Ostap Steckiw was born in Lviv, Ukraina, on March 13, 1924. He started playing soccer at an early age and joined SA Ukraina in Lviv when he was twelve years old. He progressed to the senior team but due to the war, organized football was difficult. In 1946 he joined the SA Ukraina club in Salzburg, Austria.
In January 1947 he joined FC Phönix in Karlsruhe in Germany. After a short spell in Belgium with Sporting Club in Charleroi Ostap moved to France to play professional football. He played in 8 league games for Nice in the French first division during the 1948-49 and 1949-50 seasons. During the 1949-50 season he moved to French second division club and played in 15 league games, scoring 5 goals. He then spent the 1950-51 season with second division club Valenciennes. He played in 25 league games and scored 5 goals.
Ostap and his wife emigrated to Canada in July 1951. The couple settled in Toronto where Ostap joined the S. A. Ukrainia soccer club. He helped his new club win the 1951 National Soccer League Playoff championship.
In 1952 Ostap was an important part of the Toronto Ukraina team that won the Arnold Cup, emblematic of being the NSL playoff champions. In the 1953 NSL season Ukraina won both the league championship and the playoff championship.
In the 1954 National Soccer League season Toronto Ukraina won the regular season championship.
On May 22, 1955 he played at centre half for the Ontario All-Star team against Huddersfield Town. The English First Division club won 3-1 in front of 5,600 fans at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. Toronto Ukraina won the league championship in the 1955 NSL season.
He spent the winters of 1955-56 and 1956-57 playing for the Ukrainian-American Sports Club of Rochester, New York.
Rated as the one of best wing half’s in Canada in the 1950’s he had a great 1957 season. He started the year helping the Rochester Ukrainians reach the United States National Amateur Cup final. On July 6, 1957, he was one of the goalscorers as the Canadian National Team defeated the United States 3-2 in a World Cup qualifying game. He also won the 1957 Dominion Championship with Montreal Ukraina.
Before the start of the 1958 season he was appointed player-coach of Toronto Ukraina.
In 1961 he was appointed as head coach of Toronto Roma in the National Soccer League. Roma won the league championship in the 1961 NSL season.
Ostap helped Toronto Ukraina finish in second place in the 1962 National Soccer League season.
He returned as coach of Toronto Roma for the 1963 Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League season. However, in July 1963 he resigned from his position.
In 1964 he coached Hakoah in the break-away Ontario Soccer League. Ostap coached Toronto Inter-Roma in the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League in the 1966 season.
On April 13, 2001 Ostap passed away in Toronto