We met with Sheffield United’s 1997 player of the year, Peter Kachuro (Pyotr Kachuro / Пётр Качуро). He was kind enough to personally sign some cards I designed as a tribute to his days at Sheffield United.

Sheffield United signed Kachuro for £650,000 in 1996 and he scored 14 goals in his first season as the Blades finished in fifth place in Division One, qualifying for the playoffs! Prior to signing for Sheffield United, he was in stunning form for Belarusian side, Dinamo Mink. He scored an incredible 52 goals in 60 games between 1994 and 1996.

Peter stayed with Sheffield United until 2000, struggling to replicate his first season form. Following Sheffield United, signed for Chinese side Chengdu Wuniu for one season and moved back to Dinamo Minsk for a season. He then transferred to the then Russian Premier League side Sokol Saratov, scoring 24 times over 3 seasons. He finished off his career in 2005 with Dinamo Minsk – where it all started!

Kachuro featured for the Belarus National Team 29 times, scoring 5 times in a team that was weak since the collapse of the Soviet Union. After retiring, Kachuro became the head coach of his boyhood club Dinamo Minsk – which was very short lived!

Peter has found memories of his time at Sheffield United and shared some with James Shield, a Sheffield United correspondent, football and boxing writer for The Star. In his interview with James Shield, Kachuro said, “When I first came to Sheffield, I thought it was a factory city that had made lots of things in World War Two. Of course, it was, but then I also discovered its importance to the culture of football everywhere; the oldest club, the oldest ground and the first ever cup. It is somewhere I have so many fond memories of and am looking forward to visiting again hopefully, to catch up with all the people there now.”

In the interview with James Shield, Kachuro talked on his Team of the Year season with a heavy heart, “We had a wonderful team, with people like Alan, Dane (Whitehouse), Mitch Ward and Jan Aage Fjortoft. It was terrible, that result. It felt terrible. But we tried our best.”

Peter now resides in his home city in Belarus, Minsk, and is there we have been able to get his autograph for our cards. We are very appreciative to Peter and the time he has taken to make collecting for fans like us more enjoyable!
If there are any Sheffield United fans that are interested in some of the autographed cards I made of Kachuro, you can message me on my Instagram, or comment below.
Thanks for reading!