Volodymyr Vasylyovych Bezsonov (, also spelled Vladimir Vasilijević Bessonov from , born 5 March 1958) is 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 ...

manager and former player who played for the former

Soviet Union national football team The Soviet Union national football team () was the national football team who represented the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1992. After the breakup of the Union the team was transformed into the CIS national football team. FIFA and UEFA considers ...

. The most recent team he was managing was

FC Dnipro Football Club Dnipro (, ) was a Ukrainian football club based in Dnipro. The club played its last season in the 2018–19 Ukrainian Amateur League. The club was owned by Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoyskyi. In 2018, FC Dnipro was forced ...

in the

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 ...

Club career

Bezsonov is a graduate student of the Kharkiv State College of Physical Culture 1 where he began his football career. In 1975 he was joined

FC Metalist Kharkiv Football Club Metalist Kharkiv, also known as Football Club Metalist Kharkov or FC Metalist Kharkov ( ), is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kharkiv that plays in the Ukrainian First League during the 2023– ...

, but only played for its reserve team. In 1976 Bezsonov joined

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 ...

. There, he spent most of his career, except for a short one-season stint in Israeli club

Maccabi Haifa F.C. Maccabi Haifa Football Club () is an Israeli professional football club based in the city of Haifa, Israel, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club plays in the Israeli Premier League. Maccabi Haifa home games are played at Sammy Ofe ...

in 1990–91. He was well known as a lightning quick full-back with a powerful shot. Bezsonov was attack-minded and scored a good return for a defender. He ended with 27 goals in the 377 games that he played for Dynamo.

International career

Bezsonov won 79 caps and scored 4 goals for the Soviet Union national team from 1977 to 1990 and was included in three

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 ...

squads. He also holds the record for the fifth most appearances for the team. In the 1990 World Cup, he was sent off against Argentina. His team ended up losing the game 2–0 which eventually became his farewell match for the Soviet national team. In 1979, Bezsonov played a couple of matches for the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

at the

Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR The Spartakiad of Peoples of the USSR (, Spartakiada narodov SSSR; ; ) were mass multi-event competitions in the Soviet Union in 1956–1991, descendants of the 1928 All-Union Spartakiad that took place in Moscow. The competitions were designed t ...

where Ukraine placed third. In 1980, Bezsonov was on the Soviet squad for 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 ...

where the Soviet Union placed third.

Managerial career

Most recently, Bezsonov was the head coach of

in the

, but was sacked in September 2010 following the team's elimination from the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

and a number of poor results domestically.

Personal life

Bezsonov is married to Viktoria Serykh, a former two-time world champion in

rhythmic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop (rhythmic gymnastics), hoop, ball (rhythmic gymnastics), ball, Clubs (rhythmic gymnastics), clubs, ribbon (rhythmic gymnastics), ...

. Together they have a daughter,

Anna Bessonova Hanna Volodymyrivna Bezsonova (; born 29 July 1984) is a Ukrainian former individual rhythmic gymnast Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon ...

, who also competed internationally in rhythmic gymnastics and became world champion in 2007, as well as winning an Olympic bronze in 2004 and 2008. In February 2022, a photo of Bezsonov on the frontline during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

was posted on social media by his daughter.

Career statistics

Club

*The statistics in USSR Cups and Europe is made under the scheme "autumn-spring" and enlisted in a year of start of tournaments

International

:''Score and results list Soviet Union's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

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 ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

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 ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1989–90 *

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 ...

: 1980, 1985, 1986; runner-up:

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 ...

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 ...

runner-up:

International

Soviet Union *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

bronze:

UEFA Euro The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

runner-up:

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

Individual

* FIFA World Youth Championship Golden Ball:

* The best 33 football players of the Soviet Union (11): No. 1 (1978-1982, 1985-1987, 1989); No. 2 (1977); No. 3 (1988) *

Ukrainian Footballer of the Year The Ukrainian Footballer of the Year is an annual poll carried out by the ''Ukrainskiy Football'' ("Ukrainian Football") newspaper. The poll is conducted among sports journalists, footballers, football managers and other people connected with footb ...

: 1989; second place: 1988; third place: 1986 * Voted in the Soviet Union's "All-time World Cup team" on planetworldcup.com above other great full-backs, such as Igor Netto and Vasiliy Rats.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bezsonov, Volodymyr 1958 births Living people Footballers from Kharkiv Soviet expatriate men's footballers Ukrainian men's footballers Ukrainian football managers FC Dynamo Kyiv players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Soviet expatriate sportspeople in Israel Footballers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic footballers for the Soviet Union 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players Soviet Union men's international footballers Soviet Top League players Ukrainian Premier League managers FC Arsenal Kyiv managers Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Turkmenistan Expatriate football managers in Turkmenistan Turkmenistan national football team managers FC Nyva Vinnytsia managers FC Zorya Luhansk managers FC Kharkiv managers FC Dnipro managers Ukraine national student football team managers Olympic medalists in football Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Men's association football fullbacks Ukrainian expatriate football managers Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 2nd class Ukrainian military personnel of the Russian invasion of Ukraine Soviet men's footballers 20th-century Ukrainian sportsmen