Player File #P00024Position: StrikerCareer: 1985—1996/97 · 7 seasons filed · 2 cells emptyRetired 1997 (our two dates, born 1960, are 37 years apart) · pen down

Player File · #P00024

Belanov: One Cell for the Summit, Two Sites for the Collapse

Name: Igor Belanov · career attribute snapshot (1985—1997)
Creator: BallFact
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

BallFact keeps seven rows for Igor Belanov, spanning 1985—1997 with two cells left empty (1987 and 1995). The strangest thing is the top of the file: every column that has a unique high reaches it in 1986 — overall 85, finishing 90, goal hunger 93, sprint 89 and acceleration 85; 8 columns crowd into one row. The bottom is split in two: the 1989/90 row holds 5 unique lows, all of them in the mental and drive groups (big-game 77, composure 74, steadiness 72, vision 74, will-to-win 73); the body's lows arrive three rows and 7 years later, acceleration and sprint landing on the same value (53) in the final row. Our own annotation column stamps just twice: 1986 peak, 1996/97 valley.

Ledger: 1985—1997 · 7 seasons (1987/1995 empty) Summit: all 8 unique highs land in 1986 Scale 1–99 · Attributes L3 (editorial) · no match facts Signed: Bong Weng · Archivist

PROLOGUE

Page one of the file

Igor Belanov, born 1960; our file lists his nation as URS, his position as striker and his retirement in 1997 — the two dates we hold for him are 37 years apart. BallFact has filed 7 seasons: three at Dynamo Kyiv (Soviet Top League), one at Borussia Mönchengladbach (Bundesliga), two at Eintracht Braunschweig (2. Bundesliga) and one at Illichivets Mariupol (Ukraine) — three countries, and no row at all for 1987 or 1995. No row at all either for 1987 and 1995. The file's own shape is the story.

Two sentences carry this file. First: the summit is one cell. Every column in the forty-four that has a unique high anywhere in the table has it in 1986 — 8 of them, including overall 85, goal hunger 93, finishing 90, sprint 89 and acceleration 85; the other six rows hold not a single unique high. Second: the collapse has two sites. The 1989/90 row holds 5 unique lows, all of them in the mental and drive groups; the body's lows arrive 3 rows and 7 years later, 10 columns in the final row, acceleration and sprint landing on 53 together. Our annotation column stamps twice only: 1986 peak, 1996/97 valley. As for a 1986 Ballon d'Or or a national team withdrawn from — this archive holds no auditable ledger, so neither is written here.

unique highs, all in 1986 (overall 85)

unique lows in 1989/90 · all mental or drive

unique lows in the final row 1996/97

years between the two collapse sites

empty calendar years (1987 and 1995)

THE LEDGER

Year-by-year attribute matrix · 1985—1997

★ = the row our file marks peak. This matrix is editorial derivation (L3), solved from no game database. Heat shading encodes absolute level only (scale 60–99); the outlined cell is the table's single unique extreme (goal hunger 93@1986). The calendar years 1987 and 1995 are not in the matrix — not skipped, absent. Appearances, goals and standings are not held, so the matrix omits and the prose never cites them. "All unique highs sit in 1986", "the five unique lows of 1989/90 all belong to the mental and drive groups", and "10 unique lows in the final row" are machine-checked cell by cell against the database, with group membership taken from our own attribute definition table; if any fails, this page is not allowed to exist.

Career attribute snapshot · Scale 1–99 · L3File #P00024⬇ Download this file's CSV dataset

Season	Age	MOBILITY				TECHNIQUE												PHYSICAL				DEFENDING							MENTAL							WILL				GOALKEEPER					OVR
		ACC	SPT	AGI	OFF	FIN	LSH	PAS	THR	CRO	SET	SHD	FTO	DRI	HEA	LFT	RFT	STA	STR	DUR	AIR	D1V	MAR	POS	AGR	ZON	INT	PRS	VIS	CMP	CON	LEA	STB	WOR	SHW	HGRL	WTW	DFZ	BIG	SAV	AER	CMD	DIS	ONE	OVR
1985	25	81	83	78	90	82	76	69	66	57	80	76	78	74	75	60	72	80	74	82	74	34	28	44	63	43	40	65	79	84	70	52	76	72	84	89	79	51	85	25	25	25	30	25	82
1986	26	85	89	80	90	90	76	69	66	57	80	76	78	74	75	61	73	80	74	82	74	34	28	44	63	43	40	65	79	84	70	52	76	72	84	93	79	51	85	25	25	25	30	25	85
1988	28	81	83	78	90	86	76	69	66	57	80	76	78	74	75	60	72	80	74	82	74	34	28	44	63	43	40	65	79	84	70	52	76	72	84	91	79	51	85	25	25	25	30	25	83
1989/90	29	81	77	78	90	74	76	69	66	57	80	76	78	74	75	58	70	72	74	68	74	34	28	44	63	43	40	65	74	74	70	52	72	72	84	83	73	51	77	25	25	25	30	25	78
1991/92	31	81	75	78	90	78	76	69	66	57	80	76	78	74	75	59	71	74	74	64	74	34	28	44	63	43	40	65	79	84	70	52	76	72	84	87	79	51	85	25	25	25	30	25	80
1993/94	33	81	69	78	90	72	76	69	66	57	80	76	78	74	75	58	70	68	74	54	74	34	28	44	63	43	40	65	79	84	70	52	76	72	84	83	79	51	84	25	25	25	30	25	78
1996/97	36	53	53	64	90	60	76	69	66	57	80	76	78	74	75	56	68	54	74	36	74	34	28	44	63	43	40	65	79	84	70	52	76	72	84	77	79	51	84	25	25	25	30	25	71

How to read this table? Read down the 1986 row first: ACC 85, AGI 80, FIN 90, HGRL 93, LFT 61, OVR 85, RFT 73, SPT 89 — every column in the file that has exactly one high is in that row, and in no other. Then hunt for the lowest cells: they are not in one row. Big-game, composure, steadiness, vision and will-to-win bottom out in 1989/90; acceleration, sprint, agility, durability, stamina and finishing bottom out in 1996/97, 3 rows later. Finally look at the four columns that never move — off-the-ball 90, passing 69, dribbling 74, showmanship 84: seven rows, one word unchanged. 29 columns are constant overall, 5 of them in the goalkeeper-only group, which our convention sets to 25 for an outfielder: that is a rule, not a verdict. Showmanship is not weighted into the overall for a striker.

SHAPE OF THE LEDGER

One cell at the top, two sites at the bottom

Belanov · position-weighted overall (OVR) · all seven rowsScale 1–99

1985 · Dynamo Kyiv · age 25

1986 · Dynamo Kyiv · age 26

1988 · Dynamo Kyiv · age 28

1989/90 · Borussia Mönchengladbach · age 29

1991/92 · Eintracht Braunschweig · age 31

1993/94 · Eintracht Braunschweig · age 33

1996/97 · Illichivets Mariupol · age 36

82 → 85 → 83 → 78 → 80 → 78 → 71: every figure pulled live from the stored per-season OVR, never hand-typed. The shape matches none of our other files: no cliff, no long slope — the top is a single needle (the only peak, 1986), and the decline even contains a rebound (80, 2 above 1989/90). Our annotation column stamps twice; it says nothing about the only tier drop in the file (Bundesliga → 2. Bundesliga). The empty cells are also stated: 1987 and 1995 have no row.

Two collapses: the mind bows first (BIG, CMP, STB, VIS, WTW), 7 years later the legsSame scale, 1–99

BIG · 1986 value

big-game 85 (not a unique high)

BIG · unique low 1989/90

big-game 77

VIS · unique low 1989/90

vision 74

WTW · unique low 1989/90

will-to-win 73

ACC · unchanged in 1989/90

acceleration 81 — same as 1985

ACC · unique low 1996/97

acceleration 53

SPT · unique low 1996/97

sprint 53 — the same number in the same row

DUR · unique low 1996/97

durability 36 (first row 82)

One ledger, two ways of leaving. In 1989/90 five mental and drive columns each fall to their own unique low (big-game −8, vision −5, will-to-win −6) while acceleration in that same row has not moved. In 1996/97 it is the reverse: 10 unique lows in the final row, acceleration and sprint both landing on 53, durability sliding 82 → 36 (−46) and finishing 90 → 60. Between them, in 1991/92, three mental columns return to their 1986 figures and the overall climbs back 2. We offer no explanation for that; we only write it down: on this ledger the mind broke once and was repaired, the legs were not.

SEASON CARDS

Seven rows, seven testimonies

198525ST

Dynamo Kyiv, Soviet Top League — the first row of our ledger: overall 82, durability 82, the value that column never exceeds. Off-the-ball already reads 90, and that cell will not change once in seven rows.

198626ST

★ Dynamo Kyiv, Soviet Top League. The loudest row in the file: overall 85 is its only summit, and every column anywhere in the table that has a unique high has it here — 8 of them (ACC 85, AGI 80, FIN 90, HGRL 93, LFT 61, OVR 85, RFT 73, SPT 89). Our annotation column gives its single peak to this row. No scoreline is claimed: this archive holds no goal-by-goal ledger for the year.

198828ST

Dynamo Kyiv, Soviet Top League. Overall 83, 2 under 1986 — yet durability, stamina, acceleration and off-the-ball are still letter-for-letter the 1985 values. The calendar year 1987 is simply empty in this ledger: years this archive has not filed stay unfilled.

1989/9029ST

Borussia Mönchengladbach, Bundesliga. The first collapse: overall 78, and the ugly part is that this row alone holds 5 unique lows — big-game 77, composure 74, steadiness 72, vision 74, will-to-win 73 — every one of them in the mental or drive group. In the same row acceleration still reads 81, the same as the first row: on paper the mind bows first, the legs do not.

1991/9231ST

Eintracht Braunschweig, 2. Bundesliga. The ledger steps down a tier here — the league field changes from Bundesliga to 2. Bundesliga. Overall 80, back up 2 from 1989/90, with big-game 85, composure 84 and vision 79 returned to their 1986 figures. Those five cells are the only time — and the last — the mind's column dips in this file.

1993/9433ST

Eintracht Braunschweig, 2. Bundesliga. Overall 78, durability 54 (the opening row was 82); sprint 69 has fallen under 70. The calendar year 1995 is empty as well. This stretch records one thing only: the body refunds column by column and returns nothing.

1996/9736ST

Illichivets Mariupol, Ukrainian first tier, the final row. Overall 71; 10 columns reach their unique low here — acceleration 53 and sprint 53 landing on the same number, durability 36 (a fall of 46 across the file), finishing 60. 36 years old; our file has him retiring in 1997. Mark: valley.

MILESTONES

Seven things the file can point at

1985

Dynamo Kyiv, Soviet Top League — the seven-row ledger opens: overall 82, durability 82, the highest cell that column ever reaches. (BallFact player_seasons / player_attributes)

1986

★ The file's only peak row: overall 85, and every unique high in the table lives here (8 columns: ACC 85, AGI 80, FIN 90, HGRL 93, LFT 61, OVR 85, RFT 73, SPT 89). Our annotation column gives its single peak to this row. No scoreline is claimed — this archive holds no goal-by-goal ledger for the year. (BallFact player_attributes / mark)

1987

An empty cell: our database files no row for this calendar year. This page reports the blank and does not explain it, and does not fill it from outside sources. (Filing status, L2)

1989/90

Borussia Mönchengladbach, Bundesliga: the first collapse — 5 columns at their unique low, all in the mental (MEN) and drive (WIL) groups: big-game 77, composure 74, steadiness 72, vision 74, will-to-win 73; acceleration in the same row still reads 81. (BallFact player_attributes · groups per attrs-def)

1991/92

Eintracht Braunschweig — the league field changes from Bundesliga to 2. Bundesliga, the only tier drop in the file; overall climbs back to 80, with three mental columns restored to their 1986 figures. (BallFact player_seasons.league)

1995

The second empty cell: no row between 1993/94 and 1996/97. Like 1987, we record the hole and not a reason. (Filing status, L2)

1996/97

Illichivets Mariupol, Ukrainian first tier, final row: overall 71; 10 unique lows (acceleration and sprint both 53, durability 36, finishing 60); our single valley stamp. Born 1960, retired 1997. (BallFact players / player_seasons / mark)

ARCHIVIST'S NOTE

Why an empty cell belongs in the file

BONG WENG Archivist

Belanov's ledger is the most concentrated summit this archive has filed: 8 columns, every unique high in the table, all of them in the 1986 row, none anywhere else. It is worth pausing on that. The statement is mathematically hard — the script checks it cell by cell — and causally empty. It says the file put its best things in one cell. What actually happened that year is not something we can audit here, so we do not write a story over it.

The part worth looking at is the bottom, because the order is odd. The 1989/90 row holds 5 unique lows, all in the mental and drive groups — big-game, composure, steadiness, vision, will-to-win — while acceleration in the same row has not moved an inch: the mind bowed while the legs were still fine. The physical lows come 3 rows and 7 years later, 10 of them in the final row, acceleration and sprint landing together on 53. In between, 1991/92 returns three mental columns to their 1986 values and lifts the overall by 2. We draw no conclusion from that either; we only note that on this account the mind broke once and was mended, and the legs were not.

Two cells are simply empty: 1987 and 1995 have no rows. The easiest failure in an archive is to fill a hole with something heard elsewhere; we make the hole itself the record. Not explaining is the most expensive kind of honesty. The usual caveat stands: the attribute arc is L3 editorial derivation, and only what the script confirms cell by cell is load-bearing — all unique highs in 1986, five mental/drive lows in 1989/90, 10 lows in the final row, four columns unmoved, the single extreme at 93. This archive holds no goal-by-goal ledger of any match involving Belanov, so the file carries no match facts at all.

The chain: four places where a ledger puts its top

Three ledgers filed in the same run are each shaped differently: #P00023 (Brolin) breaks on the row after the peak; #P00026 (Kostadinov) is written back to his first row in the World Cup year; #P00021 (Raducioiu) is filed in two cells. Belanov is the fourth kind — a summit concentrated in one cell and a collapse split in two. The Fallen Stars series (Recoba / Adriano / Owen) measures the distance between peak and final row; this file takes no volume number there and is cross-referenced for shape only.

— Bong Weng · Archivist · BallFact

Note: clubs, leagues, per-season attributes and the annotation column come from the BallFact database (attributes and marks are L3 editorial derivation). Group judgements (mental MEN / drive WIL / mobility MOB / physical PHY / technique TEC) are taken from our own attribute definition table, not invented here. This archive holds no goal-by-goal ledger of any match involving Belanov and files no appearances, goals or standings, so the page makes no match claim. All seven rows are club seasons and there is no national-team row — that describes our filing, not whether he was ever capped. A 1986 Ballon d'Or, Olympic football in 1988, a withdrawal from a national squad and similar received accounts appear in no BallFact-audited case and are neither used nor cited.

The ledger gives its best to one cell, and splits its worst across two years.

METHOD

Data basis and confidence grading

L1 · High (not applicable here)This page contains no match facts: this archive holds no goal-by-goal ledger of any match involving Belanov — no scorelines, no goals, no attendances — so no L1 match entry is offered. Claims about the competitions of 1986, 1988 or 1990, if made anywhere, belong to the page that makes them under its own grading.
L2 · MediumPer-season club/league assignments from our player_seasons: Dynamo Kyiv (Soviet Top League, three rows), Borussia Mönchengladbach (Bundesliga), Eintracht Braunschweig (2. Bundesliga, two rows), Illichivets Mariupol (Ukraine). Two calendar years — 1987 and 1995 — have no row at all; the page reports the blanks and no cause. apps / goals / team_rank are unfilled (NULL): nothing is asserted from them and no derived value is substituted.
L3 · Editorial derivationThe 43 attributes and the overall arc are editorial derivation (scale 1–99), solved from no game database; the mark column (one peak at 1986, one valley at 1996/97) is this archive's own annotation. The load-bearing statistics of this page — 8 columns whose unique high is 1986 and no other row, 5 unique lows in 1989/90 all inside the MEN/WIL groups, 10 unique lows in 1996/97 (acceleration and sprint both 53), constant columns OFF 90 / PAS 69 / DRI 74 / SHW 84, and the single table extreme at 93 — are machine statistics over that L3 arc and L3 annotation; each is a throw-condition of this script.

SOURCE LIST

S1 · BallFact players database player_seasons / player_attributes (slug=belanov, 7 seasons × 44 rows = 308 attribute rows, all L3, including the mark column and 2 empty calendar years).

S2 · BallFact attribute definition table attrs-def (the striker weights carry 12 entries and exclude SHW, so "showmanship is not counted in the overall" is a matter of definition; the MEN/WIL/MOB/PHY/TEC/GK grouping is what the "which group collapsed" sentences run on).

S3 · BallFact 1996 World XI · attribute master (the public page for the arc-anchoring scale): /players/1996/.

S4 · BallFact Player Files #P00023 (Brolin), #P00026 (Kostadinov) and #P00021 (Raducioiu) — three other ledger shapes; no figure here is taken from them: /players/brolin/ · /players/kostadinov/ · /players/raducioiu/.

S5 · BallFact Fallen Stars series hub (same family of file; this volume takes no number there): /fallen-stars/.

S6 · Dataset CSV: /data/players/belanov.csv (per-season attribute snapshot, rendered from the database by our build pipeline).

← Another ledger, split differently

Player File #P00021 · Răducioiu

The table our scale comes from →

1996 World XI · attribute master