Sergey Gotsmanov

Infobox Football biography
playername = Sergey Gotsmanov


fullname = Sergey Anatolyevich Gotsmanov
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1959|3|27
cityofbirth = Minsk
countryofbirth = Belarus, Soviet Union
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
height = height|ft=5|in=8
position = Forward
currentclub =
youthyears = 1967-1978
youthclubs = Trudavay
years = 1978
1979-1990
1990
1990-1991
1991-1992
1992-1993
1993-1996
1996-1999
clubs = FC Dinamo Brest
FC Dinamo Minsk
Brighton & Hove Albion
Southampton
VfL Halle 1896
FC Dinamo Minsk
Dinamo-93 Minsk
Minnesota Thunder
caps(goals) = 027 0(2)
289 (31)
016 0(4)
008 0(0)
019 0(4)
018 0(7)
012 0(3)
013 0(0)
nationalyears = 1984-1988
1992-1993
nationalteam = USSR
Belarus
nationalcaps(goals) = 031 0(2)
003 0(1) [cite web | title=International appearance tables| work= www.rsssf.com| url= http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/double-caps.html| accessdate=October 13| accessyear=2007 ]
manageryears =
managerclubs =

Sergey Anatolyevich Gotsmanov ( _be. Сяргей Гоцманаў; _ru. Сергей Анатольевич Гоцманов) (born in Minsk, Belarus March 27, 1959) is a former Belarusian footballer who played for the USSR in the 1980s.

Playing career

Dinamo Minsk

Having spent most of his youth at Trudavay, he graduated to the FC Dinamo Minsk first team in 1979, where he was part of the team that won the Soviet championship in 1982 under manager Eduard Malofeev.

He made his international debut against Finland on 15 May 1984 and, in his second international appearance on 2 June 1984, he came on as a substitute against England in a friendly at Wembley and scored the opening goal as the USSR won 2-0. [cite web | title=England 0 USSR 2: Match summary
work= www.englandstats.com | url= http://www.englandstats.com/matchreport.php?mid=589 | accessdate=October 13| accessyear=2007 ] In the 1988 UEFA European Football Championship, he was a member of the Soviet Union squad, appearing in two of the Group B games as the Soviet Union headed the group (with England coming in last with three defeats); he also appeared in both the semi-final (when he was elbowed in the face by Italy's Ancelotti) and the final, where the Soviets were defeated 2-0 by the Netherlands, with goals from Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten. [cite web | title=European Championship 1988 - Final Tournament - Full Details
work= www.rsssf.com| url= http://www.rsssf.com/tables/88e-full.html | accessdate=October 13| accessyear=2007 ]

His exploits with both FC Dinamo Minsk and the USSR national team earned him the accolade as Belarusian Footballer of the Year four times (in 1983, 1985, 1987 and 1989); this feat was subsequently matched by Alexander Hleb.

In England

In February 1990, Gotsmanov joined Brighton & Hove Albion on a non-contract basis and scored four goals in 16 games for Albion, and in his short time at the Goldstone Ground he became something of a cult figure with the crowd. In one game he showed his class when he rounded the opposition goalkeeper and saluted to the fans in the South Stand before putting the ball in the net. Albion wanted to sign Gotsmanov permanently but could not compete with the terms offered by Southampton and the player moved to The Dell. In August 1990 Southampton paid a fee of £150,000 [cite book | author=Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk | title=In That Number - A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC | publisher=Hagiology |pages=p. 519| year=2003
id=ISBN 0-9534474-3-X] for Gotsmanov’s services and he was considered by some fans to have been signed just to keep Saints’ other recent Soviet signing, Aleksei Cherednik, company. [cite book | author=Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk | title=The Alphabet of the Saints| publisher= ACL & Polar Publishing | year=1992|pages=pp. 145-146| id=ISBN 0-9514862-3-3] His chances with the Saints were limited and he struggled to oust Alan Shearer, Matt Le Tissier and Rod Wallace from the starting line-up. In his season with The Saints he only made 14 appearances in all competitions and failed to score.

Later career

In September 1991 he departed for German football where he spent a season with VfL Halle 1896 before returning to Minsk, firstly with FC Dinamo Minsk, before moving to their reserve team Dinamo-93 Minsk.

Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, he made three appearances for Belarus, scoring in his first appearance on 28 October 1992, a 1-1 draw with Ukraine [ [http://belarus12.ucoz.ru/news/2007-10-29-119 Национальной сборной Беларуси 15 лет. Рейтинг матчей - 29 Октябрь 2007 - В-12 - фан-клуб Сборной Беларуси по футболу ] ] . In the mid 1990s, he moved to the United States where he played for Minnesota Thunder.

His wife, Olga, was the Belarusian national gymnastics coach. He is currently resident in Woodbury, Minnesota, where he has coached in local youth football. His son, Sasha Gotsmanov, played for Colorado Rapids, before moving to Minnesota Thunder.

Honours

*Belarusian Footballer of the Year: 1983, 1985, 1987 and 1989

FC Dinamo Minsk
*Soviet championship - 1982

USSR national team
*1988 UEFA European Football Championship - finalist

References

External links

* [http://archive.theargus.co.uk/2004/7/20/111452.html Report on time with Brighton]
* [http://rsssf.com/miscellaneous/gotsmanov-intl.html Sergei Anatolyevich Gotsmanov - International Appearances]
* [http://www.rusteam.permian.ru/players/gotsmanov.html International profile (In Russian)]