The first foreigners during the existence of the USSR appeared on the territory of the great and inviolable [Union] a very long time ago - in the first half of the last century. Along with the country's new economic policy (known in history as the NEP), the appearance of foreign capital in the new Bolshevik state, intended to raise the Soviet Union's economy, foreign specialists also arrived.
There were also athletes among them. Or, as they were called then, physical culture workers. But the NEP era came to an end, and foreigners were politely asked to leave the USSR. True, not all of them. Refugees from the West (as well as from the Far and Middle East) were received especially cordially in the Land of Soviets, using their example to prove the progressiveness of the socialist path of development over the capitalist one. Ideology requires living examples. And it received them.
But this soon came to an end. Foreign footballers in the USSR were remembered only with the advent of perestroika and the transformation of the Iron Curtain into an elegant curtain. Legionnaires again became one of the signs of the present day.
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True, at first for all the republics that gained independence, the word "legionnaire" had one meaning for a long time - our man abroad. After all, after Anatoliy Zinchenko, Oleh Blokhin and Serhiy Shavlo left the USSR for Austria in the mid-1980s, the trickle of football export quickly turned into a full-flowing river. In just five years, several hundred fairly good-level footballers from the most football-developed ex-union republics found themselves abroad. The catastrophe that was inevitable when a huge gap in living standards and salaries between us and Western countries was discovered, forced the leaders of football clubs to find a way out of the situation - to seek funds and opportunities to at least not lose the best performers.
Time again proved to be the best healer. Gradually, the situation corrected itself. Clubs appeared in Ukraine capable of retaining the players they needed, and soon - of inviting foreigners to strengthen themselves. A peculiar arms race that began in the mid-1990s reached a new, higher-quality level with each turn. And it got to the point that at the beginning of the 21st century, exports began to give way to imports.
First Swallows
The first representatives of far abroad in Ukrainian clubs appeared back in the mid-1990s. But the arrival of German coach Bernd Stange, his compatriot Andreas Sassen, Brazilian Emerson, Kuwaiti Al-Sauhi, American Louis Berbari, Zairian Mafumba Mfilu, Guinean Al-Kali Souma were of a single nature. None of them stayed for long (although, it must be said, Stange had every reason to, but as a result of near-football intrigues, he was forced to say goodbye to Ukraine).
The above-mentioned legionnaires were true exotica for us, a beautiful advertising sign designed to attract fans to stadiums. However, in football terms, with the exception of Brazilian striker Emerson, who received the nickname Mercedes in Dnipropetrovsk, no one could boast of anything serious. And the German Sassen, who also played for Dnipro, turned out to be a drunkard who had long been abandoned in Germany.
One of the main obstacles in the adaptation of foreigners in a Ukrainian club was the simplest and most banal one - the language barrier. Solving it at first was extremely difficult. Forcing the legionnaires to learn Russian was not easy, because they did not intend to stay for long, preferring to earn money without much effort.
The Era of Imports
But when the club leadership realized that without legionnaires they could not achieve success - due to the psychological complex before the recognized leaders of domestic football, which almost all Ukrainian footballers who did not play in the best clubs experienced - it decided to shorten the distance from the grandees by attracting foreigners. They have a different mentality, they have no fear of authorities, and the football school is noticeably different from the Ukrainian one. And mandatory clauses about learning the Russian language began to appear in legionnaires' contracts.
The breakthrough came in 2000. The initiators of the arms race can confidently be considered Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk, which, fighting for the highest places in the championship and getting into the most prestigious international club tournament - the Champions League, began to invite not only representatives of the former USSR republics into their ranks. Competition - on the domestic and international arenas - obliged them to do so. Other Ukrainian clubs followed their example.
In 2000, Romanians Aliutse and Savu, Nigerian Okoronkwo began to play for Shakhtar, Hungarian Bodnar appeared at Dynamo, at the same time Serbian Vasiljevic and Romanians Baston and Pirvu debuted at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia. In the spring of 2001, the following debuted in the Ukrainian championship: Serbian Gavrancic, Romanian Cernat and Bulgarian Peev (Dynamo), Senegalese Ndiaye and Nigerian Agahowa (Shakhtar), Bulgarians Stalev, Kolev, Neichev (Niva Ternopil), Nigerian Uwakwe (Tavriya), Bosnian Tica (Stal). And it began...
It turned out that foreign footballers cost less than good domestic ones. And agents, sensitively catching market fluctuations, understood without much difficulty that the most promising opportunities for selling football people are in Eastern Europe, or more precisely, in Russia and Ukraine, where clubs are ready to pay considerable money for foreigners. Unlike representatives of Western Europe, who, due to the sudden financial crisis in football, were in no hurry to part with money.
Fight for Quality
So, let us ask the main question that certainly interests the reader. Why, in fact, do foreigners come to Ukraine? After all, our country does not belong to the category of prosperous ones, is not advanced in any industry and, naturally, is not among the developed football powers.
The first thing that comes to mind is the money offered in the form of salaries and bonuses. As it turns out, things are not so bad in our football in this regard. Indeed, many footballers come to Ukraine to earn money, just as at the turn of the 80s and 90s of the last century our guys went to various Polands and Bulgarias.
The second, no less significant, reason for foreigners choosing Ukraine is the opportunity to show themselves in front of European teams, which is mainly used by natives of Africa and Latin America. After all, Dynamo and Shakhtar are regulars in European cup tournaments, and a successful performance on the international stage is practically a guarantee of a successful transfer to a stronger club.
The third category of legionnaires is very promising guys who were invited with an eye to the future, lured by the opportunity to train in a solid club under the guidance of well-known specialists and regularly play in European competitions. For now, only Dynamo and Shakhtar can afford to acquire such foreigners.
There has already been much debate on the topic of legionnaires in Ukraine. Some believe that a quota for foreigners should be introduced urgently, limiting their number, and thus giving a chance to young Ukrainian guys who, due to the presence of foreign labor, cannot fully realize themselves. And this largely affects the interests of the Ukrainian national team.
Others are convinced that attracting legionnaires is not just not bad, it is even good. The appearance of interesting footballers from abroad raises the level of our championship, allows our clubs to count on success in international matches. Ukrainian guys don't make the lineup? Then you need to work, citizens, prove your competitiveness in training. And as for the national team, who needs players who could not withstand the competition for a place in the lineup with foreigners?
The debates continue, and meanwhile the applications of Ukrainian clubs for participation in the championship list more than a hundred players with foreign passports. And their number, if we follow the growth trends, will increase. To what limits? Well, that is a mystery. Although if you look at the situation with legionnaires in Germany, where more than half of the players in the elite division are foreigners, then we have not yet reached the maximum indicators for the use of foreign labor.