UKRAINE COACH:Oleg Blokhin

Former Soviet Union international and Ukraine native Oleg Blokhin has been coach since October, 2003, replacing former Soviet international Leonid Buryak, who was fired due to poor results. "Blokhin was disliked by many during his playing days simply because of his uncompromising character, and he hasn't been able to shake off this perception later on," a source close to the Ukrainian Football Federation told Reuters. "But despite all that he definitely brought in a breath of fresh air into Ukrainian football."

Named 1975 European Player of the Year, Blokhin scored 39 goals in 109 international appearances for the Soviets. He resigned as Ukraine coach on March 25, 2005, claiming he could not combine his job as a Ukrainian parliament member with coaching the national team. But the Appeal Court in Kiev, ruled that he could do both jobs. The Ukrainian constitution bars deputies from holding other jobs. But Bolkhin has received no financial gain from coaching. "I would like to thank the court for its objective and fair ruling in my case," Blokhin was quoted by Reuters.

Oleg Volodymyrovych Blokhin was born on November 5, 1952 when Kiev was the Soviet Union. Blokhin is the Soviet Union's national championship all-time goal leader (211) and appearance leader (432), leading Dynamo Kiev to the Cup Winners Cup titles in 1975 and 1986 and the Russian championship eight times. He performed in the 1982 and 1986 World Cups and at Euro '88 and became the first Soviet player to play abroad in 1988 with Vorwaerts Steyr (Austria), moving on to Aris (Greece). Blokhin coached Olympiakos, PAOK and Ionikos in Greece. He was elected to Ukraine's parliament -- Verkhovna Rada -- in 2002.