Volodymyr Fedorovych Muntyan ( uk, Володимир Федорович Мунтян, russian: Владимир Фёдорович Мунтян, ro, Vladimir Muntean), (born 14 September 1946, Kotovsk,

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

) is a

Soviet 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, ...

and

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 ...

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 ...

of the 1960s and 1970s. Muntyan is considered to be one of the best and most talented players to ever represent

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...

and

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. He is also the only player apart from

Oleg Blokhin Oleg Vladimirovich Blokhin, or Oleh Volodymyrovych Blokhin ( uk, Оле́г Володи́мирович Блохі́н, rus, Оле́г Влади́мирович Блохи́н; born 5 November 1952), is a former Ukrainian and Soviet footbal ...

(his teammate in the 1970s) who has won 7 Soviet championships. His brother Viktor Muntyan is also a former professional football player.

Biography

Early years

A son of an ethnic

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

worker and a Ukrainian

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

, Muntyan became interested in

acrobatics Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro ...

and competed successfully in Kyiv's citywide competition, winning accolades in his age category. His family eventually relocated to live near a professional soccer grounds in Kyiv, where young Muntyan and his friends would hang out, acting as

ball boy Ball boys and ball girls, also known as ball kids are individuals, usually human youths but sometimes dogs, who retrieve and supply balls for players or officials in sports such as association football, American football, bandy, cricket, tennis ...

s to the elders. While once juggling a ball, he was approached by a

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

, who asked him if he was interested in taking up

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 c ...

as a

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

. Muntyan said yes and was taken to Mikhail Korsunsky, who was a famous local children's coach at the time. He quickly recognised Muntyan's potential.

Youth years

Due to the boy's natural talent, he was included in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

's youth team with people like

Semen Altman Semen Yosypovych Altman ( ua, Семен Йосипович Альтман, born 21 April 1946 in Chuhuiv) is a Ukrainian football coach and former goalkeeper. He is of Jewish ancestry. Semen's son, Hennadiy Altman is also a goalkeeper and has ...

and

Anatoly Byshovets Anatoliy Fyodorovich Byshovets (russian: Анатолий Фёдорович Бышовец, uk, Анато́лій Фе́дорович Бишове́ць; born 23 April 1946) is a Soviet and Russian football manager of Ukrainian origin and f ...

(both

coaches Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

now). After a

Spartakiada The Spartakiad (or Spartakiade) was an international sports event that was sponsored by the Soviet Union. Five international Spartakiades were held from 1928 to 1937. Later Spartakiads were organized as national sport events of the Eastern Blo ...

match between the

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

teams, which Kyiv won,

youth coach Mykhaylo Koman offered young Muntyan to come to a training session with the senior team the next day at 11:00. The young boy turned up outside the ground, but was so scared to see his idols

Valery Lobanovsky Valeriy Vasylyovych Lobanovskyi ( uk, Вале́рій Васи́льович Лобано́вський ; russian: Вале́рий Васи́льевич Лобано́вский; 6 January 1939 – 13 May 2002) was а Ukrainian football pla ...

Andriy Biba Andriy Andriyovych (or Andrei Andreyevich) Biba (russian: Андрей Андреевич Биба; uk, Андрій Андрійович Біба; born 10 August 1937) is a retired Ukrainian football player and coach. Career Biba's first tea ...

, that he hid behind a tree and didn't make the team bus. However his friend

helped him to get over the fear and eventually he turned up to a training session.

Early career

Muntyan joined the

team as a 15-year-old, when the main team coach was Victor Maslov. Despite weighing only 60 kg (9.5

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

s) and being only 170 cm in height, he was encouraged to play and his skills were further enhanced by the training. When five of then current squad left to join 1966 Soviet football team for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

managed to win a double (championship and the cup) with Muntyan stepping in from the reserves as one of the main players.

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

Honours

Ukrainian Footballer of the Year The Ukrainian Footballer of the Year is an annual journalist award given by the ''Ukrainskiy Football'' ("Ukrainian Football") newspaper to the best professional Ukrainian footballer since 1991. The Ukrainian Footballer of the Year award is given to ...

: :: 1970 *

Soviet Footballer of the Year The award Soviet Footballer of the Year was awarded to the best footballer of the Soviet Union from 1964 until 1991. The poll was conducted among journalists by the weekly sport newspaper '' Football'' (Football-Hockey). Each journalist named his o ...

: :: 1969 * USSR Championship: 7 (record) Winner :: 1966, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1977 *

USSR 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 (Moldova ...

: Winner :: 1966, 1974, *

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 tourna ...

: Winner :: 1975 *

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 originall ...

: Winner :: 1975 *

UEFA Euro 1968 The 1968 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Italy. This was the third UEFA European Championship, an event held every four years and organised by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 5 and 10 June 1968. It ...

: Fourth Place :: 1968 *

UEFA Euro 1972 The 1972 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Belgium. This was the fourth UEFA European Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 14 and 18 June 1972. Only four ...

: Runner-up :: 1972 * USSR Championship: Runner-up :: 1965, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1976 *

: Runner-up :: 1973 *

USSR 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 ...

: Runner-up :: 1977

Ballon d'Or

* 1969 – 23rd

References

External links

RussiaTeam Biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Muntyan, Volodymyr 1946 births Living people Soviet footballers Soviet football managers Soviet expatriate football managers Ukrainian people of Romanian descent Ukrainian footballers Soviet Top League players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC CSKA Kyiv players UEFA Euro 1968 players 1970 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1972 players Soviet Union international footballers Ukrainian football managers Ukrainian expatriate football managers FC CSKA Kyiv managers Ukraine national football team managers Ukraine national under-21 football team managers FC Mariupol managers Expatriate football managers in Madagascar Expatriate football managers in Guinea Guinea national football team managers FC Dnipro Cherkasy managers SC Tavriya Simferopol managers FC Obolon Kyiv managers FC Spartak Vladikavkaz managers Russian Premier League managers Expatriate football managers in Russia FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih managers FC Vorskla Poltava managers Ukrainian Premier League managers Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Soviet people of Romanian descent 1998 African Cup of Nations managers Association football midfielders Sportspeople from Odesa Oblast