Dynamo Kiev Coach Takes Over As National Boss Too

UKRAINE have turned to Dynamo Kiev's former Soviet Union coach Valery Lobanovsky to lead them into this year's World Cup qualifiers after their shock failure to reach Euro 2000.

Josef Sabo quit after a Ukraine side including the likes of AC Milan's Andrei Shevchenko and Kiev's Sergei Rebrov were surprisingly beaten by minnows Slovenia in the play-offs to decide which group runners-up would reach this summer's tournament.

Lobanovsky, 60, will do the national job while remaining in charge of Dynamo, despite recent poor health while has seen him spend two weeks in hospital with a heart complaint. The legendary boss won European Cups with Dynamo in 1975 and 1986 and was in charge of the Soviet Union side beaten by Holland in the 1988 European Championship Final.

Ukraine have been drawn alongside Mark Hughes' Wales in Group Five in the European section of the World Cup qualifiers. Norway, Poland, Armenia and Belarus complete the group.