Beginning this afternoon, air defense sirens sounded over Ukraine, followed by the constant sound of explosions spreading through the city. Long-standing tensions have finally been ignited, Russia has sent troops, and a split in Ukraine is inevitable.
In this case, football naturally can no longer be carried out in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Premier League has been suspended. Previously, the giant team Shakhtar Donetsk had to leave Donetsk for several years because of the domestic situation.
｜图：Getty Images / aurence Griffiths
Now that the wanderings of the Donetsk miners have been suspended, it is difficult to say whether they will be able to participate in the Ukrainian league in the future. Ukraine, in a political and military struggle, will finally come to an end.
And the loss of Ukraine, football has also lost an important piece of content.
What does Ukrainian football mean? As a republic of the former Soviet Union, Ukrainian football is to the Soviet Union, just as Liaoning football is to China, and Croatian football is to the former Yugoslavia.
Ukraine is the "powder magazine" of soviet football.
In the football league of the former Soviet Union, the team that won the most league championships was not CSKA Moscow, nor Lokomomo moscow and Sparta Moscow, but Dynamo Kiev, the Ukrainian team, which was the boss of soviet football.
| the 1986 Cup Winners' Cup final
Dynamo Kyiv vs Atletico Madrid
Of course, Dynamo Kiev's success is largely due to the legendary coach Lobanovsky, whose coaching style is considered to be a tactical play with the communist thinking of the former Soviet Union: calm, precise, and perfectionist. He has produced many superstars for the former Soviet Union and ukraine, such as the three European Golden Globe winners: "Golden Arrow" Blokhin, "Lightning" Belanov and "Nuclear Warhead" Shevchenko.
In addition to Lev Yassin, the most famous of soviet football is the three of them, all three of whom are Ukrainians, all playing for Dynamo Kiev and all studying under Lobanovsky.
If you want to choose a team of the best team in the history of Soviet football, Blokhin, Belanov and Shevchenko are definitely irreplaceable characters in the front three-man attack combination. That is to say – Ukraine – is in charge of the entire offensive system of soviet football.
| from left: Shevchenko, Blokhin, Belanov
Blokhin was one of the greatest players in the former Soviet Union, his parents were footballers and sprinters, so Blokhin had a speed and technology that exceeded the average person, and in the era of Cruyff and Beckenbauer, Blokhin's personal achievements were comparable to theirs. Of course, in terms of team honors, Blokhin is inferior to the Germans and Dutch, but that's because the overall strength of the former Soviet team is still inferior to that of traditional football powers.
Blokhin played 109 games for the former Soviet Union, scoring 209 goals, an average of 2 goals per game, a stat that no striker of his time could match.
On the pitch, if there is one person who is faster than Broshin, it is the "Soviet Lightning" Belanov.
Born in Odessa, the fourth largest city in present-day Ukraine, Belanov started his football career in his hometown and soon moved into the giants Dynamo Kiev. In 1986, Belanov led Dynamo Kiev to the European Cup Winners' Cup, where he scored four goals in that year's World Cup. With his outstanding performance, he pushed Platini to get the European Footballer of the Year.
| Belanov and the Ballon d'Or
In 1988, Belanov helped the Soviet Union reach the final of the European Championship as the team's offensive blade, but Basten's zero-degree angle shot wiped out the former Soviet Union's championship.
After the European Championship, Belanov went to Germany to develop, but injuries and unsatisfactory conditions prevented him from replicating his glory in Dynamo Kiev in the Bundesliga.
With the upheavals in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the collapse of the former Soviet Union, and the declaration of independence of Ukraine, Dynamo Kiev was still the cradle of stars, most notably Shevchenko.
The most well-rounded striker in football history made his name in the Champions League with Dynamo Kiev, and later he went on to take on a massive run in the most heavily defended Serie A arena at the time, helping Milan win the Champions League and becoming one of the best strikers in the world.
| Shevchenko became a world-class goalscorer in Milan
In 2006, he led Ukraine to the quarter-finals of his first World Cup, and was eventually eliminated by the later champion, Italy, who also played in the league.
Shevchenko's greatness lies in the fact that, from a technical and tactical point of view, he has almost no shortcomings. He can appear in three positions as a center, winger or two forward, each of which is still in the top three players in the world.
In addition to these three players on the offensive line, Ukrainian football is arguably the most important component of soviet football. Mikhaillchenko, a tall, tough-footed blond player who plays for Serie A champions Sampdoria, is Ukrainian, and Timoshchuk, who plays for Bundesliga giant Bayern, can play in all positions in the midfield and is also the player with the most appearances for the Ukrainian national team. Kanchersky, who represented Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, was also Ukrainian. There is also centre forward Protasov, nicknamed "MiG Bomber", who has been considered Basten's "lifelong enemy" since his youth, and once fell behind Basten by 2 goals and only got the European Silver Boot. There is also Shovkovsky, nicknamed "Sentinel", who was one of the best goalkeepers in all of Eastern Europe after the independence of Ukraine.
| Ukrainian football has contributed many outstanding talents to world football
When it comes to Eastern European football, we cannot but talk about the old Soviet Union, and when it comes to Soviet football, it is absolutely inseparable from Ukraine.
But now, for political reasons, Ukraine is first independent from the former Soviet Union, then sunk into political turmoil for many years, and now it is igniting war.
The blows of war are not only in the social and economic spheres, but also in football. In the heat of war, it is impossible to expect Ukraine to cultivate another Blokhin, or another Shevchenko. The decline of football in Eastern Europe began with the collapse of the former Soviet Union, and the decline of football in the former Soviet Union began with the independence of Ukraine. Today's war in Ukraine means that the whole of Eastern European football will no longer have a long-awaited tomorrow.
Whatever the outcome of this war, and whatever the nature of the war waged. Football is the biggest loser.