Ukrainian ex-footballer Yevgeny Levchenko, who lives in the Netherlands, does not have to serve as a guinea pig in investigations into what damage heading the ball may have caused. Levchenko formulates beautifully and says a lot wisely.
‘I sometimes hear: why are you in the Netherlands now? Are you always on TV? Why aren’t you there with a machine gun?’ The interesting answer: “You can wage war on different levels.” He himself does this as a ‘more or less famous person’ by drawing attention to what is happening ‘there’ in his second homeland.
He is on TV a lot, to the chagrin of foreign affairs expert Rob de Wijk, who apparently thinks that (former) football players assume that they can interpret an international crisis. Levchenko says he can’t do that at all. “But I’m in constant contact with the front line.”
One of the greatest Ukrainian football players of all time recently appeared on such a front line, where there is no fighting yet, but probably because of its strategic importance in the long term. Igor Belanov (61) became World Player of the Year in 1986. In his native city of Odessa he mixed with the military.
In combat uniform, armed with, among other things, the Golden Ball of 1986. The images ended up in numerous newspapers via social media.
1988 European Championship final
Igor Belanov is a man who came to Odessa on the Black Sea to thank and encourage Ukrainian soldiers. Belanov also has ‘something’ with the Netherlands. Already 34 years ago he was our enemy. In the European Championship final Netherlands-Soviet Union, he missed a penalty against the very excited keeper Hans van Breukelen.
Had that ball gone in, at least that piece of history would have turned out differently. The eventually winning Netherlands played far from well in that final.
Will Belanov actually shoot at the Russian, soon and there in Odessa, as was reported – sometimes from his mouth – in several international newspapers? That seems strongly to Levchenko: ‘We should not romanticize. How old is he now?’ But we shouldn’t trivialize it either, he thinks. “This is warfare on a different level. Belanov supports our military. She does that well.’
And who knows, Levchenko will cautiously build in, Belanov will eventually fire on the Russian (from a Western perspective: hopefully more focused than on Hans van Breukelen). The battle now rages mainly in the east, ‘Odessa also want to incorporate the Russians’.
Lightning fast attacker
Igor Belanov is one of the greatest footballers in Ukrainian history. He is also small in stature, a lightning fast attacker who gained great fame in the eighties of the last century. In 1986, to the surprise of many and especially that of Diego Maradona, he was voted world football player of the year.
He owed that honor, among other things, to his performance during the World Cup that year. He scored wildly on behalf of the Soviet Union. The legendary Flemish Rik De Saedeleer remembered in 2011 in The newspapaer his comment on it. “The Russians (sic) opened the scoring with a goal from Igor Belanov, which I described as an SS 20 missile that even Jean-Marie Pfaff couldn’t stop.” Still, three goals against Belgium were not enough for the win.
Belanov scored a lot in those years. For Ukrainians, the now 61-year-old is a historical figure, who had already come to the West a few years before the fall of the Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. He was allowed to play football in Germany (Borussia Mönchengladbach), then a rather exceptional privilege, now good footballers are cosmopolitans.
‘I remember two pieces about Belanov’, digs journalist Hugo Borst in his memory. ‘In 1986 I got it for the Christmas issue of Football International interviewed.’ A quiet man, that Belanov, assists Borst. ‘Later in Germany I went to see him again. Following a shoplifting of which he was suspected.’
Lame jokes
Templates, associations, silly jokes, they are fighting for priority now that Belanov – only the very fanatical football fan knows that he is affiliated with the Ukrainian Football Association – has just appeared in the news again. In order: the muzzled Eastern European who not only marveled at luxury in the rich West, but then assaulted it. Some advice in advance if the Russians do indeed start targeting his hometown of Odessa: don’t shoot from eleven meters! Football is war.
Yevgeny Levchenko: ‘Of course I’m not as great as he is. Belanov is a folk hero. But I try to contribute to the struggle in the same way. Just to be a sympathetic ear for those who really fight or those who have lost a lot, that’s important. If you’re famous, you can use the publicity as a weapon.’
Levchenko has also seen the photos from Odessa, distributed via social media. Between sandbags, Belanov poses with three (real) soldiers. With a weapon, resting loosely on the right arm. All kinds of newspapers have given it their own twist in the matching text. What is true? What is not true? Levchenko repeats once again: ‘War can be waged in many different ways. Also publicity.’
3 x Igor Belanov
According to the British Daily Mail Belanov, visiting military personnel in Odessa, has expressed the expectation that his Ukraine “will soon be victorious.” According to this source, Belanov, like many Russian oligarchs, at some point engaged in foreign investment. He would have been a major shareholder of the Swiss football club FC Wil.
The French newspaper Le Parisien also posted photos of Belanov dressed as a military man on April 10. The newspaper quotes all kinds of texts that Belanov himself distributed via social media and conveniently leaves open whether the 61-year-old ex-football player really thinks he will fight. According to this newspaper, that would Die Welt stand.
In any case, that German newspaper contains interesting quotes from Belanov. He has always “proudly” played for the Soviet Union, along with Russians. He says that he met the current Russian Defense Minister Shoygu a few years ago. “If I met him now, I’d ask him if he’s gone mad!”