Valeriy Lobanovskyi

Valeriy Vasylyovych Lobanovskyi (Ukrainian: Вале́рій Васи́льович Лобано́вський [wɐˈlɛrɪj lobɐˈnɔu̯sʲkɪj]; Russian: Вале́рий Васи́льевич Лобано́вский; 6 January 1939 – 13 May 2002) was а Ukrainian football player and manager.[1] He was the Master of Sports of USSR, the Distinguished Coach of USSR, and the laureate of the UEFA Order of Merit in Ruby (2002) and FIFA Order of Merit, the highest honour awarded by FIFA.[2][3] In 2002 he was awarded the Hero of Ukraine award (posthumously), the highest Ukrainian honour, for his contribution to Ukrainian football.

Valeriy Lobanovskyi
Lobanovskyi in 1985
Personal information
Full name Valeriy Vasylyovych Lobanovskyi
Date of birth (1939-01-06)6 January 1939[1]
Place of birth Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union[1]
Date of death 13 May 2002(2002-05-13) (aged 63)[1]
Place of death Zaporizhia, Ukraine[1]
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)
Playing position(s) Forward
Youth career
1952–1955 Football School No. 1
1955–1956 Football School of Youth (FShM)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1957–1964 Dynamo Kyiv 144 (42)
1965–1966 Chornomorets Odessa 59 (15)
1967–1968 Shakhtar Donetsk 50 (14)
Total 253 (71)
National team
1960–1961 Soviet Union 2 (0)
Teams managed
1969–1973 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
1973–1982 Dynamo Kyiv
1975–1976 Soviet Union
1979 Ukrainian SSR
1982–1983 Soviet Union
1984–1990 Dynamo Kyiv
1986–1990 Soviet Union
1990–1993 United Arab Emirates
1994–1996 Kuwait
1997–2002 Dynamo Kyiv
2000–2001 Ukraine
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Lobanovskyi is most famous for his spells managing FC Dynamo Kyiv and the USSR national football team. Lobanovskyi established Dynamo as the most dominant club in Soviet football in the 1970s and 1980s, winning Soviet Top League eight times and Soviet Cup six times in 16 years. In 1975 his Dynamo Kyiv team became the first side from the Soviet Union to win a major European trophy when they beat Hungarian side Ferencváros in the final of the Cup Winners' Cup. During the tournament, Dynamo Kyiv won eight games out of nine, resulting in a winning percentage of 88.88% – a record among all European main tournaments'[4] winning club sides, matched only by Paris Saint-Germain in 1995/96. Lobanovskyi and the team repeated the Cup Winners' Cup success in 1986, beating Atletico Madrid in the final. In both 1975 and 1986, Dynamo's players (Oleg Blokhin and Igor Belanov respectively) were also rewarded with Ballon d'Or. During Lobanovskyi's first two stints, the team has also reached European Cup semi-finals in 1977 and 1987 and quarter-finals in 1976, 1982 and 1983. With the Soviet Union national team, Lobanovskyi reached the finals of the Euro 1988, losing the championship to Netherlands, and won the bronze medal at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games.

After returning to Dynamo Kyiv in 1997 for the third time, Lobanovskyi led the team to another successful run in international tournaments. In a first full season during the third run, Dynamo reached quarter-finals of the Champions League in 1998, winning the group that included FC Barcelona, Newcastle United and PSV Eindhoven, famously beating Barcelona both times, 3–0 in Kyiv and 4–0 on Camp Nou.[5][6][7] The next season, Lobanovskyi and the club ended their Champions League campaign in semi-finals, where they were stopped by Bayern Munich, and Dynamo's striker Andriy Shevchenko ended up third in 1999 Ballon d'Or voting process. Lobanovskyi has also won the Ukraininan league title in each of his five seasons with the club.

Lobanovskyi is highly esteemed for his achievements as a coach and is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time.[8][9][10] Throughout his coaching career Lobanovskyi has won 33 official trophies, becoming the second most decorated manager of all time (behind Alex Ferguson) and the most successful football manager of the 20th century.[11][12] He also holds several managerial records in Soviet football, including most Soviet Top League titles, most Soviet Cup wins (shared with Viktor Maslov) and most USSR Super Cup wins. Lobanovskyi is the only manager to win a major European competition[4] with Eastern European club twice. He is one of the four managers to win the Cup Winners' Cup twice, and is one of the two (along with Nereo Rocco) to do it with one team. Lobanovskyi has also won the Ukrainian championship five times out of five, an accomplishment not matched by any other manager. Lobanovskyi is also credited for being a tutor to three Ballon d'Or winners — Oleg Blokhin, Igor Belanov and Andriy Shevchenko.[13][14][15]

Early life

Valeriy Lobanovskyi was born on 6 January 1939 in Kyiv. His father was working in a factory, while his mother was a housewife.[16] He studied at the Kyiv school No.319 (now Valeriy Lobanovskyi Prospect, 146). Nowadays a plaque is installed there, and the school itself is named after Lobanovskyi.[17] He graduated the school with a silver medal. In 1956 he joined the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, where with frequent breaks, academic vacations and reinstations he studied before writing a request for his exclusion in 1964. He finally received the higher education at Odessa Polytechnic Institute.[18]

Playing career
When the goalkeeper was too far from the closest bar, Lobanovskyi scored a goal right from the corner
When the goalkeeper was too close to the closest bar, Lobanovskyi sent the ball to the further bar, where Oleh Bazylevych scored a goal

Lobanovskyi was a graduate of the Kiev Football School No. 1 and the Football School of Youth in Kiev (first coach — Mykola Chayka).

At the age of 18, Lobanovskyi was invited to the B-squad of Dynamo Kyiv, the most prominent Ukrainian football club at the time. His debut in the Soviet Top League came on 29 May 1959 against CSK MO Moscow.[19] Lobanovskyi became famous for his ability to accurately deliver curled balls from corner and free kicks (so-called curl) — often Lobanovskyi was able to score the goal directly from the corner. He had regularly been working on these shots during training sessions, using Magnus effect and his own calculations. The Soviet press compared him to Brazilian forward Didi who regularly curved the ball in a similar way at the 1958 World Cup. Teammates often praised Lobanovskyi for his unorthodox mindset and ability to use dribbling, which was unusual for such tall (187 cm) players.[20]

Since 1960, Lobanovskyi was a full-fledged member of the starting line-up. He was mostly used as a left winger, where he formed a duo with Valentyn Troyanovskyi.[21] That same year he became the club's top goalscorer with 13 goals. In 1961, Dynamo Kyiv became the first football team not from Moscow to win USSR title, with Lobanovskyi scoring 10 goals. He was regularly invited to the national team, but due to strong opposition (at the time there were many top-level left-wingers in Soviet Union like Mikheil Meskhi, Anatoli Ilyin and Galimzyan Khusainov) was able to play only two international games, against Austria and Poland.

Overall he spent seven years with the club before leaving in 1964 due to conflict with the coach Viktor Maslov. Lobanovskyi finished his career after brief spells at Chornomorets Odessa and Shakhtar Donetsk. Lobanovskyi ended his playing career at the age of 29 having scored 71 goals in 253 games in the Soviet Top League (42 goals in 144 matches with Dynamo Kyiv, 15 goals in 59 matches with Chornomorets and 14 goals in 50 matches with Shakhtar).[1]

Coaching career

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (1968—1973)

A year after retiring as a player Lobanovskyi was named the manager of FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on 16 October 1968.[22] That year Dnipro ended up third in the Group 3 (Ukrainian SSR group) of the Class A, group 2. The team won their group next year and entered the league finals, finishing second. In 1970, the league system was reformed and Dnipro entered the newly created Class A, group 1 (later renamed to Soviet First League), which the team won the following year, moving to the Top League. In its first season at the highest level, the club ended up sixth, one point away from silver medals.

Dynamo Kyiv (1973—1982)

Lobanovskyi moved to his former club, Dynamo Kyiv, who were impressed by his accomplishments with Dnipro, in October 1973. In January 1974 he was joined by his former teammate, Oleh Bazylevych. These two would work as a coaching duo until October 1976. Both managers had equal rights: Bazylevych was a theorist, and Lobanovskyi was in charge of the training process.[23] During their first season, the Soviet press often criticized them for rationalism and unwillingness to play attacking football (the so-called away model — the team would play away games defensively to score a draw). In that season, the team won both the league and Soviet Cup.

Both Lobanovskyi and Bazylevych understood the importance of an accurate calculation of the physical load on players. With cooperation from Anatoly Zelentsov, a scientist from the department of physical education theory of Kyiv State Institute of Physical Education, Lobanovskyi brought an accurate system of a calculation of the training process and mathematical modeling of physical load for the team. Zelentsov later headed Dynamo Kyiv's scientific laboratory, which was popularly called the Zelentsov Center.[24][25][26] Lobanovskyi was credited for inventing a style of play in which any outfield player can take over the role of any other player in a team, similarly to what was practiced by Rinus Michels at the same time in Netherlands. Unlike Michels, however, Lobanovskyi was developing his style of play scientifically, with a strong emphasis on pressing.[27][28][29]

In 1975, Dynamo Kyiv won the European Cup Winners' Cup and then-highly regarded European Super Cup. Dynamo Kyiv became the first Soviet club to win a major European trophy. In the first three rounds of Cup Winners' Cup, the team defeated CSKA Sofia, Eintracht Frankfurt and Bursaspor, winning all home and away games. In semifinals, Dynamo faced the 1974-75 Eredivisie winner, PSV Eindhoven. The Dutch club was considered one of the most powerful in Europe, being sponsored by Philips. The first leg played in Kyiv ended up 3–0 in favor of Lobanovskyi's team. After losing 1–2 in the second leg, Dynamo Kyiv moved to the final. On 14 May 1975, Dynamo Kyiv won Cup Winners' Cup for the first time, defeating Ferencvaros 3–0 in the final. During the tournament, the team won 88.88% of their matches (8 games out of 9), which to this day remains the best winning record among all European main tournaments' winning club sides.

Lobanovskyi (left) in Eindhoven in 1975 together with the manager of PSV Ben van Gelde

In the autumn of that year, Dynamo Kyiv faced the 1974-75 European Cup winner Bayern Munich for the second ever European Super Cup. Besides winning their second European Cup in a row, Bayern was also the base club for the 1974 World Cup winners. The build-up to the match had a political background, mainly in USSR. The Soviet Ukrainian club won both games, 1–0 in Munich and 2–0 in Kyiv in front of 100,000 fans.[30][31][32] All goals were scored by Oleg Blokhin who would become Ballon d'Or winner that year. The Lobanovskyi—Bazylevych duo received the World Sports Coach of the Year award.[33]

In the summer of 1976, after a conflict between Kyiv's players and managerial stuff, Oleh Bazylevych left the team. In 1977 Dynamo Kyiv regained the USSR championship, losing once in 30 games, and reached semifinals of the European Cup. After winning all games on the road to quarterfinals, Lobanovskyi's side faced Bayern Munich, the winner of the last three European Cups, for the second time in the last two years. After losing 1–0 in Munich, Kyiv's team scored two unanswered goals in the last 10 minutes of the second leg, moving to semifinals and ending Bayern's European dominance. In semifinals, however, Dynamo Kyiv was beaten by another German club, Borussia Monchengladbach.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dynamo was going through generational change. After finishing second and third in the following two years, the team won back-to-back USSR titles in 1980 and 1981. Lobanovskyi led Dynamo Kyiv to European Cup quarter-finals in 1981 and 1982, before leaving the team at the end of 1982 in order to return to managing Soviet national team.

Soviet Union national team (1975—1976, 1982—1983)

The Lobanovskyi—Bazylevych duo was appointed managers of the Soviet national team in 1975, after the team lost their first game in the Euro qualifying group to Ireland 3–0. Dynamo Kyiv became the base club of the national team. Despite Lobanovskyi's demands to reorganize national league to autumn-spring format, the USSR Football Federation split 1976 into two seasons (spring and autumn). The club competed in the "spring" season mostly with B-squad, as the first team was able to concentrate on their preparation for European Cup, Euro qualification and 1976 Summer Olympics. Dynamo Kyiv left the European Cup after quarterfinals, losing to Saint-Etienne (2–0 in Kyiv and 0–3 in France). The national team won their qualifying group but lost to Czechoslovakia in play-offs, thus failing to qualify at the European championship. After winning bronze medal the Summer Olympic Games, the coaching duo left the national team.

Lobanovskyi returned to the national team in 1982, being in charge of it during Euro qualification. The team was leading their qualifying group before losing their last match against Portugal in Lisbon, conceding the only goal after an incorrectly ruled penalty (the foul happened outside of the penalty area). Lobanovskyi was sacked again.

Return to Dynamo Kyiv (1984—1986)

After being sacked by Soviet national team, Lobanovskyi returned to Dynamo Kyiv after just one year of absence. The club, having been led by Yuriy Morozov in 1983, ended up seventh in the league, the lowest since the spring of 1976, when Kyiv was represented mostly by B-squad. The team was going through crisis, with many key players injured. Dynamo Kyiv finished the 1984 season on tenth place, failing to qualify at UEFA tournaments for the first time in 14 years.

Lobanovskyi saw the problems and knew how to solve them. The coach received team's support. Lobanovskyi's side started the 1985 season very strongly and in the end captured another Soviet double, defeating their biggest rival, Spartak Moscow, twice throughout the season.

In 1986, Dynamo Kyiv won their second Cup Winners' Cup. The team lost the first game to Utrecht but then went on an impressive undefeated streak, winning six games and drawing two with a goal difference 25–6. Throughout the tournament, Lobanovskyi's side won all home games (and final) with at least three goals difference. On the road to the final, the team defeated Rapid Wien, the runner-up of the previous Cup Winners' Cup edition, 9–2 on aggregate in quarterfinals and Dukla Prague in semifinals. In the final, Dynamo beat Atletico Madrid, led by Luis Aragones, 3–0. The second goal, scored by Oleg Blokhin, was especially memorable, as it was scored after the so-called "fan attack". Lobanovskyi's side was widely praised by the Soviet and European media.[34][35][36][5][6] Many observers, fascinated by the quality of football shown by Dynamo Kyiv, called their style of play "football of the 21st century", and the side was labeled as "the team from another planet".[35][36][5][6][37]

Co-managing Dynamo Kyiv and Soviet Union national team (1986—1990)
Lobanovskyi's signature

Following success with Dynamo Kyiv in Cup Winners' Cup, Lobanovskyi was appointed the manager of the national team for the third time. He was asked to manage the side on the eve of the 1986 World Cup. The main squad consisted almost exclusively of Dynamo Kyiv's players.[38][39] In the group stage, Soviet players destroyed Hungary, scoring six unanswered goals, and drew with European champions, France, 1–1. The team confirmed the first place in the group by defeating Canada 2–0 with a B-squad. After an impressive performance, Lobanovskyi's side were predicted to be one of the favourites to win the tournament. In the first game of the knockout stage, however, Soviet team lost to Belgium in an extra-time, after Belgium scored two goals due to referee's mistakes.[38][39][40]

At the conclusion of 1986 season, Dynamo Kyiv won the Soviet Top League for the 12th time (7th time during Lobanovskyi's time in charge of the club). Igor Belanov was rewarded with Ballon d'Or, becoming the second Kyiv's player to receive the award, while Oleksandr Zavarov ended up 6th. Overall, Dynamo Kyiv's players scored the most points during the award's voting process, just as they did in 1975. Lobanovskyi himself was named both European Coach of the Season and Coach of the Year in 1986.[41]

In 1987, after defeating Besiktas twice in European Cup quarterfinals, Dynamo Kyiv extended their unbeaten streak in main UEFA club tournaments to 14 games,[4] the longest unbeaten streak at the time. In the league Dynamo finished sixth but won the Soviet Cup and prestigious Dynamo Games of the USSR.[11] Meanwhile, the Soviet team won their Euro 1988 qualifying group which consisted of East Germany and defending champions, France, as sbornaja famously defeating them 0–2 in Paris.

The national team achieved great success at the 1988 European Championship, winning silver medals. In every game, at least seven players of the starting line-up represented Dynamo Kyiv and at least eight Kyiv's players entered the field (substitutions including; only two were allowed at the time). Sbornaja won their group, defeating Netherlands and England and drawing with Ireland. In semifinals, Lobanovskyi's side defeated Italy, after Hennadiy Lytovchenko and Oleg Protasov (both Dynamo Kyiv's representatives) scored two unanswered goals. In the final, Soviet team met Netherlands again but was unable to repeat their previous victory from the group stage, losing 0–2. Van Basten's goal, in which he volleyed right-footed over Rinat Dasayev from the tightest of angles on the right of the penalty area, would later be described as one of the greatest goals in the history of the European Championships.[42][43][44][45]

Following perestroika, many of Lobanovskyi's best players left the USSR to play in Western Europe. Going into the 1990 World Cup he could not call upon the best Soviet players. As a result, sbornaja finished on the bottom of their group. In the same year, which happened to be the final year of Lobanovskyi's career in Soviet Union, Dynamo Kyiv, which was going through generational change, won their fourth Soviet double. The team cemented first place in the Top League weeks before the end, winning their 13th league title and establishing themselves as the most successful Soviet football club of all time. In the Cup final, Lobanovskyi's team destroyed Lokomotiv Moscow 6–1. In the autumn of 1990, Lobanovskyi left Soviet Union in order to take a lucrative offer from United Arab Emirates.

Middle East (1990—1996)

In September 1990, Lobanovskyi decided to leave Soviet Union and take up a lucrative offer of managing the United Arab Emirates national football team. Lobanovskyi is recognized as one of the great managers in the history of the national team.[46] During his four year tenure, the team ended up fourth at the Asian Cup (losing bronze medal to South Korea in a penalty shootout), their best finish up to that date. He left Emirates due to a conflict with Emirates football federation and went on to spend the next two years managing the Kuwait national football team (winning a bronze medal at the Asian Games), before agreeing to return to Dynamo Kyiv in November 1996.[47]

Third stint at Dynamo Kyiv (1997—2002)

In January 1997, Lobanovskyi returned to manage Dynamo Kyiv for the third time. The club by this time had fallen somewhat from their former heights. The club had been facing little opposition in Ukraine but had little success in European competitions, having been able to enter the Champions League first round only twice in the last five years. During their last European campaign before Lobanovsky's return, the team failed to qualify at the group stage of Champions League and was beaten by Neuchâtel Xamax in the first round of the UEFA Cup.

Within a month after Lobanovskyi's return, The team won the 1997 edition of the CIS Cup, defeating their biggest rival, Russian champion Spartak Moscow, in the final. The team won the 1996-97 Ukrainian league with 11 points gap against the second best team, Shakhtar Donetsk. At the start of the 1997–98 season, Dynamo Kyiv defeated Brøndby in the qualifying round of the Champions League and entered the group stage. Lobanovskyi's team were seeded against FC Barcelona, Newcastle United and PSV Eindhoven. The group was often described as the death group of the tournament.[48][49][50] In the first two games, however, the team defeated PSV 1–3 in Eindhoven and drew with Newcastle. After that, Lobanovskyi's side defeated Barcelona, a generally recognized favourite, 3–0 in Kyiv in front of 100,000 fans.[51][52] In the rematch two weeks later the Spanish team, which were coming off of an away victory against Real Madrid and were leading La Liga, lost the home game to Dynamo Kyiv 0–4, with Andriy Shevchenko scoring hat-trick in the first half.[53][52][5][6][7] The Ukrainian team won their group after drawing with PSV 1–1. In quarterfinals, Dynamo faced Juventus. Lobanovskyi's side were able to draw the first game in Italy but were outclassed 1–4 in Ukraine. On the domestic field, the team won the league and Ukrainian Cup.

At the start of the 1998–99 season, Dynamo struggled to get through qualification. After beating Barry Town with an aggregate score 9–1, the team moved to the Champions League group stage after defeating Sparta Prague in a penalty shootout, after both games ended 1–0 in favor of the away team. Dynamo were seeded against Arsenal, Racing Lens and Panathinaikos. The team lost the first game to Panathinaikos in Greece and then drew the home match with Lens, 1–1. Lobanovskyi's side then faced Arsenal at Wembley Stadium. In the second half, Andriy Shevchenko scored a goal that was cancelled due to offside. The replay, however, showed that the goal was valid.[54][55] Instead, Dennis Bergkamp took Arsenal to the lead in the 72nd minute. In the 88th minute, Dynamo equalised after a strike from Serhiy Rebrov to the left corner of the net, and the match finished as a 1–1 draw.[54] In the rematch against Arsenal two weeks later, Lobanovskyi's team won after Serhiy Rebrov, Oleksandr Holovko and Andriy Shevchenko took the team to the 3–0 lead and Stephen Hughes scored the only goal for Arsenal in the 82nd minute of the match. Dynamo then defeated Panathinaikos in Kyiv thanks to an own goal from Angelos Basinas. Before the final match, Dynamo, Panathinaikos and Racing Lens had 8 points, while Arsenal earned only 6 points. Panathinaikos lost the home game to Arsenal while the Ukrainian team was able to earn a 3–1 victory against Lens in France, win their group and move to quarter-finals.

In the play-offs, Lobanovskyi's team were seeded against the defending champions, Real Madrid. The first match at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ended in a 1–1 draw. In the rematch in Kyiv, Dynamo won 2–0. All Kyiv's goals were scored by Andriy Shevchenko. To this day, Dynamo Kyiv remains the only team not from The Big 5 Leagues,[56][57] Portugal and Netherlands to enter the Champions League semi-finals since non-champions of the top European leagues were eligible to compete in the competition for the first time. In semi-finals, the team faced Bayern Munich. In the first match in Ukraine, Dynamo were leading 3–1 after fifty minutes of the playing time and missed at least two promising opportunities to score the fourth goal.[58][59] Instead, Stefan Effenberg reduced Kyiv's lead and Carsten Jancker equalised in the 88th minute. Bayern then won the second leg 1–0 and moved to the final. Andriy Shevchenko became Champions League's top goalscorer and received the UEFA Club Forward Of The Year award. Shevchenko also ended up third in the 1999 Ballon d'Or voting process.

In the summer of 1999, Shevchenko was sold to AC Milan, while the team's captain Oleh Luzhnyi was transferred to Arsenal. Dynamo won the domestic double for the third year in a row and ended their Champions League campaign in the second group stage. The team was able to finish second in the first group stage, in a group which consisted of S.S. Lazio, Bayer Leverkusen and Maribor, but ended up third behind Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the next round, having earned 10 points.

Afterwards, Dynamo's second forward, Serhiy Rebrov, was sold to Tottenham Hotspur and Kakha Kaladze was bought by AC Milan. With many key players sold, Dynamo Kyiv, which were also going through generational change, was not able to go past the first group stage in the next two seasons. Lobanovskyi won his last trophy in January 2002, when the team won their fourth CIS Cup, having entered the A-squad for the tournament for the first time since 1998. The team won all matches in the competition, having defeated Spartak Moscow 4–3 in the final.

Lobanovskyi was made manager of the Ukraine national side in March 2000. Once again he was co-managing Dynamo Kyiv and the national team. Lobanovskyi left Ukraine national team after the side failed to qualify at the 2002 World Cup, losing to Germany in the play-offs.

Death
Lobanovskyi's burial location and monument at Baikove cemetery in Kyiv

Lobanovskyi had to deal with health issues since 1988, when he suffered his first heart attack. Having come back from the Middle East in 1996, Lobanovskyi looked in a visibly worse shape.[60] He suffered a second heart attack in the autumn of 2001, which required surgery. In 2001, Lobanovskyi missed all away games of Dynamo Kyiv in Champions League due to hypertension and being banned from travelling by air.[61]

On 7 May 2002 during Dynamo Kyiv's game against FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhya, Lobanovskyi fainted and was hospitalized with a stroke. Lobanovskyi went through a brain surgery and his health was rated as critical. The press, which regularly monitored Lobanovsky's state of health, wrote that there was hope, but Valeriy Lobanovskyi had not regained consciousness.[62] His heart stopped on 13 May at 8:35 pm. At the Champions League final in Glasgow two days later, UEFA held a minute's silence in his honour.

Lobanovskyi's funeral on 14 May 2002 was attended by the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine's Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh, other politicians, Lobanovskyi's former players Andriy Shevchenko, Oleg Blokhin, Igor Belanov, Oleksandr Zavarov, Serhiy Rebrov etc. In general, from 60 000 to 150 000 people attended the funeral.[63]

Lobanovskyi was buried at Baikove Cemetery. The tombstone is adorned with a colonnade with the inscription in Russian We are alive as long as we are remembered (in original: Мы живы до тех пор, пока нас помнят).

Management style and influence

Along with Rinus Michels, Lobanovskyi is recognized for being the inventor of the major football playing style known as "Total Football" in the 1970s.[27][28] Lobanovskyi often referred to Total Football as "gold vein" that would be exploited for many years to come.[64][65] According to Lobanovskyi, the "revolutionary process" in football ended in 1974 with the discovery of Total Football, and in modern football, all players must be able to play in offense and defense equally effectively. Per Lobanovskyi, "Now we are talking about the so-called 'smart' universalization. What do I mean? Well, for example, we would not want Andriy Shevchenko, the striker, to play the right defender. But if he gets into this zone, he must be able to perform there. And in the future, football will gradually move from 'smart' universalization to full universalization".[66][64]

Lobanovskyi viewed football game as a system of 22 elements, divided into two sub-systems consisted of 11 elements – if the two sub-systems are equal, the game ends in a draw. The nuance that Lobanovsky considered the most interesting and important was that the efficiency of the subsystem will always be higher than the sum of the efficiencies of its individual elements.[67][68] Lobanovskyi insisted that the training process should be modeled, and fragments of future actions on the field should be practiced. According to Lobanovskyi, team coordination was an outdated concept – each player goes out and does what is needed at this time, and how he does this depends on his skill, training, and ability to express himself. But the structure of the game, tactics should not suffer from who acts as a performer in that particular moment.[69]

Lobanovskyi is credited for bringing a scientific and analytical approach and strong emphasis on physical fitness and diet to the game.[1][70] Many observers recognized Lobanovskyi as the first person to bring science into football, at the time when most managers used basic attributes in their training process. The media often referred to Lobanovskyi as "ahead of his time".[71][72] With the cooperation with Anatoly Zelentsov, a scientist from the department of physical education theory of Kyiv State Institute of Physical Education, Lobanovskyi brought an accurate system of calculation of the training process and mathematical modeling of physical load for players.[24][70][73][74] Zelentsov, viewed by many as unmistakably meticulous in his analysis, insisted that the team would not lose the match if, during the game, the number of key moments, during which the team made mistakes, would not exceed 18%.[67] Many observers, players and managers credited Lobanovskyi's teams for being in great physical condition and being able to fulfill tactical ideas and perform certain operations almost on the level of automatism. Many observers described football played by Lobanovskyi's teams as "football from the future".[35][36][5][6][37][75]

A lot of people that worked alongside Lobanovskyi described him as a great psychologist.[76][77][78] "A coach should always remember that he works with people, people that largely make the coach what he is now. And people, unlike robots, have a soul that is quite often very vulnerable, and sometimes obstinate", Lobanovskyi once said in an interview, "It's really important to know each player's personality and character. You can be more strict with one player and less strict with another, but for that you need to know their character. You must know which buttons to press to have each player bring as much benefit as possible".[79][80] Stefan Reshko, who played for Dynamo Kyiv in the 70s, said: "Lobanovskyi was a top-notch psychologist. He had the ability to get the absolute best out of the players he worked with.[78] Anatoliy Demyanenko, trained by Lobanovskyi during the 80s, described him as "a great psychologist. He knew how to communicate with each player. He knew when and to whom he needs to raise his voice, or not to say anything".[81] Vasyl Kardash, who worked with Lobanovskyi during the late 90s and early 00s, said: "Lobanovskyi was a very good psychologist. His understanding of the psychology of a certain player – not just as a footballer, but as a human being – [is one of the things that] made him one of the great ones".[82] Andriy Shevchenko often referred to Lobanovskyi as "paternal figure" in his life,[83] claiming that Lobanovskiy "handed him the key" to a successful life: "Lobanovskyi rarely raised his voice. He never yelled at us, nor he ever tried to 'sort things out' with anyone. He was respected and admired by everyone around him".[84]

Many observers, players and managers credited Lobanovskyi for being able to always improve as a manager. One of the famous Lobanovskyi quotes was, "A coach must learn all his life. If hardened, stopped learning - that means, stopped being a coach".[85][86] His ability to "stay in touch" with modern trends has been described as one of the reasons why he was able to build three great football teams in a span of three different decades – the 70s, 80s and 90s.[87][88][89][6]

Remembrance

Following his death Lobanovskyi was awarded the Hero of Ukraine order, the nation's highest honour, as well as the UEFA Order of Merit in Ruby.[90] Dynamo Kyiv's stadium was also renamed the Lobanovsky Stadium in his honour. In 2003, Lobanovskyi was awarded FIFA Order of Merit, the highest honour awarded by FIFA.[2][3][90]

On 11 May 2003, before the first anniversary of the death of Lobanovskyi, a monument was opened near the Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium.[91]

After his death, A.C. Milan won the Champions League in 2003 with Andriy Shevchenko in the team. After the victory Shevchenko flew to Kyiv to put his medal by the grave of his former manager.[92]

In 2003, the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Memorial Tournament was founded.

Personal life

Lobanovskyi was born in Kiev to Vasyl Mykhailovych Lobanovsky and Oleksandra Maksymivna Boichenko. Vasyl Lobanovsky traces his roots to the Polish Szlachta family of Lobko-Lobanowski.

Lobanovskyi was married to Ada Lobanovskaya,[93] the couple had a daughter named Svitlana. She is a philologist of the Russian language and owns a restaurant in Kiev called "U metrá" ("At The Metr"; "Metr" (ukr. Метр) was one of Lobanovskyi's many nicknames).[94]

Career statistics

As a manager
Team From To Record[95]
GWDLWin %
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 1 January 1969 19 October 1973 213108545150.7
Dynamo Kyiv 20 October 1973 30 September 1990 68135619912652.28
Soviet Union 1 April 1975 31 July 1976 19114457.89
Ukrainian SSR 1979 1979 751171.43
Soviet Union 12 October 1982 14 November 1983 1063160
Soviet Union 1 June 1986 30 June 1990 4825121152.08
United Arab Emirates 1 October 1990 31 December 1992 1263350
Kuwait 1 July 1994 31 December 1996 4117111341.46
Dynamo Kyiv 1 January 1997 7 May 2002 268191463171.27
Ukraine 1 January 2000 15 November 2001 1867533.33
Total 1968 2002 131773134024655.5

Honours
Lobanovskyi on a 2019 stamp of Ukraine
Portrait of Valeriy Lobanovskyi on the banner of Dynamo Kyiv's fans, 2 March 2008

Player

Dynamo Kyiv

Manager

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

Dynamo Kyiv

Soviet Union

Ukrainian SSR

  • Spartakiad of Peoples Bronze Medal: 1979

United Arab Emirates

Kuwait

Individual

Orders and further honours

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