Tomorrow in Turin the European Cup quarterfinal match will take place between Kyiv Dynamo and Juventus on the latter's turf. Juventus is the Italian national champion team and will be a tough nut for Dynamo to crack, plus the length of the match puts the Ukrainian team at a
disadvantage. Still, trainer Valery Lobanovsky is a master of the game's secrets. Read more about him here.
Today it is fashionable to call some people charismatic, those able to influence other people and processes without any special effort. No doubt, Valery Lobanovsky, the famous head coach of the Kyiv Dynamo soccer club, is one of them.
Of course, a whole book would not suffice to tell his whole story, but let us recall some of the high points.
FOOTBALL AESTHETICS
Valery Lobanovsky was my childhood idol. When I was seven I loved his soccer playing. Why did I pick him from among such other stars as Viktor Kanevsky, Oleh Bazylevych, Yuri Voyinov, Oleh Makarov, Andry Biba, Viktor Serebrianikov, Yozef Sabo, and Andry Havashi? I was fond of Valery's real play, loved his dribbling with his hands like a high-wire artist. Having mastered the game he could easily outplay two or three defenders. And his notorious corner hits offered an immense danger for the opposing team's goalie.
The stadium usually broke out shouting and whistling watching Lobanovsky going to the corner flag. They say at practice Valery could score 50 goals out of 50 corner shots into the empty net. The left wing offensive player of Kyiv Dynamo had mastered a cut stroke, the so-called dry leaf. Lobanovsky understood what he could do and sometimes played for the public. He often hit the ball against the defender's legs sending it for the corner strike.
PRINCIPLES GO FIRST
The success of Dynamo coincided with the debut of Lobanovsky as the main player. In1960 the Kyivans won the silver medal and in 1961 they became champions putting an end to the Moscow team's hegemony.
It should be said that not everybody liked the fine style of Valery's play. Some football fans called him a ballet dancer because of his dislike for the athletic play. Nevertheless, Lobanovsky scored much; for instance, during the unsuccessful seasons of 1962 and 1963 he scored 8 goals in each season, not bad at all for a left wing offensive player at all.
The same failures caused the retirement of coach Viacheslav Soloviyov and a new trainer, Viktor Maslov, coming to the team. He was a professional but very subjective man who would rather drink a glass of vodka with his players than take their objections seriously. Lobanovsky's and Maslov's views on the game were completely different back in 1964.
Valery thought it necessary to train the ball during games and divided players into workers and jewelers; he undoubtedly belonging to the latter.
Lobanovsky had already formed himself as an independent personality and not only spoke his mind to Maslov, but during the game he did only what he thought he should. Naturally, this caused conflict between him and Maslov, who benched the insubordinate player. The brilliant forward, a desirable player for any team, had only nine plays in 1964 and later that year left Dynamo.
Lobanovsky's teammate says: "When I played with Lobanovsky, frankly speaking, I couldn't predict he'd become such a coach. He was quite indifferent in analyzing the game. Everybody was angry, showed each other their mistakes, and played incorrectly, but he only swayed, listened to what he was told and did that he wanted. And about his attitude to the sports lifestyle: "I never saw him tipsy."
CHANGE OF DIRECTION
Lobanovsky played for three and a half more years in Odesa and Donetsk. But in the summer of 1968, the 29 years-old forward quite unexpectedly decided to leave soccer for good.
He said something like, "That's all. I'm leaving. I'm sick and tired with playing anti-soccer." He meant particularly a destructive, rude, and cruel soccer. His decision to leave football was taken as an inopportune and disagreeable step. But this early finish caused an unprecedented early start of his career as a trainer.
He went to head Dnipro in Dnipropetrovsk, which hoped to get into the higher division. But there were no outstanding players at the young trainer's disposal. However, due to his organization, the players' perfect physical conditions, and exceptionally strict discipline, the team not only made it to the higher league but also managed to compete in it. Thus, Lobanovsky's position changed fundamentally, and he had no fear of pointing it out. The tasks he gave his players were very difficult. But thanks to this the team could dominate over its opponents in physical conditions. For example, Volodymyr Fedotov from the CSKA team asked them after the game: "Why did you run so fast, do you have diarrhea?"
Moreover, the young trainer read widely and pondered over football strategy and tactics.
DISARMING BOMBS
When Lobanovsky was 33 he became head coach of Kyiv Dynamo. It was easy to explain what this meant recalling his predecessor Oleksandr Sevydov. His team came in second for the nationwide championship and became the Cup finalist. This was considered a serious failure, and Sevydov was banished from Kyiv. Thus, the trainer of the Kyiv team could make only one mistake, just like a sapper.
Plus the Communist bosses headed by Shcherbytsky took great interest in soccer, and they did not hesitate from interfering in all spheres of people's activity.
However, Lobanovsky preferred the uncertain destiny in Dynamo to the quiet life with Dnipro. First of all, he invited his friend Oleh Bazylevych to the trainer's post. He invited him not as an assistant but with equal rights. Not all of the Kyiv players accepted this assignment enthusiastically at once. They said, "He won't be able to manage us. We aren't Dnipro." But manage them he did. And they, hardly moving their legs at the first practice, in a year and a half were grateful to their coach having won the Cup of Cups.
Of course, it would be incorrect to call Lobanovsky a democratic coach. He is to an extent a dictator. Oleksandr Khapsalys, a Dynamo player in the late seventies and early eighties, recalls: "Better not joke with Lobanovsky. If he gave an instruction, and the player said "But I think...," Lobanovsky would look at him and scream, "Don't think! I do the thinking for you. Play!"
WAS THE BREAK USEFUL?
In 1990, Lobanovsky left Kyiv Dynamo and worked in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Despite some success by his trainees (third place for the Kuwait national team at the Asian Games) he was forgotten. But, true to himself, Lobanovsky kept step with the game, but probably, he forestalled at his "home laboratory." His return to Dynamo late in 1996 was a great success both for the trainer and the team.
His first meeting with journalists after his return showed that Lobanovsky had changed but still remained true to himself.
He was gentler but remained as self-confident as ever. He continued to get results from the combined efforts of player and trainer. He understood that football is a game where anything can happen. The most important thing is to take care of your business and let destiny take its course.
And the players believed in Lobanovsky. A keen student of psychology, he found the key to each player, and all of them became his friends. I remember how this spring brilliant forward Andriy Shevchenko explained to what extent it is important for everybody to work properly on defense. If a player doesn't believe in this in his subconscious, it would be very difficult for him to do his best on the field.
LOBANOVSKY IN PERSON
Lobanovsky doesn't like to speak about their private life. He is always frank but not always sincere. Nonetheless, some details are revealing about his character. We have already spoken about his fidelity to friends. One more example. The resignation of Viktor Kanevsky, his Dynamo teammate was turned down for ten years. Lobanovsky was the only person who wasn't afraid to visit him at home although Kanevsky was under surveillance, watched, and bugged. Moreover Lobanovsky helped his friend to find work.
Valery Lobanovsky is a very well-read man. He takes interest in literature, art, and the theater. Not many football trainers can quote Brodsky and Pasternak, but Lobanovsky can. He tries to accustom his pupils to culture: he used to take, his team to the Tovstonogov"s Large Drama Theater and to famous world museums.
His immersion in the atmosphere of soccer does not keep him from family affairs. 15 years ago when his daughter Svitlana was a student her strict teacher didn't want to pass her. One sports journalist told Lobanovsky about this at a match. And the trainer left everything off to find out what happened.
EPILOGUE
Only history in the end will put everyone in their place, but even now we can say that Lobanovsky's contribution to development of Ukrainian soccer is unique. The Lobanovsky phenomenon is a good argument in favor of those who believe that the individual can play a critical role in history.
Photo by Volodymyr Rasner, The Day:
1981: the maestro's tour de force.
Lobanovsky's formula of success.








