Valentin Belkevich, whose causes of death have been kept secret for more than a day, has been recorded in the Belarusian Football Hall of Fame for life. The former Dynamo Kyiv midfielder is from Minsk, but spent most of his career in Ukraine. For a long time he was married to the famous singer Anna Sedokova.
Football career
Valentin Belkevich began to engage in professional sports since 1991. The first team was Minsk Dynamo, for which he played for 5 seasons. For the 202 games held, the midfielder managed to distinguish himself 43 times, thanks to which he was repeatedly recognized as the best football player of the championship.
After the Minsk club, Belkevich Valentin received an advantageous offer from Dynamo Kyiv, to which he gladly replied with agreement. The debut match of Belarus for the new team was a principled derby with the capital CSKA in July 1996.
At first, the career in Kiev for Valentin was not very successful. For the first two seasons, he still could not gain a foothold in the starting lineup. For the better, the situation changed with the arrival of
Valery Lobanovsky, who replaced
Jozsef Szabo in the coaching field
.In the late 1990s, the Dynamo attacking triangle Rebrov-Shevchenko-Belkevich was played. Valentin played the role of a connecting playmaker between the two forwards in this trio. It was thanks to his ability to give accurate passes from anywhere in the field that Kievites scored more than half of all goals in a season. This iconic trinity personified all the power and corporate identity of the then Dynamo.
For the Kiev team, the Belarusian midfielder held 317 official matches, in which he scored 70 goals. Belkevich is still one of the Dynamo champions in the number of meetings held. This is a true legend of the club, along with Shevchenko and Lobanovsky.
In 2008, unexpectedly for his fans, Valentin signed a contract with the Inter Baku team, for which he spent one full season. After the end of the Azerbaijani championship, the playmaker hung his boots on a nail, preferring coaching.
Belkevich spent 56 matches for the national team of Belarus, distinguishing himself 10 times.
Career coach
Having finished playing for Inter, Valentin planned to get a job in the structure of Kiev Dynamo. Nevertheless, the club management was not in a hurry with suggestions. Despite this, the fans continued to connect the future of their favorite team only with the surname Belkevich. Valentine also repeatedly stated this in various interviews.
Agreeing with the majority opinion, the leaders of Dynamo invited their former player to become an assistant coach for the youth team. The football player did not give up such experience and took up his duties in the summer of 2010.
Over the course of two years, Valentin zealously helped his colleagues to take prizes in the youth championship. And in 2012 he was appointed head coach of the youth team. By the next season, Belkevich began to work as the first coach of the Dynamo backup team.
Honored Champion
During his career as a football player, Valentin four times became the champion of Belarus and twice the winner of the country's cup.
As part of Kiev Dynamo, the midfielder won 13 gold medals in various tournaments and championships. Also, since 2000, he has been recognized several times as the best player in the Ukrainian league.
In December 2006, Belkevich Valentin was awarded the highest award from the executive committee of the Federation of Belarusian Sports - “Badge of Honor”.
At the moment, is one of the most scored midfielders in Belarus.
Unexpected death
Valentin Belkevich at home knew every sports enthusiast. That is why his death was a tragedy for the whole country.
On August 1, 2014, the great footballer of Minsk and Kiev Dynamo, Valentin Belkevich, died. Causes of death were established within 24 hours. Midfielder died of thromboembolism. On the night of August 1, his heart stopped suddenly.
Three days later, at the Dynamo stadium in Kiev, a farewell to the legend of Belarusian football took place, which was attended by several hundred people. Among them were relatives and friends of the deceased, and representatives of the sports federations of Belarus and Ukraine, and veterans, colleagues, pupils and just fans, to whom Valentine was not indifferent.
All who came to the funeral laid flowers and warmly said goodbye to the legend of domestic football. Belkevich’s ex-wife Anna Sedokova, along with their common daughter Alina, were no exception.
On August 3, 2014, the midfielder was buried in Kiev at the
Baykovsky cemetery.