Mykhaylo Ivanovich Fomenko was born in the Sumy region of Ukraine, on 19th September, 1948. Throughout his career Fomenko played in defence and midfield and in particular starred for Dynamo Kyiv. After his playing career Fomenko has had a long spell in coaching, with various clubs and was Ukraine head coach between 2012 and 2016.
Fomenko’s playing career began in his home region with Spartak Sumy. He signed with the club in 1965 and spent four years there. Fomenko played as a centre-back; he was tall, agile and brave and commanded the penalty area. He was a player of great discipline and could read the game very well. His aerial ability was a key part of his game and allowed him to intercept many crosses. He was renowned for his fighting spirit and his team mate, goalkeeper Yevhen Rudakov commented that Fomenko was one player who would always give his all and was a spirited fighter.
Hhe made a transfer to Zorya Voroshilovgrad (now Zorya Luhansk) and Fomenko established himself as an elite defender at the highest level in the Soviet Union. In the two years Fomenko spent with Zorya he made 59 appearances and scored one goal. He left Zorya ahead of no doubt their greatest achievement when Zorya won the top division for the only time in their history in 1972. This was only the second time a Ukrainian side had won the top division after Dynamo Kyiv’s multiple successes.
He left Zorya securing a move to Ukraine’s top club and one of the powerhouses of Soviet football, Dynamo Kyiv. Finishing in the silver position in 1972 behind Zorya, Dynamo again finished 2nd behind Ararat Yerevan in 1973, but the golden times soon came for Fomenko. He became an integral part of the Dynamo Kyiv defence along with the likes of Dotsenko, Troshkina and Matvienko. In his 6 years with Dynamo, Fomenko racked up a host of silverwear, this included 3 Soviet High League crowns, 2 Soviet Cups and he was part of the famous UEFA Cup Winners Cup and Super Cup triumphs of 1975.
Fomenko made his debut for the USSR in 1972 and began a regular player for the Soviet Union national team, appearing 24 times in total for the USSR, including 5 times for the Olympic side which won the bronze medal in 1976. Fomenko was highly respected and captained the USSR side for a friendly against Hungary.
In 1978, Fomenko’s career came to a premature end as he suffered with back problems. He stayed involved in the game and gained his coaching qualifications and became something of a journey man coach. He began his management career at Frunzenets Kyiv before joining the coaching team at Dynamo Kyiv. He worked under the guidance of Valeriy Lobanovskyi for 4 years before again heading solo in from 1985. Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Fomenko took charge of Desna Chernihiv, Kryvbass Kryviy Rih and Motorist Sumy; he even had a spell in Iraq, as coach of the Iraqi national team and Rashid Baghdad.
Following the creation of an independent Ukrainian Championship, Fomenko continued doing the rounds as a coach. Following the exit of Valeriy Lobanosvskyi, Fomenko had a spell back at Dynamo where he won the league and the cup in 1993 before heading to Veres Kyiv and had another spell abroad in 1994 as manager of Guinea. It was only a brief spell and Fomenko quickly returned to Kyiv taking charge of CSKA-Borysfen Kyiv. Over the next few years, Fomenko had spells with Metalist Kharkiv and the Kyiv club in its various forms. Fomenko did particularly well during his time at Metalist as he guided the club into the European Qualification stages.
Following these spells, Fomenko had a short tenure at Metalurg Zaporizhya, before joining Tavriya in 2006. Before being appointed as head coach of the Ukrainian National Team in 2012, Fomenko had another short spell abroad in Belgrade as manager of Salute.
After Oleh Blokhin left the post as the Ukrainian National Team Head Coach, despite being linked with foreign names such as Harry Redknapp and Sven-Goran Eriksson, FFU President Anatoliy Konkov named Mykhaylo Fomenko as manager on 26th December 2012. He was tasked with the aim of trying to turn Ukraine’s fortunes around in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 European Championships.
He took over from Blokhin with Ukraine struggling with only two points from the first three games and only one goal. He immediately turned Ukraine around and won the next four games, scoring 18 goals in the process including Ukraine’s record 9:0 victory against San Marino. The run came to an end with a 0:0 draw with England at the NSC Olympiyskyi which meant Ukraine needed England to slip up for a chance of Ukraine winning the group. Ukraine returned to winning ways in their next two games with victories against Poland and an 8:0 win against San Marino but England also got the results they needed so Ukraine were left with the play-offs.
Drawn against France, Ukraine continued the momentum they had shown in the group stage with a 2:o win in Kyiv to give themselves an excellent chance of qualification. Unfortunately the wheels well and truly came off for Fomenko’s team as they sufferec a 3:0 reversal in Paris and didn’t qualify for the tournament. Fomenko was given a stay of execution and tasked with qualifying for the extended Euro 2016. The campaign got off to a bad start with a defeat against Slovakia in Kyiv and Ukraine were on the back foot after this. Despite beating all the lesser sides in the group, Fomenko took only one point from the games against Spain and Slovakia which meant that Ukraine finished third and headed for the play-offs.
Fomenko became the first Ukriane Coach to win a play-off match as his side defeated Slovenia 3:1 on aggregate to qualify for Euro 2016. This meant he was also only the second Ukrainian manager to qualify for a major international tournament, following Oleh Blokhin.
Unfortunately, Euro 2016 didn’t go to plan for Ukraine as they lost every game and didn’t register a single goal. Ukraine lost 2:0 to Germany, 2:0 to Northern Ireland and 1:0 to Poland. It was Fomenko’s last act as head coach of Ukraine as he was replaced by Andriy Shevchenko at the end of the tournament.
Varenyky Rating:
Profile by Petro Chymera, Vice-President of the UK Ukrainian Sports Supporters Club and Co-founder of the Viktor Leonenko Hall of Fame. Follow Petro on twitter – @PMChymera89 & @DonetskWay2012
Donetsk Way 
24 thoughts on “Mykhaylo Ivanovich Fomenko”