Russia Invasion: Ex-Ballon d’Or Winner, Belanov Joins Ukrainian Army
Clearly uneasy with the ongoings in his country, former Ballon d’Or winner, Igor Belanov, has joined Ukraine’s military forces to fight in the ongoing war against Russia.
According to confirmed reports, Belanov, who won the Ballon d’Or in 1986, joined the army a few days after the Russian forces struck his region, Odesa, with missiles.
The 61-year-old former striker, who won eight titles at Dynamo Kiev, also played in Germany for Borussia Moenchengladbach and Eintracht Braunschweig in the 1980s and 1990s
Belanov remains one of three Ukrainian players to win the most prestigious individual award in football, the Ballon d’Or. The others are Oleh Blokhin in 1975 and Andriy Shevchenko in 2004.
In a meeting with the Ukrainian Football Association (UFA) President, Andriy Pavelko, after visiting his hometown of Odesa last Wednesday, both men talked with various military groups and handed out aid and gifts, according to Marca, a Spanish national daily sports newspaper owned by Unidad Editorial.
Also sharing a series of images of himself holding a gun and posing with other soldiers, Belanov took to Facebook to praise Ukraine’s armed forces saying; “‘Amazing courage and inexhaustible fighting spirit”.
He further wrote; “All this and much more characterises our soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We are with you” – Agency reports
