Valeriy Lobanovskyi
Valery Wassyljowytsch Lobanovskyi (Ukrainian Валерій Васильович Лобановський; Russian Валерий Васильевич Лобановский; born January 6, 1939 in Kiev, † 13 May 2002 Zaporizhia ) was a Soviet and Ukrainian football coach.
Most of all he is known for his work at Dynamo Kiev, the Ukrainian national football team and the Soviet national football team.
Playing career
Lobanovskyi began his playing career as a left winger at Dynamo Kiev, with whom he was both Soviet champion and cup winner. He spent seven years in Kiev, before he ended his career after brief appearances in Chernomorets Odessa and Shakhtar Donetsk at the age of 29 years. In his playing career, he scored 71 goals in 253 games. He participated in two World Cups and two Olympic Games. Overall, he was so in two games where he could not score a goal, as well as two games in the Olympic team, which at that time, together with other Eastern Bloc teams that dominated Olympic tournaments. His famous trademarks were the Corners, which he often turned directly into the goal.
Coaching career
A year after the completion of the players career Lobanovskyi became the coach of Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk. After four relatively unspectacular years was a move to his former club, Dynamo Kiev, he coached for 17 years from the 1974 season. During the time in Kiev, he broke the Russian dominance in the Soviet football. He succeeded to be 8 times champion and six - time Cup winner in the Soviet Union and 2 times the European Cup Winners' Cup win ( in the seasons 1974/75 and 1985/ 86). In addition, the Kyiv Dynamo won under his leadership in 1975 the European Supercup. Reason for this success was mainly viewed today as modern way of playing double back four and no Libero, which introduced Lobanovskyi the first European coach ever in the 70s. This influenced mainly Dutch and Italian coach who switched so little by the way of playing their teams, including Arrigo Sacchi, who celebrated numerous international success with AC Milan and repeatedly counted Lobanovskyi to his great role models. His admirers include Franz Beckenbauer and Ralf Rangnick.
In parallel, he worked during this time three times as a Soviet national team coach. He won the bronze medal at the Summer Olympics in 1976 in his first engagement as a coach. He got the most attention, however, on the third occasion, when he put together a team almost entirely of his own players from Dynamo Kiev. In the 1986 World Cup the team was first in the group, but was beaten in the second round Belgium after a thrilling game in overtime 4-3. The greatest success achieved, however, the team at the European Championships in 1988. 's Team Lobanovsky was again first in the group, inter alia, the Netherlands were defeated. The two teams met again until the finals, where another victory of the Soviet side was no longer possible.
In the course of perestroika left many of Lobanowskyjs best players in both Kiev and the USSR to play in Western Europe. Lobanovsky Dynamo Kiev and took the left to financially lucrative offer with the national team of the United Arab Emirates. After four uneventful years, he joined the Kuwaiti national team, which he coached for two years.
In January 1997 Lobanovskyi returned to Dynamo Kiev. The club was then in a deep crisis. On the one hand he was locked out by UEFA after a bribery scandal of an international competition, on the other hand, you also had to fight hard in the domestic league. However Lobanovskyi could soon turn things around and brought the club back to the top of European football. Kiev 1999 reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, where they narrowly lost 3:4 against FC Bayern Munich. Between 2000 and 2002 he was also parallel coach of the Ukrainian national football team.
Lobanovskyi suffered a stroke on 7 May 2002 and died of the consequences. He was buried in Kiev. At his funeral, more than 200,000 people took part, including many world famous personalities. After his death, the title of Hero of Ukraine was awarded the highest award of the country. Also, the football stadium of Dynamo Kiev was named after him.
Achievements
As a player:
- Soviet Championship: 1961
- Soviet Cup: 1964
As a coach:
- European Cup Winners' Cup: 1975, 1986
- UEFA Super Cup: 1975
- Soviet Championship: 1974, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1990
- Soviet Cup: 1974, 1978, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1990
- Soviet Super Cup: 1980, 1985, 1986
- Ukrainian Championship: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
- Ukrainian Cup: 1998, 1999, 2000
- Silver medal at the European Championships 1988
- Bronze medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics