Oleksandr Ponomariov (; ; 23 April 1918 – 7 June 1973) was a
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player and manager.
Career
Ponomarev was born in
Horlivka
Horlivka ( ; , ), also known as Gorlovka (, ), is a city in Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine. Its population is
Economic activity is predominantly coal mining and the chemical industry. The Horlivka Institute for Foreign Languages has a two-building ...
near
Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...
,
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, as a result of the February Revolution, ...
. As a player, in the course of his career, he won the
Soviet Cup
The Soviet Cup, or USSR Cup (),, , , (Moldovan Cyrillic: Купа УРСС), , , . was the premier football cup competition in the Soviet Union conducted by the Football Federation of the Soviet Union. The 1991–92 season of the tournam ...
in 1949 with
Torpedo Moscow
Football Club Torpedo Moscow (, ''FK Torpedo Moskva''), known as Torpedo Moscow, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. The club will return to the Russian Premier League in the 2025–26 season. Their c ...
, and scored 152 goals in the
Soviet Top League
The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (), served as the top division (tier) of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The league's name was a conditional designation used for brevity since being completely owned and g ...
. He was the top scorer of the league in 1946. He spent the last two seasons of his playing career in
Shakhter Stalino
Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lviv, and played matches in Lviv (2014–2016) and in ...
where he captained the team to the third place in the Soviet Top League in 1951, their highest league finish thus far.
In 1953 he started his manager career in Shakhter Stalino. He helped the club win the
Soviet First League
The Soviet First League in football () was the second highest division of Soviet football,Evgeni Kazakov. The Soviet First Football League (Первая лига СССР по футболу)''. History of Soviet football championships. Volume 1 ...
in 1954 (earning them promotion back to the top league).
In 1960–1961 he managed
Avangard Kharkov
Football Club Metalist Kharkiv, also known as Football Club Metalist Kharkov or FC Metalist Kharkov ( ), is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kharkiv that plays in the Ukrainian First League during the 2023–24 season. It was rev ...
, under him the club finished 6th in the Soviet Top League in 1961, their highest league finish thus far.
In 1962 he was made the manager of
Dynamo Moscow
MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club.
Dynamo Mosco ...
, which finished 11th in the previous season, and which he led to a victory in the Soviet Top League in 1963.
He was the head coach of the
Soviet Union national team in 1972, leading the team to second place in
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 ...
, and to a bronze medal at the
1972 Olympic Games.
He died at age 55 in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
.
References
ProfileBrief biography at ukrsoccerhistory.com*Banyas, V.
Oleksandr Ponomariov: how we will celebrate centurial of the legend (Олександр Пономарьов: як відзначимо століття легенди?)''.
Ukrainian Premier League
The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system.
Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...
. 14 March 2018
1918 births
1973 deaths
Footballers from Donetsk Oblast
Soviet men's footballers
Ukrainian men's footballers
Russian men's footballers
Men's association football forwards
Soviet Top League players
FC Rotor Volgograd players
FC Shakhtar Donetsk players
FC Torpedo Moscow players
Soviet football managers
FC Shakhtar Donetsk managers
FC Metalist Kharkiv managers
FC Dynamo Moscow managers
FC Ararat Yerevan managers
Soviet Union national football team managers
Soviet Top League managers
Soviet First League managers
UEFA Euro 1972 managers
Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR
20th-century Russian sportsmen
20th-century Ukrainian sportsmen
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