Oleh Volodymyrovych Blokhin (Ukrainian: Оле́г Володи́мирович Блохі́н) or Oleg Vladimirovich Blokhin (Russian: Оле́г Влади́мирович Блохи́н; born 5 November 1952), is a Ukrainian former football player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of his generation, Blokhin was a standout striker for Dynamo Kyiv and the Soviet Union.

He holds the all-time top goalscorer record for both Dynamo Kiev (266 goals) and the Soviet Union national team (42 goals), as well as being the overall top goalscorer in the history of the Soviet Top League (211 goals). He is also the only player to have been capped over 100 times for the Soviet Union and holds Dynamo's appearance record with 582 appearances during his 18-year spell at the club. With Dynamo, Blokhin won eight Soviet league titles, five national cups and two European Cup Winners' Cups. He also competed for the Soviet Union at the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games and 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cups. During his playing career he won the Soviet Footballer of the Year award three times and the Ukrainian Footballer of the Year award nine times (both records). In 1975, he was named European Footballer of the Year, winning the Ballon d'Or, becoming the second Soviet and the first Ukrainian player to achieve such a feat.

As a coach, he has had two spells in charge of the Ukraine national team, managing the team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012.

In 2011, Blokhin, together with Igor Belanov and Vitaliy Starukhin were named as "the legends of Ukrainian football" at the Victory of Football awards.

Early life

Blokhin was born in Kyiv, the capital of the Ukrainian SSR, in 1952. His mother Kateryna Adamenko was multiple champion of USSR in the pentathlon, sprint and long jump. He was born to a Russian father and Ukrainian mother. His father Vladimir Blokhin was a police officer, a World War II veteran, and a competitive sprinter. Owing to his parents, Blokhin quickly mastered sprint, and by the age of 16 ran 60 m in less than 7 seconds, and 100 m in 11.0 seconds.

Playing career

Blokhin played for Dynamo Kyiv during the 1970s. He became the highest goalscorer in the Soviet League. Typically a forward or winger, Blokhin was noted for his pace.

Blokhin played during most of his career for Dynamo Kyiv, becoming the USSR national championship's all-time leader and goalscorer with 211 goals, as well as making more appearances than any other player with 432 appearances. He won the championship 8 times. He led Dynamo to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1975 and 1986, scoring a goal in each final. Blokhin is also the USSR national football team's most capped player with 112 caps, as well as their all-time leading goalscorer with 42 goals; he played in the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cups where he scored one goal in each. He was one of the first Soviet players to play abroad, signing for Austria's Vorwärts Steyr in 1988, he also played in Cyprus with Aris.

In 1979 Blokhin played a couple of games for Ukraine at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR.

Managerial career

After retiring as a player, Blokhin coached Greek clubs Olympiacos (Under him they won the Greek Cup and the Greek Super Cup in 1992), PAOK, AEK Athens, and Ionikos.

He began serving as the head coach of the Ukraine national team in September 2003. Under his leadership, Ukraine qualified for a major tournament for the first time as an independent nation, reaching the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Ukraine reached the quarter-finals of the tournament, losing to eventual champions Italy. Following the side's failure to reach UEFA Euro 2008, Blokhin stepped down as coach on 6 December 2007.

On 14 December 2007, he was named head coach of FC Moscow. The club finished 9th (from 16) and after the season ended Blokhin was fired from the club. At the end of the season, Blokhin announced that if he knew how things would go in FC Moscow, he would have never signed there. This was because the club released many important players without Blokhin's permission yet still had many high expectations. Others said that the reason Blokhin failed in FC Moscow was that he and the press didn't have a friendly relationship, and because of that the press was constantly attacking Blokhin and that damaged his status among the players.

On 21 April 2011, Blokhin was again appointed head coach of the Ukraine national team. He led the team in UEFA Euro 2012 on home soil, beating Sweden but exiting at the group stage after defeats to France and England.

Blokhin in 2012

On 25 September 2012, Dynamo Kyiv signed Blokhin to lead the club for the next four years. His final matches in charge of Ukraine were World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Montenegro in October 2012. Blokhin was dismissed as Dynamo's manager by the club's President Ihor Surkis on 17 April 2014 because of the "unsatisfactory results of the team". The day before, in a press conference after Dynamo had lost a match against Shakhtar Donetsk, Blokhin had already stated that he had decided to resign. Under his leadership Dynamo never qualified (a rare occasion for the club) for the UEFA Champions League and performed poorly in the UEFA Europa League. In his first year his team finished third in the Ukrainian Premier League and in his second year (when he was fired) Dynamo was seven points behind Ukrainian Premier League leaders Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and Shakhtar Donetsk.

Politics

In 1998 Blokhin was elected to Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) for Hromada. He joined Hromada while still being a member of the Communist Party of Ukraine. In March 2002, Blokhin was elected to Verkhovna Rada for a second term. In October 2002, he joined the United Social Democratic Party of Ukraine.

Family

Blokhin's father, Vladimir Blokhin, is a native of Moscow, a veteran of the World War II, survivor of the Leningrad blockade, and a former Soviet law enforcement agent (militsiya). He later worked as a sports functionary for the republican Dynamo Society, which is related to law enforcement and the state security forces. Blokhin's mother Kateryna Adamenko is from Nebrat village in Borodianka Raion, Kyiv Oblast. She originally worked at a Kyiv sewing factory, but eventually discovered hidden athletic talents and became the Soviet champion in track and field as well as pentathlon. After retiring from sports, she became a staff member at one of Kyiv's universities.

Blokhin was married to Irina Deriugina, a top coach and former world champion in rhythmic gymnastics, but the couple divorced in the early 1990s. Blokhin and Deriugina have a daughter, singer Iryna Blokhina, who wrote and performed the Euro 2012 anthem.

Blokhin and his second wife, Angela, have two daughters, Hanna (born 2001) and Katerina (born 2002).

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubSeasonLeagueCupEuropeSuper CupTotal
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Dynamo Kyiv196910———10
1970—10——10
197110———10
197227142061—3515
197329188451—4223
197429204395—4228
19752818—85—3623
19761981082—2810
197729173220103519
197826138440—3817
197924176141—3419
198033197320—4222
198129197361104323
198224103040—3110
198331101020—3410
1984301062——3612
198529122195—4018
19862325585103712
1987204312010265
Total4322116729792640582266
SK Vorwärts Steyr1987–88135———135
1988–8928411——295
Total41911——4210
Aris Limassol1989–9022562——287
Career total4952257432792640652283
  • The statistics in USSR Cups and Europe is made under the scheme "autumn-spring" and enlisted in a year of start of tournaments

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Soviet Union197298
1973101
197430
197572
1976124
1977104
1978106
197951
198021
198165
198292
198395
198431
198540
1986112
198710
198810
Total11242

Scores and results list the Soviet Union's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Blokhin goal.

List of international goals scored by Oleg Blokhin
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
116 July 1972Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, FinlandFinland1–01–1Friendly
26 August 1972Råsunda Stadion, Stockholm, SwedenSweden4–34–4Friendly
31972-09-01Jahnstadion, Regensburg, West GermanyMexico1–04–11972 Olympics
42–0
53–0
65 September 1972Rosenaustadion, Augsburg, West GermanyPoland1–01–21972 Olympics
78 September 1972Rosenaustadion, Augsburg, West GermanyDenmark3–04–01972 Olympics
810 September 1972Olympic Stadium, Munich, West GermanyEast Germany1–02–21972 Olympics
926 May 1973Central Lenin Stadium, Moscow, Soviet UnionFrance1–02–01972 FIFA World Cup qualification
102 April 1975Kyiv Central Stadium, Kyiv, Soviet UnionTurkey3–03–0UEFA Euro 1976 qualification
1118 May 1975Kyiv Central Stadium, Kyiv, Soviet UnionRepublic of Ireland1–02–1UEFA Euro 1976 qualification
1210 March 1976Všešportový areál, Košice, CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia1–02–2Friendly
1324 March 1976Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, BulgariaBulgaria3–03–0Friendly
1422 May 1976Kyiv Central Stadium, KyivCzechoslovakia2–22–2UEFA Euro 1976 qualification
1523 July 1976Lansdowne Park, Ottawa, CanadaNorth Korea3–03–01976 Olympics
161977-03-23JNA Stadium, Belgrade, YugoslaviaYugoslavia1–04–2Friendly
173–1
181977-09-07Central Stadium, Volgograd, Soviet UnionPoland3–14–1Friendly
194–1
2026 February 1978Stade El Harti, Marrakesh, MoroccoMorocco1–13–2Friendly
211978-04-05Hrazdan Stadium, Yerevan, Soviet UnionFinland4–010–2Friendly
226–0
239–1
2414 May 1978Stadionul 23 August, Bucharest, RomaniaRomania1–01–0Friendly
255 October 1978Ankara 19 Mayıs Stadium, Ankara, TurkeyTurkey2–02–0Friendly
2628 March 1979Lokomotiv Stadium, Simferopol, Soviet UnionBulgaria1–03–1Friendly
2727 August 1980Népstadion, Budapest, HungaryHungary1–14–1Friendly
2823 September 1981Central Lenin Stadium, MoscowTurkey3–04–01982 FIFA World Cup qualification
291981-10-07İzmir Atatürk Stadium, İzmir, TurkeyTurkey2–03–01982 World Cup qualification
303–0
3118 November 1981Dinamo Stadium, Tbilisi, Soviet UnionWales2–03–01982 World Cup qualification
3229 November 1981Tehelné pole, Bratislava, CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia1–01–11982 World Cup qualification
333 June 1982Råsunda Stadion, Stockholm, SwedenSweden1–01–1Friendly
3419 June 1982Estadio La Rosaleda, Málaga, SpainNew Zealand2–03–01982 FIFA World Cup
3513 April 1983Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne, SwitzerlandSwitzerland1–01–0Friendly
3617 May 1983Praterstadion, Vienna, AustriaAustria2–12–2Friendly
371 June 1983Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, FinlandFinland1–01–0UEFA Euro 1984 qualification
3826 July 1983Zentralstadion, Leipzig, East GermanyEast Germany1–03–1Friendly
399 October 1983Central Lenin Stadium, Moscow, Soviet UnionPoland2–02–0UEFA Euro 1984 qualification
4019 August 1984Kirov Stadium, Leningrad, Soviet UnionMexico3–03–0Friendly
419 June 1986Estadio Sergio León Chavez, Irapuato, MexicoCanada1–02–01986 FIFA World Cup
4229 October 1986Lokomotiv Stadium, Simferopol, Soviet UnionNorway3–03–0UEFA Euro 1988 qualification

Managerial statistics

As of 5 November 2020

TeamFromToRecordAchievement
GWDLWin %
Olympiacos06/199001/199396562713058.33League runner-up in 1991, 1992, Cup holder in 1992
PAOK1993199440191110047.50
Ionikos12/199402/199782291835035.37
PAOK199819985122020.00
AEK Athens11/199805/1999241644066.67
Ionikos03/200001/200271231830032.39Cup finalist in 2000
Ukraine01/200312/200744211211047.73Won qual.group for 2006, Reached 2006 World Cup quarter-finals
Moscow12/200711/200836131211036.11
Ukraine04/2011201218738038.89Eliminated at group stage of Euro 2012
Dynamo Kyiv09/201203/201461361015059.02
Total06/199003/2014477221117139046.33

Honours

Dynamo Kyiv

Individual

Blokhin's Golden Foot, awarded in 2009

Ballon d'Or

See also

External links

  • . Archived from the original on 24 January 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  • at FootballFacts.ru (in Russian)
  • – FIFA competition record (archived)