Viktor Savelyevich Onopko (russian: link=no, Виктор Савельевич Онопко; born 14 October 1969) is a Russian

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 ...

coach and a former defender of Ukrainian origin. He is an assistant coach with

FC Rostov FC Rostov (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб Ростов) is a Russian professional football club based in Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast. The club are members of the Russian Premier League, and play at the Rostov Arena. After the ...

and the

Russia national football team The Russia national football team (russian: Сборная России по футболу, Sbornaya Rossii po futbolu) represents the Russian Federation in men's international association football. It is controlled by the Russian Football Un ...

. He held the record for most international appearances for the Russian national team until 8 September 2015, when he was overtaken by Sergei Ignashevich.

Club career

Born in Voroshilovgrad (now

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 ...

Soviet Union 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 ...

, Onopko's career as a player started in 1986 and finished in 2005; during this time he played for

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

, Spartak Moscow,

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo is a Spanish football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926 as a result of the merger of two clubs who had maintained a large sporting rivalry for years in the city: ''Real Stadium Club Ovetense'' and ''Real Club ...

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Li ...

Alania Vladikavkaz FC Alania Vladikavkaz (russian: "Алания" (Владикавказ), os, Футболон клуб "Алани" (Дзæуджыхъæу)) is a Russian football team from Vladikavkaz. Founded in 1921, the club played in the Soviet Top League ...

and FC Saturn.

International career

Although he was eligible to play for

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 inva ...

, Onopko chose to play for Russia and amassed 109 caps (plus 4 for the CIS, including the ones in Euro 92), the first coming in 1992. He played in the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

World Cups, as well as

Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

. Onopko was in the preliminary squad for

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

but was dropped due to injury. With the national team, in 2003 he won the Cyprus friendly tournament In 2009, he was part of the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

squad that won the

2009 Legends Cup 2009 Legends Cup was the first edition of the Legends Cup, a tournament for senior retired players (35+). The teams invited to the tournament were Russia, Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy. The first edition of the Legends Cup, which ...

Coaching career

He worked for 11 years as an assistant coach for

PFC CSKA Moscow Professional Football Club CSKA (russian: link=yes, Профессиональный футбольный клуб – ЦСКА, derived from the historical name 'Центральный спортивный клуб армии', English: ...

. On 26 July 2021, he was hired as an assistant to

Valeri Karpin Valery Georgiyevich Karpin (russian: Валерий Георгиевич Карпин; born 2 February 1969) is a football manager and former player who manages FC Rostov and the Russian national team. He is a former midfielder, primarily a r ...

in the

. On 28 February 2022,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

and

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

suspended Russian clubs and national teams from international competition until further notice due to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. For the duration of the ban, Karpin returned to manage

(while also staying on as the national team coach), Onopko joined him at the club as an assistant.

Personal life

Viktor has a younger brother, Serhiy, who also played as a professional footballer.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Spartak Moscow *

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

champion: 1992, 1993, 1994 *

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 ( Moldov ...

winner: 1992 * Russian Cup winner: 1994

Individual

* Footballer of the Year in Russia (''Futbol'' magazine): 1992, 1993 * Footballer of the Year in Russia (''Sport-Express'' newspaper): 1993

External links

Victor Onopko on RSSSF website

Onopko on Legioner website (career, statistic, goals)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onopko, Viktor 1969 births Living people Footballers from Luhansk 1994 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Dual internationalists (football) FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Spartak Vladikavkaz players FC Saturn Ramenskoye players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players FC Spartak Moscow players FIFA Century Club Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Rayo Vallecano players Real Oviedo players Russia international footballers Russian expatriate footballers Russian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Russian footballers Russian Premier League players Ukrainian emigrants to Russia Ukrainian footballers Soviet footballers Soviet Top League players UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA Euro 1996 players Expatriate footballers in Spain PFC CSKA Moscow

Club career

International career

Coaching career

Personal life

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Individual

External links

See also

References