Gennadiy Lysenchuk
Wednesday 2 July 2008
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Ukraine coach Gennadiy Lysenchuk (©sportsfile)
That Ukraine are a world-class futsal force is down in no small part to Gennadiy Lysenchuk, coach of the Under-21 side as well as the senior national team.
Also the president of the Futsal Federation of Ukraine, Lysenchuk has been in charge of the senior squad since their 1994 debut, leading them to the final of two UEFA European Futsal Championships and to success at world level. During his playing days he was a football goalkeeper for FC Zorya Luhansk, FC Krylya Sovetov Samara and FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. Lysenchuk also graduated from the Moscow Coaches' High School and then became professor of football at the Kiev State University of Physical Culture and Sports.
In 1984 he took charge of FC Kolos Nikopol, and went on to coach FC Sudostoitel Nikolaev, FC Vorskla Poltava and FC Krybas Kriviy Rih before setting up the Ukraine side in 1994 and seeing the national team win their opening game 2-1 against Belarus. Two years later they qualified for the 1996 FIFA Futsal World Cup at the first attempt, reaching the semi-finals, and they also played at the maiden UEFA tournament that season.
Ukraine have continued to perform strongly, most notably in reaching the EURO finals in 2001 and 2003 when they were pipped by Spain and Italy respectively, while in 1998 and 2004 their student team were world champions. Lysenchuk has also led the U21 team with success and they beat Romania 4-1, Lithuania 6-1 and Poland 5-0 to qualify for the first European finals in 2008.
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