The Ukrainian Weekly 1994

10 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 26,1994 No. 26
Why Ukraine was barred from the 1994 World Cup
by Mark Papworth
and Oleh Szmelskyj
What follows is the first in a series
concerning Ukraine's exclusion from this
year's World Cup of Soccer, the partici–
pation of Ukrainians in Russia's squad,
and the history of soccer in Ukraine.
Mark Papworth is editor of the
Peterborough United independent
Football Supporters Magazine and a
contributor to the official history of the
Peterborough United Football Club in
England. Dr. Oleh Szmelskyj is chairman
of the Ukrainian Professional and
Businesspersons Association of the UK
and author of several articles on osteo–
pathic medicine, also in England.
As in the recent Winter Olympics,
where a Ukrainian, Oksana Hryshchuk
(a.k.a. Gritschuk) won a gold medal for
Russia in the pairs figure skating event,
there are five Ukrainian-born players,
including Serhiy Yuran (touted as the
team's star), viktor Onopko, Yuriy
Nikiforov, Oleh Salenko and Dmytriy
Tsymbalar and two other non-Russian soc–
cer players on the "Russian national" soc–
cer squad now playing in the World Cup.
And yet, a Ukrainian side was not
allowed the opportunity to compete in the
qualifying competition for the 1994 World
Cup Finals, in spite of a place becoming
available in international soccer's Group 5
after Yugoslavia ceased to exist.
The reasons these soccer paradoxes
have come to pass are complex and
shrouded in the political intrigue plagu–
ing the world of recessed corridors and
closed doors inhabited by soccer's politi–
cal power broker^.
That Ukraine should have been given
the opportunity to compete in USA 1994
cannot be disputed. The record of achieve–
ment of Ukrainian soccer players in the
success of the former USSR amply illus–
trates this. The following account shows
just how Ukraine has been discriminated
against by world soccer's political elites.
This chronological account should help
shed some light on this question.
: f c ^
On December 2, 1991, viktor
Bannikov, a former Soviet goalkeeper,
now chairman of the Ukrainian Football
Federation, said the Ukrainian Football
Association would apply for independent
membership in F1FA later that week, and
would start a formal international program
in May 1992.
On December 7, 1991, F1FA officials
met in New York. The executive com–
mittee decided to admit Estonia, Latvia
and Lithuania as provisional members.
They refused, pending further study,
membership applications from Ukraine,
Georgia and Croatia.
in the January 1992 edition of the World
Soccer magazine, Keir Radnege reported
from New York on the 1994 World Cup
qualifying draw held on December 8,1991.
He wrote: "Europe's political upheavals
will be good news for UEFA (Union of
European Football Associations) in the
long run. The World Cup draw brought that
into an even sharper focus. Formally it is
the 'Soviet Union' which was drawn as top
seeds in European Group 5. But will a
'Soviet Union' still exist by the time the
qualifiers begin in earnest next autumn
The European Championship finals in
Sweden (June 1992) could be the Soviet
Union's last fling."
The Soviet Union's disintegration raised
some interesting questions in the world of
soccer politics. Would the Russian
Federation merely take over the Soviet
Union's place, or would the Russians need
to apply to join FTFA as a new footballing
member-state in that case, what would
then happen to the F1FA vice-presidency
which the Soviet Union was guaranteed
when it joined the FTFA fold after the war
With the upheavals in Eastern Europe,
UEFA would gain the three Baltic states,
Ukraine and Georgia, and with the breakup
of Yugoslavia, Croatia and Slovenia.
That would have meant extra votes with–
in F1FA; those new votes could have
seriously altered the footballing political
balance of power.
After Ukraine's population voted over–
whelmingly for the departure of Ukraine
from the USSR in December 1991, this
raised the issue as to whether the Soviet
Union would have to withdraw from the
European Championship finals in
Sweden, since it would no longer exist.
Such a withdrawal was improbable,
however, because the soccer fate of the
Soviet Union would not have been open
to question until Ukraine was admitted
into F1FA in its own right.
it was suggested in the February 1992
issue of World Soccer that Ukraine would
probably be granted full F1FA membership
at the 1992 summer congress.
Ukraine, meanwhile, had pulled its clubs
out of the OS championships on
December 13, 1991, and said it would run
its own league. The short spring champi–
onship would start shortly afterwards,
before falling into line with Western
Europe's autumn-spring scheduling.
On January 13, 1992, F1FA and UEFA
jointly agreed to recognize the OS as
interim successor to the Soviet Union
within the world and European soccer
arena. F1FA and UEFA stated that any
players from the former republics of the
USSR were eligible to play for the OS.
By February 1992, after less than three
months, the OS was already a footballing
anachronism. The single conces–
sion to the OS was that Ukrainian play–
ers were submitted to play for the OS
team at the European Championships in
the summer of 1992 as part of the socalled
"Unified Team."
Mr. Bannikov was happy to allow
Ukrainian players to participate in the
finals, saying, "They have worked for
two years for this. For some it will be the
peak of their careers. They will be in
Sweden in June."
On February 25, 1992, F1FA granted
provisional membership rights to Croatia,
Slovenia, Georgia and Ukraine, in anoth–
er statement F1FA said it considered the
OS the "legal" successor to the former
Soviet Football Federation.
However, an attempt at a restructured
OS championship (minus Ukraine) collapsed.
The Russian Football Federation
had been formed in January. When it met
a month later, the 260 delegates threw
out the plan put forward by OS Football
Federation President vyacheslav
Koloskov.
initially, Mr. Koloskov argued "it's
important that we have a OS league to
help maintain our national team's place
at the European Championship finals in
Sweden. The players who took us to
Sweden deserve that." Mr. Koloskov's
interim solution to the collapse of the
OS league was a proposal that the cham–
pions of the various republics meet in a
play off tournament the following
autumn, with the winner representing the
OS in the 1992-1993 European Cup.
However the Russian delegates opted
for a Russian championship and voted
against the "open league" advocated by
Mr. Koloskov. Moscow clubs Dynamo,
Spartak, Torpedo, CSKA and Lokomotiv
said they would refuse to compete in a
OS league because they could not afford
long distance travel, and were worried
about security in distant republics.
The OS Football Federation warned the
Newly independent States that, under
F1FA rules, any nation not joining in the
new OS league would find itself in international
isolation. With the OS Federation
having become incapable of running a
championship across what remained of the
Soviet Union, the question arose: By what
right could the OS Federation claim to
raise a truly representative team
in the meantime, Mr. Koloskov
became president of the Russian Football
Association and also changed his mind
about the open league and play off tour–
naments. Consequently, it emerged that
the Russian Football Association would
select the team for the European
Championship in Sweden, and the
Russian Football Association team would
be the successor of the Soviet Union in
the 1994 World Cup finals. By virtue of
this maneuver, Mr. Koloskov remained at
the helm in Moscow and kept his posi–
tion at the F1FA grand table.
Ukraine had kept its obligations to the
OS team until the end of the European
Championship Finals, despite its convic–
tion that they were not reciprocated.
Now, the Ukrainian Football Association
no longer felt obliged in any way to
Moscow and declared that all Ukrainian
players resident at home or elsewhere
were now dependent on the Football
Emblem of the Ukrainian Football
(Soccer) Federation.
Association in Kyyiv.
A Ukrainian delegation met F1FA
Secretary Sepp Blatter in Switzerland.
The latter said there would be no difficul–
ty in recognizing independence for the
country in footballing matters, but raised
questions about the feasibility, mecha–
nisms and timing of how clubs from new
national leagues would qualify for the
next series of European Cup competi–
tions. Nevertheless, the Ukrainians were
able to get their opinion on record a few
days before Mr. Koloskov visited Zurich.
A further proposal to try to resolve
international confusion over OS fragmen–
tation came from former USSR team man–
ager, Anatoliy Byshovets, a Ukrainian. He
said, "All these small republics will not
have the ability to compete independently
at international level. For World Cup and
European Championships we should have
our own qualifying event, with the win–
ners going through to represent the OS."
Had such a solution been adopted it is
probable that a Ukrainian-Russian final
would have ensued, with the winner going
on to take the Soviet Union's place in the
World Cup qualifiers.
By April 10, 1992, it was known that
the newly formed Ukrainian national team
would play its first match against Hungary
at the end of the month. Those Ukrainian
players selected for the Ukrainian team and
the OS team were given clearance to play
for both teams if they so wished, up until
the end of the European Championship
finals in June 1992.
An article in the May 1992 issue of
World Soccer posed the question: What
name will be used for the country suc–
ceeding the former Soviet Union in
future international competitions
Russia, of course, Mr. Koloskov was
quoted as rejoining. He added, "1 don't
think the Ukrainians would object."
Ukraine certainly had a justifiable rea–
son to object. Of the 38 players who represented
the Soviet Union in the last
three World Cup tournaments, 14 had
(Continued on page 18)
Logos of some of Ukraine's soccer teams: (from left) Kyyiv Dynamo, Lutske Yolyn, Odessa Chornomorets and Zaporizhzhia Torpedo.