On Friday, August 2, renowned German coach Ralf Rangnick held a theoretical and practical seminar for Ukrainian coaches at the Football House. The 66-year-old Rangnick, who is currently the head of the Austrian national team, came to Kyiv at the invitation of the Ukrainian Football Association.
The seminar was attended by 103 coaches from the headquarters of the national teams of Ukraine, domestic professional clubs and children's academies.
"I am glad to welcome the famous coach Ralf Rangnick to the House of Football! Thank you for responding to our invitation and coming to Kyiv. Ralf Rangnick is a specialist who has done a lot for the development of world football. He is a specialist who respects Ukrainian football, and it is especially admirable that he came to Kyiv at such a difficult time for our country," said UAF President Andriy Shevchenko at the beginning of the seminar.
"In fact, it is a great pleasure and a great honor for me to be here today. When Andriy Shevchenko called me and offered to hold this seminar, I immediately agreed. And it was important for me to share information with you in person, not online. My coaching career has been going on for over 40 years. I received my first professional coaching license at the age of 19. And at the beginning of my coaching career, I met Valeriy Lobanovsky, who brought Dynamo Kyiv to Germany for training. In Ruith, I watched every training session of Lobanovsky's team. German football then had a certain stereotype in the way the game was structured, and no one dared to go beyond certain boundaries, but Lobanovsky had new ideas. It was my first experience of a different vision of football," Ralf Rangnick said.
After that, the German specialist and his assistants made a three-part presentation. First, Ralf Rangkick spoke about his vision of the style of play and how he formulates his football philosophy. In the second part of the theoretical seminar, the German specialist, who is currently in charge of the Austrian national team, spoke about his principles of implementing ideas "from paper to football field". After that, Ralf Rangnick and his assistants answered questions from Ukrainian coaches for about an hour.
Another part of the seminar was a practical training session held on the field of the V. Bannikov Science and Technology Center. During the practical exercises, Ralf Rangnick modeled and explained the game situations discussed in the theoretical part of the seminar with the players of FC Shakhtar U-17.
At the end of the seminar, the participants shared their impressions.
Serhiy Kovalets (former coach of the Ukrainian youth national team): "I thank the Ukrainian Football Association and Andriy Shevchenko personally for organizing this seminar. According to him, Valery Lobanovsky had a significant impact on Ralph Rangnick's career. Discipline, order and fulfillment of duties by coaches and players are very simple things. Rangnick showed the matches of the Austrian national team at Euro 2024, transitional phases, standard provisions - all this is simple but very informative.
It is clear that a large number of coaches were present. From adult teams, youth teams, youth teams, and children's academies. It was useful for them, and it shows that our football is alive. Many thanks to Ralph Rangnick for not being afraid to come to Ukraine in a difficult time and share his experience."
Vitaliy Ponomaryov (head coach of FC Rukh (Lviv)): "Ralph Rangnick is one of the best European coaches, and he professes the same football style that the Ukrainian national team is currently playing. This is important for our coaches, because he told us a lot of interesting things during the theory session.
The fact that Rangnick relies on the ideas of Valery Lobanovsky is a source of pride for our country. It means that we have a good foundation on which to develop Ukrainian football. I am sure that those coaches who attended the seminar today have learned a lot from it.
For example, our team, Rukh football club, is trying to play similar football. Of course, we have not used some details before and will take them into account in our further development."
Oleksandr Ishchenko (Director of the Academy of FC Dynamo Kyiv): "Ralf Rangnick is an active coach, a practicing coach. Personally, I was most interested in the fact that the main direction of his communication with us is the football component. This is the foundation that was built by Valeriy Lobanovsky and Oleg Bazylevych. It is very interesting how it looks now, in the modern methodology, and how to reformat it for today's players and make sure that they understand and fulfill it all. And the notes from the Euro 2024 video are a clear confirmation that we need to work in that direction, because this is the foundation of football.
Such seminars contribute to both the development of football and the communication of coaches, because there is no development without communication. Communication should be in audio, video, and question-and-answer format. And this seminar is a good example of how it should be. We talked, received comprehensive information, and then it's up to each coach to decide what he or she will use in his or her work."
Yuriy Koval (head coach of FC Zorya (Luhansk)): "Today's seminar is about communicating with colleagues, which is always great. The fact that the coach of the Austrian national team has come and we have the opportunity to hear him live is great. Live communication is live communication. It has a lot of energy.
During the war, such seminars give coaches, especially young ones, the opportunity to hear the latest thoughts from a mentor who has just returned from the European Championship. Both practice and theory were very instructive."
Oleh Shelayev (FC Dnipro Academy Sports Director): "Of course, such seminars are very important. Firstly, we, the coaches, meet, share our thoughts, worry, and support each other. Secondly, Ralph Rangnick is a specialist who has gone his own way, who has an understanding of how to build a team and how to solve problems. His words prompt thoughts on the further development of football.
I would like the Ukrainian Football Association to organize such seminars more often, at least once a month. They are even needed for discussion. Coaches can meet, discuss problems, propose methods of solving them, and generally just talk."
Dmytro Mykhaylenko (head coach of the U-19 national team): "In my opinion, the seminar is a very useful event. It demonstrates respect for our football on the part of European experts.
I have heard a lot about Ralf Rangnick and understand what coaches have come out of his school. These are Jürgen Klopp, Julian Nagelsmann, and Hans-Dieter Flick. Many famous professionals whose careers he influenced. And he, in turn, was greatly influenced by Valery Lobanovsky. Using his ideas, Rangnick developed his attitude to football. Now he is a supporter of a super-energetic game built on pressure, on a constant attack on the ball. This is important for our country, because there are a lot of coaches here who are fans of pressure. It's interesting to communicate with a coach who has the same thoughts.
In fact, there are not many people who have had such a strong influence on European football. They can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Many coaches are successful, but they don't have that kind of influence. Ralph is a man who has had a big impact on football in Europe, and that's important."