Ukrainians In Soviet Union National Football Team
Consistent (soccer) football competitions were taken place in Ukraine in the beginning of the 20th century when the modern country was divided between Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Russia. The most progressive league where Ukrainians participated were Polish and USSR championships (Dinamo Kyiv is known worldwide).
In the 1970s and 1980s the backbone of the USSR national team were players out of the Dinamo Kyiv's first team while the team was also coached by the Kievan native and the Dinamo Kyiv franchise person -- Valery Lobanovsky. Oleh Blokhin, another Kievan native and the legendary Ukrainian player and coach, became the USSR national team leader in games participated and goals scored for the team. He reflected the mentorship of his coach, Valery Lobanovsky, and extending the long possessing football traditions of his native country by taking the Ukrainian national team to quarter finals of the World Cup in 2006. Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) was created and recognized by FIFA only in early 1990s. That led several players played for the Ukrainian national team in 1993 to reconsider their choice by choosing their opportunities in more successful team of Russian Federation which was considered as the successor of the Soviet national team with all its success. By recognizing only the Russian team as the successor many Russian statisticians are advocating that as the main reason to consider the Ukrainian born footballers that played for the Soviet team to be Russians. The players such as Andrei Kanchelskis and Sergei Yuran are not included in the list for the reason choosing to play for the Russian team over the Ukrainian. Note that there are no Viktor Onopko or Andrei Karyaka as well, although the last one played several games for the junior squad of the national team.
While waiting for recognition from FIFA in 1992, the national team of Ukraine failed to gain to be seeded on time for the World Cup qualification competition from Europe.
Read more about Ukrainians In Soviet Union National Football Team: List of Soviet Ukrainians, All-time Records
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