, Igor became a two-time champion of the former USSR (1985, 1986), a silver medalist (1988), a bronze medalist (1989), and a Cup winner (1985, 1987).

Played 121 matches for Dynamo, scored 39 goals in the championship. Two of the bottoms turned out to be jubilee ones. On July 29, 1985, at the 51st minute of the Dynamo-Spartak match, Belanov scored the 2000th goal for the people of Kiev in the championships. On August 26, 1989, at the 57th minute in the meeting between Dynamo and Rotor (Volgograd), he became the author of 2200 Dynamo goals.

The Dynamo forward played 33 matches in the national team, in which he scored 8 times. Belanov silver medalist of the 1988 European Championship.

Having completed his career at Dynamo, Igor spent 5 seasons in the Bundesliga playing for Borussia (Mönchengladbach) and Eintracht (Braunschweig).

At the end of his career, Igor Belanov became one of the co-owners and president of the Swiss club Wil, whose head coach was Alexander Zavarov. A team from a town of 23,000 created a sensation by winning the Swiss Cup for the first time in its history. Wil defeated Grasshoppers in the final. But soon Belanov left Switzerland due to a conflict with the club's board of directors, lack of loyalty on the part of the city's leadership. After losing eight matches in a row after his departure, Wil was relegated from the top division.

Happy Season-1986

In the career of every football player there is both the most unfortunate season and the most successful, the happiest. This was the season of 1986 for the Honored Master of Sports Igor Belanov.

Dynamo in the 1986 season became the national champion for the 12th time. Belanov scored 10 goals in 22 matches. For the third time, the people of Kiev became the owners of the USSR Super Cup.

On May 2, having won in Lyon on the field of the Zheglan stadium in the final match of the Cup Winners' Cup "Atletico" Madrid with a score of 3: 0, Valery Lobanovsky's wards won their second trophy. On the way to the final, they knocked out of the fight for the Cup: "Utrecht "(Holland), "Universitate" (Romania), "Rapid" (Austria), "Dukla" (Prague). In this tournament, the people of Kiev scored 26 goals against opponents, six of them on Belanov's account. He scored three of them in Rapid gate, which was defended by the goalkeeper of the Austrian national team Konsel.

Having won the Cup of Cups, Igor Belanov, like many other Dynamo players under the leadership of Valery Lobanovsky, went to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. Igor played brilliantly. He scored a ball into the gates of the Hungarian national team and three goals into the gates of the Belgian national team. It was the first "hat-trick" of our players at the world championships.

Title taken from Platini

In autumn, the French team, playing in its strongest squad, hosted our team on the Parc des Princes field. The guests won - 2:0 eminent opponent. Belanov scored one of the goals against the French. After the end of the match, the captain of the home team Michel Platini approached Igor Belanov with an offer to exchange jerseys. This became another peculiar symbol of that season: after all, the title of the best football player in Europe in 1986 was taken from Platini by Belanov.

In the France Football poll of the best football player in Europe, Igor Belanov scored 84 points, ahead of the 1986 World Cup top scorer Harry Lineker (62 points) and Spaniard Emilio Buntragueño (59). Ballon d'Or for the 1986 season. was awarded to Dynamo only on March 18, 1987. before the match of the Kyivans of the 1/4 finals of the Champions Cup with Besiktas.

Belanov does not keep his trophy under "seven locks". He constantly takes him to meetings with fans.

In a World Soccer magazine poll, the Dynamo striker was named the second player in the world. This publication also named the team of Igor Belanov and her coach Valery Lobanovsky the second team in the world.

In 2012, a star dedicated to Igor Belanov appeared on the football glory alley of FC Chernomorets leading to the stadium in Odessa.

62-year-old Igor Ivanovich continues to serve football, his favorite game.

Alexander LIPENKO for Dynamo.kiev.ua