At least break the man! Former Dynamo Kyiv legend Vadim Yevtushenko ended his glorious career in Sweden. There he became the country champion as part of AIK and made a significant contribution to this success. And Vadim Anatolyevich, who later followed the coaching path, managed to work in Vorskla. He is now working in the structure of his former club from AIK, the capital of Sweden. Vorskla will face AIK in the Conference League. There is good reason to talk about the “Swedish” stage of the career of the famous Dynamo player.

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But first, a few words about Dynamo exploits. Yevtushenko got into the Kyiv team by accident. Probably, although there are no accidents in this regard. Vadim played for the Kirovograd “Zirka” – this is his first serious team. Before that, he tried to enter Kiev for the infirmary, but failed the exams, could not pass … football skills.

However, Zirka was admitted to the second league (at that time) without an exam. And they did not fail. A fast football player with incredible goal-scoring instincts, he was immediately sent on the offensive. He was both a defender and a winger.

And in one of the away matches in Chernivtsi, Vadim showed himself perfectly and scored the winning goal. It is difficult to say how his career would have continued if Anatoly Suchkov, the famous Dynamo Kyiv trainer, had not been in that match. But the paradox is that Suchkov went to Chernivtsi to watch Viktor Khlus. And he loved Yevtushenko. As a result, Suchkov took them both to Kiev. So, since 1979, Yevtushenko has become a Dynamo football player.

Almost everything is known about the era of playing the dynamo. Therefore, I will allow myself just a casual stroll through these magnificent pages. In the Lobanovsky team, Yevtushenko became a five-time champion of the Union and a three-time Cup winner.

By the way, here is another interesting fact. Speaking in terms of talent, Khlus, which Suchkov brought to Dynamo along with Yevtushenko, was still “cooler” than our hero. To me, of course. I just saw the other in both cases and can compare. So Khlus has never been able to fully assert himself in Dynamo and in football in general. Why is a separate note question. But Vadim could. Although he is definitely not the main person in Dynamo.

FC Dynamo. Vadim Evtushenko

But he had a great quality – his patience. And of course efficiency. He sweated in training, did not hesitate to play in the second team. And he became a real joker in Dynamo. He actually scored his main goal in life in 1986 when he came in as a substitute in the Cup Winners’ Cup final against Atlético Madrid.

However, after Litovchenko and Protasov moved from Dnipro to Dynamo in 1988, Yevtushenko decided to leave Kiev. And moved to Dnipro. According to him, he wanted to practice the game more. And he did not want to play in the position of the right midfielder, where Lobanovsky put him after Yaremchuk’s injury. And here is another “trick”: the champion of the Union that year became the Dnieper. And with him Yevtushenko.

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After 1988, there was a mass exodus of Soviet football players abroad. And at the forefront of this process was only the Kyiv Dynamo. Vienna claimed “Fast” Yevtushenko. But something went wrong there. But negotiations with one of the Mexican clubs were, as they say now, at an “advanced” stage. Vadim may be the first Soviet legionnaire in the Mexican championship. But it didn’t.

Because luck intervened again. Or Providence, whichever you want. Yevtushenko moved to Sweden.

He was originally supposed to go to Hammarby. In addition to Vadim, there were two more Dynamo players at the show, but the Swedes chose him. But bad luck here… Hammarby wasn’t happy with the amount Dynamo wanted for the striker. And the deal is almost closed. But at the last moment, another club from the Swedish capital appeared on the horizon – AIK. Half a million Swedish kronor (about a hundred thousand dollars at the exchange rate at that time) did not scare the prices. Vadim Yevtushenko became an AIK player with such adventures.

For him, the first thing that caught my eye in a new place was a lot of free time. It was one practice a day, sometimes even a day without class – a football player accustomed to the super-heavy Dynamo sports life didn’t know what to do. And he sat down to learn the Swedish language to find a use for himself. By the way, at that time in Sweden foreigners were paid extra to learn Swedish. Thus, it turned out to be both useful and profitable.

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The “pouring” of the dynamo legend to the Swedish middle peasants (AIK at that time was not quoted in the homeland – on the eve of the passage of Yevtushenko, the Stockholmers almost fell out of class) turned out to be very difficult. The fact is that Swedish football at that time was quite simple. Unless it’s primitive. As Vadim Anatolyevich later recalled, the game took place between two penalty areas. In one word “Mr-run”. Yevtushenko did not act as a forward in this play structure, but as a playmaker.

The first season came out like this. AIK was in third place for a long time, but at the finish line, the team lost several games in a row, eventually finishing only eighth.

Although this result was perceived as a success, the team was no longer struggling to survive.

The next season for Yevtushenko at AIK became the tracing paper of the previous one: they again took third place for a long time, but failed at the finish line – and is only in seventh place in the table.

FC AIK

Qualitative changes began only in the third year. And these changes are connected, first of all, with the change of coach. Åslund was replaced by Soderbergh, who adopted a more combinational and offensive football. Under his leadership, AIK reached the final stage of the championship for the first time in a long time (in the top six teams), reaching the final of the Swedish Cup, where it lost to Gothenburg.

However, Vadim and his team achieved their goal only a year later. Then, on the eve of the new season, the fact that local football leaders – Gothenburg and Malmö – sold their leader also played in AIK’s favor. But AIK can be strengthened by a quality defender Larsson from Ajax. These two nuances and Yevtushenko’s excellent play as a playmaker predetermined the AIK championship.

Everything was decided in the final round of the 1992 championship. In the away match against Malmö. The Stockholm team had to not lose to become the champion. And he didn’t lose. It was Yevtushenko who scored two of the three goals for AIK at the time. And he has 14 goals in total that season.

“Then we have a battle-ready team of players, but we have to pay tribute to Soderbergh. Tommy wasn’t just a football coach, he wasn’t just a football player, he played basketball. But we had a very competent second coach. Thomas Lit – paid a lot of attention to various little things during training. Soderbergh is a commissioner, he fired up the team, he could encourage, he could joke.Tommy has such a management style.

The championship in Sweden at that time was already strong enough. Gothenburg and Malmö were future favourites, and we gradually climbed up. After finishing my first years at AIK in tenth place, after a struggle for survival, the team was already competing for places at the top of the table. In 1988-1989 they lost to the leaders 0:4 – 0:5, but in the 1991 Swedish Cup final they played against Gothenburg 2:2 in regular time, losing only 30 more minutes. I think there was a turning point in the minds of AIK players after this match. The young players understood that we could compete with the favorites on equal terms. We became champions by beating Malmö 3-2 away. I managed to score twice in that meeting, ”Yevtushenko recalls in an interview with our colleague Ivan Verbitsky.

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After four seasons for AIK and winning the championship crown in the final season, Yevtushenko received an offer from the club management to extend his contract. But this is bad luck: local authorities have not allowed foreigners to open visas for more than four years. Neither AIK nor Yevtushenko could influence the situation.

But the club’s fans and journalists were impressed. “King, help Vadim!” – such banners were constantly hung on the stands of the Stockholm stadium. Plus, the press took a storm: they say let’s change the law so Yevtushenko stays in Sweden for another year.

And all this impulsive and very candid campaign finally came to an end with a special change in the law that allowed athletes and coaches to stay in Sweden for four years and beyond. This change is still in effect today. And it is called “Yevtushenko’s law.”

FC AIK. Vadim Evtushenko

Yevtushenko finds his final fifth season at AIK unsuccessful. Although the team took third place, Vadim was not satisfied with his game. At least, because he transferred back to the midfield, as he once did with Dynamo. Speed ​​is no longer what it used to be. This is not surprising, because the football player is already 35 years old.

After that season, Yevtushenko left the Stockholm club. It went down: to the lower part – to Sirius, where he played for two more years.

And then he smoothly “switched” to the coaching field. Jarfalla worked in the headquarters of Reimersholm and Hammarby. And by the way, he independently led the Valsta team, in which his eldest son Vyacheslav played. It is interesting that both sons of Yevtushenko – both Slava and Vadim – are football players. And both sons managed to play for AIK.

Now Yevtushenko Sr. returned to the structure of the club. The circle is closed.