For more than a month that the war in Ukraine has been raging, many Ukrainian personalities, and in particular from the world of sport, have been able to show their support for the army of their country, some by committing themselves directly to the front.
The long list of these athletes or former athletes, where we find in particular Vasiliy Lomachenko, Oleksandr Usyk, Georgii Zantaraia or of course the Klitschko brothers, was extended a few days ago by a prestigious name: that of Igor Belanov, Ballon d'Or in 1986.
"I do not believe my eyes in the face of this war"
The former Dynamo kyiv striker, who played for the USSR national team, posted a series of photos on social media on April 6 at a military base, where he is seen posing with weapons but also sign balloons and photos.
“Peace to Ukraine, and glory to all who oppose the occupiers who came to confront our land and our free and heroic people,” he wrote.
“Incredible courage and an inexhaustible fighting spirit, all this and much more characterizes our armed forces fighters.
According to the German newspaper
Die Welt
and Ukrainian media, Belanov joined the local defense forces in Odessa, in the southeast of the country, his hometown.
Удивительное мужество и неисссякаемый боевой Дух! Все это и Многое другое характеризует наших бойцов зсу.Мы с Вами! Мира ...
Posted by Igor Belanov on Tuesday, April 5, 2022
"I played for the USSR with pride and today I can't believe my eyes in this war," Belanov said recently.
Years ago, I met Shoigu (the Russian Defense Minister).
If I saw him today, I would ask him if he is crazy, if he has lost his sense of reality”.
Born in 1960 in Odessa, therefore, in Ukraine, Igor Belanov won the Ballon d'Or in 1986, while playing for Dynamo kyiv, where he achieved that season the double champion of the USSR-Coupe des Coupes, ahead of in the classification the Englishman Gary Lineker and the Spaniard Emilio Butragueño.
During his career, Belanov notably played in Germany, Mönchengladbach and Brunswick.
Now 61, he retired in 1997 and has since chaired a training center for young footballers in Odessa.
