 Belanov in 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Igor Ivanovich Belanov | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1960-09-25)25 September 1960 (age 65) | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Odesa,Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||
| Position | Striker | |||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||
| 1973–1978 | Chornomorets Odesa | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 1979–1981 | SKA Odesa | 68 | (16) | |||||||||||
| 1981–1985 | Chornomorets Odesa | 116 | (26) | |||||||||||
| 1985–1989 | Dynamo Kyiv | 121 | (40) | |||||||||||
| 1989–1991 | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 24 | (4) | |||||||||||
| 1991–1995 | Eintracht Braunschweig | 64 | (21) | |||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | Chornomorets Odesa | 3 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 1996–1997 | Metalurh Mariupol | 5 | (4) | |||||||||||
| Total | 401 | (112) | ||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| 1985–1990 | Soviet Union | 33 | (8) | |||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Igor Ivanovich Belanov (Russian:И́горь Ива́нович Бела́нов) orIhor Ivanovych Bielanov (Ukrainian:Ігор Іванович Бєланов; born 25 September 1960) is a Soviet and Ukrainian former professionalfootballer who played as astriker.
He made a name for himself atDynamo Kyiv, winning five major titles as well as theBallon d'Or in1986 and became the secondUkrainian national to win the award afterOleh Blokhin (1975). He then spent six years in Germany withBorussia Mönchengladbach in theBundesliga andEintracht Braunschweig in the2. Bundesliga, with little success.
Belanov represented theSoviet Union atoneWorld Cup andoneEuropean Championship. He was included in the list of the top 100 World Cup footballers of all time byThe Guardian in 2014.[1] In 2011, he,Oleh Blokhin andVitaliy Starukhin were named as the "legends of Ukrainian football" at the Victory of Football awards.[2]
Belanov was born inOdesa, Ukraine,Soviet Union. He started playing professionally in his hometown, withSKA Odesa andFC Chornomorets Odesa, joining country giantsFC Dynamo Kyiv in 1985, and scoring ten goals inhis first season, which ended withleague andcup conquest.
Along with teammatesOleh Blokhin andOleksandr Zavarov, Belanov led the scoring charts at the1985–86UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (five apiece) as Dynamo won the competition for the second time.[3] He played the full 90 minutes inthe final againstAtlético Madrid (3–0).
Midway through 1989, 29-year-old Belanov got the long-awaited clearance to join aWestern European side, making a move to Germany to joinBorussia Mönchengladbach. His debut in theBundesliga came on 4 November 1989 in a 4–0 away defeat againstVfB Stuttgart, but he failed to impress overall, scoring only five goals in his one-and-a-half-season stint.[4]
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 worth2000Deutsche Mark. Belanov protested that he was innocent, and was found guilty, being fined24000 DM.[5][6][7] He had faced financial problems due to his demand to be paid inU.S. dollars, which he trusted more than the mark, but which had suddenly declined in value.[5][8]
Belanov moved to2. Bundesliga'sEintracht Braunschweig in January 1991, for a fee of450000 DM. He made his debut for his new club on 23 February, and went on to net 21 times in the competition in three seasons combined, also suffering relegation in1992–93 without making a single appearance.[9]
In 1995 Belanov returned home to Chernomorets for one season, retiring at almost 37 after a spell withFC Illychivets Mariupol, appearing in only five games in two seasons combined.
Belanov played 33 matches for theSoviet Union, scoring eight goals. His best performance came at the1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, where he netted four andassisted for six others as the team (which comprised 13 Dynamo Kyiv players) reached theround-of-16; he scored ahat-trick in the game againstBelgium, in a losingextra time effort (4–3).[10]
This performance at theWorld Cup, along with Dynamo's Cup Winners' Cup success, helped Belanov win theEuropean Footballer of the Year award. He was also part of the squad that reached the final ofUEFA Euro 1988, where the national side facedthe Netherlands. With the score at 2–0 for the Netherlands, USSR were awarded apenalty: he took it, but sawgoalkeeperHans van Breukelen save his effort as the score remained 2–0 until full time, giving the Netherlands the European title.[11][12] He won 33 caps between 1985 and 1990.[13]
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 withOleh 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.[14]
Belanov turned to business after finishing his playing career. He returned to prominence when he became the majority shareholder at Switzerland'sFC Wil, in August 2003. His predecessor, banker Andreas Hafen, had been given a five-year prison sentence after embezzling 51 millionSwiss francs ($40 million) from theUBS Bank.
Belanov's first move at Wil was replacing first-team managerMartin Andermatt with his former Dynamo Kyiv teammateOleksandr Zavarov, not taking note of the fact that he lacked the necessaryUEFA licence to manage a European top-division outfit. That circumstance forced Belanov to sign formerFC Karl-Marx-Stadt manager Joachim Müller. Due to the appointment of Müller, Zavarov's job was officially described asdirector of football; Müller did not last long as coach however, as Belanov sacked him just after three months, replacing him withTomáš 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 formerSwiss international goalkeeperStephan Lehmann. 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.[15]
Additionally, Belanov also owned a football school inOdesa, Ukraine, which carried his name.
In 2018 joined the board of strategic developmentUkrainian Association of Football.[16]
Due to theRussian invasion of Ukraine 2022, Belanov joined theTerritorial Defence Battalion of theUkrainian Armed Forces of his hometown Odesa.[17]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Other[a] | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| SKA Odesa | 1979 | 32 | 5 | – | – | – | 32 | 5 | ||||
| 1980 | 36 | 11 | – | – | – | 36 | 11 | |||||
| Total | 68 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 68 | 16 | ||
| Chornomorets Odesa | 1981 | Soviet Top League | 27 | 6 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 29 | 6 | ||
| 1982 | Soviet Top League | 29 | 2 | 4 | 1 | – | – | 33 | 3 | |||
| 1983 | Soviet Top League | 27 | 7 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 28 | 7 | |||
| 1984 | Soviet Top League | 33 | 11 | 5 | 3 | – | – | 38 | 14 | |||
| Total | 116 | 26 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 128 | 30 | ||
| Dynamo Kyiv | 1985 | Soviet Top League | 31 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | – | 39 | 13 | |
| 1986 | Soviet Top League | 22 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 14 | |
| 1987 | Soviet Top League | 23 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 37 | 13 | |
| 1988 | Soviet Top League | 27 | 9 | 4 | 1 | – | – | 31 | 10 | |||
| 1989 | Soviet Top League | 18 | 3 | 4 | 1 | – | – | 22 | 4 | |||
| Total | 121 | 40 | 19 | 7 | 18 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 161 | 54 | ||
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | 1989–90 | Bundesliga | 14 | 4 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 15 | 4 | ||
| 1990–91 | Bundesliga | 10 | 0 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 12 | 1 | |||
| Total | 24 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 5 | ||
| Eintracht Braunschweig | 1990–91 | 2. Bundesliga | 9 | 3 | – | – | – | 9 | 3 | |||
| 1991–92 | 2. Bundesliga | 29 | 10 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 30 | 11 | |||
| 1992–93 | 2. Bundesliga | – | – | – | – | – | ||||||
| 1993–94 | Oberliga Nord | 26 | 8 | 1 | 0 | – | 4 | 0 | 31 | 8 | ||
| Total | 64 | 21 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 70 | 22 | ||
| Chornomorets | 1995–96 | Ukrainian Premier League | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | 3 | 1 | |||
| Metalurh Mariupol | 1995–96 | Ukrainian Second League | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | |||
| 1996–97 | Ukrainian First League | 4 | 4 | – | – | – | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Total | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | ||
| Career total | 401 | 112 | 36 | 13 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 462 | 132 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soviet Union | 1985 | 3 | 0 |
| 1986 | 8 | 6 | |
| 1987 | 7 | 2 | |
| 1988 | 13 | 0 | |
| 1989 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1990 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 33 | 8 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 June 1986 | Estadio Sergio León Chávez, Irapuato, Mexico |  Hungary | 3–0 | 6–0 | 1986 FIFA World Cup |
| 2 | 15 June 1986 | Estadio Nou Camp, León, Mexico |  Belgium | 1–0 | 3–4 | 1986 FIFA World Cup |
| 3 | 2–1 | |||||
| 4 | 3–4 | |||||
| 5 | 11 October 1986 | Parc des Princes, Paris, France |  France | 1–0 | 2–0 | Euro 1988 qualifying |
| 6 | 29 October 1986 | Lokomotiv Stadium, Simferopol, Soviet Union |  Norway | 2–0 | 4–0 | Euro 1988 qualifying |
| 7 | 29 April 1987 | Republican Stadium, Kyiv, Soviet Union |  East Germany | 2–0 | 2–0 | Euro 1988 qualifying |
| 8 | 28 October 1987 | Lokomotiv Stadium, Simferopol, Soviet Union |  Iceland | 1–0 | 2–0 | Euro 1988 qualifying |
Dynamo Kyiv
Soviet Union
Individual
Soviet Union squads | |||||||||||||
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Awards | |||||||||||||||
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| International | |
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| Other | |
