Viktor Onopko

Viktor Onopko
	Onopko in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Viktor Savelyevich Onopko
Date of birth	14 October 1969 (age 55)
Place of birth	Voroshylovhrad, Ukrainian SSR (now Luhansk, Ukraine)
Height	1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Rostov, Russia (assistant coach)
Senior career*
Years	Team
1986	Stakhanovets Stakhanov
1986–1988	Shakhtar Donetsk
1989	Dynamo Kyiv
1990–1991	Shakhtar Donetsk
1992–1995	Spartak Moscow
1995–2002	Real Oviedo
2002–2003	Rayo Vallecano
2003–2004	Alania Vladikavkaz
2004–2005	Saturn
Total
International career
1992	CIS
1992–2004	Russia
Managerial career
2009–2020	CSKA Moscow (assistant)
2021–	Russia (assistant)
2022–	Rostov (assistant)
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Viktor Savelyevich Onopko (Russian: Виктор Савельевич Онопко; born 14 October 1969) is a former Russian football defender. He is the assistant manager of both FC Rostov in the Russian Premier League and the Russia national team.

As a player, Onopko held the record for most international appearances for the Russia national team until 2015.^[1]

Club career

Onopko's career as a player started in 1986. During that time, he played for Shakhtar Donetsk, Spartak Moscow, Real Oviedo, Rayo Vallecano, Alania Vladikavkaz and Saturn Ramenskoye. He retired as a player in 2005.

International career

Eligible to play for both the Ukrainian and Russian national teams, Onopko chose the latter (unlike his brother Sergey, who opted to play for Ukraine). He amassed 109 caps (plus 4 for the CIS, including in the 1992 Euros). He played in the 1994 and 2002 world cups, as well as 1996 Euros. Onopko was in the preliminary squad for Euro 2004 but was dropped due to injury. With the national team, in 2003 he won the Cyprus friendly tournament^[2]

After retiring, in 2009, he was part of the Russia squad that won the 2009 Legends Cup.

Coaching career

Onopko worked for 11 years as an assistant coach for CSKA Moscow.

On 26 July 2021, he was hired as an assistant to Valeri Karpin in the Russia national team.^[3]

In February 2022, after FIFA and UEFA suspended Russian clubs and the national teams from international competitions amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Karpin returned as manager to FC Rostov and hired Onopko as his assistant there as well.^[4]^[5]

Personal life

Onopoko was born in Voroshilovgrad (now called Lugansk) in the Soviet Union. Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, he acquired both Ukrainian and Russian citizenships.

Viktor has a younger brother, Serhiy, who also played as a professional footballer.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League		Cup		Europe		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Stakhanovets Stakhanov	1986	4	0	0	0	—		4	0
Shakhtar Donetsk	1986	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	1987	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	1988	3	0	1	0	—		4	0
	Total	3	0	1	0	0	0	4	0
Dinamo Kyiv	1989	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
Shakhtar Donetsk	1990	21	0	3	1	—		24	1
	1991	24	1	1	0	—		25	1
	Total	45	1	4	1	0	0	49	2
Spartak Moscow	1992	23	6	2	1	7	1	32	8
	1993	30	9	4	0	9	4	43	13
	1994	26	2	3	0	5	0	34	2
	1995	29	6	1	0	6	0	36	6
	Total	108	23	10	1	27	5	145	29
Real Oviedo	1995–96	19	1	—		—		19	1
	1996–97	37	0	1	0	—		38	0
	1997–98	31	0	—		—		31	0
	1998–99	33	0	2	0	—		35	0
	1999-00	31	2	1	0	—		32	2
	2000–01	35	3	1	0	—		36	3
	2001–02	30	1	—		—		30	1
	Total	216	7	5	0	0	0	221	7
Rayo Vallecano	2002–03	28	1	1	0	—		29	1
Alania Vladikavkaz	2003	7	0	1	0	—		8	0
Saturn Ramenskoye	2004	26	1	5	0	—		31	1
	2005	25	0	2	0	—		27	0
	Total	51	1	7	0	0	0	58	1
Career total		458	33	29	2	27	5	514	40

International goals

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	18 February 1993	Los Angeles, United States	El Salvador	1–0	2–1	Friendly
2.	11 October 1995	Moscow, Russia	Greece	2–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying
3.	5 September 1998	Kyiv, Ukraine	Ukraine	2–3	2–3	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
4.	31 March 1999	Moscow, Russia	Andorra	3–0	6–1
5.	8 September 1999	Andorra la Vella, Andorra	Andorra	1–0	2–1
6.	8 September 1999	Andorra la Vella, Andorra	Andorra	2–1	2–1
7.	16 October 2002	Volvograd, Russia	Albania	3–1	4–1	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying

Honours

Spartak Moscow

Russian Premier League: 1992, 1993, 1994
Soviet Cup: 1992
Russian Cup: 1994

Individual

Footballer of the Year in Russia (Futbol magazine): 1992, 1993
Footballer of the Year in Russia (Sport-Express newspaper): 1993

External links

References

^ ИГНАШЕВИЧ ПОБИЛ РЕКОРД ОНОПКО ПО ЧИСЛУ МАТЧЕЙ ЗА СБОРНУЮ РОССИИ (in Russian). Sport Express. 8 September 2015.
^ "Cyprus International Tournament 2003".
^ ""Наша философия и понимание основных принципов игры совпадают"" (in Russian). Russian Football Union. 26 July 2021.
^ "FIFA/UEFA suspend Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions". FIFA. 28 February 2022.
^ "ВИКТОР ОНОПКО ВОШЁЛ В ТРЕНЕРСКИЙ ШТАБ "РОСТОВА"" (Press release) (in Russian). FC Rostov. 11 March 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.

[1] ИГНАШЕВИЧ ПОБИЛ РЕКОРД ОНОПКО ПО ЧИСЛУ МАТЧЕЙ ЗА СБОРНУЮ РОССИИ (in Russian). Sport Express. 8 September 2015.

[2] "Cyprus International Tournament 2003".

[3] ""Наша философия и понимание основных принципов игры совпадают"" (in Russian). Russian Football Union. 26 July 2021.

[FIFASuspencion-4] "FIFA/UEFA suspend Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions". FIFA. 28 February 2022.

[5] "ВИКТОР ОНОПКО ВОШЁЛ В ТРЕНЕРСКИЙ ШТАБ "РОСТОВА"" (Press release) (in Russian). FC Rostov. 11 March 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.

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