Baltacha was developed by longtime Dynamo Kyiv and USSR national team coach Valeriy Lobanovskyi, who spotted Baltacha at the Kharkiv Oblast sports boarding school[3] (today the Kharkiv College of Sports)[4] of footballing excellence, which he had left home to attend at the age of 13.

[5] Before moving to Kharkiv, Baltacha started his football career in native Mariupol playing for local youth sports club "Azovstal".

As preparation to the 1980 Summer Olympics, in 1979 Baltacha played couple of games for Ukraine at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR.

He also appeared in the FIFA World Cup in 1982, was a finalist in the European Championships in 1988 and won the bronze medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

[8] Since 2012 Sergei Baltacha works as Professional Development Phase Lead Coach at the Charlton Athletic FC Academy.