The UAF honored the memory of Valeriy Lobanovskyi

Today, May 13, marks the 24th anniversary of the death of a prominent Ukrainian coach.

The UAF honored the memory of Valeriy Lobanovskyi

Photo: UAFA

Valeriy Lobanovskyi — the most decorated Ukrainian coach and one of the most decorated in football history. Among his 33 trophies as a coach, the successes with his main club — Kyiv's "Dynamo" are noteworthy: 13 Soviet and Ukrainian championships, 9 Soviet and Ukrainian Cups.

Lobanovskyi is the only Ukrainian coach to conquer international trophies: the Cup Winners' Cup in 1975 and 1986, as well as the European Super Cup in 1975. He alone managed to take a Ukrainian club into the semifinals of both the UEFA Cup and Champions League — Lobanovskyi did this three times.

With the Soviet national team, which was largely made up of Ukrainian footballers, Lobanovskyi became the silver medalist at the 1988 European Championship.

Lobanovskyi remained in coaching until his last days. On May 7, 2002, he fell ill during a match of the championship in Zaporizhzhia. He passed away on May 13 at the age of 63.

A delegation from the Ukrainian Football Association (General Secretary Igor Gryshchenko, Technical Director Igor Dedishin and U-19 national team coach Volodymyr Yezersky) paid tribute to Lobanovskyi by laying flowers at his monument near Kyiv's Dynamo Stadium, which is also named after this distinguished coach.