Former midfielder of Dynamo Kyiv and the Ukrainian national team, and now a well-known coach, Vitaliy Kosovskyi told us where he lives and what he does now, recalled his performances as a footballer and explained why he ended his brilliant sports career quite early.
Vitaly Kosovsky- You now live in Vinnytsia. What do you do?
- After the invasion of the Russian aggressor, we decided to live in Vinnytsia. We feel calm and comfortable here. But we miss Kyiv and go home.
Last year, our grandson was born. This is our joy. We spend a lot of time with him. We have time to relax, meet friends and socialise.
- Recently, you have often been seen at the awarding ceremony for young footballers in Vinnytsia. Is it nice to inspire children to play football?
- There is a war in the country now, a difficult period. So it is important to congratulate and support young footballers. My friends and acquaintances invite me to come to the award ceremony. I understand that you need to help as much as you can.
- You have recently played in the Vinnytsia Oblast Championship among veterans (45+). Is this how you keep fit?
- I will try to go out on the football field and help the teams that invite me. In general, I don't play often nowadays. Sometimes, together with my friends in Vinnytsia, we compete on the tennis court and play "tennisball".
- Have you had any offers for a new job yet?
- I am currently, as they say, on a sabbatical. But I am always ready to negotiate a new job. There were options that I considered. But this is not what I want.
- The last time you coached the youth team "Kryvbas. What did you remember about this period of your work?
- During the year that I worked with the coaching staff, we did a lot of work, professionally and honestly in relation to the management and the players with whom I had to work and train them. When I heard about the dismissal, I was shocked.
What could have happened that four days before the start of the Ukrainian championship I was "asked" to terminate my contract?
After all, we had carried out the appropriate selection work and preparation for the season.
- Did Kryvbas' leadership in the UPL come as a surprise to you?
- Yurii Vernydub is an experienced coach, a professional. He and the coaching staff stick to their style of football, philosophy, training process and do not deviate from it. The club has carried out successful selection work, which has led to competition for a place in the squad. That's why the Kryvyi Rih club is making progress and is currently leading the elite division of the Ukrainian championship.
- You continue to attend Dynamo Kyiv's matches. Do you like the way this club's game has changed since Oleksandr Shovkovskyi took over as head coach?
- Yes, I did attend the last Dynamo games. We saw that with the arrival of Oleksandr Shovkovskyi, Kyiv started to win. First of all, it was important to get results.
Shovkovskyi has time to prepare the players. I hope that in the second round we will see a completely different game of Dynamo Kyiv. Although there are still many positive aspects. As I was told, the psychological state within the team has improved.
- You can also often be seen at the matches of Vinnytsia's Niva. What are the prospects for this mid-table side in the second league?
- The second round is still ahead, and everything can change. A lot will depend on the coaching staff to prepare the players well for the rest of the season. Every coach dreams of qualitatively strengthening the squad, and competition in the team is very important.
I believe that Niva will show a much better result in the second round. After all, the coaching staff of the Vinnytsia team is quite qualified, with good experience.
"We were banned from going to the youth Euro"
- You were born in one city and grew up in another. Why?
- I was born in the Rivne region and went to a football section there. I didn't play for long. But my father worked at the Khmelnytskyi NPP, and we had to move to Netishyn.
That's when I started training at the local children's and youth sports school. For some time, I played for the Khmelnytskyi regional team. Then it so happened that I accepted an invitation to move to the Kyiv Sports Boarding School (RSHI). It was very prestigious to play there. It was 1989.
- It was the youth top level back then! Who coached you there, who stood out in the team?
- It was Kyiv, the capital, good youthful times. And so was the team! The coach was Volodymyr Hryhorovych Kyianchenko, assisted by Volodymyr Fedorovych Kachanov. Under their leadership, the players were called up to the USSR youth team, participated in qualifying games for the European Championships. And they successfully overcame the group stage, where they took first place. But then the CIS national team went to the Euros.
At the qualifying games for the European Championships, I gained serious international experience. There, by the way, I met Oleksandr Khatskevich, who was playing for Dynamo Minsk at the time. Later we met him as adults, when he played for Dynamo Kyiv.
- Did you make friends with Oleksandr Hatskevych?
- We communicated well then, as we do today. Back in the youth team, Oleksandr played at a fairly good technical level. He was a thinking player on the pitch.
- Why didn't you play at the youth Euro then?
- At that time, the backbone (5-6 players) of the Soviet Union's youth team was from Ukraine. We were all banned from travelling to Germany for the final part of the European Youth Championship. It was a shame, because we had the right to go. Because we played all the qualifying games and deserved to participate in the final. Players from various CIS countries, apart from Ukrainians, went to the Euros.
- When you and the USSR national team first went abroad to a local supermarket, your eyes must have been running wild? Who was buying what?
- It was really like that. When we first went abroad, we saw something that was not available in our country. We had little pocket money. So we mostly bought souvenirs. At most, a T-shirt. For yourself or as a gift. In fact, as part of the USSR youth team, my first trip was to Portugal. It was 1990.
- As part of the Ukrainian youth team, you defeated Italy with Del Piero, Inzaghi, Vieri and Cannavaro. How did you manage to do that?
- It so happened that we defeated the Italian national team because we prepared very carefully for this game. We understood that this was a chance for us to get to the Olympic Games. This was our dream, which we did not achieve. After all, there was also a return match in Italy, which we lost. Although the draw gave Ukraine a ticket to the Olympic Games. We were in the lead at the time, but unfortunately, we were unable to maintain this result.
By the way, do you remember that team? Most of the players joined the Ukrainian national team.
- There is a story that the legendary Dynamo player Volodymyr Troshkin, who saw young Kosovskyi, advised him: "You, Vitalik, are unlike anyone else. So use it!". Did this really happen?
- It was when I was still playing for Niva Vinnytsia and was called up to the Ukrainian youth team. In Kyiv, during a training session, he said the following words of support to me. I remember them for the rest of my life. Volodymyr Mykolayovych Troshkin was assisting head coach Volodymyr Fedorovych Muntyan at the time.
"Podillia travelled through the capital and picked me up for matches."
- How did you end up at Podillia Khmelnytskyi?
- When I was still studying at the Kyiv Sports Boarding School, we had two USSR national teams at graduation - me and striker Volodymyr Lebed. However, for some reason, I did not get into the reserve team of Dynamo Kyiv. It just happened. But in the end, it was good for me. After all, I was invited to Podillia by Sekeci's coach.
The Podillia team travelled through the capital and took me away for away matches. Sometimes we had two away games a week. After graduating from the sports boarding school, I finally moved to Khmelnytskyi.
"Podillia was playing in the second league of the USSR championship at the time. It was a great experience for me, a young player. I stayed there for six months. Then there was Niva Vinnytsia.
- Was it Niva team manager Ihor Hataullin who persuaded you to move to Vinnytsia?
- Ihor Fedorovych did not persuade me. He immediately went to Khmelnytskyi and resolved all the issues with the managers of Podillia. Even then, Gataullin understood that I would progress quickly and helped me with everything. He fulfilled everything he promised. Six months before I joined Dynamo, Ihor Hataullin helped get our family (I was already married) a 3-room apartment in Vinnytsia.
But before that, Vyacheslav Grozny, the coach of Vinnytsia's Niva, watched me play in Ternopil as part of the USSR youth team against the Swedes. After our victorious match, we talked about a possible move to the Vinnytsia club.
I preferred Vinnytsia at the time. Although at the same time they offered to move to Ternopil's Niva. The director of this team, Volodymyr Aksyonov, was then an assistant head coach of the USSR youth team.
"I almost agreed to move to Chornomorets, but they found out about it, and here I am at Dynamo."
- What kind of head coach was Oleksandr Tomakh at Niva?
- A lot of time has passed, so it's hard to remember anything specific. But I was invited to this club when Oleksandr Tomakh was the head coach, so I have to treat him with respect in any case.
- How did Oleksandr Tomakh turn a Kosiv striker into a left midfielder?
- When Oleksandr Tomakh was the head coach, I was just starting to play for Niva, I hadn't had much game practice.
But the next head coach Yukhym Shkolnikov and his then assistant Vyacheslav Grozny gave me the opportunity to play in different positions.
I played as a striker then. I remember that in one of the seasons I scored 13 goals. By the way, in children's and youth football, I played a lot as a striker. But in the USSR national team I was a left midfielder. In general, I could play both on the left in midfield and on the right.
- Vyacheslav Grozny is famous for his notes. Can you remember how he worked with Niva?
- Viacheslav Viktorovych was a keen football man and remains so to this day. He always talked a lot with young players. In particular, with me. It was very interesting to work with him. Because Grozny was always coming up with something, he was a creative and thinking mentor. I have good memories of him.
- What were young Sergiy Nagornyak and Oleg Naduda like?
- At that time, young promising players Oleksandr Horshkov, Yurii Solovienko, Yurii Mykolaienko, Serhii Popov were still playing for our team... Niva's squad was generally promising. It was constantly progressing. During the three seasons I spent in Vinnytsia, Niva achieved good results. Both as a team and individually. Over time, most of these players were invited to big-name clubs.
- Experienced fans say that Niva Vinnytsia almost sold Naduda and Kosovskyi to Belgian Standard Liège. Do you know anything about this or is it a lie?
- This is the truth. There was a certain period when my team-mate Oleh Naduda and I went to Belgium for a medical. Before that, we went to Poland, even trained for five days and prepared for football viewing parties.
Over time, I found out that I was too expensive for Standard, so this transfer did not take place. Still, I have no regrets (unlike the Belgians) about returning to Niva. After a while, I ended up at Dynamo Kyiv.
- Is it true that at Chornomorets under Viktor Prokopenko, you were offered to earn even more than at Dynamo? Then why didn't you agree to join the Odesa club?
- I almost agreed to Chornomorets' invitation. I already had an understanding that I would play for this club next year. But it so happened that this information became available.
Then Ihor Fedorovych Gataullin persuaded me to go to Kyiv for talks with the management of the capital's club. There I met the then president of Dynamo, Hryhoriy Surkis. After a short conversation and mutual understanding, I signed a contract.
- Did Spartak Moscow also offer you a deal?
- I had no such information. Maybe it's just a rumour.
- Perhaps it was Dynamo Kyiv who offered better terms?
- At the time, I didn't think about this component. But since childhood, I dreamed of playing for Dynamo. I hoped that I would develop and progress in this club.
"I made a pass, and the ball was cut off in the Panathinaikos goal"
- You made your debut for Dynamo Kyiv in the match against Torpedo Zaporizhzhia in an unexpected role as a left-back. Why did it happen?
- Perhaps one of Dynamo's defensive players was injured at the time. That's why the coaching staff used me in this position. Let me remind you that at that time, the experienced Serhii Shmatovalenko was playing left-back in the team.
- You scored a 1-0 goal against Panathinaikos in the Champions League in 1995. How did you feel celebrating at the packed Olimpiyskiy?
- I remember that I made a flank pass. Then the ball was cut off. But the good idea was not in vain! After the game, my teammates made a lot of jokes about the goal, but they were nice jokes.
- But the next scandal was bigger than your goal. Under what circumstances did you find out about the resonant case of mink coats? That is, an attempt to bribe Spanish referee Lopez Nieto before the match against Panathinaikos.
- It became known the day after the match. After arriving at the base, we started discussing this topic. We were very worried. We had no idea what would happen next. We waited for some time. At the same time, we trained and prepared for the next matches. Only later did we find out the unpleasant verdict - the team was disqualified from European competitions. But we still had to train professionally and move forward.
- Is it true that after Dynamo's disqualification, they wanted to dismantle Russian clubs? And the club's president, Hryhorii Surkis, allegedly raised salaries to keep the players?
- I don't remember that. Back then, the team had great players and good conditions. I don't believe anyone wanted to leave. We were looking forward to the new season in the Ukrainian league and hoped that the disqualification would be lifted and we would be part of the Champions League.
- Who had the coolest car at Dynamo?
- At a certain period of time, all Dynamo players had nice cars. For example, the late Andriy Husin drove a Mercedes McLaren, Kakha Kaladze drove a Ferrari.
- Were you surprised when Dynamo's Serhiy Balanchuk became a lawyer after his football career? And then he volunteered to go to the front?
- Serhiy Balanchuk left Dynamo Kyiv because of the serious competition in the team. Then he started playing in Poltava, for Vorskla, and did quite well.
Then it so happened that Serhii decided to change his profession and work as a lawyer in the company of his friend. This is what I heard about.
Balanchuk went to war as a volunteer and died for our future, for the future of all Ukrainians. Eternal memory to him and all the fallen soldiers!
"If I had been properly restored, I could still play at a high level"
- In 2003, you said goodbye to football at the age of less than 30. Your last match for Dynamo-2 was against your first team, Podillia. Was it because of an injury?
- I was injured a lot, and I had to recover and train on my own for a long time. That's why the Dynamo coaches of the time didn't count on me. I didn't even train with the first team.
- Tell us how you continued to play for the amateur team of Horenychiv (Kyiv region) with Serhii Rebrov, Valentyn Belkevych, Vladyslav Vashchuk and other stars.
- There was such a period in my life. It was fun and interesting. All the players you mentioned lived in Kyiv at the time. We trained together. We came up with the idea of playing together, and it turned out to be quite bright. Because our matches were attended by fans.
- First League Volyn beat your super team 4-0. How did this happen?
- Yes, we played this cup match in Bucha (Kyiv region). Back then, we had a very 'promising', 'young' squad. But Volyn Lutsk, led by Vitaliy Kvartsyan, made little effort to beat us (Laughs).
- Is it true that the village head of Horenichi paid for your performances with land plots?
- I found out about the story about the land plots over time. We joked about it, laughed. But later it became known that only one person received a land plot (Laughs).
Yevhen Chepur
