 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Viktor Izrailyovych Kanevskyi | ||
| Date of birth | (1936-10-03)3 October 1936 | ||
| Place of birth | Kyiv,Ukrainian SSR,Soviet Union | ||
| Date of death | November 25, 2018(2018-11-25) (aged 82)[1] | ||
| Place of death | Bristol, Connecticut, U.S. | ||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft9+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Yuny Dinamovets Kyiv | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1952 | FC Mashynobudivnyk Kyiv | ||
| 1954–1964 | FC Dynamo Kyiv | 195 | (80) |
| 1965–1966 | FC Chornomorets Odesa | 22 | (6) |
| International career | |||
| 1958–1962 | USSR | 5 | (0) |
| 1956 | Ukraine | 4 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1965 | FC Metalurh Zaporizhia | ||
| 1966–1971 | FC Metalist Kharkiv (Avanhard) | ||
| 1973 | FC Pakhtakor Tashkent (assistant) | ||
| 1973–1977 | FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | ||
| 1983–1986 | FC Dynamo Irpin | ||
| 1987 | SC Tavriya Simferopol | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Viktor Izrailyovych (Illich) Kanevskyi (Ukrainian:Віктор Ізраїльович Каневський,Russian:Виктор Израилевич Каневский; 3 October 1936 – 25 November 2018) was aUkrainian andSoviet football player and coach. He was Jewish.[2][3]
Since his early years Kanevskyi was involved in various sports including ice skating, volleyball as well as football.[4] During his student years he played for Kyiv's junior volleyball team.[4] He also was invited by Dynamo's scout and junior team coach Mykhailo Korsunsky for try-outs.[4]
Due to hardship in the postwar years, Kanevskyi started to work before his 16th birthday as a carver at theKyiv Arsenal.[4] At the factory he was making engravings on photo cameras in Kyiv.[4] As a hobby he also played for a factory team, Mashynobudivnyk (predecessor ofFC Arsenal Kyiv) that was coached by Livshyts.[4] During that period Kanevskyi also played for Ukraine's junior team.[4] After he worked as a mechanic at the Kyiv factoryTranssignal and was forced to forget about playing.[4]
In 1953 Kanevskyi received an invitation to play forFC Dynamo Kyiv.[4] Kanevskyi appeared in Dynamo along with such players asValeriy Lobanovskyi,Oleh Bazylevych,Valentyn Troyanovskyi, and others,[4] with whom later in 1961 he becameSoviet Top League winners and the first non-Moscow team to ever become Soviet League champions. Yet his first year in the club was not successful and in 1955 Kanevskyi played only one game. He later played in football competitions of the Kyiv city garrison for some military detachment team which served as a farm-team of Dynamo.[4] At some point Dynamo's head coachOleg Oshenkov wanted to let Kanevskyi go.[4]
Due to being sick, in 1958 Kanevskyi was not able to go with Dynamo on a tour ofEgypt.[4] That same year the head coach of CDSAVsevolod Bobrov invited him to join the Army team.[4] Kanevskyi even arrived inMoscow and picked an apartment, but soon changed his mind.[4] In 1960 Kanevskyi became a team captain and stayed in this position until he left the club.[4]
Kanevskyi participated in the1962 FIFA World Cup inChile, about which he stated that it was of lower level in comparison to theUEFA Euro 1996 inEngland.[4] Among the brightest highlights Kanevskyi mentioned about his meeting withPelé, receiving a good monetary bonus and traveling back to Moscow by way ofParis.[4] He also said that was able to receive an autograph from Pelé, while sitting next to him at theBrazil – Czechoslovakia final game.[4] After the championship,Konstantin Beskov was placed in charge of theSoviet Union national football team and Kanevskyi was removed from the team.[4]
In 1965 Dynamo received a new head coach,Viktor Maslov, after which Kanevskyi was replaced withAnatoliy Puzach.[4] Kanevskyi explained that he had a chronic condition since 1957,gallstones in the liver, and was regularly visiting a sanatorium inKarlovy Vary.[4] Therefore, after the coming of Maslov, Kanevskyi felt that he would not be able to compete in the senior team.[4] After leaving Dynamo, for about two or three months he worked as a head coach inZaporizhia, butYuriy Voinov who coached the newly promotedFC Chornomorets Odesa invited his former teammate to help with a team at the higher league.[4]
In 1966 Kanevskyi decided to retire.[4] After deciding to coach, Kanevskyi was advised to change his patronymic name Izarailyovych as it was not "blending with a policy of the CPSU and the Soviet state."[4] His coaching career started out inKharkiv.[4] During a reorganization of the Soviet football competitions in 1970 Kanevskyi was able to keepFC Metalist Kharkiv at the second tier when at first Class A 2nd Group became Class A 1st Group and then First League. In 1968 and 1969 his team placed among the top three. Kanevskyi said that the club had good support from a factory director and had a contemporary stadium with "a visor."[4] In transit throughChernivtsi where he spent about two months, Kanevskyi moved toTashkent where he was invited byVyacheslav Solovyov to be his assistant.[4] In 1973FC Pakhtakor Tashkent gained promotion to theSoviet Top League and Kanevskyi received the honorary title of Merited Coach of Uzbekistan (Uzbek SSR).[4] In 1973Valeriy Lobanovskyi asked Kanevskyi to take over his team,FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, as he was leaving forFC Dynamo Kyiv.[4] With Dnipro he reached the semifinals of theSoviet Cup and for four years was a manager in theSoviet Top League.[4] In 1987 withSC Tavriya Simferopol, Kanevskyi was able to gain promotion to theSoviet First League.[4]
From 1979 Kanevskyi worked in theFootball Federation of Ukraine.[4] That same year theFootball Federation of the Soviet Union received a personal invitation for Kanevskyi to coachAlgeria national football team.[4] With him were supposed to departStanislav Zavidonov andEvgeni Rogov (the last two eventually did leave).[4] With travel arrangements in place and a week to go, Kanevskyi was told that he was not going anywhere without any explanation.[4] That was a last straw for him.[4] Kanevskyi was appointed a senior coach for the Ukraine republican junior football team for the Pereprava tournament inSukhumi where his team placed first.[4] Yet when the federation still would not grant him the title of Merited Coach of Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR), Kanevskyi decided to act.[4] He made an official request at the party organization about emigrating from the country.[4] After a big scandal, Kanevskyi was excluded from theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union.[4] In about two weeks he was called to the chief of OVIR (Office for Visas and Registration) along with the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs who announced that he wouldn't leave as he did not have sufficient degree of kinship.[4] Later the secretary of the city party organization asked Kanevskyi to withdraw his request, promising to reverse all restrictions and reinstate him in the party, but Kanevskyi refused.[4]
For the next few years, Kanevskyi felt he was being followed.[4] His name was forbidden to be mentioned in print media. In historical materials commemorating the first big victories of Dynamo Kyiv, the Kanevskyi surname was not mentioned as he never captained in the club nor being on the Soviet team's roster at the1962 FIFA World Cup.[4] Kanevskyi was even removed from the photo of the 1961 Dynamos' winning squad.[4] For a few years he was without a job, but later with his brother worked in construction at first building the Palace of Culture inChernihiv Oblast and later inMoscow a cooperative house.[4]
In 1983 there was a new club established inIrpinDynamo as a farm club ofFC Dynamo Kyiv. With the help ofValeriy Lobanovskyi, Kanevskyi was appointed its head coach.[4]
In 1988 there appeared information that anybody was allowed to emigrate from theSoviet Union.[4] Kanevskyi only waited four months after filing his request and on 15 November 1988 he and his wife left the country, traveling toNew York through Austria and Italy.[4] After arrival in theUnited States, Kanevskyi was able to find a job as a coach at a sports school inNew York held by Russian emigrants, where he headed the football department.[4] Later he opened his own football school.[4]
| Club[1] | Season | League | Cup | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Dynamo | 1954 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1955 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 0 | |
| 1956 | 12 | 4 | – | – | 12 | 4 | |
| 1957 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 5 | |
| 1958 | 18 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 8 | |
| 1959 | 19 | 2 | – | – | 19 | 2 | |
| 1960 | 23 | 7 | – | – | 23 | 7 | |
| 1961 | 26 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 18 | |
| 1962 | 23 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 7 | |
| 1963 | 34 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 36 | 14 | |
| 1964 | 27 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 33 | 20 | |
| Total Dynamo | 196 | 80 | 13 | 5 | 209 | 85 | |
| Chornomorets | 1965 | 17 | 6 | – | – | 17 | 6 |
| 1966 | 5 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 0 | |
| Total Chornomorets | 22 | 6 | – | – | 22 | 6 | |
| Grand total | 218 | 86 | 13 | 5 | 231 | 91 | |
| National team | Year | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | ||
| Soviet Union | 1958 | 1 | 0 |
| 1961 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1962 | 2 | 0 |
| Team | League | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Metalurh | Class A 2nd Group | 1965 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— | |
| Metalist | Class A 2nd Group | 1966 | 1969 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— |
| Metalist | First League | 1970 | 1971 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— |
| Bukovyna | Second League | 1972 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— | |
| Pakhtakor | First League | 1973 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— | |
| Dnipro | Top League | 1973 | 1977 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— |
| Dynamo | Second League | 1983 | 1986 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— |
| Tavriya | Second League | 1987 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— | |
Kanevskyi made his debut for theUSSR on 30 August 1958 in a friendly game againstCzechoslovakia. He participated in the1962 FIFA World Cup.
In 1956 Kanevskyi played four games forUkraine at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR.[5]
Kanevskyi pointed out several instances of anti-Semitism during his playing and coaching career in the Soviet Union.
One time Kanevskyi head-buttedAnatoliy Fedotov who played for anAlmaty team for calling him names.[4] After that Kanevskyi was suspended for a game.[4]
Kanevskyi also mentioned that even after being the Dynamos' captain for six years and winning one season, he was the only one who did not receive the title of Merited Master of Sports.[4]
Later when Kanevskyi was coaching, he never received the title of Merited Coach of Ukraine, while inUzbekistan he received a similar title for a single season as an assistant coach.[4]
|  | |