Myroslav Stupar: “We lost 10-12 years due to the emergence of Italian curators in Ukraine”

In the last round of the Champions League in Prague, where the local "Sparta" lost to the French "Brest" (1:2), a Ukrainian referee team headed by Mykola Balakin was working. The former FIFA referee Myroslav Stupar assessed their work.

— The Ukrainian referees performed quite well in Prague. At least they did not make significant mistakes. It’s a pity that our referees entered the international level so late. In my opinion, we lost 10-12 years because of the emergence of Italian curators Pierluigi Collina and Luciano Lucci in Ukraine. In 2012, Collina, a representative of FIFA and UEFA, came to us, but he failed to elevate Ukrainians to the international level. And this was despite the fact that he had significantly stronger referees at his disposal than the current ones. I mean Andriy Shandor, Yuriy Mozoarovskyi, Vitaliy Hodulian, Anatoliy Abdula, and others. The Italian guests managed to halt the training of young referees, which worsened the professional selection of staff in the refereeing corps. It’s good that amidst such problems, Mykola Balakin emerged.

He stands out among others with his training. Mykola comes from a dynasty of referees. In his time, his grandfather worked as a referee, as did his father. Mykola has a very explosive character, which allows him to make quick decisions. He also sometimes acted unbalanced and often behaved condescendingly toward football players in the Ukrainian championship. Fortunately, international matches changed him. Mykola realized that the main figures on the field are the football players, and referees should be inconspicuous. Balakin somewhat manages to do this. It is also worth noting his proper physical preparedness. Mykola has the strength to move from one penalty area corner to the opposite penalty area corner and adheres to the principle of diagonal refereeing. Unfortunately, not all our referees act this way. Many of them save their energy and move in a straight line from one penalty area to another,” Stupar is convinced.