Volodymyr Bezsonov

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Vasylovych and the family name is Bezsonov.

Volodymyr Vasylyovych Bezsonov (Ukrainian: Володимир Васильович Безсонов, also spelled Vladimir Vasilijević Bessonov from Russian: Владимир Васильевич Бессонов, born 5 March 1958) is a Ukrainian football manager and former player who played for the former Soviet Union national team. The most recent team he was managing was FC Dnipro in the Ukrainian Premier League.

Volodymyr Bezsonov
Володимир Безсонов

Bezsonov in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Volodymyr Vasylyovich Bezsonov
Date of birth	(1958-03-05) 5 March 1958 (age 67)
Place of birth	Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Right-back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1976–1990	Dynamo Kyiv	277	(27)
1990–1991	Maccabi Haifa	5	(0)
Total		282	(27)
International career
1977–1990	Soviet Union	79	(4)
1980	Soviet Union Olympic	6	(1)
Managerial career
1997–2000	CSKA Kyiv
2001	CSKA Kyiv
2002–2003	Turkmenistan
2004–2005	Nyva Vinnytsia
2006	Zorya Luhansk
2006–2008	FC Kharkiv
2008–2010	FC Dnipro
Medal record Representing  Soviet Union Men's Football UEFA European Championship Runner-up 1988 West Germany Olympic Games 1980 Moscow FIFA U-20 World Cup Winner 1977 Tunisia UEFA European U-18 Championships[1] Winner 1976 Hungary
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Bezsonov is a graduate student of the Kharkiv State College of Physical Culture 1 where he began his football career. In 1975 he joined Metalist Kharkiv, but only played for its reserve team.

In 1976 Bezsonov joined Dynamo Kyiv. There, he spent most of his career, except for a short one-season stint in Israeli club Maccabi Haifa in 1990–91. He was well known as a lightning quick full-back with a powerful shot. Bezsonov was attack-minded and scored a good return for a defender. He ended with 27 goals in the 377 games that he played for Dynamo.

International career

Bezsonov won 79 caps and scored 4 goals for the Soviet Union national team from 1977 to 1990 and was included in three FIFA World Cup squads. He also holds the record for the fifth most appearances for the team.^[2] In the 1990 World Cup, he was sent off against Argentina. His team ended up losing the game 2–0 which eventually became his farewell match for the Soviet national team.^[3]

In 1979, Bezsonov played a couple of matches for the Ukrainian SSR at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR where Ukraine placed third.^[4]

In 1980, Bezsonov was on the Soviet squad for the 1980 Summer Olympics where the Soviet Union placed third.

Managerial career

Most recently, Bezsonov was the head coach of FC Dnipro in the Ukrainian Premier League, but was sacked in September 2010 following the team's elimination from the UEFA Europa League and a number of poor results domestically.

Personal life

Bezsonov is married to Viktoria Serykh, a former two-time world champion in rhythmic gymnastics. Together they have a daughter, Anna Bessonova, who also competed internationally in rhythmic gymnastics and became world champion in 2007, as well as winning an Olympic bronze in 2004 and 2008.

In February 2022, a photo of Bezsonov on the frontline during the Russian invasion of Ukraine was posted on social media by his daughter.^[5]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Dynamo Kyiv	1976 (s)	Soviet Top League	9	0	–		–		–		9	0
	1976 (a)		2	0	–		–		–		2	0
	1977		16	1	1	0	2	0	1	0	20	1
	1978		23	3	8	2	4	0	–		35	5
	1979		24	2	4	0	5	1	–		33	3
	1980		34	5	6	2	2	0	–		42	7
	1981		25	2	7	2	5	1	1	0	38	5
	1982		18	4	–		3	1	–		21	5
	1983		11	1	1	0	–		–		12	1
	1984		20	2	6	1	–		–		26	3
	1985		25	0	2	0	7	0	–		34	0
	1986		16	1	3	0	5	0	1	0	25	1
	1987		11	0	2	0	2	0	1	0	16	0
	1988		19	0	2	0	–		–		21	0
	1989		17	5	4	1	4	2	–		25	8
	1990		7	1	1	0	–		–		8	1
Career total			277	27	47	8	39	5	4	0	367	40

• 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^[6]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Soviet Union	1977	4	0
	1978	10	2
	1979	5	0
	1980	8	1
	1981	4	0
	1982	7	0
	1983	5	0
	1984	3	0
	1985	2	0
	1986	11	0
	1987	4	0
	1988	9	0
	1989	3	0
	1990	4	1
Total		79	4

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

List of international goals scored by Volodymyr Bezsonov

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	20 September 1978	Hrazdan Stadium, Yerevan, Soviet Union	Greece		2–0	UEFA Euro 1980 qualifying
2	26 November 1978	Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan	Japan		3–0	Friendly
3	15 October 1980	Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem, Israel	Iceland		5–0	1982 WC qualification
4	24 February 1990	Stanford Stadium, Stanford, California, United States	United States		3–1	Friendly

Honours

Dynamo Kyiv

• Soviet Top League: 1977, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1990
• Soviet Cup: 1978, 1982, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1989–90
• Soviet Super Cup: 1980, 1985, 1986; runner-up 1977
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1986
• UEFA Super Cup runner-up: 1986

Soviet Union

• Summer Olympics bronze: 1980
• UEFA Euro runner-up: 1988

Individual

• FIFA World Youth Championship Golden Ball: 1977^[7]
• The best 33 football players of the Soviet Union (11): No. 1 (1978-1982, 1985-1987, 1989); No. 2 (1977); No. 3 (1988)
• Ukrainian Footballer of the Year: 1989; second place: 1988; third place: 1986
• Voted in the Soviet Union's "All-time World Cup team" on planetworldcup.com above other great full-backs, such as Igor Netto and Vasiliy Rats.^[8]