Surkis Keeps Kostyuk: Dynamo to Face LNZ Under 50-Year-Old Coach

Ihor Surkis, president of Kyiv's Dynamo, has decided not to dismiss Ihor Kostyuk from his position as head coach following the capital's giant's crushing 0:3 defeat to Bukovyna. According to insider Ihor Burbas, as reported by Sport RBC.UA, it is the 50-year-old specialist who will lead the "white-and-blues" into their next match against LNZ, taking place on Sunday, September 6, 2026. Thus, the high-profile failure against another UPL debutant did not become grounds for an immediate change of coach.

Surkis's Decision: Kostyuk Stays for the LNZ Match

As Burbas notes, the coach will retain his position at the helm of the team for the upcoming round as well. This decision appears to be a compromise: the club did not react to the defeat by Bukovyna with a radical change of coach, but it also did not give the coach an unconditional "green light" for the future. According to the insider, Ihor Vladymyrovych began his career as a senior coach precisely at Dynamo, and last season he joined the team in the capacity of acting head coach, replacing Oleksandr Shovkovskyi. His very first match in charge of Kostyuk ended in defeat — at that time the Kyiv side lost to another UPL debutant, Poltava, 1:2.

Credit of Trust: A Measured Approach to the Question of Replacement

The key caveat in the management's decision is Burbas's own position: "As far as I understand, this does not at all mean that the credit of trust in the coach is unlimited. Perhaps it has already been exhausted, but the club is approaching the question of replacement very cautiously." An additional factor, according to available information, is that Dynamo's management is not confident it can quickly find a specialist capable of adequately replacing Kostyuk at the head of the team. It is precisely this uncertainty in the coaching market that explains the club's caution in making a personnel decision.

Kostyuk's Record at the Helm of Dynamo

In total, Ihor Kostyuk has led the Kyiv side in 29 matches. In them the team recorded 18 wins, drew three times, and suffered eight defeats. The last match in this run was the most painful: Bukovyna, being a debutant in the top league, dealt the capital's giant a crushing 3:0 defeat. This result became the main trigger for the discussion about the coach's future and provoked emotional reactions within the club — earlier, Andriy Yarmolenko publicly and emotionally apologized for the thrashing by Bukovyna.

Contradictory Data

In the formulations of different sources following the defeat by Bukovyna, a difference in emphasis can be traced. The primary insider source (Sport RBC.UA, citing Burbas) emphasizes that Kostyuk will remain in his position and will lead the team into the match against LNZ, while the question of replacement is considered only as a "measured" prospect. At the same time, a number of other publications (in particular, 24tv.ua) present the situation in the sense that Surkis has "begun the search for a replacement" for the coach. These versions do not contradict each other in the essence of the fact — for the nearest match Kostyuk remains — but they diverge in assessing the current status: for some sources he is the incumbent coach without reservations, for others — a candidate for replacement, the search for which has already been launched. No official statement from Dynamo itself on the personnel question has been issued as of the time of publication.

Context: The Thrashing by Bukovyna and the Coach's Reaction

The defeat by Bukovyna became an emotional blow for the team and its entourage. According to other Ukrainian media, Kostyuk himself, in his post-match comments, noted that the result and the opponent's play "surprised him in no way," and in discussing the substitutions on the field after the fatal mistakes the coach phrased his position as "we accommodated him." The combination of these factors — the thrashing by a debutant, Yarmolenko's public apologies, and the coach's cautious rhetoric — creates a backdrop against which Surkis's decision to keep Kostyuk for the LNZ match is perceived more as a tactical pause than as a final confirmation of trust.