Today, May 13, marks the 21st anniversary of the death of the legendary Dynamo Kyiv player and coach Valery Vasyliovych Lobanovskyi.
As reminded in FC “Dynamo”, the legendary Mater, whose name is the personification of Dynamo football, died on the day of the foundation of the club, whose glorious history he wrote for many decades, first as a player and then as an innovative coach, creating several “golden” teams of different generations that thundered on all of Europe.
On this day, football people from Ukraine and not only remember Valery Vasyliovych. In the conditions of martial law in Ukraine, the traditional rally in memory of Valery Lobanovskyi is not held for security reasons. But anyway, on this day near the monument to Metro, as always, there are a lot of flowers. People have been approaching the monument at the Baikovo cemetery and the monument near the stadium since the morning. These are those who knew Metra personally, and those who admired Dynamo’s success in the stands of the stadium or near the TV screens.
Among them, as always, the closest relatives are the daughter of Valery Vasyliovych Svitlana, who is a faithful guardian of the memory of the outstanding coach. Relatives who knew Valeriy Vasyliovych personally come to the grave at the Baikovo cemetery to silently remember what an outstanding person Valeriy Vasyliovych was.
More people traditionally gather near the monument to Valery Lobanovsky, located in the very center of Kyiv. In the morning, you could see people of completely different generations here – both the youngest students of the Dynamo academy, who are winning only their first victories with the Dynamo emblem on their hearts, and honored football veterans. The well-known journalist Oleksandr Lypenko took on the task of telling Dynamo students about the outstanding achievements of the coach, who for many years followed the achievements of “Dynamo” under the leadership of Metra.
The image of Valery Lobanovskyi is an example of selfless service to his cause, to which he gave all of himself without a trace. Not only titles and achievements speak for him, but also the boundless love of his successors and possessions, which are still used in the football world.
