On Monday, October 7, the Dynamo Stadium was crowded. Unfortunately, a sad event brought everyone here - under the monotonous pounding of rain, the football community said goodbye to the outstanding Dynamo player of the 70s, a well-known coach and football functionary Anatoliy Dmytrovych Konkov, who passed away on October 4 at the age of 75.
Photo: fcdynamo.comHe was born in Krasnyi Luch (Khrustalnyi), Voroshylovhrad (Luhansk) region. He started playing football in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, playing as a defender and midfielder. Later he joined Shakhtar Donetsk, for whom he played for six years. In 1975, Valerii Lobanovskyi invited him to join Dynamo Kyiv, where he played until 1981. Throughout his playing career, Anatolii Konkov was one of the symbols of Ukrainian football. With Dynamo, he won the 1975 UEFA Cup and Super Cup, became a four-time USSR champion and Cup winner. And as a member of the USSR national team, he became the 1972 European vice-champion and bronze medalist of the 1976 Olympic Games.
Anatolii Dmytrovych gained the authority of his partners and colleagues, as well as the popularity and love of the fans. His ability to read the game, leadership skills and dedication to football made him a key figure on the football field.
After his playing career, Anatoliy Konkov continued to make his important contribution to the development of Ukrainian football. In particular, since the end of 2006, he has been the president of the Anatoliy Konkov Children's FC Start, and since 2008 he has been the sporting director of Alchevsk Stal. He has coached Tavria, Shakhtar, Mykolaiv, Vorskla, Stal, Inter (Baku), as well as the student, youth and national teams of Ukraine. In addition, he held important positions in Ukrainian football, and from 2012 to 2015 he was the President of the Football Federation of Ukraine, leaving behind a great football legacy.
On Monday, a large number of people gathered at the Dynamo Stadium named after V. Lobanovsky, who admired his sincerity, open heart, ability to find an approach to everyone and help everyone who asked for help and needed it - in word, deed, and advice.
Dynamo's veterans, the club's management, former partners, numerous friends and colleagues came to honor his memory, say goodbye and send him off with his family. Among them were UEFA honorary member Hryhoriy Surkis, vice presidents Dmytro Brief, Oleksiy Semenenko, Oleksiy Palamarchuk and other club employees, former players of different generations Volodymyr Bezsonov, Anatoliy Demyanenko, Stefan Reshko, Volodymyr Muntyan, Oleksandr Zavarov, Oleksandr Boyko, Oleksiy Mykhailychenko and others. Representatives of the Ukrainian Football Association, coaches of the Dynamo Children's and Youth Sports School led by its director Oleksandr Ishchenko, numerous colleagues and friends of the deceased, as well as fans and admirers of his talent came to pay their last respects.
During the farewell, Anatoliy Dmytrovych was addressed with sincere words and fond memories, because he was a wonderful person, a generator of ideas, who tried not to offend anyone and live with dignity. This is how everyone who was friends and worked with him knows him.
- "Anatolii Konkov was a good man, a great footballer for Dynamo Kyiv and the Soviet Union national team," recalls teammate Stefan Reshko, "I had to play with him in a pair in defense, but basically, he was a so-called 'breakwater' - a holding midfielder. He played very well in this position, he could put goalkeeper Blokhin one-on-one with his first pass into the attack, and he could help Misha Fomenko and me fight from behind in defense. In short, he was an outstanding player, of European level, and a normal, modest person. In addition to playing on the same team, we also lived in the same house. After his football career ended, we began to see each other less often - he had a coaching job, and I had a teaching job at the National Academy of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. When he became the head of the Football Federation, he also showed organizational skills that he once had on the field. Football was gradually developing under him.
On September 19, I congratulated him on his birthday, he had a cheerful voice, so I was surprised to learn that he had passed away, it came as a surprise to me. I will keep his memory alive.
His Dynamo teammate from the 70s, defender Oleksandr Boyko, also shared his memories of Anatolii Konkov:
- "I remember my first match for Dynamo in 1975, when we played Shakhtar Donetsk. Suddenly, Valeriy Lobanovsky said to me: "Sasha, come on instead of Konkov". I came on, at one point beat half the team, passed to Blokhin, he scored, and we won 1-0. The next day, Bazylevych came to me and said: "We didn't know who to take to Greece for the Champions Cup match against Olympiacos. Here you are!"
Anatolii Dmytrovych is a good man, I respect him a lot. We played in the same team for 10 years and communicated well. Only when he became the president of the Football Federation of Ukraine did we have less contact. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, he used to come to football games all the time, we had a box for veterans at the stadium, and we met there. I don't know what happened, he didn't seem to be ill. I recently talked to him, he seemed to be fine, so it was unexpected for me.
When he had a child, I was still joking: "Kon, are you crazy to have a child at the age of 70, and who will raise it?" He replied that everything would be fine.
By the way, Anatolii Konkov and Mykhailo Fomenko were born on the same day, both were central defenders, lived in the same house on Turgenevska Street, and were sincere friends. Fomenko died in April, and Konkov died less than six months after him-it happens. Apparently, Lobanovsky was assembling a soccer team in heaven, and he was short of defenders.
After the official part was over, to the applause of everyone who had gathered in the center of Kyiv to say goodbye, the motorcade with Anatoliy Konkov made a circle of honor around the bowl of the Dynamo stadium and then went to the Baikove cemetery, where the funeral ceremony continued and the burial took place.
