Vyscha Liha Footballer of The Year - Molod Ukrainy

Molod Ukrainy

Before 1969 a similar award was given out by another Kiev publishers. The very first one was awarded in 1960 by the weekly Sportivnaya Gazeta ("Sports newspaper"), a Russian-language periodical published by the Council of Ministers of Ukrainian SSR. For unknown reason the tradition was interrupted and in 1968 it was given out by another former Kievan Russian-language newspaper Komsomolskoe znamya ("Banner of the Communist Union of Youth") which announced both Vasyl Turyanchyk and Volodymyr Muntyan the best players of Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR). As with the "Sportyvna Gazeta" it is unknown whether the newspaper continued to conduct such polls following years, but it is certain that this tradition was picked up by a Ukrainian-language Kiev newspaper Molod Ukrainy ("Youth of Ukriane") that conducted the voting since 1969 on regular basis.