He was a part of the legendary team that won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1986. Later he was the White-Blues and Ukraine national team assistant coach and FC Chornomorets Odesa caretaker manager.
He passed away on August 9. That happened on football pitch as he featured for pro veterans team.
Hundreds of people came to Dynamo Stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskyi to say final goodbyes to the legend of Ukrainian and Soviet football. They left flowers and said last words to Andriy Bal.
Ex-teammates and friends Leonid Buryak, Olexiy Mykhailychenko, Volodymyr Bezsonov, Anatoliy Demianenko, Oleh Kuznetsov, Yuriy Romenskyi and other shared the sorrow with the family of the deceased
The White-Blues coaching staff, Yevhen Khacheridi, Oleh Husiev, Dynamo employees and Football Federation of Ukraine representatives were also present at the ceremony.
Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klychko also came to honour the memory of Andriy Bal:
- I can’t say we were friends, but we communicated from time to time, - said Klychko. He was always in good humor and exuded optimism. That’s what he’ll stay like in our memory.
People brought a lot of funeral wreaths which formed a kind of passage through which Andriy Bal was taken to the car to applause.
After the last honour lap catafalque took the legendary player to BaikoveCemetery. Bal was buried in front of graves of Valeriy Lobanovskyi and Valentyn Belkevych…
Rest in peace, Andriy Mykhailovych…