Volodymyr Vasylyovych Bezsonov ( uk, Володимир Васильович Безсонов, also spelled Vladimir Vasilijević Bessonov, born 5 March 1958) is a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

manager and former player, he played for the

Soviet Union 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 ...

. The most recent team he was managing was

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Football Club Dnipro ( uk, Футбо́льний Клуб «Дніпро́», ) was a Ukrainian football club based in Dnipro. The club was owned by the Privat Group that also owns BC Dnipro and Budivelnyk Kyiv. In 2018 FC Dnipro was forced i ...

in the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League' ...

Club career

Bezsonov's career began in 1976 with Dynamo Kyiv. Here he spent most of his career, except for a short one-season stint in Israeli club Maccabi Haifa F.C. in 1990–91. He was well known as a lightning quick full-back with a powerful shot. Bezsonov was attack-minded and scored a good return for a defender. He ended 27 goals in the 377 games that played for Dynamo.

International career

Bezsonov won 79 caps and scored 4 goals for the

from 1977 to 1990 and was included in three

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

squads. He also holds the record for the fifth highest appearances for the

. In the 1990 World Cup he was sent off against Argentina. His team ended up losing the game 2–0 which became eventually his farewell match for the ''Sbornaya''. In 1979 Bezsonov 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 inva ...

at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR.

Managerial career

Most recently, Bezsonov was the head coach of

in the

, but was sacked in Sep. 2010 following elimination from the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

and a number of poor results domestically.

Personal life

Bezsonov is married to Viktoria Serkyh, a former two-time world champion in

rhythmic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coord ...

. Together they have a daughter, Anna Bessonova, who also competed internationally in rhythmic gymnastics, became world champion in 2007, and an Olympic bronze medalist in 2004 and 2008. In February 2022, a photo of Bezsonov holding a gun and defending his home during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

was posted on social media by his daughter.

Career statistics

Club

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

International

:''Score and results list Soviet Union's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

Dynamo Kyiv *

Soviet Top League The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу: Высшая лига), served as the top division of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The professional top level ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

, 1981,

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

Soviet Cup The Soviet Cup, or USSR Cup (russian: Кубок СССР),, be, Кубак СССР, uz, СССР Кубоги, kk, КСРО Кубогы, ka, სსრკ თასი, az, ССРИ кубоку, lt, TSRS taurė, ro, Cupa URSS ( Moldov ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1989–90 *

Soviet Super Cup The USSR Super Cup,, az, Futbol üzrə SSRİ Superkuboku, ka, საბჭოთა კავშირის სუპერთასი, sabch’ota k’avshiris sup’ertasi, lt, TSRS Futbolo Supertaurė, ro, Supercupa URSS, uk, Супер ...

: 1980, 1985, 1986; runner-up:

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

runner-up:

International

Soviet Union *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

bronze:

UEFA Euro The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is conte ...

runner-up: 1988

Individual

* FIFA World Youth Championship Golden Ball:

* Ukrainian Footballer of the Year: 1989; second place: 1988; third place: 1986 * Voted in the Soviet Unions "All time World Cup team" on planetworldcup.com above other great Full-backs such as

Igor Netto Igor Aleksandrovich Netto (russian: Игорь Александрович Нетто; 9 January 1930 – 30 March 1999) was a Soviet footballer, considered one of the greatest Soviet players ever. He started out playing on the left of defense b ...

and Vasiliy Rats.

References

External links

Info on Dnipro official website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bezsonov, Volodymyr 1958 births Living people Footballers from Kharkiv Soviet footballers Soviet expatriate footballers Ukrainian footballers Ukrainian football managers FC Dynamo Kyiv players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Israel Soviet expatriate sportspeople in Israel Footballers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic footballers of the Soviet Union 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players Soviet Union international footballers Soviet Top League players Ukrainian Premier League managers FC Arsenal Kyiv managers Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Turkmenistan Expatriate football managers in Turkmenistan Turkmenistan national football team managers FC Nyva Vinnytsia managers FC Zorya Luhansk managers FC Kharkiv managers FC Dnipro managers Ukraine student football team managers Olympic medalists in football Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Association football fullbacks Ukrainian expatriate football managers Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 2nd class Ukrainian military personnel of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine