Sergei Pavlovich Baltacha (; born 17 February 1958) is a Ukrainian former professional

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 who played as a defender. He won 45 caps 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 ...

and made nearly 300 appearances for

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 ...

Career

Baltacha was developed by longtime Dynamo Kyiv and USSR national team coach

Valeriy Lobanovskyi Valeriy Vasylyovych Lobanovskyi (, ; 6 January 1939 – 13 May 2002) was а Soviet and Ukrainian football player and manager. He was Master of Sports of the USSR, Distinguished Coach of the USSR, and a laureate of the UEFA Order of Merit in Rub ...

, who spotted Baltacha at the Kharkiv Oblast sports boarding school (today the Kharkiv College of Sports) of footballing excellence, which he had left home to attend at the age of 13. Before moving to Kharkiv, Baltacha started his football career in native Mariupol playing for local youth sports club "Azovstal". While being officially invited to Dynamo, in 1976 Baltacha spent his first season on loan playing for Metalist Kharkiv which at that time was playing at the third tier and his second season in Dynamo's reserves. It wasn't until 1978 when he finally made his debut for the Dynamo's first team that was hosting Spartak Moscow on 28 April 1978. As preparation to the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

, in 1979 Baltacha played couple of games for

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. Baltacha was on the winning side in the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European 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 renamed the UEFA Cup Winne ...

in 1986, 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 ...

and

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 ...

four times, and the

Soviet Super Cup The USSR Super Cup,, , , also known as the Season's Cup, was an unofficial exhibition game (or game series) not sanctioned by the Football Federation of the Soviet Union and that featured the winners of the previous season's Soviet Top League ...

on three occasions. He also appeared in the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

in 1982, was a finalist in the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

in 1988 and won the bronze medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. As the Soviet government eased restrictions on traveling abroad for athletes, in 1988 at age 30 Baltacha traveled to England and Scotland, playing for

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

and

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

. His debut for Ipswich (in which he scored) was the first time a Soviet international had played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

. He also had a spell as player manager of Inverness Caledonian in the Scottish Highland Football League, and was with Caledonian when they amalgamated with Inverness Thistle and entered the Scottish Football League in 1994 as Caledonian Thistle. Baltacha worked as a

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

teacher and tutor at

Bacon's College Bacon's College is a Mixed-sex education, co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Rotherhithe, London, England. It was previously a City Technology College, but officially changed to Academy (England), academy status in 2007. ...

in South East

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

until 2012, having formerly been a physical education teacher at Geoffrey Chaucer Technology College (

Old Kent Road Old Kent Road is a major thoroughfare in South East London, England, passing through the London Borough of Southwark. It was originally part of an ancient trackway that was paved by the Romans and used by the Anglo-Saxons who named it Wæcel ...

, London) and a coach at the

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

academy. Since 2012 Sergei Baltacha works as Professional Development Phase Lead Coach at the Charlton Athletic FC Academy.

Personal life

His ex-wife, Olga, master of sports in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

, could have been on the

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 ...

olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...

team in

, but instead opted to remain at home to care for their one-year-old son, Sergei Jr, who became a professional footballer. Their daughter, Elena, was a professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. She died from liver cancer in 2014, aged 30. Baltacha was married to Oksana. Born in the Ukrainian part of the Soviet Union, Baltacha regards himself to be multi-national. His career achievements resulted in him being inducted into the Viktor Leonenko Hall of Fame in March 2012. Baltacha has stated in interview "I'm a citizen of the Soviet Union, but I love Ukraine. As for now, I've been in the United Kingdom for over 23 years, it's my home. But I still go back to Ukraine regularly. It's a beautiful country with good, kind people. I want to see it become more like European countries. But, I don't think it has to lose ties with Russia, we are similar people, it's in our blood."

Career statistics

International goals

References

External links

Profile on the Pride of Anglia Website
*

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baltacha, Sergei 1958 births Living people Footballers from Mariupol 1982 FIFA World Cup players FC Dynamo Kyiv players Ukrainian emigrants to the United Kingdom Footballers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. managers Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players FC Metalist Kharkiv players Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic footballers for the Soviet Union Scottish Football League players Soviet men's footballers Soviet Top League players Soviet Union men's international footballers St Johnstone F.C. players English Football League players UEFA Euro 1988 players Ukrainian football managers Ukrainian expatriate football managers Ukrainian men's footballers Ukrainian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate football managers in Scotland Soviet expatriate men's footballers Soviet expatriate sportspeople in England Soviet expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Olympic medalists in football Caledonian F.C. players Scottish Football League managers Charlton Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Men's association football defenders Association football coaches Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class 20th-century Ukrainian sportsmen