Igor G. Balaba (January 29, 1939, Stalin - January 31, 2011, Lugansk ) is a Soviet football player who played in the position of striker . He played 39 matches and scored 4 goals in the USSR Major League . Master of Sports of the USSR (1962).
 Igor Balaba | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| general information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Igor Grigorievich Balaba | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | January 29, 1939 Stalin , Ukrainian SSR , USSR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | January 31, 2011 (72 years old) Lugansk , Ukraine | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Citizenship |  the USSR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Growth | 175 cm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | attack | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Biography
A pupil of the football school of the Moscow “Torpedo” , as part of the team won the championship of Moscow among young men. The first coach is Nikolai Georgievich Kotov. After graduating from school, at first he did not want to connect his life with football and entered the Kiev Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers, but then he began to play for the institute's football team, became the champion of Kiev among universities and was spotted by representatives of Dynamo Kyiv . As part of Dynamo-2 , he became the winner of the youth championship of the USSR. In 1959-1960 he played in class “B” for the Kiev “Arsenal” .
In 1960 he moved to Lugansk "Labor Reserves" (later - " Dawn "), which was headed by his father - Gregory Balaba . The following nine seasons played in the Lugansk team, playing mainly on the left flank of the attack. In 1962 he became the champion of the Ukrainian SSR among the teams of class “B”, in 1966 - the winner of the second group of class “A”. Twice included in the list of 33 best football players of the Ukrainian SSR - in 1962 under No. 1, in 1966 - under No. 3. In 1963 he participated in an international match with the Brazilian Fluminense and scored the only goal of Dawn (1: 2) [1] . He made his debut in the Premier League on April 2, 1967 in a match with Spartak Moscow [2] . The first goal at the highest level was scored on April 27, 1967 against the “ Wings of the Soviets ” [3] . In the major league he played 39 matches and scored 4 goals, and in total in the championships as part of “Dawn” - 230 matches and 41 goals (according to other sources - 231 matches and 42 goals). In the summer of 1968 he left the team, after the new coach of "Dawn" Victor Gureev started rejuvenation of the composition.
In 1968-1969 he played in the second league for Kommunarets (Kommunarsk, now - Steel, Alchevsk). At the age of 30, he completed his sports career, then for many years he worked as a foreman at the Lugansk plant named after the October Revolution (diesel locomotive plant).
He played for the youth and youth teams of the USSR. He also played for the Ukrainian SSR team, including taking part in a tour of African countries.
Personal life
Father - Grigory Fedorovich Balaba (1911-2003) - a famous football player and coach. The wife, Olga Vasilievna (nee Tikhonyuk), was a volleyball player, played for the Lugansk Iskra. The family has two children - Andrei and Natalya.
He graduated from the Lugansk Engineering Institute, which he transferred to in 1960 from the Kiev Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers.
He died on January 31, 2011 in Lugansk, two days after his 72th birthday [4] .
Notes
Links
- Profile on FootballFacts.ru
- Profile on the site "Lugansk. Our football"
- Igor Balaba: a pass from the past