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Oleg Volodymyrovych Blokhin born November 5 , 1952 in Kiev (then in the Soviet Union , but now the Ukrainian capital) is a Ukrainian Soccer Coach , and was formerly a Striker for the USSR National Football Team . He was named European Footballer Of The Year in 1975 . A former Dynamo Kiev player, Blokhin is the USSR national championship's all-time leader and goalscorer with 211 goals, as well as making more appearances than any other player with 432 appearances. He won the championship 8 times. He led Dynamo to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1975 and 1986 . Blokhin is the USSR national football team's most capped payer with 112 caps, as well as their all time leading goalscorer with 42 goals, he played in the 1982 and 1986 Football World Cups . He was one of the first Soviet players to play abroad, signing for Austria 's Vorwaerts Steyr in 1988, he also played in Greece with Aris . After retiring as a player, Blokhin coached Greek clubs Olympiakos , PAOK , and Ionikos . He has been serving as the head coach of the Ukrainian National Team since September 2003. Under his leadership, Ukraine qualified for the 2006 World Cup . At the end of 2005, Oleg Blokhin was recognized as one of the 10 best football coaches of the world. In 2002 Oleg Blokhin was elected to Verkhovna Rada ( Ukraine 's Parliament ) for a second term. In October 2002 he joined the United Social Democratic Party Of Ukraine . Recently Oleg has showed no political activity, concentrating on his coaching job. Blokhin was married to Iryna Deryugina , the prominent Soviet/Ukrainian Gymnast and world champion in free-stand exercise, but the couple divorced in early 1990s . They have a daughter. RACISM Blokhin has been accused of racism in the past. In a recent World Soccer article he claimed the following: "The more Ukranians who play in the national league, the more examples for the young generation. "Let them learn from a Shevchenko or a Blokhin and not from some Zumba-Bumba whom they took off a tree, gave him two bananas and now he plays in the Ukrainian league." |
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