Today’s date has gifted the world several famous individuals who have closely tied their lives to football:
Anatoliy Shepel. Photo: Official website of FC “Dinamo” (Kyiv)Dario Šimić (1975) — former Croatian footballer who played as a defender. He began his career at Zagreb’s “Dinamo” in 1992. He played for his home club for seven seasons, winning five championship titles during this time. After a successful World Cup for Croatia in 1998, Dario moved to Milan’s “Inter,” where he played until 2002. In 2002, he was traded to “Milan” for Turkish player Ümit Davala. In 2003, he became a winner of the UEFA Champions League with “Milan.” In 2006, he extended his contract with “Milan” until the end of the 2008-2009 season. In the summer of 2008, he transferred to “Monaco.” He ended his career at his home club “Dinamo.”
Harrison Omoko (1981) — Nigerian defender. He began his career in Ukraine by joining “Dinamo” in 2000. However, he played most of his matches with “Dinamo-2.” In 2001, he was loaned to Israel’s “Hapoel” Be’er Sheva but did not play a single match. He later played for “Vorskla,” “Tavriya,” “Zorya,” and “Volyn.”
Anatoliy Shepel (1949) — one of the most interesting footballers in the first half of the 70s in the USSR championship. He especially shone while playing for Odessa’s “Chornomorets,” when in 1973 he scored 38 goals in the USSR championship among first league teams. After moving to Kyiv’s “Dinamo,” he no longer demonstrated such play. He worked as the director of the football school DYuFSh “Dinamo” Kyiv named after Valery Lobanovsky.
Benny McCarthy (1977) — former South African footballer who played as a forward. Benny’s last club was the domestic “Orlando Pirates.” He is the top scorer in the history of the South African national team. He was the silver medalist and top scorer of the 1998 Africa Cup of Nations. Winner of the UEFA Champions League 2003/04.
