Legendary Ukrainian footballer and coach Leonid Buryak, in an exclusive interview with Sport RBC.UA, spoke about his period working with Odesa's Chornomorets in the early 1990s. According to him, it was precisely then that the team managed to believe in its own strengths and start competing with the country's strongest clubs, which became a turning point for Odesa football and its fans.
Two Silvers and Belief in the Team
Buryak emphasizes that the main achievement of his work was not so much a specific place in the standings as a psychological shift within the squad. "We managed to convince the players that 'Chornomorets' could compete with the best. The team twice became the silver medalist of the Ukrainian championship and beat Kyiv's Dynamo. For Odesa, this was very important – people again believed in the team, and many fans came to the stadium," the coach recalls. He worked with Chornomorets from 1994 to 1998, and during this period the team finished in second place in the Ukrainian championship twice in a row.
Finances as the Main Obstacle
However, according to Buryak, over time the club's financial situation began to deteriorate, and this directly affected the quality of preparation. The coach explains that without basic conditions it is impossible to demand maximum results from the players: "Footballers need to be paid salaries and bonuses, the team needs travel, food, medicines, a proper base. When all of this is missing, a coach can no longer demand maximum results from the players."
Why Buryak Left
It was precisely the accumulated organizational and financial problems, and not the sporting results, that became the reason for his departure. "At some point I realized that I don't want to keep working like this," Buryak admits. In his own words, in the absence of normal working and training conditions, it was impossible to continue his coaching career under such circumstances.
The Path After Chornomorets
After leaving the Odesa club in 1998, Buryak continued his coaching career in other roles. In 2002–2003 he headed the Ukraine national team, with which he failed to qualify for the final stage of Euro 2004. In 2005 he also briefly led Kyiv's Dynamo, however he worked with the team for only about two months. Thus, the experience at Chornomorets remains one of the brightest and most successful episodes of his coaching path.
Buryak's recollections allow us to look at one of the key periods in the development of Ukrainian football through the eyes of a person who was at its center: an era when regional clubs could compete on equal terms with Kyiv's giants, and success depended not only on tactics but also on the financial stability of the club.
