Valeriy Semenovych Porkuyan ( uk, Валерій Семенович Поркуян, born 4 October 1944 in

Kirovohrad Kropyvnytskyi ( uk, Кропивницький, Kropyvnytskyi ) is a city in central Ukraine on the Inhul river with a population of . It is an administrative center of the Kirovohrad Oblast. Over its history, Kropyvnytskyi has changed its name ...

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

, now

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 ...

) is a former

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

n descent who played for

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...

Playing career

Club

Porkuyan began playing for the youth team of

's local club, Zvezda. In 1962 he made the transition to the senior team of Zvezda. After three successful seasons there he was spotted by a former

Chernomorets Odessa FC Chornomorets Odesa ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Odesa. The club's home ground is the 34,164 capacity Chornomorets Stadium opened in 1935 and rebuilt in 2011. According to the club's website, it was formed in 1936 as ...

player and then assistant coach, Matvey Cherkassky, who helped him transfer from the

Soviet Second League B The Soviet Second League B or Soviet Lower Second League was an auxiliary fourth tier of the Soviet league system, because it was not consistent as it existed only for six seasons and somewhat randomly. It was the fourth highest division of Soviet ...

to the Soviet Top League club Chernomorets. That season he played alongside Valeri Lobanovsky, who was finishing up his playing career in Odessa. His form there attracted the attention of many top clubs, including

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * WB ...

and

Dnipro 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 ...

, but he was eventually moved to

. At 21 years of age he made the first team in his first season with the team. On the strength of that first season, when he scored 7 goals, he was chosen by the head-coach of

USSR national football team The Soviet Union national football team ( rus, сбо́рная СССР по футбо́лу, r=sbórnaya SSSR po futbólu) was the national football team of the former Soviet Union. After the breakup of the Union the team was transformed in ...

, Nikolai Morozov to travel to the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

. Porkuyan won three Soviet Top League championships with Dynamo Kyiv (in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

and

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

), as well as the

Soviet 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 ...

in 1966. But despite those triumphs he failed to secure a spot in a very competitive team at the time. In 1970, he made a return to Odessa to once again play with Chornomorets. He had two solid seasons there, despite the club being relegated to the Soviet First League. In 1972, he was invited to move to Dnipro, who were coached by his former teammate Valeri Lobanovsky. He made the majority of his playing appearances with Dnipro in the 4 years he spent there. He retired from playing in 1976.

International

He earned 8 caps and scored 4 goals for the

. Incredibly he scored his four goals in his first three international matches during the

. He also was selected to play in the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May t ...

, but did not play any matches. He is the only active player of

FC Chornomorets Odessa FC Chornomorets Odesa ( ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Odesa. The club's home ground is the 34,164 capacity Chornomorets Stadium opened in 1935 and rebuilt in 2011. According to the club's website, it ...

to have featured in a World Cup team.

Coaching career

After retiring from playing he moved into coaching the following year in 1976, becoming assistant coach with

SC Tavriya Simferopol Sports Club Tavriya ( uk, Спортивний клуб "Таврія") was a Ukrainian football club from Simferopol. Tavriya was a member of the Ukrainian Premier League from its founding and won the first Ukrainian Premier League making them ...

. Along the way he had stints coaching amateur teams playing in the lower divisions. But since the 1980s he, almost continuously, has been connected with Chornomorets Odessa in a coaching capacity.

Honours

Club

Dynamo Kyiv * Soviet Top League Champion:

Champion: 1966

Individual

* Merited Master of Sports: 1966 * FIFA World Cup Bronze Boot: 1966

External links

Russian National Team history page

Statistics at Odessa Football
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porkujan, Valeriy 1944 births Living people Sportspeople from Kropyvnytskyi Soviet footballers Ukrainian people of Armenian descent Ukrainian footballers 1966 FIFA World Cup players 1970 FIFA World Cup players FC Chornomorets Odesa players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi players FC Dnipro players Soviet Top League players Soviet Union international footballers FC Chornomorets-2 Odesa managers FC Okean Kerch managers Soviet football managers Ukrainian football managers Association football forwards Ethnic Armenian sportspeople Soviet Armenians