Igor Ivanovich Belanov ( rus, И́горь Ива́нович Бела́нов) or Ihor Ivanovych Bielanov ( uk, Ігор Іванович Бєланов; born 25 September 1960) is a Ukrainian former professional footballer who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He made a name for himself at Dynamo Kyiv, winning five major titles and being named European Footballer of the Year in 1986. He then spent six years in Germany with Borussia Mönchengladbach in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

and Eintracht Braunschweig in the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

, with little success. Belanov represented 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, ...

one 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

World Cup and

European Championship.He was included in the list of the top 100 World Cup footballers of all time by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' in 2014. In 2011, he, Oleh Blokhin and Vitaliy Starukhin were named as the "legends of Ukrainian football" at the Victory of Football awards.

Club career

Beginnings and Dynamo Kyiv

Belanov was born in

Odesa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern sho ...

, Ukraine,

. He started playing professionally in his hometown, with SKA Odesa and FC Chornomorets Odesa, joining country giants FC Dynamo Kyiv in 1985, and scoring ten goals in his first season, which ended with league and

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, c ...

conquest. Along with teammates Oleh Blokhin and

Oleksandr Zavarov Oleksandr Anatoliyovych Zavarov, also spelt Aleksandr Anatoljević Zavarov ( uk, Олександр Анатолійович Заваров, russian: Заваров, Александр Анатольевич) – (born 26 April 1961 in Luhansk, ...

, Belanov led the scoring charts at the 1985–86

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 ...

(five apiece) as Dynamo won the competition for the second time. He played the full 90 minutes in the final against Atlético Madrid (3–0).

Germany

Midway through 1989, 29-year-old Belanov got the long-awaited clearance to join a

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

an side, making a move to Germany to join Borussia Mönchengladbach. His debut in the

came on 4 November 1989 in a 4–0 away defeat against

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. Vf ...

, but he failed to impress overall, scoring only four goals in his one-and-a-half-season stint. Belanov's reputation at the club diminished further in January 1990, when he and his wife were among five Soviet citizens arrested for shoplifting clothes worth 2,000

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it ...

; they were both convicted. He had faced financial problems due to his demand to be paid in U.S. dollars, which he trusted more than the mark, but which had suddenly declined in value. Belanov moved to

's Eintracht Braunschweig in January 1991. He made his debut for his new club on 23 February, and went on to net just 13 times in the competition in three seasons combined, also suffering relegation in

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

without making a single appearance.

Retirement

In 1995 Belanov returned home to Chernomorets for one season, retiring at almost 37 after a spell with

FC Illychivets Mariupol Football Club Mariupol ( uk, Футбольний клуб "Маріуполь" ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Mariupol, that competed in the Ukrainian Premier League. The club ceased to exist as a result of the Siege o ...

, appearing in only five games in two seasons combined.

International career

Belanov played 33 matches for the

, scoring eight goals. His best performance came at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, where he netted four and assisted for six others as the team (which comprised 13 Dynamo Kyiv players) reached the round-of-16; he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

in the game against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, in a losing

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

effort (4–3). This performance at the World Cup, along with Dynamo's Cup Winners' Cup success, helped Belanov win the European Footballer of the Year award. He was also part of the squad that reached the final of

UEFA Euro 1988 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. The tournament crowned the Nethe ...

, where the national side faced

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Nether ...

. With the score at 2–0 for the Netherlands, USSR were awarded a penalty: he took it, but saw goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen save his effort as the score remained 2–0 until full time, giving the Netherlands the European title. He won 33 caps between 1985 and 1990.

Style of play

Belanov was noted for his athleticism, in particular for his running speed and powerful goal strikes. He was one of the fastest sprinters among Soviet footballers of all times, together with Oleh Blokhin. However, while Blokhin was trained by his parents, who were both competitive sprinters, Belanov never received a formal sprint training; yet he ran the 50 metres in a hand-timed 5.7 seconds, corresponding to a mere 0.3 seconds slower than the world record at the time.

Post-retirement

Belanov turned to business after finishing his playing career. He returned to prominence when he became the majority shareholder at Switzerland's FC Wil, in August 2003. His predecessor, banker Andreas Hafen, had been given a five-year prison sentence after embezzling 51 million Swiss francs ($40 million) from the ''UBS Bank''. Belanov's first move at Wil was replacing first-team manager

Martin Andermatt Martin Andermatt (born 21 November 1961) is a Swiss football manager and a former player who is an assistant coach with Basel. Club career The trained teacher began his career as player with SC Zug, FC Baar, FC Emmenbrücke, and Wettingen. Afte ...

with his former Dynamo Kyiv teammate

, not taking note of the fact that he lacked the necessary

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs foo ...

licence to manage a European top-division outfit. That circumstance forced Belanov to sign former FC Karl-Marx-Stadt manager Joachim Müller. Due to the appointment of Müller, Zavarov's job was officially described as director of football; Müller did not last long as coach however, as Belanov sacked him just after three months, replacing him with Tomáš Matějček. Matejcek's strict training regiment caused a quick revolt amongst Wil players. This forced Belanov to make amends for his decisions and to re-appoint Müller as manager, and hand the assistant-manager role to former Swiss international goalkeeper

Stephan Lehmann Stephan Lehmann (born 15 August 1963) is a Swiss former professional football goalkeeper who works as goalkeeper coach for FC Sion. International career Lehmann was capped 18 times for the Switzerland national team between 1989 and 1997. He wa ...

. Those turned out to be Belanov's last series of actions as Wil's major shareholder as, in a quick sequence, he pulled out of his chairman and shareholder role of the club. Additionally, Belanov also owned a football school in

, Ukraine, which carried his name. In 2018 joined the board of strategic development Ukrainian Association of Football. Due to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 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. ...

, Belanov joined the Territorial Defence Battalion (of the

Ukrainian Armed Forces , imports = , exports = , history = , ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine , country=Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly know ...

) of his hometown Odessa.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Soviet Union's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Belanov goal.''

Honours

Dynamo Kyiv *

: 1985–86 * Soviet League: 1985, 1986 * Soviet Cup: 1985, 1987, 1990 * Soviet Super Cup: 1986, 1987 *

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 1986 Chornomorets Odesa * Ukrainian Premier League: runner-up 1995–96 Soviet Union *

UEFA European Football Championship 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 contes ...

: runner-up 1988 Individual * Ballon d'Or: 1986 *

: top scorer 1985–86 * '' World Soccer'' magazine's Player of the Year: runner-up 1986 *

FIFA World Cup Bronze Boot At the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are presented to the players and teams who have distinguished themselves in various aspects of the game. Awards *There are currently five post-tournament awards from the FIFA ...

: 1986 *Top assist provider:

* The World Cup's top 100 footballers of all time, by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'' * Merited Master of Sports: 1986 *

The best 33 football players of the Soviet Union The ''List of 33 Best Football Players of the Year'' (Список 33 лучших футболистов сезона в СССР) was an annual award list of the former Soviet Union which ran from 1948 to 1991. It was compiled after each footbal ...

(4): 1985 — No. 3, 1986 — No. 1, 1987 — No. 3, 1988 — No. 3 * FIFA XI: 1991, 1998 * Golden Foot: 2008, as a

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

References

External links

Profile at UkrSoccerHistory
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Belanov, Igor 1960 births Living people Footballers from Odesa Soviet footballers Ukrainian footballers Association football forwards Soviet Top League players Ukrainian Premier League players SKA Odessa players FC Chornomorets Odesa players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Mariupol players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Eintracht Braunschweig players Soviet Union international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players Soviet expatriate footballers Ukrainian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Ballon d'Or winners Soviet expatriate sportspeople in Germany Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 1st class Recipients of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 5th class Ukrainian military personnel of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine personnel Military personnel from Odesa