Andriy Andriyovych Biba (; born 10 August 1937) is a Soviet and Ukrainian retired football player and coach.

Career

Biba's first team was Kyiv's Iskra, coached by Volodymyr Balakin. Soon, FSHM opened in Kyiv, where Balakin went and took a number of Iskra players with him. In 1957, Oleg Oshenkov took him to Dynamo Kyiv. Soon Biba made his debut for the main team - went to the match against "Zenith" in Leningrad (2:2) and scored a goal. He played for

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) 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 ...

(1957-1967),

Dnipro Dnipro 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 River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

(1968-1969), and Desna Chernihiv (1970). He played 246 matches in the

Soviet Top League The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (), served as the top division (tier) of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The league's name was a conditional designation used for brevity since being completely owned and g ...

and scored 69 goals. Scored the first goal of Soviet clubs in European Cups (Cup Winners' Cup) "Coleraine" (Northern Ireland) -

FC Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) 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 ...

- 1:6. In 1967, after reaching the age of 30, he was forced to leave

. At first, he thought he would be a coach, but soon realized that he still had the strength to play. He spent two seasons at

. In

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

he moved to Desna Chernihiv in

Football Championship of the Ukrainian SSR Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' generally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonl ...

International career

Biba played his only game for the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

on 4 July 1965 in a friendly against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

starring

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

. Biba appeared on the field only in the 2nd half and played 30 minutes.

After retirement

From 1972, he worked in the coaching staff of

. Among his merits is the invitation to Kyiv of

Viktor Kolotov Viktor Mikhailovich Kolotov (; ; 3 July 1949 – 3 January 2000) was a Soviet and Ukrainian footballer who played as a midfielder. He was born in the settlement of Yudino, Kazan municipality. Today the settlement is included in the Kirov Raion ...

from

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–2 ...

. In different years, he worked in the coaching staff of such clubs as

Tavriya Simferopol Sports Club Tavriya () 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 1992, Ukrainian Premier League making them one of three team ...

, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. He coached Spartak Zhytomyr, Vuhlyk Horlivka, Podillya Khmelnytskyi, Naftovyk Okhtyrka, Khimik Zhytomyr. He served as a senior coach of the Football Federation of Ukraine - 1982, 1984-1986 (June), 1990-1993, June. He was the head of the team of

veterans. Currently coach of

, president of the Ukrainian club "Leather Ball".

Playmaker

Biba is acknowledged as one of the greatest attacking midfielders Eastern Europe has ever produced. As Guardian journalist Jonathan Wilson explains, he functioned as '

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (11 October 1937 – 21 October 2023) was an English professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, left winger or centre-forward. Widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member ...

did in

Alf Ramsey Sir Alfred Ernest Ramsey (22 January 1920 – 28 April 1999) was an English association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. As a player, he represented England national football team, the England national ...

's England side'Jonathan Wilson, ''Inverting the Pyramid'' (2008/Orion) as an advanced attacking midfielder moving the ball around the attacking third with a howitzer shot. He enjoyed a starring role in the

team of Victor Maslov.

Honours

winner: 1961, 1966, 1967. *

Soviet Cup The Soviet Cup, or USSR Cup (),, , , (Moldovan Cyrillic: Купа УРСС), , , . was the premier football cup competition in the Soviet Union conducted by the Football Federation of the Soviet Union. The 1991–92 season of the tournam ...

winner: 1964, 1966. * Soviet Footballer of the Year: 1966.

References

External links

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Profile
1937 births Living people Footballers from Kyiv Soviet men's footballers Ukrainian men's footballers Soviet Union men's international footballers Soviet Top League players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Dnipro players FC Desna Chernihiv players Soviet football managers Ukrainian football managers FC Polissya Zhytomyr managers FC Podillya Khmelnytskyi managers FC Naftovyk Okhtyrka managers FC Shakhtar Horlivka managers FC Dynamo Kyiv non-playing staff FC Dnipro non-playing staff SC Tavriya Simferopol non-playing staff Men's association football midfielders Ukrainian Association of Amateur Football 20th-century Ukrainian sportsmen {{Ukraine-footy-midfielder-1930s-stub