Vladimir Muntyan: “Why should players without soul and heart be in Dynamo?” (video). Biography A midfielder with a unique style

Muntyan Vladimir Fedorovich

Soviet football player, midfielder; trainer

BIOGRAPHY

While studying at school, he was invited to join the Dynamo Kyiv team, where he spent his entire career (1965 – 1977). He played 49 matches (7 goals) for the USSR national team.

Player coach of SKA (Kyiv) (1980). As a head coach, he worked with the teams SKA (Kiev) (1981 - 1982), Cosfaba (Madagascar, 1986 - 1988), the Olympic team of Ukraine (1992 - 1994), the national team of Guinea (1995 - 1997), FC Cherkassy ( 1998), “Orion” (1999), “Tavria” (Simferopol) (2000), “Obolon” (Kiev) (2001), “Alania” (Vladikavkaz) (2002), “Krivbass” (Krivoy Rog) (2003 – 2004), “Vorskla” (Poltava) (2004 – 2005), youth team “Dynamo” (Kyiv) (2008 – 2010).

Chairman of the Kyiv City Football Federation, member of the Presidium of the Football Federation of Ukraine. Chairman of the Committee of National Teams of the Football Federation of Ukraine. Since April 2007 – President of the Ukrainian Football Veterans Association.

ACHIEVEMENTS

champion of the USSR (1966 – 1968, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1977);

winner of the USSR Cup (1966, 1974);

winner of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1975);

winner of the UEFA Super Cup (1975);

Champion of Madagascar (1988);

best football player of the USSR (1969);

best football player in Ukraine (1970).

To be in a joke when you are only 20 years old is not an indicator of a person’s fame and popularity? Football fans with considerable experience, they probably remember the question dated 1966 to the “Armenian radio”: “What does Ararat need to become the champion of the USSR?” Answer: “Muntyan, Porkuyan and nine more Kievites”...

In fact, the name of one of the best midfielders in the history of Dynamo Kyiv, Vladimir Muntean, acquired an “Armenian” sound when the father of a football player, Moldovan Fedor Munteanu, who was born on the very border of Ukraine and Moldova, received a passport. The Munteanu family moved to Kyiv in 1947, when youngest son Volodya was not even a year old. Like all his peers, Vladimir began playing sports from childhood, but not football - at the age of 10 he completed the third adult category in acrobatics. Probably, his first sports profession determined his subsequent artistry in handling the ball.

Football appeared in the life of Vladimir Muntyan much later, at the instigation of Nikita Khrushchev and his program to provide housing for the entire population of the country. The parents received an apartment on the Pervomaisky district, not far from the SKA stadium. This stadium, where the guys from the city youth sports school then trained, became the starting point meteoric rise Vladimir. He started by serving balls behind the goal. Well, if he did serve, he certainly tried to juggle them or perform some kind of feint. After one of these incidents, a certain soldier approached him and took him to the famous children's football mentor Mikhail Korsunsky, who headed the Ukrainian youth team. The coach stopped the lesson, gathered everyone in a circle, threw a ball to Muntean and said: “Show the people everything you can.” After several dozen kicks and a feint of throwing the ball with both feet behind him on his move, Vladimir’s fate was decided. The famous coach even set him as an example for his players.

In the early 1960s, a lot of youth competitions were held, thanks to which the players from the Gorono team were constantly in sight of specialists. Soon Muntyan was included in the Kyiv national team, for which young Dynamo players also played, among whom was Anatoly Byshovets. After a friendly match with the Moscow national team, coach Mikhail Koman, who was then working with the Dynamo reserve team, invited 15-year-old Vladimir to come to training with Dynamo the next day.

The future Dynamo star came to the meeting much earlier than the appointed time, but did not dare to get on the bus: a ninth-grader, and even of a fragile physique, simply could not overcome his fear when he saw that he had to go to training with such players as Biba, Sabo, Serebryanikov, Lobanovsky, Bazilevich and Turyanchik. Fortunately, the coaches’ interest did not disappear, and Byshovets’ encouragement made itself felt, and within a week Vladimir’s desire to play football overpowered his fear.

In 1966, the “golden era” of Dynamo Kyiv began, when a group of yesterday’s understudies, and Vladimir Muntyan among them, replaced the five leading Dynamo players who had left for the World Cup. That year, the people of Kiev did a double - they won gold medals in the national championship and the USSR Cup. By the age of 22, Muntean had already become the champion of the USSR three times, which no other football player had achieved at that age, and by the end of his career he had won a total of seven gold medals in the USSR championships - a collection that was subsequently collected by only two teammates: Oleg Blokhin and Vladimir Veremeev. Years later, modeling the ideal Dynamo team of all times, football journalists came to the conclusion: it was Muntean, and not Biba or Zavarov, who was the best playmaker in the history of the team.

My last game Vladimir played in the USSR Championship in the fall of 1977 in Yerevan. After that I was going to break up with great sport and devote himself to scientific work. He was persistently invited to continue playing - such a talent, only 31 years old - in Moscow, but he refused. A month later, an accident occurred that divided Muntean’s life into “before” and “after.” He was driving when the accident occurred and the passenger sitting next to him died. Vladimir was immediately expelled from the party, fired from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and exposed extremely negatively in the press. Despite the fact that the investigation showed his innocence, Dynamo stood its ground former leader cross.

After leaving the hospital six months later, from a police captain, Muntean became an army captain - he helped Kyiv SKA, first on the field, and then from the coaching bench. It was then that Vladimir began to do “paper work” - first in the Kyiv Football Federation, then in the Ukrainian SSR. Admirers of Vladimir’s talent were everywhere, so the top leadership of the army decided to send him to Madagascar. There, by the way, he coached the local army team and even led it to the championship. The island authorities awarded Muntean the Order of Achievement and invited him to stay forever, but Vladimir decided not to renew the contract and returned to his homeland.

Since 1989, Vladimir Fedorovich worked at the physical training department at a tank school, and in 1992, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he retired from the Armed Forces due to his length of service. He again began to engage in public activities in the Football Federation of Ukraine, becoming deputy chairman of the federation. And soon he was appointed head coach of the Ukrainian Olympic team.

At the very peak of that team (and its composition was a sight for sore eyes: Shovkovsky, Vashchuk, Parfenov, Kriventsov, Kardash, Kosovsky, Shevchenko, Rebrov, Gennady Moroz), which won three opening matches of the qualifying round, Muntyan unexpectedly left the post of senior coach and again went to Africa. He took over the Guinea national team, with whom he worked for four years. Vladimir Fedorovich explained the reason for his demarche simply: no one needed the Olympic team; as head coach, he actually paid the salaries of his assistant, masseur, doctor, and even bonuses to the players from his own pocket and charitable donations.

After an African business trip, Muntean took the helm of the Cherkasy football club and undertook to lead this team to the major league Ukrainian championship. And I would have brought it out, but changes in the championship regulations left the club in the first division. After that, he was invited to be the head coach at Tavriya Simferopol, which was faced with the task of staying in major league. And again he managed, but immediately after the end of the 1999/2000 championship he received a settlement - without any comments from the club management...

After leaving Tavriya, Vladimir Muntyan quickly moved through several more clubs in Ukraine and Russia until he settled in his native Dynamo, where he is simultaneously involved in the selection and training of young players. And even though his coaching successes are far from what he achieved as a player, the living legend of Ukrainian football still has a lot to teach more than one generation of future champions.

This text is an introductory fragment.

Father - Fyodor Stepanovich Muntyan (b. 1911, near Moldova), worked as a reinforcement worker at an asphalt concrete plant. Mother - Maria Leontyevna Muntyan (b. 1921, Pavlovsk (Voronezh region)), worked as a night nanny in a hospital. In 1947, he moved to Kyiv with his parents.

While still at school, he was invited to the Dynamo team, where he spent his entire career. According to experts of the time, he was considered one of the best midfielders in European football. As a player, he graduated from the Institute of Physical Education and the Faculty of Law of Kyiv State University, then graduated from graduate school at the Faculty of International Relations.

In 1978, while driving a car, Muntean had an accident in which his passenger died. Muntean himself ended up in the hospital for a long time with fractures of two vertebrae and other injuries. As a result of the criminal case brought against him, he was stripped of the rank of captain of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and temporarily expelled from the CPSU. The case was closed six months later due to the lack of evidence of a crime, and he was reinstated in the party.

In 1980, he became a player-coach of the Kyiv SKA, while simultaneously working at the Kiev Higher Tank Engineering Military School in the physical training department of the faculty for training foreign specialists. Then Muntyan became the chairman of the Kyiv City Football Federation and a member of the presidium of the Ukrainian Football Federation.

In 1986-1988 he worked in Madagascar, coaching the Cosfaba club, becoming the country's champion in 1988. In 1992-1994 he was the head coach of the Ukrainian Olympic team, in 1995-1997 - the Guinean national team, leading it to the final tournament of the African Cup in 1998. From 1998 to 2005 he coached various clubs in Ukraine and the Russian Alania. Since 2008, he has served as the head coach of the Ukrainian youth team.

For the USSR national team in 1968-1976, he played 49 matches and scored 7 goals. Participant in the 1970 World Championship.

Chairman of the Committee of National Teams of the Football Federation of Ukraine. Since April 2007 - President of the Ukrainian Football Veterans Association.

Performance statistics for Dynamo

Statistics in the USSR Cups and European Cups are compiled according to the “autumn-spring” scheme and are credited to the year the tournaments started

Achievements

Champion of the USSR (7 - record, together with Oleg Blokhin and Vladimir Veremeev):

Winner of the USSR Cup (2):

Winner of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup:

UEFA Super Cup winner:

Ranks

Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1975). Master of Sports of International Class (1973).
The best football player of the USSR (according to the results of a survey of the weekly Football) (1969).
The best football player of Ukraine (1970)
Honored Trainer of Ukraine.
Madagascar Order "For Achievement".
Order of Merit II (2007) and III class (2004)

Vladimir Muntyan was born on September 14, 1946 in Kotovsk, Odessa region. Father - Fyodor Stepanovich Muntyan (b. 1911, near Moldova), worked as a reinforcement worker at an asphalt concrete plant. Mother - Maria Leontyevna Muntyan (b. 1921, Pavlovsk (Voronezh region)), worked as a night nanny in a hospital. In 1947, he moved to Kyiv with his parents.

In 1978, while driving a car, Muntean had an accident in which his passenger died. Muntean himself ended up in the hospital for a long time with fractures of two vertebrae and other injuries. As a result of the criminal case brought against him, he was stripped of the rank of captain of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The case was closed six months later due to the lack of evidence of a crime.

In 1980, he became a player-coach of the Kyiv SKA, while simultaneously working at the Kiev Higher Tank Engineering Military School in the physical training department of the faculty for training foreign specialists. Then Muntean became the chairman of the Kyiv City Football Federation and a member of the presidium of the Football Federation of Ukraine.

In 1986-1988 he worked in Madagascar, coaching the Cosfaba club, becoming the country's champion in 1988. In 1992-1994 he was the head coach of the Ukrainian Olympic team, in 1995-1997 - the Guinean national team, leading it to the final tournament of the African Cup in 1988. From 1998 to 2005 he coached various clubs in Ukraine and the Russian Alania. Since 2008, he has served as the head coach of the Ukrainian youth team.

For the USSR national team in 1968-1976, he played 49 matches and scored 7 goals. Participant in the 1970 World Championship.

Chairman of the Committee of National Teams of the Football Federation of Ukraine. Since April 2007 - President of the Ukrainian Football Veterans Association.

Achievements

Champion of the USSR (7 - record, together with Oleg Blokhin):

1966, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1977.

Winner of the USSR Cup (2):

Winner of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup:

UEFA Super Cup winner:

Ranks

Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1975).

The best football player of the USSR (according to the results of a survey of the weekly Football) (1969).

The best football player of Ukraine (1970)

Honored Trainer of Ukraine.

Madagascar Order "For Achievement".

Order of Ukraine “For Merit”, II degree.

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Muntyan Vladimir Fedorovich (b. 1946) - Ukrainian football player, played as a midfielder for the Dynamo team (Kyiv). With his club he won the USSR champion title seven times, won the USSR Cup three times, and in 1975 the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. In 1969, according to a survey of the weekly publication "Football", it became best football player THE USSR. It has sports titles: Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, Master of Sports of the USSR of international class, Honored Coach of Ukraine.

Childhood

Volodya was born on September 14, 1946 in the Ukrainian SSR in the small town of Kotovsk, Odessa region.

His father, Muntean Fedor Stepanovich, born in 1911, is Moldavian by origin. The surname initially sounded like Munteanu, but, having returned from the front, Fyodor Stepanovich, when applying for a passport, recorded himself as Russian and removed the last letter “u”, and the surname Munteanu was obtained. He worked as a reinforcement worker at a plant producing asphalt concrete pavement.

Mother, Maria Leontyevna Muntyan, born in 1921. Purebred Russian, originally from Pavlovsk (a city near Voronezh). She worked as a nanny in a hospital.

In 1947, when little Volodka was barely one year old, the family moved to the Ukrainian capital - the city of Kyiv. For a long time they lived in a barracks (not far from the Dovzhenko film studio behind Pushkin Park). Then they were given a room in a communal apartment on Brest-Litovsky Prospekt.

Volodya’s initial sports hobby was not related to football. The boy was seriously involved in acrobatics and at the age of ten won the Kiev championship among schoolchildren, completing the program of the 3rd adult category. I easily did cartwheels, stand-ups, flaps and Arabian somersaults. In addition, he was involved in volleyball, basketball, speed skating and cross-country skiing. But soon his fate changed dramatically.

Introduction to football

In winter, after having plenty of fun in the cold and skiing, Volodya came down with pneumonia. There was no recovery, and doctors suspected he had tuberculosis. With this suspicion, the boy was sent to an anti-tuberculosis sanatorium for children in Pushcha-Voditsa for a couple of months. During this period, dad was given two rooms at work in a communal apartment, which the family was really looking forward to. Now they have moved to live in the Pervomaisky area. This area of Kyiv was called Chokolovka, and it was located not far from the SKA stadium ( sport Club army).

Arriving at his new place of residence from a sanatorium, where Volodya’s diagnosis of tuberculosis was not confirmed, he quickly found a common language and became friends with the local boys. All together they ran to the stadium to watch the training of students from the city youth sports school. Sometimes they were allowed to stand behind the goal and even serve the rolled ball - cool, real, nipple. They had never had such balls in their yard. Before throwing it back onto the field, the boys wanted to stamp the ball on their feet at least a little. Volodka was the best at this. One day a soldier approached him and suggested: “Guy, would you like to take up football seriously?” Volodya nodded his head affirmatively, and the soldier took him to meet the trainer.

This is how Muntyan ended up with M. B. Korsunsky, a famous children’s coach and mentor of the Ukrainian youth team. He threw the ball to the boy and offered to demonstrate what he was capable of. Volodya began to play with the ball with pleasure, throwing it from his right foot to his left. And then he showed his favorite “Brazilian” trick - he ran across the field with the ball, then left it a little behind and threw it with both legs from behind his back. Muntean's fate was decided: he was enrolled in sports school.

Soon Vladimir could no longer imagine his life without football. He was not stopped even by two injuries in a row - first his leg, then his arm. After another fracture, the parents forbade their son to return to football. But immediately after the cast was removed, Volodya got ready to run onto the field. Dad didn’t let him in, so the boy jumped out onto the balcony and said that he would go down the drainpipe from the fourth floor. The father realized that it was useless to argue with his son and gave up.

"Dynamo" (Kyiv)

At the end of the 1950s, the USSR carried out a lot of sports competitions among young men, so teenage football player Volodya Muntean often caught the eye of specialists. Soon he joined the Kyiv national team, and after a friendly game with the Moscow team, the then coach of the Dynamo (Kyiv) reserve team, Mikhail Koman, invited Vladimir to train with the team. So Muntean, then just an ordinary teenager, a ninth grade student, ended up on the famous team, where he was to spend his entire playing career.

Remembers his debut in big football. It was 1965, the USSR Championship, we played in Tashkent with the local team “Pakhtakor”. The match was very difficult; Dynamo barely won 2:1. But everyone immediately paid attention to the young newcomer in Dynamo (Kyiv). Vladimir was praised and those positive aspects were noted in him, which very soon made him an idol among football fans.

1966 was the beginning of the golden era of Dynamo Kyiv. In one year the club won the USSR Cup and the championship title. In 1968, Muntean was not yet 22 years old, and he was already a three-time national champion; at that age, no other football player could repeat such a record. Towards the end sports career Golden Collection Vladimir totaled seven championship awards; only one other greatest football player, Oleg Blokhin, managed to collect the same number.

Many specialists in football world noted Dynamo (Kyiv) midfielder Muntean as one of the most prominent among Soviet and European players of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The great coach Valery Lobanovsky noted in his game a unique style, the ability to deliver precise strong blows and quickly take right decisions. Valery Vasilyevich said that Muntean’s technique is impeccable, his coordination is excellent, and his ball control is soft, like a cat’s.

Vladimir spent almost twelve years with Dynamo (Kyiv) (from 1965 to 1977), during this period he played 302 matches in the USSR championships and scored 57 goals. For the national team Soviet Union appeared on the field 49 times, scored 7 goals. In 1970, he traveled with the national team to the World Championships, which were held in Mexico.

Vladimir considers the game of the final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, which took place in the spring of 1975 in the city of Basel with the Hungarian team Ferencvaros, to be especially important in his career. Every football player dreams of holding the European Cup, and Muntean’s dream came true.

Last time In the USSR Championship, Vladimir entered the football field in the fall of 1977.

Coaching work

Even during his playing career, Muntyan received diplomas from the Faculty of Law of Kyiv State University (KSU) and the Institute of Physical Education. He also completed his postgraduate studies at the Faculty of International Relations at KSU.

After finishing his career at Dynamo (Kyiv), he received offers to move to other teams. But he went to work at the department physical training to the Kiev Higher Tank Engineering Military School. Here I put together a good team that took part in competitions. Vladimir also began to devote a lot of time to public work - he took the position of chairman of the Kyiv City Football Federation, then became a member of the presidium of the Ukrainian Football Federation.

In 1986 he received an offer to take up coaching career. Vladimir went to Madagascar, where he worked as a coach at the COSFAP club (Antanarivou). In three years he led them to become national champions. In 1989, his contract expired, Muntean did not renew it, and returned to his native tank school in Kyiv.

From 1992 to 1994 he was a coach of the Ukrainian youth team.

In December 1994, he went to Africa, where he coached the Guinea national team, and in four years brought the team to the final tournament of the African Cup.

In 1998 he returned to Ukraine, where he continued coaching activities:

He coached FC Cherkasy and led them to the top league of the Ukrainian championship. But just at that time the championship regulations changed, and the club remained in the first division.
He held the position of head coach of FC Tavriya (Simferopol), thanks to him the team remained in the major league.
Then he coached FC Obolon (Kyiv).
In 2001 he left for Russia, where he started coaching work at the football club "Alania" (Vladikavkaz).

Now Vladimir Fedorovich coordinates the work of the junior teams of Dynamo (Kyiv). Very grateful to fate for allowing him the rest life path walk with football youth. He also devotes a lot of time to social activities. Together with his fellow sportsmen Vladimir Troshkin and Andrey Biba, he headed the Association of Football Veterans of Ukraine. Shares all his experience to the younger generation. He says that when the time comes to leave for another world, I would like to leave behind only good things.

Personal life

Vladimir’s wife, Tatyana Georgievna Muntyan, born in 1950, worked as a process engineer. The couple have two children - son Andrei was born in 1972, daughter Irina was born in 1974.

It’s not often possible to get together at a large family table. My daughter Ira studied in Rome, got married and stayed in Italy, giving birth to two girls. Vladimir Fedorovich and his wife sometimes manage to drop everything and fly to their daughter and granddaughters.

His son Andrei lived in Kyiv, his marriage gave birth to two boys, so the famous football grandfather sees his grandchildren much more often than his granddaughters. Unfortunately, in 2013, grief happened in the family of Vladimir Fedorovich: under tragic circumstances, his son Andrei died.

Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, Honored Coach of Ukraine, winner of the Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Super Cup, seven-time champion of the USSR, two-time winner of the USSR Cup, holder of the Order of Merit, II and III degrees

Born on September 14, 1946 in the city of Kotovsk, Odessa region. Father - Fedor Stepanovich Muntyan (born 1911). Mother - Muntyan Maria Leontievna (born 1921). Wife – Tatyana Georgievna Muntyan (born 1950), industrial engineer. Son - Muntyan Andrey (born 1971). Daughter – Muntyan Irina (born 1974).

It's not easy to get into a joke. To do this you need to be incredibly popular. Vladimir Muntyan became the hero of a joke, already at the age of 20. Football fans with considerable experience probably remember a question dated 1966 to the “Armenian radio”: “What does Ararat need to become the champion of the USSR?” Answer: “Muntyan, Porkuyan and nine more Kievites”...

Meanwhile, the sound of Vladimir Muntean’s surname, so funny and necessary for an anecdote, would not have happened if it had not once lost the letter “u” in the ending - Muntean. His father was born near Moldova, his mother was born near Voronezh, from the city of Pavlovsk. The parents moved to Kyiv in 1947, when their youngest son Volodya was not even a year old. For a long time they lived in a barracks behind Pushkin Park, not far from the Dovzhenko film studio, then they got a room in a communal apartment on Brest-Litovsky Prospekt. His father worked as a reinforcement worker at an asphalt concrete plant, and his mother worked as a night nanny in a hospital.

Vladimir Muntyan's first serious sporting hobby was acrobatics. At the age of 10, he became the champion of Kyiv among schoolchildren and completed the 3rd adult level. He freely did a stand-up, did cartwheels, somersaults, and flips. However, soon a chain of everyday accidents led to Vladimir cheating on his first sporting affection.

One winter, while skiing, he caught a bad cold. He could not be cured of pneumonia, and suspicions arose about tuberculosis. With this diagnosis, which was later, fortunately, not confirmed, Volodya was locked up for two months in Pushcha-Voditsa, in an anti-tuberculosis sanatorium for children. Just at this time, my father was allocated at the plant the long-awaited two rooms in a communal apartment on Chokolovka, in the Pervomaisky district. The nearby SKA stadium turned out to be a mecca for local boys, into whose company Muntean naturally joined after his recovery. The guys from the city youth sports school trained there - they generously allowed the “savages” from the yard teams to stand behind the goal and serve balls. And the balls are real, nipple balls, the kind the yard boys have never played with. Therefore, before returning this leather miracle to the field, I wanted to “mint” it at least a little.

Vladimir did it quite well. This is probably why one day a soldier approached him and asked: “Boy, do you want to take football seriously?” He nodded in agreement, and the soldier took him to the trainer. It turned out to be the famous children's football mentor Mikhail Korsunsky, who headed the Ukrainian youth team. His team was then the champion of the Soviet Union. He stopped the training, gathered his people in a circle, threw a ball to Muntean and said: “Show the people everything you can.” Volodya began to juggle the ball: right - left, right - left... (practice behind the goal came in handy). He juggled for a long time, and then performed his favorite trick, which was then called the “Brazilian” - this is when you run with the ball, leave it a little behind, and then suddenly throw it with both legs from behind your back as you go. It turned out very well, and the satisfied Korsunsky even said edifyingly to his friends: “Now do you understand how this is done?” The fate of Vladimir Muntyan was decided.

Vladimir Fedorovich remembers how he ended up in Dynamo Kiev, not without a smile: “In those years, a lot of youth competitions were held, and we, the players of the modest city team, were constantly in sight of the specialists. Soon I was included in the Kyiv national team, for which young Dynamo players also played, among whom was Tolya Byshovets. After a friendly match with the Moscow team

Coach Mikhail Koman, who was then working with the Dynamo reserve, suggested that the next day at 11.00 I should be at the Dynamo stadium, from where the team’s players were leaving for the training base.

Imagine the feelings of a ninth-grader, and even a student shorter than a meter with a cap, who is offered to train with Dynamo Kyiv! The next day at home, I still couldn’t find a suitable bag, so I took a school leatherette folder with a broken lock, stuffed my old sneakers into it, and off I went. I arrived at Dynamo about ten minutes before the appointed time. I hid behind a tree: the bus was already standing, the football players began to approach. Everything is strictly in chain of command. First - a double: Rudakov, Sosnikhin, Levchenko, Medvid... My knees have already begun to tremble. And when the Dynamo stars began to approach so imposingly, one after another hiding in the belly of the bus, some kind of animal fear just seized... Biba! Sabo! Serebryanikov! Lobanovsky! Bazilevich! Turyanchik! Ostrovsky! Shchegolkov! For me they were just football gods come to earth. Exactly at 11.00 the bus door closed with a creak - and the gods left for training. I came out from behind the tree and trudged home, cursing myself for my cowardice and quite sincerely believing that fate would not give me a second chance to get on this bus... But fate turned out to be favorable. About a week after that shameful flight, I accidentally met Byshovets, with whom we lived nearby, although we studied at different schools: “What’s wrong with you? Every day coaches ask me: where did this guy go?” Tolya’s words calmed me down and helped me overcome my fear.”

Usually every player remembers his debut in big football for the rest of his life. Vladimir Fedorovich also remembers his first game in the USSR Championship as part of Dynamo Kyiv very well. It was a meeting in Tashkent with the local Pakhtakor in 1965. The match turned out to be difficult then, the Kiev team won 2:1. Everyone praised Muntean, even then noting the qualities in him that would soon make him everyone’s favorite.

The then head coach of the Dynamo team (Kyiv), Viktor Aleksandrovich Maslov, had fantastic intuition and wisdom. Moreover, this concerned not only Maslov’s improbable foresight of the ways of developing football, without exaggeration, on a global scale (suffice it to recall the tactical revolution in the transition of Dynamo Kiev to the 4-4-2 playing system, which he started two years earlier than the British did in triumphant for them in 1966), but also his foresight associated with the prospects of each player who was at his disposal. It was he who recognized the “golden boy” of Dynamo Kyiv in the skinny-looking ninth-grader Volodya Muntyan. These were the kind of players the team needed back then.

In 1966, the “golden era” of Dynamo Kyiv began, when a group of yesterday’s understudies, and Vladimir Muntyan among them, replaced the five leading Dynamo players who had left for the World Cup. That year, the people of Kiev made a “double” - they won gold medals in the national championship and the USSR Cup. By the age of 22, Muntean had already become the champion of the USSR three times, which no other football player had achieved at that age, and by the end of his career he had won a total of 7 gold medals at the USSR championships - a collection that was subsequently collected only by another great player - Oleg Blokhin.

According to most football experts, Dynamo Kyiv midfielder Vladimir Muntyan is one of the most prominent figures in Soviet and European football in the late 1960s and first half of the 1970s. As V.V. wrote Lobanovsky in his book “Endless Match”, this midfielder, who had a unique style and a unique vision of the game, demonstrated “impeccable technique, cat-like soft handling of the ball, excellent coordination, the ability to instantly make the right decisions and at the same time deliver an accurate swipe. He was not forbidden to use his best individual qualities. On the contrary, his unpredictable moves, which only his partners understood, perfectly complemented the team game, giving it brightness, elegance, and some charm.” In the star lineup of Dynamo Kyiv V.F. Muntean played for more than 10 years, from 1965 to 1977, played 302 matches in national championships and scored 57 goals. He played 49 matches for the USSR national team and scored 7 goals (3 from the penalty spot). In 1970, he had the opportunity to take part in the final part of the World Cup in Mexico. However, a very special place in his rich playing biography is occupied, of course, by the match with the Hungarian Ferencvaros in the final of the Cup Winners' Cup, which took place in May 1975 in Basel.

“Yes, this match is simply beyond competition! – Vladimir Fedorovich recalls with pleasure. – Holding the European Cup in your hands is, in my opinion, the dream of any football player. But I don’t agree with some of my former teammates, who now, from a considerable distance of time, present that final as something of an easy walk: they say, it was already clear to everyone that Dynamo was stronger than Ferencvaros. Probably, a priori, we really were superior to the Hungarians in class, but this still had to be proven, and anything can happen in cup matches.”

V.F. played his last game in the USSR Championship. Muntean spent the fall of 1977 in Yerevan. After that, he was going to part with big sports and devote himself to scientific work. While still a player, he graduated from the Institute of Physical Education and the Faculty of Law of Kyiv State University, then – graduate school at the Faculty of International Relations, although he never defended his Ph.D. However, in the spring of 1978, he was called to Moscow by the chairman of the Dynamo Central Committee, Bogdanov, and offered to move to Dynamo Moscow, promising to be awarded the rank of major. Muntean thanked the Dynamo boss for the invitation and prospects for career growth and politely refused.

A week after this trip, an event occurred that almost had the most fatal impact on his future fate. The car driven by Vladimir Muntyan got into terrible accident, as a result of which the person sitting in the cabin next to him died. Vladimir Fedorovich himself ended up in the hospital for a long time with fractures of two vertebrae and many other injuries. At this time, a criminal case was opened. Immediately, without even understanding anything, they took away the party card, and a dispatch came from Moscow signed by First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Churbanov: “Dismiss Captain Muntyan from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”

Six months later, the case was closed due to lack of evidence of a crime. A technical examination of the car, which was carried out by specialists from Tolyatti who came to Kyiv, showed that the steering column had a serious manufacturing defect, which was the real cause of the accident.

Despite the commission’s conclusions, Churbanov did not cancel his hasty order, and Muntean had to turn from a military captain into an army captain. At the suggestion of the head of the Kyiv SKA Viktor Pyanykh, he became a player-coach in the army team with the prospect of taking the place of the main one next season - Alexei Mamykin, who was going to return to Moscow.

Of course, he had offers from various teams, but Vladimir Muntean decided to go into the shadows for some period. He put on a military uniform and began working at the Kiev Higher Military Tank Engineering School at the physical training department of the faculty for training foreign specialists. He managed to create a decent team, which began to compete in various competitions. He also began to engage in social activities: he was nominated to the position of chairman of the Kyiv City Football Federation, a member of the presidium of the Football Federation of Ukraine.

One day, General Yuri Aleksandrovich Nyrkov came to Kyiv from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR - former footballer Moscow CDKA, Honored Master of Sports. He invited Muntean to go work abroad. Vladimir Fedorovich agreed and left through the Ministry of Defense to train an army team in Madagascar. In the third year, his team became the national champion for the first time, and Muntean was awarded the Madagascar Order of Achievement. But Vladimir Fedorovich decided not to renew the contract and returned to his homeland.

Since 1989, he worked in his previous place at a tank school, and in 1992, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he retired from the Armed Forces due to his length of service. He again began to engage in public activities in the Football Federation of Ukraine, becoming deputy chairman of the federation. And soon he was appointed head coach of the Ukrainian Olympic team.

In 1994, the games for a ticket to the Olympics in Atlanta began. But in December of the same year, Muntean suddenly left the post of senior coach of the national team and went to Africa again, this time to Guinea as head coach of the national team. Many then perceived his decision with obvious misunderstanding: after all, the Ukrainian Olympic team was doing well in its qualifying group, and its main players were Shovkovsky, Vashchuk, Parfenov, Kriventsov, Koval, Krukovets, Kardash, Kosovsky, Shevchenko, Rebrov, Gennady Moroz, Pushkutsa, Prudius – even then they could be used in the national team.

V.F. himself Muntean, when asked what prompted him to leave a very promising team in the winter of 1994, which was also the leader in the qualifying cycle with 9 points out of 9 possible, and go to Guinea, answers this way: “Probably, I just didn’t have enough endurance and patience, and the situation in Ukrainian football in those years required, first of all, these qualities from the national team coach. It was the lack of attention to the players that was the straw that broke the cup of patience. Back then, when the head coaches of the national and Olympic teams received $18 a month, and there was not even football uniform, this decision seemed to me the only correct one. The Muntean Foundation was created. But everything that was in the fund’s account went to the salary of an assistant, a massage therapist, a doctor... Bonuses were also paid to the players from these amounts. Nobody allocated money for the national team!”

In Guinea, V.F. Muntean spent 4 years (in 1998 his team reached the final tournament of the African Cup). After an African business trip, he took the helm of the Cherkasy football club and undertook to lead this team to the top league of the Ukrainian championship. In principle, he completed this task. However, changes in the championship regulations left the club in the first division. After that, he was invited to be the head coach at Tavriya Simferopol, which was faced with the task of staying in the major league. Vladimir Fedorovich worked with this team for less than 4 months and immediately after the end of the 1999/00 Ukrainian Championship he received a payment - without any comments from the club management...

After leaving Tavriya V.F. Muntean coached a number of teams in Ukraine and Russia: in 2000/01 - Kyiv Obolon, in 2001/02 - football club"Alania" (Vladikavkaz), in 2003/04 - "Krivbass" (Krivoy Rog), in 2004/05 - "Vorskla" (Poltava).

In 2007, he took over the Dynamo Kyiv youth team and, without interrupting his work with the Dynamo Kiev team, was appointed acting coach of the Ukrainian youth team.

He worked as chairman of the committee of national teams of the Football Federation of Ukraine.

Since 2011 - curator of the youth team of Dynamo Kyiv and the Ukrainian U-19 youth team. Performs a large social workload. From April 2007 to the present, Vladimir Fedorovich has been the president of the Ukrainian Football Veterans Association. Looking back, Vladimir Fedorovich often warmly recalls his main mentor, Viktor Aleksandrovich Maslov: “Grandfather (as he was called behind his back on the team) is a huge layer in my life, and it’s difficult to find suitable words in order to appreciate everything that was connected with him. I myself became a coach largely thanks to the desire to be at least somewhat like him.”

Vladimir Muntyan is one of best trainers in the history of Ukrainian football in working with youth. Under Vladimir Muntean, the following people passed through the youth team: famous players like Andrey Shevchenko, Sergey Rebrov, Alexander Shovkovsky, Vladislav Vashchuk, Yuriy Dmitrulin, Vitaly Kosovsky, Dmitry Parfenov, Vitaly Pushkutsa, Valery Kriventsov, Evgeny Selin, Nikolay Morozyuk and many others, who later became the leaders of the first national team of Ukraine. In the youth team of Dynamo Kyiv, Vladimir Fedorovich worked with Andrei Yarmolenko, Roman Zozulya, Evgeniy Khacheridi, who are the leaders of the first national team of the country and leading clubs in Ukraine.

V.F. Muntyan is an Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, Honored Coach of Ukraine, winner of the Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Super Cup of the 1974/75 season, seven-time champion of the USSR (1966–1968, 1971, 1974–1975, 1977), silver medalist of the Soviet Union Championship (1969, 1972 –1973, 1976), winner of the USSR Cup (1966, 1974). In 1969 he was recognized as the best football player of the Soviet Union. In 1970 he participated in the World Championships in Mexico, in 1972 and 1976 in the European Championships.

Vladimir Fedorovich is interested in music, photography, and chess.