Soviet striker Vladimir Kulik is a living legend and an example for many young football players, especially for Moscow “CSKA” and St. Petersburg “Zenith”, for which the player spent several years. During his career, the striker scored almost 200 goals in competitions at various levels, and now he is transferring his experience to the football players of the Legenda club, of which he is a coach.
Soviet career
Vladimir Yuryevich Kulik was born in Leningrad on February 18, 1972. Following the example of his brother, from childhood he became interested in football and even in elementary school he began to attend the sports section. In a football school, the player proved to be an excellent striker and at the age of 12 became the champion of Leningrad among young men. After 6 years of talented striker, the team of the second league of the USSR championship, Kirovets, discerned. In the Leningrad club, Vladimir Kulik spent only two seasons and in January 1991 joined the ranks of another native team - “Zenith”.
The game for Zenit
In the early years of speaking for the club from St. Petersburg, Vladimir Kulik began to be called up to the USSR youth team, and then to the Russian team. In total, the forward played 8 matches for the national team, scoring 8 goals. In “Zenith”, the young striker quickly made his way to the main squad and already in the 1992 season became the top scorer, scoring 13 goals in 31 matches. Every year the progress of the talented player’s game was observed, and Vladimir Kulik, a football player with very little experience playing in major tournaments, began to be involved in the training of the national team, for which, however, he did not play a single game.
In 1993, due to an unsuccessful performance a season earlier, Zenit ended up in the First League, where Vladimir Kulik demonstrated his scoring abilities to the whole world, having become the author of 40 goals in 38 meetings. In the next two championships, even despite several injuries, the striker remained the club's top scorer, and in 1996, 19 goals of the Russian helped Zenit take the bronze of the First Division, returning to the Russian elite.
At a new level, the forward did not lose his skills, having accumulated 11 goals in a season, becoming the most productive player in the history of Zenit. But at the end of 1996, Anatoly Byshovets replaced Pavel Sadyrin , and realizing that the head coach did not need him, in January 1997, Vladimir Kulik moved to CSKA.
Care at CSKA
The forward came to the army club at the time of a small crisis in the team, but from the very first season it became the basis, demonstrating the highest level of the game. According to the results of the 1997 championship, Kulik, having scored 9 goals in 29 matches, became the club's top scorer. The next season, Vladimir repeated this achievement, stopping at 14 goals, thanks to which the “army team” took second place in the championship, making it into the Champions League qualification for the second time in modern history.
In 2000, a turning point occurred in the striker’s career - having played the season at a decent level, having completed it with an asset of 10 goals in 27 meetings, he was overtaken by a series of minor injuries, which did not allow him to continue his series of titles as the club’s top scorer (it was 9 seasons in a row) . The season of 2001 became practically “dry” for Vladimir - in 24 meetings he managed to hit the opponent’s goal only once. “CSKA” such a forward was unnecessarily, and other clubs did not agree to the conditions for the transition of the player, as a result of which Kulik left the Moscow club.
Amateur League and Retirement
After completing his career with CSKA Moscow, Vladimir Kulik, having waited a year pause, returned to football, spending the season in the Amateur Football League for Moscow “Titan”, where he scored 16 goals in 36 meetings, after which he finally hung up his boots on a nail. For some time, the legendary striker was engaged in business, and in 2013 he headed the Ukrainian women's club Legend, two years later becoming his head coach. In total, during his football career, Vladimir Kulik took part in 481 matches of various levels, scoring 184 goals, making him one of the top 20 top scorers in the Russian championship.