Andriy Andriyovych Biba is a former Ukrainian footballer acknowledged as one the greatest midfielders Eastern Europe has ever produced. The attacking midfielder, renown for a howitzer short was a vital part of the Dynamo Kyiv team that broke the monopoly of the Moscow clubs on the Soviet League in 1961. Following numerous management roles after hanging up his boots, he is currently earning as pension working as a scout for Dynamo Kyiv.
Born in Kyiv on the 10th August 1937 Biba joined local youth side FC Spark in 1953, moving to another youth side FSHM Kyiv the following year. It wasn’t until he was 20, when then head coach of Dynamo Kyiv Oleh Oshemkov invited him to join his side in 1957 that Biba’s career took off. His debut would be against a highly acclaimed Zenit St Petersburg and Biba showed his class, scoring with what would become a trademark thunderbolt strike with unnerving accuracy.
Over the next few seasons Biba would establish himself as the fulcrum of Dynamo’s attack, as the side tried in vain to break the stronghold of Moscow sides on the Soviet League. All was to change in 1961, under the management of Vyacheslav Solvyov, Dynamo developed a winning psychology and indeed won their first title, and indeed the first time the title had been won by a club from outside of Moscow. Though they would have to wait until a Soviet Cup success in 1964 for their next piece of silverware, the Dynamo Kyiv side would go on to establish themselves as a real force in Soviet football. The Guardian journalist Jonathon Wilson described Biba’s role in the side as the equivalent of Manchester United legend “Bobby Charlton’s role in Alf Ramsey’s England side.”
1965 would be a historic year for Biba, after representing the USSR’s Olympic side (4 games, 2 goals) in a failed qualifying campaign for the 1964 Olympics he would earn his one and only cap for the full Soviet Union side, in a loss to a Pele inspired Brazil in July 1965. However it would be the 12th September 1965 that Biba would forever remember, as he became the first Ukrainian player and indeed the first player from the Soviet Union to score in European club competition after scoring the first in a 6-1 demolition of Northern Irelands Coleraine.
If 1985 was about creating history 1986 was Biba’s best on the football field. Dynamo Kyiv secured their first ever League and Cup double. Although the Soviet football authorities somehow omitted him from their World Cup squad, he would earn the Title of the Ukrainian player of the year as consolation, in recognition of the part he had played for Dynamo’s incredible season. Biba again would be instrumental as Kyiv won the league for a 3rd season in a row in 1967, a feat never to be achieved again in the Soviet league. The 3rd of his league titles was to be Biba’s last achievements at Dynamo as after 247 appearances and 69 goals for the side and at the age of 30 he was set to take up a coaching role with the club.
During the first week of pre-season training for the 1958 season in Crimea, Biba realised he was not yet ready to sit and watch as others played. After a few training sessions with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk – who were also preparing for the new season in Crimea a transfer was arranged (transfer were agreed at government level at his point). Biba stayed with Dnipro for 2 seasons, the second of which saw Valery Lobanovsky take his first steps in management. After 74 games for the club which included 15 goals Biba again called time on his career at the end of the 1969 season, although the lure of a few games for Desna Chernihiv brought him out of retirement briefly in 1970.
After his brief spell at Desna, Biba took to coaching, returning to Dynamo Kyiv as assistant in 1972. It was during his time as assistant at Kyiv that Biba was able to persuade Leonid Buryak to sign for Dynamo, a player who would go onto to become a legend in the blue and white shirt.
After a year at Kyiv Biba would hold the assistant managers role at former club at Dnipro and Tavriya before stepping into management at Spartak Zhytomur in 1980. A succession of clubs would follow; Vuhlyk Horlivka, Podilya Khmelnytskyi, Naftovyk Okhtyrka and a return to Zhytomyr, before Biba retired as a manager and became a scout for Dynamo Kyiv in 1997. Alongside other roles such as the chair of the veterans association, Biba continues in this role to this day!
Andriy Biba, eastern Europe’s very own Bobby Charlton and the first Ukrainian to score in European competion we welcome you into the Viktor Leonenko Hall of Fame
Andriy Biba’s Varenyky Rating:
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