Information was confirmed, and on January 14, the product of Lviv football, who has lived in England for the last six years, was presented to journalists. Luzhny, who will turn 37 this year, will not just be a head coach. He will both manage the team and take to the field (a so-called player-coach). The former Dynamo Kyiv defender received the number two shirt (it was under this number that the footballer played during the Ukrainian period of his career). And Luzhny's assistant at Venta, which represents the port city of Ventspils and is a newcomer to Latvia's elite division, will be another football specialist well known in Ukraine – Volodymyr Zhuravchak.
The more experienced Zhuravchak will most likely have to provide advisory assistance to Luzhny, who is gradually transitioning to a coaching position, and together with him make Venta a serious team. After all, the demands of the Ventspils club are quite serious. The club's management (one of them is Ross Akments, a native of Odesa) is seriously intent on inviting fairly well-known Latvian footballers who have recently played outside Latvia. Well, we will carefully follow the first attempts of Oleh Luzhny – undoubtedly one of the best Ukrainian footballers of the past decade – to try his luck in coaching.
Meanwhile, let us recall that a few months ago, Ukraine's national team head coach Oleh Blokhin offered Luzhny the chance to become a coach. But the footballer, who was going through a crisis of form (clearly lacking match practice), refused—saying he wanted to play a bit more. In 2004, Luzhny indeed had serious problems: at Wolverhampton he did not get the playing time he expected, and his search for a club where this shortcoming could be remedied dragged on. After leaving Wolverhampton in the summer, Luzhny took a pause, but there was still no certainty. Oleh refused to play outside the Premier League, did not agree to proposals to return to Ukraine (Karpaty and Dynamo, clubs not alien to him, were mentioned), and did not want to consider the "paradise for football pensioners" option—Qatar.
Against this backdrop, Latvia also does not look particularly glamorous. But apparently, in this situation Luzhny got exactly what he was looking for—the opportunity to enjoy playing at a decent level and gradually move into coaching. Interestingly, Luzhny is far from the first player from the Ukraine national team of the mid-90s who has already become a coach.
Not much earlier, this was done by Yuriy Kalitvyntsev (coaching Ukraine's youth national team), Viktor Skrypnyk (working at Germany's Werder), Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko, Oleh Kuznetsov, Hennadiy Lytovchenko, Volodymyr Sharan, Serhiy Shmatovalenko, Serhiy Lezhentsev, Serhiy Kovalets, Volodymyr Horylyi, and Ihor Zhabchenko (all working in Ukraine). Let's see how they get on, and in the meantime, let us recall how England and the British period of life were remembered by Oleh Luzhny.
Let us recall that the Dynamo Kyiv captain left for London's Arsenal after a very successful season for the Ukrainian club—1998/99—when the Dynamo players, led by Valeriy Lobanovskyi, were supposed to reach the Champions League final but lost most unfortunately to Bayern Munich in the semifinal. By the way, Luzhny might have ended up not at Arsenal at all, but at Lisbon's Benfica, which had shown interest in the Ukrainian defender a little earlier. But having almost concluded an agreement for the transfer of the player, the Portuguese were forced to admit that their financial situation was not prosperous enough to afford the luxury of buying one of Dynamo Kyiv's leading players.
They said goodbye to Benfica, and apparently Luzhny does not regret it in the least. Because London is London, and that says it all. Moreover, Arsenal is a great club with which Oleh experienced many pleasant moments, winning the English championship, winning the FA Cup, and playing in the Champions League again.
"It is quite possible that I will settle with my family in London," Luzhny mused quite recently. "It is an amazing city. Kyiv is also beautiful, but I think London is better. Moreover, it is much bigger, with many parks here—both in the center and on the outskirts.
Compared to Kyiv, I have much more free time in the English capital, because local teams did not practice and do not practice multi-day training camps. We have managed to see practically all the sights of London, as we often walk around the city as a family. There is plenty to see here—Madame Tussauds Museum, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Barbican Centre, Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge. Have I seen the Queen? Yes, but only on TV so far.
We do not live in the center, but in the area where Arsenal is based. Many of our footballers prefer to buy housing there. After all, if you leave central London and hit traffic, you can drive to the training ground for two hours. We do not have an apartment but a house. And not a company house, but our own.
Am I a well-off person by London standards? That is hard to determine. I do not know what criteria everyone has and how much money anyone needs for complete happiness. We have enough, we can afford to go out for dinner at a restaurant, buy something. Although life in London is very expensive, the standard of living is also very high."
The Luzhny family also includes the lady of the house, Eleonora—a Kyivite from Bereznyaky—and two daughters: eleven-year-old Olia and eight-year-old Kristina. Both attend an English Catholic school, and they know English better than Ukrainian, although at home the Luzhnys usually speak only Ukrainian.
Oleh is a big patriot of Ukraine. When hundreds of thousands of Viktor Yushchenko's supporters rallied on the main square of Ukraine's capital, Luzhny actively participated in support actions in London. During the performance of Ukraine's anthem before a match, his national team teammates mostly stood in silence, while the national team captain always sang along.
“Was I offended when the national team guys didn’t support me?” says Oleh. “That’s everyone’s personal business. I couldn’t just gather everyone and order: ‘Learn the Ukrainian anthem immediately!’ I know that I need the anthem of Ukraine. But I’m not going to impose my opinion on anyone or advise them to learn the words.”
And Luzhnyi, as it turned out, is very devout: “Indeed, almost every Sunday our family can be seen in a London Greek Catholic church. We definitely visit places where one can touch God. I’m glad I taught my daughters to go to church. Both attend a Catholic English-language school for girls. But don’t think it’s a monastery. It’s a regular school with a religious orientation. Every day classes begin and end with prayer. I don’t regret sending my children there. There are no more than 15 pupils per class, and teachers have the opportunity to give maximum attention to each student.
And on Saturdays the Ukrainian diaspora has organized its own school, and my daughters attend it too. In the family we communicate in Ukrainian, but the same communication at school, even if only once a week, won’t hurt the children. On Sundays Krystyna and Olya are off, so sometimes they go to football. They often follow Arsenal’s game when I’m on the pitch.”
“It really is a completely different school,” Oleh shared his impressions. “There are no stays at the base; we only go there to train and swim in the pool. There aren’t even rooms; nobody sleeps during the day. The only thing that was hard to get used to was the early start of matches: the game is at three, so by ten we have to be at the stadium.
Arsenal’s coach – the Frenchman Arsène Wenger – I personally like very much both as a coach and as a person. Extremely well-mannered, judicious, intelligent. I believe that is exactly what a coach should be like. Wenger never panics, never shouts, never jumps up from the bench. And why add to the tension? After all, running to the touchline, appealing to the referees, waving your arms won’t help and won’t change anything. And besides, a footballer won’t hear you anyway. In England, 40,000 fans at the stadium make so much noise that you can’t hear your teammate two metres away, let alone the coach.
Wenger is just as calm after matches and at training sessions. That is probably why there was always a good atmosphere in our dressing room. He has an individual approach to each of his charges. Before training he will always ask how things are, how you’re feeling. The match schedule is very intense, and if Wenger sees that a footballer is tired, he may give him a few days off. Once I played four matches in 12 days, and the coach suggested I take two “days off”, but I refused – I felt fine.
Why did I once lead the London team out as captain? In that match the team’s acknowledged leaders, Vieira and Seaman, did not play, so Wenger said I should take the armband. How do so many players from different countries get along with the local players at Arsenal? It’s very simple: Brits are very hospitable people and treat foreigners extremely kindly. It happens that only one Englishman appears on the pitch, the rest are foreign players. But there are no conflicts or dirty looks from local footballers, journalists or fans whatsoever.
At first, significant language problems got in the way. My English was at the level of a school curriculum: that amount of knowledge was enough for maybe two sentences. I had to study, and I worked with a tutor. It was very difficult at first, but soon I began to communicate without problems. At everyday level everything was fine, and I even gave interviews to English journalists without an interpreter.”
Well, Luzhnyi has already proved that he can adapt depending on circumstances, blend into a new environment, yet remain the same self-assured person, patriotic and religious. I believe that in his new place – in Ventspils – things will go well for him. And Ukraine will be able to be proud of another football specialist of hers.
From the dossier “Zagranitsa”
Oleh Luzhnyi. Born on 5 August 1968 in Lviv. Defender. Master of Sports of international class. A product of the Youth Sports School of Lviv’s Karpaty. First coach – Yuri Dyachuk-Stavitsky. Played for the teams: Torpedo Lutsk (1985-1988), SKA Karpaty Lviv (1988), Dynamo Kyiv (1989-1999), Arsenal London, England (1999-2003), Wolverhampton, England (2003-2004).
In the Ukrainian championship he played 186 matches, scored 13 goals; in the USSR championship – 67 matches; in the English championship – 80 matches. USSR champion in 1990. Bronze medalist of the USSR championship in 1989. Ukrainian champion in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999. Silver medalist of the Ukrainian championship in 1992. English champion in 2002. Silver medalist of the English championship in 2000, 2001 and 2003.
Winner of the USSR Cup in 1990. Winner of the Ukrainian Cup in 1993, 1996, 1998 and 1999. Winner of the FA Cup in 2002 and 2003. Finalist of the FA Cup in 2001. Semi-finalist of the Champions League in 1999.
He played 73 matches in European competitions. He played 8 matches for the USSR national team in 1989-1990, and 52 matches for the Ukraine national team in 1992-2003. Participant of qualifying tournaments for the 1990 World Cup (4 games), 1998 World Cup (8), 2002 World Cup (11), Euro 1996 (8), Euro 2000 (10), Euro 2004 (6).