Sergei Pavlovich Baltacha

Sergei Pavlovich Baltacha (Ukrainian: Сергій Павлович Балтача; born 17 February 1958 in Mariupol) is a former Ukrainian professional football player who won 45 full caps for the Soviet Union and made nearly 300 appearances for Dynamo Kyiv.

In this Eastern Slavic name, the patronymic is Pavlovich and the family name is Baltacha.

Sergei Baltacha
Personal information
Full name Sergei Pavlovich Baltacha[1]
Date of birth (1958-02-17) 17 February 1958
Place of birth Mariupol, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
– FC Metalist Kharkiv
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1976–1988 FC Dynamo Kyiv 245 (6)
1988–1990 Ipswich Town 28 (1)
1990–1993 St Johnstone 90 (1)
1993–1994 Inverness Caledonian
1994–1995 Caledonian Thistle 9 (0)
National team
1980–1988 USSR 45 (2)
Teams managed
1993–1994 Inverness Caledonian
1994–1995 Caledonian Thistle
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Life and career

Baltacha was developed by the famous coach Valeriy Lobanovskyi from Dynamo Kyiv hero and one of the most respected football coaches of the 20th century. He was spotted by the Dynamo boss while still a teenager at the Kharkiv academy of footballing excellence which he had left home to attend at the age of 13[2]

In 1979 Baltacha played couple of games for Ukraine at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR.[3]

Baltacha was on the winning side in the Cup Winners' Cup in 1986, the Soviet Top League and Soviet Cup four times, and the Soviet Super Cup on three occasions. He also appeared in the FIFA World Cup in 1982, was a finalist in the European Championships in 1988 and won the bronze medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow

His later career was spent in England and Scotland, playing for Ipswich Town and St Johnstone. His debut for Ipswich (in which he scored) was the first time a Soviet international had played in the Football League. He also had a spell as player manager of Inverness Caledonian in the Scottish Highland Football League, and was with Caledonian when they amalgamated with Inverness Thistle and entered the Scottish Football League in 1994 as Caledonian Thistle.

Baltacha worked as a physical education teacher and tutor at Bacon's College in South East London until 2012, having formerly been a physical education teacher at Geoffrey Chaucer Technology College (Old Kent Road, London) and a coach at the Charlton Athletic academy.[4] Since 2012 Sergei Baltacha works as Professional Development Phase Lead Coach at the Charlton Athletic FC Academy[5]

Personal life

His former wife, Olga, master of sports in athletics,[6] could have been on the Soviet olympic pentathlon team in 1980 Summer Olympics, but instead opted to remain at home to care for her one-year-old son.[7]

Their daughter Elena was a professional tennis player. She died on 4 May 2014, of liver cancer, aged 30.

Baltacha was married to Oksana.[8] His and Olga's son, Sergei Jr, was also a professional footballer, who played for St Mirren and Millwall as well as being capped at U-21 level for Scotland.

Although he was born in the Ukrainian part of the Soviet Union, Baltacha regards himself to be multi-national. His career achievements resulted in him being inducted into the Viktor Leonenko Hall of Fame in March 2012. Baltacha has stated in interview "I’m a citizen of the Soviet Union, but I love Ukraine. As for now, I’ve been in the United Kingdom for over 23 years, it’s my home. But I still go back to Ukraine regularly. It’s a beautiful country with good, kind people. I want to see it become more like European countries. But, I don’t think it has to lose ties with Russia, we are similar people, it’s in our blood".[9]

Career statistics

International goals
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.19 June 1982Estadio La Rosaleda, Málaga, Spain New Zealand3–0Win1982 FIFA World Cup
2.13 October 1982Central Lenin Stadium, Moscow, Soviet Union Finland2–0WinUEFA Euro 1984 qualifying
Correct as of 21 May 2016[10]

References
  1. "Sergei Pavlovich Baltacha". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  2. "The Soviet who tore down English football's Iron Curtain - CNN.com". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  3. Football at the 1979 Spartakiad of the Peoples of USSR
  4. New focus for former Town star Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine East Angliah Daily Times, 26 June 2008
  5. "Charlton Athletic FC Coaching Staff Profiles". Cafc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  6. "Sergei Baltacha" (in Russian)
  7. "Baltacha brings new life to British women's game", The Independent, 10 November 2000
  8. ""My daughter Elena, the rising star"". Archived from the original on 25 June 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  9. "What's on Kyiv | News | Run, Run Away". Whatson-kyiv-archive.com. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  10. "Sergey Baltacha - national football team player". eu-football.info.
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