At the entrance to the Dynamo Stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskyi, a bronze sculptural composition of the outstanding coach has been installed. Its author, the famous master Vladimir Filatov, is a graduate of the Kyiv Institute of Physical Culture. He is a big fan of football and has attended matches of the Dynamo team.
The idea of creating such a composition came to the author in a dream. Its weight is 3.5 tons. Lobanovskyi is sitting on a bench. The hands of the watch on his arm have stopped at 20:35. It was at this time on May 13, 2002, in a Zaporizhzhia hospital, to which emergency help delivered the Maestro after the end of the match between the local "Metallurh" and Kyiv's "Dynamo," that the tireless football heart of the outstanding coach, Hero of Ukraine, holder of the UEFA Ruby Order "For Merit," came to a stop.
Valeriy Vasylovych lived for 63 years, 4 months, and 7 days.
Constantly at the foot of the sculptural composition, there are many flowers brought by Kyivans and guests of the capital. It gets especially crowded here on January 6, the birthday of Lobanovskyi, and on May 13, the day of his passing.
Former students come to pay their respects, as do young Dynamo players. Baskets of flowers are sent from the FC "Dynamo," its president Ihor Surkis, the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Hryhoriy Surkis, from the Kyiv football federation, from veterans of "Dynamo," and from fans of different generations.
Lobanovskyi's apprentices were champions of the USSR 8 times, won silver medals 4 times, and bronze medals 2 times, and won the Cup of that country 6 times. Valeriy Vasylovych's teams finished in the "golden" harbor of independent Ukraine's championships 5 times. They held the national Cup three times.
And of course, it is worth recalling that "Dynamo" won European Cups three times. In May 1975, in Basel (Switzerland), the Kyiv team defeated Budapest's "Ferencváros" in the final (3:0), in May 1986, in the French Lyon, they defeated Madrid's "Atletico" (3:0) and became the holders of the Cup Winners' Cup.
In the autumn of 1975, Dynamo convincingly dealt with the then holder of the European Champions Cup, "Bayern," in Munich (1:0) and Kyiv (2:0), and seized the UEFA Super Cup. Oleg Blokhin scored three goals against the German champion.
Finally, Oleg Blokhin (1975), Ihor Belanov (1986), and Andriy Shevchenko (2004) — Lobanovskyi's protégés — became holders of the "Ballon d'Or," awarded to the best football player in Europe in the annual competition of the Paris publication "France Football."
These are far from all the achievements of the famous master, who entered the top five best coaches in Europe and the top ten in the world.
Lobanovskyi left this world on duty. He left as a victor, worthy of his greatness, earning the love of the nation. For a long time, we will measure football by Lobanovskyi.
Alexander LIPENKO for Dynamo.kiev.ua