Mykhaylo Ivanovych Fomenko (; 19 September 1948 – 29 April 2024) was a Ukrainian

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 coach. As a player, he was capped 24 times for the

Soviet Union 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 ...

,Ukraine's football federation taps Fomenko to coach national team

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(26 December 2012) and, as a head coach, became the second ever manager – after

Oleh Blokhin Oleg Vladimirovich Blokhin, or Oleh Volodymyrovych Blokhin (, ; born 5 November 1952), is a Ukrainian former association football, football player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of his generation, Blokhin was a stando ...

– to take the Ukraine national team to an international finals tournament, reaching

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

. Fomenko was famous for his coaching in

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) 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 ...

, winning its first Ukrainian gold medals for the club, first Ukrainian Cup for the club and most notably, defeating

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in the first leg of the Champions League tournament. Barcelona, under

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff (), was a Dutch professional Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. Regarded as one of the greatest ...

and with such star players as

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. Koeman scor ...

and

Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Catalans, Catalan professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player from Spain who has been the manager of club Manchester City F.C., Ma ...

, ended up to be finalist of that UEFA Champions League season. Fomenko died in

Sumy Sumy (, , ) is a city in northeastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Sumy Oblast. The city is situated on the banks of the Psel (river), Psel River and has a population of making it the 23rd-largest in the country. The city ...

on 29 April 2024, at the age of 75.

Playing career

Fomenko was an integral part of

's achievements in the 1970s at the club level, which included hoisting the 1975 Winners Cup and Super Cup.

Coaching career

After graduating from the

Higher School of Coaches Higher School of Coaches ({{langx, ru, Высшая школа тренеров, ВШТ, Vysshaya shkola trenerov) is a professional school which specializes in sports education. It was first created as part of the Soviet sports education system in ...

in Moscow in 1979, Fomenko coached numerous Ukrainian clubs, most notably Dynamo Kyiv. With Fomenko the club won its first Ukrainian gold medals, and its first Ukrainian Cup, both in 1993 and most notably, beating

in the first leg of the Champions League tournament. Barcelona ended up being finalist of that 39th season of the UEFA Champions League. Before that success, in the end of 1989, he promoted the Georgian club Guria Lanchkhuti to the Soviet Top league and in 2001 reached the Ukrainian Cup final with

CSKA Kyiv FC CSKA Kyiv () is a Ukraine, Ukrainian amateur football club, until 2001 of the Central Sports Club of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is government sponsored by the Ministry of Defense (Ukraine), Ministry of Defense. As its farm team CSKA-2 ...

, which was the best result in the club's history. On 26 December 2012, Fomenko was given a one-year contract – with a possible second-year extension – as head coach of the Ukraine national team after the

Football Federation of Ukraine The Ukrainian Football Association (, ; UAF) is the governing body of football in Ukraine. Before 2019, it was known as the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU; ). As a subject of the International Olympic Movement, UAF is a member of the Nation ...

had failed to retain

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former association football, football manager (association football), manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United F.C., West Ham United, Portsmouth F.C., ...

and

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; 5 February 1948 – 26 August 2024) was a Swedish association football, football player and Coach (sport), manager. After a playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management ...

for the role. Fomenko coached Ukraine to six

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

wins, coming against

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(twice),

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and

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, as well as one draw against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. After placing second in their qualifying group, Ukraine was matched against France in the second round of UEFA qualifiers. Despite winning the first leg 2–0 at home, Ukraine fell 3–0 away to lose 3–2 on aggregate, thus failing to make the 2014 World Cup finals. Despite this, Fomenko indicated he would like to continue in his role and lead Ukraine in its

qualifying campaign, and on 6 February 2014, the Football Federation of Ukraine announced it had extended his contract until the end of 2015.Fomenko to continue working with Ukraine's national football team until end of 2015

Interfax-Ukraine Interfax-Ukraine () is a Ukrainian news agency. Founded in 1992, the company publishes in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German. The company owns a 50-seat press centre. The staff of the agency is 105 people (as of the end of February 2022) ...

(6 February 2014) Fomenko ultimately led Ukraine to successful qualification in the Euro 2016 finals in France after finishing in third place in its qualifying group, setting up a playoff matchup against

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, Ukraine won 3–1 on aggregate to ensure the nation's spot in France. Fomenko subsequently extended his contract to coach Ukraine up to Euro 2016 until 30 July 2016, though he was promised another extension should Ukraine perform well at Euro 2016. Ukraine, however, had a disastrous tournament, losing all three group stage matches, including a defeat against the then world champions

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

(2–0) and, most shockingly, a loss to

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(2–0), which sent Ukraine to an early exit.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Dynamo Kyiv *

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 ...

: 1974, 1975, 1977 *

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 ...

: 1974, 1978 *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

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. ...

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, 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 offic ...

Soviet Union *

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

bronze:

1976 Events January * January 2 – 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 18 – Full diplomatic ...

Individual *

Merited Master of Sport of the USSR Unified All-Russian Sports Classification () is a system which regulates the Russian physical education system requirements for both athletes and coaches. History In the Soviet period Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR () exist ...

Manager

Dynamo Kyiv *

Ukrainian Top 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 1992Hunc ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

; runner-up:

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

References

External links

Biography in Russian
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fomenko, Mykhaylo 1948 births 2024 deaths Men's association football defenders People from Sumy Oblast Ukrainian men's footballers Soviet men's footballers Soviet Union men's international footballers Soviet Top League players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Spartak Sumy players FC Zorya Luhansk players Olympic footballers for the Soviet Union Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Higher School of Coaches alumni Ukrainian football managers Soviet football managers FC Frunzenets Sumy managers FC Desna Chernihiv managers FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih managers Iraq national football team managers FC Ahrotekhservis Sumy managers FC Dynamo Kyiv managers NK Veres Rivne managers Expatriate football managers in Guinea Guinea national football team managers FC Arsenal Kyiv managers FC Metalist Kharkiv managers FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia managers SC Tavriya Simferopol managers Ukrainian Premier League managers Olympic medalists in football Ukraine national football team managers Ukrainian expatriate football managers Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics UEFA Euro 2016 managers Footballers from Sumy Oblast 20th-century Ukrainian sportsmen