On February 1st 1951 came the birth of Myron Bohdanovych Markevych. In the Western Region of Ukraine, from the small town of Vynnyky, few people would have bet on Myron Markevych going on to hold the record for most games managed in the Ukrainian Premier League (UPL).
Like the majority of football managers Markevych began his career as a player. At a young age Markevych became a student at the Karpaty Lviv football school, where under the supervision of the Karpaty Lviv youth team trainer (his father Bohdan Markevych) Myron worked hard to and began to develop as a midfielder.
Having just seen Karpaty’s first team coming back as Champions of the USSR Cup and gaining promotion to the Soviet Top League in 1969, it wasn’t until 1970 when the 20 year old Markevych was called up to the Karpaty Lviv reserve team. Even in the reserve team he struggled to cement a first team place and was more often than not utilised as a substitute. In a frustrating 2 years, Markevych then joined the lower leagued side SKA Lviv where he spent one season. From here he moved to Russian side FC Alania Vladikavkaz for another short spell before moving back to Ukraine, to Torpedo Lutsk. It was here where Markevych saw out his final years in a not so illustrious playing career and retired at the young age of 26.
Clearly not shaken by any of the struggles he had as a player, Markevych turned to education. It was from 1977, until he finally graduated in 1983 where he graduated from the Lviv Physical Culture Institute and Higher Coaching School in Moscow where he successfully passed his exams and also became fluent in English and Polish.
Not wasting any time, Markevych went straight back to the beautiful game and became the manager of Torpedo Lutsk at the age of 33. It was here, a determined Markevych was to finally find his place in football. A 3 year spell at Lutsk saw him gain his first experience in management before moving to Kryvbas Kryvyj Rih for one season in 1990 where Markevych secured a solid 4th place in the Soviet High League.
Markevych then returned to the team where he started his managing career, however this time under the team name of Volyn Lutsk. Markevych spent the 1991-1992 season in the Ukrainian Premier League, finishing 5th.
Still searching for some silverware and achievements in his career, Markevych impressed enough at his previous two clubs and was snapped up by FC Karpaty Lviv. Although he may have never played for the first team, he was given the responsibility of managing the team instead. In 3 stints as manager of FC Karpaty Lviv (1992-95, 1996-98, 2002-04) it is here where he spent the majority of his time.
His time at Karpaty was successful, which saw him take his teams to the final of the Ukrainian Cup in 1993 and 1999, (unfortunately losing 2-1 to Dynamo Kyiv, of which one of the Kyiv scorers was legend Viktor Leonenko in 1993) qualifying for the European Cup Winners’ Cup, (getting knocked out to Irish team Shelbourne in the first qualifying round), with the highest finish of 3rd place in the Ukrainian Premier League in the 1997-1998 season.
In between the gaps at Karpaty, Markevych had very brief spells at second division side FC Podillya Khmelnytskyi (1995), and a second stint at Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih (1996). From 1999-2001, Markevych coached Ukrainian Premier League side Metalurh Zaporizhya, finishing 6th in the 2000-01 season and another brief stint at Russian Premier League side Anzhi Makhachkala in 2002. In this time, Markevych also spent time shadowing Fabio Capello, Carlo Ancelotti and Christophe Daum.
Gaining the experience over the years, it was in 2005 when a now 54 year old Markevych was signed by Metalist Kharkiv. Here Markevych turned Metalist into a top side not only in the domestic league but a dark horse, not to be taken lightly in Europe too. Metalist also gained on the “big two” in Ukraine and in 2012/13 season became the first side to break the Dynamo/Shakhtar dominance as they finished 2nd, forcing the Kyiv club into third. This was a great moment of triumph for Metalist as it brought Champions League football to the club for the first time.
During his spell, which coincided with the reign of Oleksandr Yaroslavskyi, Metalist became one of the strongest teams in the country and respected in Europe and invested heavily in the flair players of South America, somewhat copying the style of Shakhtar. Metalist also moved into the revamped stadium, which further showed the progress the side was making.
During his spell at Metalist, Markevych saw his highest achievement come on February 1st 2010 when he took charge of Ukraine’s National Side, whilst remaining head coach at Metalist. His initial contract should have seen him taking Ukraine into this summer’s EURO 2012 championships, but such is not the case anymore after a highly controversial moment in Ukraine and Markevych’s career.
Having managed just 4 games (winning 3 and drawing 1) Markevych left his unbeaten post and announced that he was leaving his job “on moral grounds”, alleging that the club he also coached, Metalist Kharkiv, were the victims of bias on the part of senior officials in the Ukraine football federation (FFU). Markevych hinted that FFU head Hryhoriy Surkis, who’s brother Hrihoriy is the owner of Dynamo Kyiv, plotted a points deduction for Metalist to improve Dynamo’s chances of participating in Europe in 2011. The great Andriy Shevchenko had the following to say:
“I had developed excellent, warm relations with him. It is a great pity that Myron Bohdanovych (Markevych) took the decision. But it was his to make.”
The scandal which led to Markevychs’ resignation from Ukraine took longer to resolve for Metalist. Despite the FFU finding Metalist and Karpaty guilty the case went to CAS after an appeal. In the meantime, Metalist continued to improve, finishing third every season between 2007 until 2012 and reaching the quarter final of the 2011/12 Europa League. As mentioned in 2012/13 the improvement continued as they finished second to Shakhtar and claimed the Champions League spot.
Unfortunately for Markevych, CAS ruled against Metalist and UEFA ordered them to be banned from UEFA competition for one season. This meant they were excluded from the 2013/14 Champions League much to the dismay of Ukrainian football fans. Despite another solid UPL performance that season, which Metalist finished 3rd again, this time behind Shakhtar and Dnipro off the field issues were causing serious problems at Metalist and as a result of himself and his players not receiving payments, he resigned from the club in February 2014. During his time at the club he made Metalist one of the best teams in the country and if things would have stayed positive off the field, who knows what he may have achieved with them. As it was, his time came to and end but he will always be remembered as one, if not the best Metalist manager of all time.
Markevych returned to management only a few months later when it was announced he was replacing Juande Ramos as manager of FC Dnipro. He inherited a side who had finished 2nd in the UPL but he could not guide Dnipro into the Champions League as they failed in the qualifying stages to FC Copenhagen. He had much greater success however in the Europa League as he guided Dnipro on an amazing run which eventually saw them lose to Seville in the Final in one of the most memorable runs in the tournaments history. He solidified himself as a legend of Ukrainian management and was ultimately unlucky to not land the trophy he so desperately craves. In his first full UPL season with Dnipro he once again guided one of his teams to third place in the UPL.
He continues to coach Dnipro, but at the start of the 2015/16 season, once again off field issues appear to be causing most concern for Markevych. The conflict in Eastern Ukraine and the economic crises means that funding is not as clear cut for Dnipro anymore and he tendered his resignation, only for it to be rejected early in the season.
Markevych was awarded an order of the 3d degree “For great achievements”. He is arguably the best Ukrainian coach around at the moment with over 500 Premier League matches under his belt making him a record setter in his own right and is only a matter of time before he wins his first trophy.
Myron Bohdanovych Markevych welcome to the Viktor Leonenko Hall of Fame.
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Profile by Stepan Luczka, committee member of the UK Ukrainian Sports Supporters Club and co-founder of the Viktor Leonenko Hall of Fame. Stepan is also a pilot.
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