Viktor Bannikov

Club

Bannikov was born in one of the villages in Zhytomyrschyna, Ukrainian SSR, to ethnic Russian parents. He started his career with Avanhard Zhytomyr. In 1959 Lev Misozhnik, the coach of the local Avanhard Chernihiv football team, was fascinated Victor so much that he gladly agreed to try himself in a new capacity. Finally make a decision in favor of football, according to Viktor Bannikov, he was forced by purely mundane considerations. He made his debut at the age of 20 in the Soviet Second League, an impressive achievement considering many teams still preferred an experienced pair of hands between the sticks. In the mean time the team changed the name to Desna Chernihiv. In 1961 he moved to Kyiv where he spent 8 years of his playing career for Dynamo. During this time he was considered one of the best players, and together with Dynamo he won the championships in 1967 and 1968. Also he was the member of the Soviet national team that took fourth place at the 1966 FIFA World Cup. As the member of the Kyivan club he also was the holder of the Soviet Cup in 1964 and 1966. In 1968, he made a record that never was broken in the Soviet football by goalkeeping for 1122 minutes without conceding a single goal. In 1972 now with Torpedo Moscow he also won the Soviet Cup competition.

International

In his 14 international representations for his country, he allowed 13 goals and won only six of them. Over his international career, Bannikov served as a back-up…

Club

Notes:

The table includes league and cup competitions of the All-Union level (Class A and Class B). It does not include competitions of republican level. The 12 seasons totals include all games at the top tier, Soviet Cup, and European competitions.

International

During his playing career, five times he was named to the symbolic dream team (33 of the best) which was picked on an annual basis. At the end of the 1970s he was on the coaching positions for couple of Ukrainian teams. In 1963, he earned the distinguished master of sport of USSR award. He held a title of a distinguished coach of the Ukrainian SSR. He had initiated the first official match for the Ukraine national football team. He had been awarded the Ruby Order of UEFA "For service". He dedicated his whole life to football and particularly to the development of the Ukrainian football.

Football functionary

From 1991 to 1996 he was elected as the president of the Football Federation of Ukraine and until 2001 he stayed there as the vice-president.

In his interview to the Soviet sports magazine "Futbol-Khokey" in 1970, Bannikov told that he lost his father early in life who perished in the war. He also said that with his mother they returned to Zhytomyr in 1946 when he was 8. As a teenager he had to work at a shoe factory, while attending school. About his sports interest, at first Bannikov was involved in track and field, particularly the high jump being able to clear 195 m (640 ft) height. He also participated in basketball and volleyball. As a basketballer, Bannikov received the GTO 1st Class achievement award (Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR). To football Bannikov arrived by random occurrence when some passerby who introduced himself as Lev Misiozhnik invited him to a factory team that he was managing in the position of a goalkeeper. And at the age of 20, Bannikov entered the realm of association football. Following his first game for a factory team he ended up in a hospital receiving concussion during his collision with a forward.