Since that historic date in 1894, Ukrainian society has gone through a lot: two world wars, the collapse of empires (Russian, Austro-Hungarian), the creation and disappearance of the USSR, military aggression by Russia, the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of Donbas, and an open full-scale invasion.
Photo: uaf.uaUkrainian football, which at certain stages of its history was part of the football of other countries - before independence - experienced all this together with society. Of course, there were ups and downs.
Lviv, Odesa, Chernivtsi, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Yuzivka (now Donetsk), Katerynoslav (now Dnipro), Mykolaiv, Sevastopol, Uzhhorod - these and other Ukrainian cities became centers of football's origin and development, and gave birth to famous masters of the game, teams and traditions. Almost 100 years ago, our football teams won the titles of the strongest in the Russian Empire (Odesa - 1912), Poland (Lviv's Pogon - 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926), the USSR (Kharkiv's Sturm - 1924), and Slovakia (Uzhhorod's Rus - 1933, 1936).
After recovering from the horrors of World War II, Ukrainian football gradually returned to the highest level. In 1954, Dynamo Kyiv won the USSR Cup, and in 1961 it won the USSR Championship for the first time. In the same year, 1961, Shakhtar Donetsk won the USSR Cup for the first time, and in 1962 repeated its achievement.
In the mid-1960s, Dynamo Kyiv confidently joined the ranks of the greats of Soviet football. Before Ukraine gained its independence, the Kyiv team won the USSR championship 13 times (an unrivaled record) (1961, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1990) and the USSR Cup nine times (the second highest in the history of the tournament) (1954, 1964, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1990).
Zorya Luhansk (1972) and Dnipro (1983, 1988) also won the title of the strongest team in the Soviet Union, while Shakhtar (1961, 1962, 1980, 1983), Karpaty Lviv (1969), Metalist Kharkiv (1988), and Dnipro (1989) won the cup trophy.
Ukrainian clubs have repeatedly been among the top three winners: Dynamo 14 times, Dnipro and Shakhtar four times, and Chornomorets Odesa once. In total, 15 of our clubs played in the elite division of the USSR championship. In some seasons, more than a third of the top league participants represented Ukraine.
Dynamo Kyiv became the first Soviet club to win an international title: In 1975, the team of the great (but at that time still very young - 36 years old!) coach Valerii Lobanovskyi defeated Hungarian Ferencvaros 3-0 in the Cup final. That same year, Kyiv added to its collection of international trophies by defeating the German and European giants, Bayern Munich, in two matches (1-0, 2-0). And in 1986, Dynamo repeated its success in the Cup of Cups, winning a convincing victory over Atletico Madrid (3-0).
Already during the period of independence, after Lobanovsky returned to Kyiv, Dynamo reached the semifinals (1999) and quarterfinals (1998) of the Champions League. But the greatest successes have been achieved by Shakhtar, which won the UEFA Cup (2009) and reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League (2011) and the semifinals of the Europa League (2016, 2020) under Mircea Lucescu and Luis Castro, and Dnipro, which reached the Europa League final (2015) under Myron Markevych. The latter had previously led Metalist to the quarterfinals of the Europa League (2012).
In the early 2010s, Ukrainian clubs felt very confident in the international arena - six representatives went to the start of European competitions for several seasons in a row, four of which made it to the spring part of the draw. The war with Russia stopped everything...
Pupils of Ukrainian football and representatives of teams from Ukrainian lands managed to play for the national teams of Poland (Wacław Kuchar, Michal Matias, Spyridon Albanski, Jan Wasiewicz, Józef Garben, Mieczysław Bacz and others), Romania (Alfred Eisenbeisser, Robert Sadovsky, Isidor Hansl, Josef Klein, Stanislav Mickinsky), Czechoslovakia (Geza Kalochai), Hungary (the same Geza Kalochai), and even the United States (Adam Volyanin). Some of them competed in the Olympic Games and world championships before the Second World War.
Oleksa Bokshai, a native of Zakarpattia, coached the Czechoslovakian national team, and Kazimierz Gurski, a native of Lviv, was recognized as the best Polish coach of the twentieth century for his achievements at the helm of the Polish national team (1972 - victory at the Olympic Games, 1974 - third place at the World Cup, 1976 - second place at the Olympic Games).
Ukrainian football players and coaches achieved great success during the Soviet era. Valery Lobanovsky, mentioned earlier, was the most titled coach in the Soviet Union. Oleh Blokhin is the author of many records as a scorer and as a player (the largest number of matches and goals in the USSR championship, in the USSR national team, and in European competitions among Soviet clubs).
Blokhin was the first player in Soviet football to win the Ballon d'Or, awarded to the best player in Europe, in 1975. In 1986, his achievement was repeated by another Kyiv Dynamo player, Ihor Belanov, and in 2004, Andriy Shevchenko became the third Ukrainian winner of the Ballon d'Or.
Blokhin was recognized as the best footballer of the year in the USSR three times, which is also a record, and in total, representatives of Ukrainian clubs achieved this 12 times: 1966 - Andrii Biba (Dynamo), 1969 - Volodymyr Muntyan (Dynamo), 1971 - Yevhen Rudakov (Dynamo), 1973 - Oleh Blokhin (Dynamo), 1974 - Oleh Blokhin (Dynamo), 1975 - Oleh Blokhin (Dynamo), 1979 - Vitalii Starukhin (Shakhtar), 1984 - Hennadii Lytovchenko (Dnipro), 1985 - Anatolii Demianenko (Dynamo), 1986 - Oleksandr Zavarov (Dynamo), 1987 - Oleh Protasov (Dnipro), 1988 - Oleksii Mykhailychenko (Dynamo).
The top 5 best players of the year also included a large number of Ukrainian representatives: Viktor Bannikov (1964), Anatoliy Byshovets (1966, 1967), Vasyl Turyanchyk (1967), Volodymyr Muntyan (1968), Viktor Serebryanikov (1969), Viktor Kolotov (1971, 1972, 1975), Yevhen Rudakov (1972), Oleh Blokhin (1972, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986), Volodymyr Veremeev (1974, 1975), Yuriy Degterev (1977), Anatoliy Konkov (1977), Volodymyr Bezsonov (1980, 1989), Leonid Buryak (1981, 1982), Anatolii Demianenko (1982), Oleh Taran (1983), Viktor Hrachov (1983), Oleh Protasov (1985, 1989), Ihor Belanov (1986), Pavlo Yakovenko (1986), Oleksii Mykhailychenko (1987, 1990), Oleksandr Zavarov (1987, 1988), Mykola Kudrytskyi (1989), Serhii Yuran (1990).
The following goalkeepers were recognized as the best goalkeepers of the year in the USSR: Viktor Bannikov (1964, Dynamo), Yevhen Rudakov (1969, 1971, 1972, Dynamo), Yuriy Degterev (1977, Shakhtar), Viktor Chanov (1986, Dynamo). There were also natives of Ukraine who represented Moscow clubs at the time: Volodymyr Maslachenko (1961), Viktor Bannikov (1970), Volodymyr Pilguy (1973) and Viacheslav Chanov (1981).
Pupils of Ukrainian football schools and representatives of Ukrainian clubs had a permanent representation in the USSR national team.
Volodymyr Maslachenko, Yurii Kovalev and Yurii Voynov became European champions in 1960. The 1972 European vice-champions under the leadership of Donbas native Oleksandr Ponomarev were Yevhen Rudakov, Volodymyr Troshkin, Viktor Kolotov, Anatolii Konkov, Volodymyr Onyshchenko, Edward Kozynkevych, Volodymyr Kaplychnyi, Viktor Matvienko, Mykhailo Fomenko, Volodymyr Muntyan and Viktor Bannikov.
The 1988 European vice-champions under Valerii Lobanovskyi were Viktor Chanov, Volodymyr Bezsonov, Oleh Kuznetsov, Anatolii Demianenko, Vasyl Ratz, Serhii Baltacha, Hennadii Lytovchenko, Oleksii Mykhailichenko, Oleksandr Zavarov, Oleh Protasov, Ihor Belanov, Ivan Vyshnevskyi, and Viktor Pasulko.
The quartet of the strongest at the 1966 World Championships included Viktor Serebryanikov, Leonid Ostrovsky, Jozsef Szabo, Valery Porkuyan, and Viktor Bannikov.
Jozsef Betza helped the Soviet team win gold at the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games (Ivan Moser also helped at the qualifying stage). Oleksii Mykhailichenko, Volodymyr Liutii, Vadym Tyshchenko, Volodymyr Tatarchuk, Yevhen Yarovenko, and Oleksii Cherednyk joined the Seoul 1988 gold medal team under the leadership of Anatolii Byshovets.
Oleg Blokhin, Yurii Istomin, Volodymyr Kaplychnyi, Viktor Kolotov, Yevhen Rudakov, Viacheslav Semenov, Jozsef Szabo, Yurii Yelisieiev, Volodymyr Onyshchenko, Anatolii Kuksov and Volodymyr Pilhui (coached by Oleksandr Ponomariov) won third place at the 1972 Munich Games.
Anatolii Konkov, Viktor Matvienko, Mykhailo Fomenko, Stefan Reshko, Volodymyr Troshkin, Volodymyr Onyshchenko, Viktor Kolotov, Volodymyr Veremieiev, Oleh Blokhin, Leonid Buryak and Viktor Zvyagintsev (coached by Valerii Lobanovskyi and Oleh Bazylevych) won third place at the 1976 Montreal Games.
Volodymyr Pilhuy, Serhiy Baltacha, Serhiy Shavlo, Volodymyr Bezsonov, and Serhiy Andreev took third place at the 1980 Moscow Games.
In general, the top 5 guardsmen of the USSR national team include three (!) representatives of Ukraine - Oleg Blokhin (No. 1 - 112 matches), Anatoliy Demyanenko (No. 4 - 80) and Volodymyr Bezsonov (No. 5 - 79). Also, three of our players are in the top 5 scorers of the USSR national team: Oleg Blokhin (No. 1 - 42 goals), Oleg Protasov (No. 2 - 28) and Viktor Kolotov (No. 5 - 22).
And it is difficult to count the number of Ukrainians who won medals of various calibers at European and world championships as part of the youth and both youth national teams of the USSR.
It is also worth noting that representatives of Ukraine were also among the best football referees in the USSR - Kostiantyn Demchenko (Zhytomyr), Matvii Pinskyi (Kharkiv), Mykola Balakin (Kyiv), Oleksandr Malets (Uzhhorod), Oleksandr Muhurdumov (Kyiv), Mykola Kirsanov (Kyiv), Oleksandr Tsapovetskyi (Kyiv), Yaroslav Balykin (Dnipro), Yuriy Sergienko (Kharkiv), Mykhailo Kusen (Lviv), Kostyantyn Vikhrov (Kyiv), Myroslav Stupar (Ivano-Frankivsk), Oleksandr Temetiev (Uzhhorod), Petro Kobychyk (Chernivtsi), Volodymyr Pyanykh (Donetsk).
Ukrainian football continued to receive its share of international recognition after 1991. The national team of Ukraine took part in the 2006 World Cup (quarterfinals, coached by Oleh Blokhin), Euro 2012 (group, Oleh Blokhin), Euro 2016 (group, Mykhailo Fomenko), Euro 2020 (quarterfinals, Andriy Shevchenko) and Euro 2024 (group, Serhiy Rebrov).
Ukraine's U-17 national team has already played 11 times in the final tournament of the European Championship, but it has not yet managed to improve on its result at the debut Euro 1994 - third place under Volodymyr Kyianchenko -.
This year (July 15), the U-19 national team under the leadership of Dmytro Mykhaylenko will take part in the final tournament of the European Championship for the eighth time. The best benchmarks for our guys are the gold medal in 2009 (coached by Yuriy Kalytvintsev), silver in 2000 (Anatoliy Kroshchenko), and getting into the top 4 in 2004 (Pavlo Yakovenko) and 2018 (Oleksandr Petrakov).
The Ukrainian U-20 national team took part in four world championships: it reached the 1/8 finals three times (2001 - coach Anatoliy Kroshchenko, 2005 - Oleksiy Mykhailychenko, 2015 - Oleksandr Petrakov), and on the fourth attempt (2019 - Oleksandr Petrakov) won the world championship title!
And Ukraine's U-21 team won silver medals at Euro 2006 (coached by Oleksiy Mykhailychenko), played in the final tournament of Euro 2011 (Pavlo Yakovenko) and entered the top four at Euro 2023 (Ruslan Rotan), earning the right to compete at the Olympic Games in July 2024.
