I can’t understand, not only I, but many of my colleagues, for what merits did the UAF decide to hold the final match of the Ukrainian Cup in Zhytomyr, the "most football" city in the country, on May 14, 2025, at the beginning of spring.
“Dynamo” with the Cup of Cup Winners in 1975For some reason, the UAF leaders have forgotten that 50 years ago, on May 14, the players of Kyiv’s “Dynamo” defeated the Hungarian “Ferencváros” 3:0 in the final of the 1974/75 Cup Winners’ Cup in Basel (Switzerland), winning the first prestigious European trophy in the history of Ukrainian football. Millions of fans of the "white-blues" rejoiced at this monumental achievement.
The bosses of the UAF decided to hold the final of the Ukrainian Cup 130 kilometers away from Kyiv. Why Zhytomyr, and not the capital of the country, where decisive cup matches have been held 18 times? The NSC “Olympic” is currently “out of play”. However, there is another great arena in the city — the “Dynamo” named after Valeriy Lobanovskyi, which seats nearly 17,000 spectators. By the way, the “Central” stadium in Zhytomyr can only accommodate 5,928 fans.
However, it can be argued that only no more than 1,750 spectators are allowed in the stands of all stadiums in our country during matches. And this rule applies to the stadium in Zhytomyr as well. However, at the semi-final match of the Cup-2025 “Polissya” — “Shakhtar”, there were four times as many fans as permitted.
The president of the UAF, Andriy Shevchenko, was present at the meeting and saw all this. But it is surprising that no sanctions followed.
There was also great interest in the match of the championship “Shakhtar” — “Dynamo”. And there were more than 5,000 visitors in the stands of the “Arena Lviv”.
On May 14, the final match of the Cup could have been organized, as an exception, at the Dynamo stadium in Kyiv.
As I see this event. Before the start of the match, during the break, or after the awarding of the Cup to the winners, invite the Dynamo players — the triumphant of that unforgettable victory from 50 years ago onto the field.
Show fragments of the match in Basel on the scoreboard, warmly congratulate those who achieved that brilliant success. At the same time, remember those winners who, unfortunately, are no longer with us: coaches — Valeriy Vasylovych Lobanovskyi and Oleg Petrovych Bazylevych, their wards — Viktor Kolotov (the captain), Yevhen Rudakov, Viktor Matviyenko, Mykhailo Fomenko, Volodymyr Troshkin, Anatoliy Konkov, Valeriy Zuev.
Thank God, Leonid Buryak, Oleg Blokhin, Stefan Reshko, Volodymyr Muntyan, Volodymyr Veremeev, Volodymyr Onyshchenko, Anatoliy Shepel, Serhiy Kuznetsov, and Viktor Maslov are alive.
Unfortunately, on May 14 at the “Dynamo” stadium, we will not see them. What a pity.
I was upset to hear from one of the players of the star squad of “Dynamo-1975” such words:
— Who needs us today, who remembers us?
I disagree, we remember and will not forget you — the triumphant of the first ringing Ukrainian European victory. Your names are already inscribed in golden letters in the glorious history of Kyiv’s “Dynamo”.
Alexander LIPENKO for Dynamo.kiev.ua
