Oleksandr Anatoliyovych Zavarov, also spelt Aleksandr Anatoljević Zavarov ( uk, Олександр Анатолійович Заваров, russian: Заваров, Александр Анатольевич) – (born 26 April 1961 in

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; uk, Луганськ, ), also known as Lugansk (, ; russian: Луганск, ), is a city in what is internationally recognised as Ukraine, although it is administered by Russia as capital of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). A ...

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

) is a former Ukrainian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and the former head coach at

FC Arsenal Kyiv Football Club Arsenal Kyiv () is a Ukrainian football club based in Kyiv. In 2019, the club's professional team was dissolved, but its junior teams continue to compete in city competitions. The club claims to be a successor of Kyiv Arsenal fac ...

. In 1986, he was named the best footballer in the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and the 6th best footballer in Europe according to

France Football ''France Football'' is a French weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclusi ...

. Zavarov is widely regarded to be among the greatest footballers in the history of the

and

, and in 2000 he was included in the Ukrainian Team of The Century according to a poll by the ''Ukrainsky Futbol'' weekly.

Club career

Zavarov started off his career in his home city of

Zorya Luhansk FC Zorya Luhansk ( uk, ФК «Зоря» Луганськ ) is a Ukrainian football team. Zorya Luhansk is based in the city of Luhansk, Ukraine. However, because of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the team play their games at Slavutych-Arena in Zapor ...

. He played in the USSR Premier League for

(1977–79, 1982), and also

SKA Rostov FC SKA Rostov-on-Don (russian: ФК СКА Ростов-на-Дону) is a Russian association football club based in Rostov-on-Don. The club's history includes becoming runners-up of the Soviet Top League in 1966 and winning the Soviet Cup in ...

(1980–81). In 1983–88, he played for the Soviet-Ukrainian giants,

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) 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, the club as a separate business entity was officia ...

, with whom he won the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

in 1985–86, scoring in the final itself. Zavarov later played for

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

between 1988 and 1990, becoming the first Soviet player to play in Serie A; he won the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

and the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

under manager

Dino Zoff Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the oldest ever winner of the World Cup, which he earned as captain of the Italian national team in the 1982 tournament, at th ...

in 1990, and also wore the iconic number 10 shirt in his first season with the team, which had formerly belonged to club legend

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, a ...

, although he later switched to the number 9 shirt, and the number 10 shirt was given to

Giancarlo Marocchi Giancarlo Marocchi (; born 4 July 1965) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. Throughout his club career, he played for Juventus, the club with which he won a Scudetto, two Coppe Italia, one UEFA Champ ...

the following season. Although much was initially expected of Zavarov at the Turin-based club, his time with Juventus was considered to be less successful, despite his two title victories; in spite of the arrival of compatriot

Sergei Aleinikov Sergei Yevgenyevich Aleinikov (russian: Сергей Евгеньевич Алейников; be, Сярге́й Яўге́навіч Але́йнікаў, ''Syarhey Alyeynikaw''; born 7 November 1961) is a Belarusian and Soviet former profes ...

in his second season with the team, Zavarov also had difficulties settling in at the club, due to his strenuous relationship with the club's manager, Dino Zoff, and also as he struggled to learn Italian. He subsequently transferred to Nancy in 1990, where he remained for five seasons, before finally moving to

Saint-Dizier Saint-Dizier () is a subprefecture Of the Haute-Marne department in north-eastern France. It has a population of 23,382 (2018 figure) and is a subprefecture of the department. Although Saint-Dizier is marginally the most populous commune in Haut ...

in 1995, retiring after three seasons, in 1998.

International career

Zavarov had 41 caps for the

, scoring six goals including two in the World Cup finals in

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 ente ...

and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

. He also played in the

Euro 1988 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. The tournament crowned the Nethe ...

in which the

team were

runners-up A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

Style of play

A creative, quick, agile and skilful

, Zavarov was primarily known for his excellent technical ability, two-footedness, stamina, and tactical intelligence, and was usually deployed as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

or as a supporting striker, although he was also capable of playing as a deep-lying playmaker, due to his versatility, vision, and long passing accuracy. Zavarov played a key role in Valeri Lobanovski's successes with Dynamo Kyiv, and his

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

skills and playmaking ability led his Dynamo Kyiv coach to

compare Comparison or comparing is the act of evaluating two or more things by determining the relevant, comparable characteristics of each thing, and then determining which characteristics of each are similar to the other, which are different, and t ...

him to

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the F ...

. Despite the talent he demonstrated and the success he had both with Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv and the Soviet national team at Euro 1988, which earned him a reputation as one of the greatest players to ever come out of the Soviet Union, his time in Italy with Juventus was less successful, and he failed to live up to initial expectations in Serie A. Due to his inconsistent displays and his lack of accuracy in front of goal, he drew criticism from the press, who also singled out his surprisingly poor work-rate and movement off the ball; he was also accused of lacking confidence, and of not being an effective assist-provider for the team. Because of his timid character, it was also argued that he lacked the necessary leadership skills to carry the team, and fill the void left by Michel Platini in the advanced midfield playmaking role during the post-

Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a ...

crisis.

Managerial career

Zavarov began his coaching career with Saint Dizier CO as a player-coach. He had a short spell as a head coach of

FC Wil FC Wil (''Fussball Club Wil 1900'') is a football club based in Wil, Switzerland. They play in the ''Sportpark Bergholz'', which has a total capacity of 6,048. The club has consistently played in the Swiss second tier since regaining promotion i ...

in 2003–04, however because he lacked the necessary UEFA licence, he was given the position of ''director of football'' with the club. He is currently manager of Ukrainian team

Arsenal Kyiv Football Club Arsenal Kyiv () is a Ukrainian football club based in Kyiv. In 2019, the club's professional team was dissolved, but its junior teams continue to compete in city competitions. The club claims to be a successor of Kyiv Arsenal fa ...

Career statistics

International goals

Honours

Club

;Dynamo Kyiv Winner * USSR Premier League (2): 1985,

USSR Cup The Soviet Cup, or USSR Cup (russian: Кубок СССР),, be, Кубак СССР, uz, СССР Кубоги, kk, КСРО Кубогы, ka, სსრკ თასი, az, ССРИ кубоку, lt, TSRS taurė, ro, Cupa URSS (Moldova ...

(3): 1981, 1985, 1987 *

UEFA Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourna ...

: 1985–86 ;Juventus Winner *

: 1989–90 *

: 1989–90

International

;Soviet Union *

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

runner-up:

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Individual

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

European Footballer of the Season: 1985–86 *

Soviet Footballer of the Year The award Soviet Footballer of the Year was awarded to the best footballer of the Soviet Union from 1964 until 1991. The poll was conducted among journalists by the weekly sport newspaper '' Football'' (Football-Hockey). Each journalist named his o ...

: 1986 *

Ukrainian Footballer of the Year The Ukrainian Footballer of the Year is an annual journalist award given by the ''Ukrainskiy Football'' ("Ukrainian Football") newspaper to the best professional Ukrainian footballer since 1991. The Ukrainian Footballer of the Year award is given to ...

: 1986 * Ukrainian Team of the Century (poll by "Ukrainsky Futbol"): 2000 * UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1985–86 top scorer. *

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual association football, football award presented by French news magazine ''France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Pl ...

– 6th ** 1987 – 17th **

– 8th ** 1989 – 23rd

References

External links

Player profile and statistics at Ukrsoccerhistory.com
*
Profile of Zavarov on Arsenal Kiev official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zavarov, Aleksandr 1961 births Living people Footballers from Luhansk Ukrainian footballers Soviet footballers Soviet Union international footballers Soviet expatriate footballers Ukrainian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in France Soviet expatriate sportspeople in Italy Soviet expatriate sportspeople in France Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players AS Nancy Lorraine players Juventus F.C. players Serie A players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Zorya Luhansk players Soviet Top League players 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players FC SKA Rostov-on-Don players FC Metalist Kharkiv managers FC Arsenal Kyiv managers Expatriate football managers in France Expatriate football managers in Switzerland Expatriate football managers in Kazakhstan FC Astana-1964 managers Ukrainian Premier League managers FC Saint Dizier CO managers FC Wil managers Ukraine national football team managers Ukrainian football managers Ukrainian expatriate football managers Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in France Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Ukrainian people of Russian descent Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Association football midfielders UEFA Cup winning players Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 2nd class