Viktor Prokopenko


Viktor Prokopenko was a Ukrainian football player and coach who played in GDR and Ukrainian SSR and later worked as a coach in Russia and Ukraine.

Career

He was born in Zhdanov, Ukrainian SSR, which now known as Mariupol, Ukraine. In 1975, he graduated from the Odessa State Pedagogical Institute of Ushynsky and later the Moscow Higher School of Coaches.
Prokopenko was the first ever manager of the Ukraine national football team, and authored Flexibility, Strength, Endurance, a popular book on stretching.
Prokopenko was elected to the Ukrainian parliament for the Party of Regions as no.45 on their election list in the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election.
Prokopenko died in Odessa after a heart attack. He was 62 years old.

Honours

;Chornomorets Odesa
;Shakhtar Donetsk