Viktor Onopko was a Soviet, Ukrainian and Russian footballer. He played in three championships of the Soviet and post-Soviet period (USSR, Ukraine, Russia). Also, the footballer played for three different teams (USSR, CIS, Russia). In 2004, he became the honored MS (master of sports) of Russia.
Dossier
Viktor Onopko was born on October 14, 1969 (Lugansk, Ukraine). Role on the football field - defensive midfielder, defender. Weight 79 kg, height - 188 cm. Years of performance in big sport - 1986-2005. Has a wife Natalia and two children.
The game was tenacious and reliable. In the position of the central defender, he performed, in addition to defensive functions, constructive actions, connecting to the attacks of his team. He played perfectly with his head, skillfully chose the position for the blow.
Onopko is the permanent captain of the Russian national team, a charismatic leader, distinguished by calm and prudence. Included in the list of players who have played 100 or more matches for their national teams.
Football career
As a football player, Viktor Onopko played in eight different clubs in three countries of the world. He spent 463 matches, scored 33 goals.
- 1986-88, 1990-91 - Shakhtar (Donetsk);
- 1989 - Dynamo (Kiev);
- 1992-95 - Spartak (Moscow);
- 1996-2002 - Oviedo (Spain);
- 2002-03 - “Rayo Vallecano” (Spain);
- 2003 - “Alania” (Vladikavkaz);
- 2004-05 - “Saturn (Ramenskoye).
National teams
Victor Onopko played for three different national teams from 1990 to 2004.
He played 116 matches and scored 8 goals.
- 1990-1991 - Olympic team of the USSR;
- 1992 - CIS national team;
- 1992-2004 - Russian team.
Onopko played four matches for the CIS national team and 109 games for the Russian national team. In the period from 1990 to 1991, he went to the football field three times in the form of the USSR Olympic team.
Trophies and Achievements
As part of Spartak, Viktor Onopko won three times the gold medals of the Russian Championship (1992-1994), was two-time owners of the Russian Cup (1992, 1994), and became the winner of the Commonwealth Cup (1993). He was twice named the best soccer player of the Russian championship (1992, 1993), was the owner of the prize "Leader of the national team" (2002).
According to the results of the competition “Russian Championships - 20 years” he became the best central defender of the Russian championship from 1992-2014. Viktor Onopko, football player, awarded the Order of Merit to the Fatherland and the Order of Honor. He was a member of two World Cups (1994, 2002) and two European Championships (1992, 1996).
Stages of a Long Way
Viktor Onopko is a football player who ended the era of USSR football and began the era of Russian sports.
A pupil of the Lugansk school began his playing career in 1986 as part of the Donetsk Shakhtar. The then coach of the team Anatoly Konkov gave the player a chance to test himself in one of the strongest teams in the major league of the USSR championship. There is no doubt that Victor’s talent would have made him the football legend of the Donetsk club. But fate wished to order otherwise.
Having played several matches for the Donetsk club, Onopko is in the Dynamo team (Kiev). Here, in the backup team, he is serving time for military service. Of course, in this way V. Lobanovsky weakened the teams of competitors, pulling out promising footballers from their composition.
A year later, Victor, not succumbing to the persuasion of the Dynamo coach, who promised prospects in the Kiev team, returned to Konkov in Donetsk. At Shakhtar, his talent shone with new facets. Onopko, one of the best players in his role, is called up to the USSR Olympic team, but events in the country are already unfolding rapidly and unpredictably.
A year later, a mighty empire collapsed. The newly formed independent states began to hold their championships. But their level was so low, and the financial situation of the players was so depressing that there was a rapid outflow of the best Ukrainian players from the country. Some made an attempt to continue their career in foreign countries, while the majority joined the Russian championship.
In 1992, Viktor Onopko signed a contract with Moscow Spartak. Here he becomes the best defender of the Russian championship and twice in a row is recognized as the best player in the championship. As a player of the Russian national team, he participates in the World Cup in the USA (1994). The national team, however, quickly flew out of that competition, and soon Victor Onopko flew out of Spartak to the Oviedo club.
At that time, many Russian football players moved to foreign European clubs. Special luck was considered to be in the team representing the leading championships of the old world: Italy, Germany, England, France, Spain. Victor signed a contract with Real Madrid. But this was not a team from Madrid, but from the city of Oviedo. Quickly gaining a foothold in the club’s main team, Onopko took control of the football field into his own hands, becoming the team leader and team captain.
As an Oviedo footballer, he took part in the 1996 European Championship. The Spanish club itself was going through hard times. The bankrupt team was transferred to the lower division, and Viktor Onopko (his photo is attached in our material) moved to Rayo Vallecano.
Of course, it is difficult to show all of your best football qualities in a team that is fighting to maintain residence in the Spanish Premier League. The team took off, and Onopko returned to his native Russian championship. Having provided all possible assistance to Alania in maintaining the club’s residence in the Premier League, he transferred to the Saturn team, led by Oleg Romantsev.
Here, in 2006, Victor Onopko ended his playing career.
After graduating from the high school of coaches, he works at the CSKA Moscow club as an assistant to the team’s main mentor. So it happened that Viktor Onopko, whose biography began to be written in Ukraine, became one of the outstanding football players in Russia.