Valeriy Vasylyovych Lobanovskyi was а Soviet and Ukrainian football player and manager. He was Master of Sports of the USSR, Distinguished Coach of the USSR, and a laureate of the UEFA Order of Merit in Ruby (2002) and FIFA Order of Merit, the highest honour awarded by FIFA. In 2002 he was awarded the Hero of Ukraine award (posthumously), his nation's highest honour, for his contribution to Ukrainian football. In 2008, Lobanovskyi was ranked 6th in Inter's list of the 100 Greatest Ukrainians following a nationwide poll that saw around 2.5 million people casting their votes.
Lobanovskyi in 1985
Lobanovskyi (left) in Eindhoven in 1975 together with the manager of PSV Ben van Gelde
In the 1975–76 European Cup games against Saint-Étienne, Dynamo's formation featured no proper centre-forward, as strikers Blokhin and Onyshchenko constantly played on the flanks, with midfielders Leonid Buryak, Viktor Kolotov and Volodymyr Veremeyev exploiting the central space as deep-lying forwards, anticipating the false nine position.
Portrait of Valeriy Lobanovskyi on the banner of Dynamo Kyiv's fans, 2 March 2008
The FIFA Order of Merit is the highest honour awarded by FIFA. The award is presented at the annual FIFA congress. It is normally awarded to people who are considered to have made a significant contribution to association football.
The FIFA Order of Merit
Pelé was named Athlete of Century by the International Olympic Committee in 1999
Johan Cruyff received the award for his contributions as both footballer and a coach
Oscar Tabaréz is the last person to receive the FIFA Order of Merit for his contributions as a coach
