Valery Butenko began his football career first as a player before becoming an international referee. Butenko played as a midfielder for several domestic teams in the Soviet Union in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including a spell at Dynamo Moskva. By 1971 he had finished his playing career, becoming a referee and officiating in matches in the USSR Championship from 1976 to 1991. He was consistently rated as one of the top-ten referees in the country, which saw him oversee many high-profile matches including several finals of the USSR Cup. At the 1980 Moskva Olympics he served as one of the linesmen for the match between Iraq and Costa Rica. One year later Butenko became an international referee and officiated in more than 50 matches, including at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico.
Soviet Union