Leonid Yosipovich Buryak ( uk, Леонід Йосипович Буряк; born 10 July 1953) is a Ukrainian football coach, and a former Olympic bronze-medal-winning player.

Career

Buryak was born in Odessa, in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. He was a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for the

USSR national football team The Soviet Union national football team ( rus, сбо́рная СССР по футбо́лу, r=sbórnaya SSSR po futbólu) was the national football team of the former Soviet Union. After the breakup of the Union the team was transformed i ...

. He competed for the Soviet Union at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

, at which he won a bronze medal. Buryak played for a number of teams in the Soviet Union, most notably for

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was officia ...

, of which he was also the sporting manager. As a player, he had a tremendous impact on his team, similar to what

Pavel Nedvěd Pavel Nedvěd (; born 30 August 1972) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is regarded as one of the most successful players to emerge from the Czech Republic, winning domestic and European accolades with Ital ...

or Zinedine Zidane had on theirs. Buryak has coached the Ukrainian national football team. In 1979 Buryak played couple of games for

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR.

Coach of Ukraine national team

In 2002, Leonid Buryak was appointed coach of the Ukraine national team. Making this choice, the Football Federation set the target for the new coach to get into the final part of the 2002 European Championship. The preparation for the main matches began with the defeat of the Japanese team in the first match for Buryak-coach. As part of the qualifying tournament, the Ukrainian team managed to play with a score of 2-2 in Yerevan in the first match, then there was a significant victory over the Greek team. However, Buryak's team, which took the final third place in the qualifying round, failed to enter into the final part of the championship. Leonid Buryak left the national team.

Awards

Ballon d'Or

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

– 23rd

Soviet Footballer of the Year

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

– 3rd.

Grigory Fedotov Club

*Scored 103 goals during their professional career.Леонід Буряк: одесит у Клубі імені Григорія Федотова, Одеські-інфо, 14.02.2022
(in Ukrainian)

Statistics for Dynamo

*The statistics in USSR Cups and Europe is made under the scheme "autumn-spring" and enlisted in a year of start of tournaments

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buryak, Leonid 1953 births Living people Footballers from Odesa Soviet footballers Soviet expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Finland Ukrainian football managers Ukrainian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Finland Expatriate soccer managers in the United States Expatriate football managers in Russia FC Nyva Ternopil managers FC Chornomorets Odesa managers Evansville Purple Aces men's soccer coaches Ukraine national football team managers Soviet Union international footballers Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of the Soviet Union Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union 1982 FIFA World Cup players Soviet Top League players FC Chornomorets Odesa players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Torpedo Moscow players FC Metalist Kharkiv players FC Dynamo Kyiv managers Ukrainian Premier League managers Olympic medalists in football FC Arsenal Tula managers FC Oleksandriya managers Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Association football midfielders Recipients of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 5th class Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 1st class Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class