Stepan Betsa ( uk, Степан Степанович Беца) was a Soviet and Ukrainian midfielder. He is a Master of Sports (1991). He died in a car accident.

Biography

Stepan Betsa was born in Mukachevo, but he started his first steps in his football career in

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

. Until his 18 Betsa played for a junior squad of

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Football Club Dnipro ( uk, Футбо́льний Клуб «Дніпро́», ) was a Ukrainian football club based in Dnipro. The club was owned by the Privat Group that also owns BC Dnipro and Budivelnyk Kyiv. In 2018 FC Dnipro was forced in ...

winning a tournament for junior squads in 1987. After he was not able to make to the main squad, Betsa left for the second league team

FC Shakhtar Horlivka FC Shakhtar Horlivka ( uk, Шахтар (Горлівка)) was a Ukrainian football club from Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast. Since its relegation from professional leagues in 2000, the club participated in the regional competitions of Donetsk Oblast u ...

and after a half of season moved to the first league Tavriya Simferopol. During that season Betsa played over 30 games scoring for both clubs. In 1989, he moved again back to the continental Ukraine signing with the first league participant

Metalurh Zaporizhia MFC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Футбо́льний клуб «Металу́рг» Запорі́жжя ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Zaporizhzhia. Reestablished in 2017, it is a "phoenix club" of the original Soviet ...

. In Zaporizhia he was noticed by the Dynamo Kyiv scouts and upon completion of a successful season signed with the best club of the Ukrainian football. His first season in Dynamo in 1990 Betsa spent in a junior squad winning a champion title with it as well. Since 1991 Betsa became a key player of the club earning the most caps in the last Soviet championship. After the start of the independent Ukrainian championship Betsa status in the club has not changed and he participated in the final game of 1992 in Lviv. His career, however, was suddenly cut short after a car accident.

Car crash

On December 21, 1992 the car accident took lives of two young Ukrainian footballers at once: Stepan Betsa ( Dynamo Kyiv) and Oleksiy Sasko (

). As the first half of the Ukrainian championship ended the players took vacations and Stepan decided to visit

. As later

Volodymyr Sharan Volodymyr Bohdanovych Sharan ( uk, Володимир Богданович Шаран; born 18 September 1971 in the Mariyampil) is a Ukrainian retired football midfielder who represented Ukraine once at the national level and currently is a ...

pointed out in his interview,В.Шаран: Sabo swore at us in Hungarian
/ref> they (him, Betsa and Sasko) left Kyiv in two cars, but Sharan turned to Kryvyi Rih, while Betsa and Sasko continued on to Dnipropetrovsk. After some time Sharan received a call from Betsa's wife that Stepan is in the emergency room (Sasko died at the crash site). After three days in a hospital Stepan Betsa died. According to a police report, the crash happened as a car that was moving crossed an icy portion of a road and a driver lost control of the vehicle. The auto ran right into a tree.

Awards

;Dynamo Kyiv *Master of Sports *1992 League runner up

References

External links

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Is there a "lunar day"?
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Profile at allplayers.in.ua
{{DEFAULTSORT:Betsa, Stepan 1970 births 1992 deaths Sportspeople from Mukachevo Men's association football midfielders Road incident deaths in Ukraine Soviet men's footballers Ukrainian men's footballers Ukrainian Premier League players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia players SC Tavriya Simferopol players FC Shakhtar Horlivka players Footballers from Zakarpattia Oblast