Lev Yashin USSR Great Dynamo. Lev Yashin

The most famous Soviet footballer was born on October 22, 1929 in Moscow in an ordinary working-class family. His father, Ivan Petrovich, worked at an aircraft factory, and his mother, Anna Mitrofanovna, worked at the Krasny Bogatyr. They left the house early in the morning, and returned tired after dark: in the thirties, overtime work, mainly at the father's defense enterprise, had to be done very often. In early childhood, Leo was looked after by close relatives, however, as he got older, he was left to his own devices, preferring to spend all the time in the yard. The street became for Yashin a real school of life. In 1935, his mother died suddenly. A few years later, Ivan Petrovich married again - among other things, he realized that his son needed female supervision. Fortunately, the boy's relationship with his stepmother Alexandra Petrovna was warm. And in 1940, Yashin had a younger brother, Boris.

Leo's lifestyle was typical for boys from the working outskirts of Moscow. The children's entertainment was very diverse and often extremely dangerous - in addition to riding trams as "hares", they, finding sulfur or even gunpowder, made caps and threw them on the rails in front of the trams. In winter, the children went skiing sloping roofs local sheds, turning them into a kind of springboards. In order to successfully land and not earn a serious injury, it was necessary to show good coordination, composure and courage. Repeatedly Lev Yashin had a chance to participate in fights - both "one on one" and in "wall to wall" skirmishes.

The entire male population of the capital of the 1930s was "sick" of football, and, no doubt, this hobby could not pass over the boys. Together with his peers, Leo from early spring to late autumn uncontrollably "cut" in football. The soccer balls familiar in our understanding did not yet exist, and the boys ran after balls tightly knitted from rags. Lev Ivanovich himself was a good striker as a child and did not even imagine that he would ever take a place at the gate.

In the summer of 1941, the life of eleven-year-old Lev Yashin turned upside down - his father took him to relatives in the village, but the war broke out, and they had to return to Moscow. Ivan Petrovich, as an employee of an aviation plant, was given a reservation, and in October the Yashin family went on an evacuation. They landed near Ulyanovsk, where they, together with other Muscovites in an open field, began the construction of a new plant. People lived in tents, Ivan Petrovich disappeared for days at work, and Lev, somehow studying in the fifth grade, nursed his little brother and helped Alexandra Petrovna with the housework. Of course, he did not like it too much, and the boy pestered his father with requests to take him to the factory.

In the fall of 1943, the father finally granted his son's wish - several workers from his shop went to the front, and they needed replacements. Very quickly, Yashin became a third-class locksmith, receiving a full-fledged work card, which he was very proud of. In the winter of 1943-1944, when workers laid fires in unheated workshops between machines, and slept here on boxes of materials and tools, a fourteen-year-old teenager became addicted to smoking. He was taught this by his partner, who was afraid that Yashin would fall asleep at the machine from fatigue. And in early 1944, the plant returned from evacuation, and the Yashin family went home. Soon Victory Day came, and the sixteen-year-old Leo received the first in his life and at the same time the most expensive award for him - the medal "For Valiant Labor during the Great Patriotic War."

After the war, locksmith Yashin continued to work at his native enterprise and was in good standing there. Lev got up at half past six in the morning, and returned home late at night, as after work he studied at a school for working youth. Tired, first of all, psychologically - from a long road, hard monotonous work, classes at night school - Yashin found an outlet in mid-1945 by enrolling in the factory football section. The coach there was Vladimir Checherov, who, as soon as he saw the lanky guy, immediately put him in the goal. The lion did not like this, but the desire to play was much stronger, and he decided to remain silent. Workers of the plant trained on Sundays, the only day off. Soon Yashin was included in the factory team and took part in the regional football championship.

In early 1948, colleagues and relatives of Lev Ivanovich began to notice that something was wrong with him. Yashin himself said about this: “Something suddenly broke in me. I have never been known as a quarrelsome person or with a difficult character. And then everything at home and at work began to annoy, he walked all twitchy, he could flare up over any trifle. In the end, I packed my things and left the house. I also stopped going to the factory.” Absence from work at that time was considered as sabotage at a defense enterprise and was a reason for criminal prosecution. Fortunately, fellow football players advised Yashin to ask for military service even before reaching draft age. In the military enlistment office, Lev Ivanovich was met halfway; already in the spring of 1948 he was assigned to one of the units of the Interior Ministry troops stationed in Moscow. They quickly found out that Yashin was a football goalkeeper, and included him in one of the unit's teams. Soon Lev Ivanovich took part in the championship of the capital city council "Dynamo".

Fate smiled on the young man. Once the goalkeeper of one of the teams of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was injured during the warm-up, and Lev Ivanovich had to play two matches in a row. During these fights, Arkady Chernyshev, the coach of the Dynamo youth team of masters, drew attention to him. How he managed to see the genius in the tall goalkeeper, who scored four goals in two games that day, Arkady Ivanovich himself did not really understand - in any case, he later explained it in different ways. After the end of the matches, he invited Yashin to join the Dynamo youth team.

Having started working with Leo, the coach immediately noticed that the guy was much more resilient and conscientious than his teammates. At the same time, Chernyshev discovered a rare analytical gift in the pupil - Lev himself tried to explain to the coach the mistakes he had made during the game and tried to find out how they could be corrected. Working hard, the young man successfully played both in the championship and in the Moscow Cup in 1949. In the semi-final battle, the Dynamo "youth team" met with the Dynamo team, staffed partly by veterans, partly by spare players from the team of masters. Arkady Chernyshev himself took part in the game along with the once famous football players Vasily Trofimov and Sergey Ilyin. The match caused a great stir, the stands of the Dynamo Small Stadium were bursting with spectators who had come. Lev Ivanovich was more reliable than ever and helped his partners win 1:0.

In the fall of 1949, Mikhail Yakushin, the head coach of Dynamo, took Yashin to the main team on the recommendation of Chernyshev. Nevertheless, it was only an advance for the future - two first-class goalkeepers played for Dynamo in those years - the ambitious Walter Sanaya and the experienced Alexei Khomich, nicknamed the "Tiger". Lev Ivanovich could take their place in the Dynamo gates only with a successful combination of circumstances. Initially, Mikhail Iosifovich was distrustful of the new goalkeeper: the long, awkward, thin goalkeeper was very strange - either very constrained, or, on the contrary, relaxed and “unscrewed”. His habit of going far out of the gate was also alarming, which sometimes led to discouraging mistakes. Nevertheless, his incredible diligence and perseverance bribed. Football aces who played in Dynamo liked to stay on the field after training and “knock” on goal. Yashin - in the mud and dust - was spinning like a squirrel in a wheel. It was the experienced forwards who always “surrendered” first, and not the young goalkeeper.

Alexey Khomich, at the request of Yakushin, took the young goalkeeper under his wing. Alexey Petrovich generously shared with Leo the secrets of mastery, while being surprised at his seriousness and thoroughness. Following the example of Khomich, the young goalkeeper started a special notebook in which he noted the actions of goalkeepers and field players after the games he saw, and also wrote down the most important things he learned from teammates and coaches. In the summer of 1950, both leading goalkeepers of the team “broke down” one after another, and on July 2, at the seventy-fifth minute of the match with Spartak from the capital, Lev Ivanovich entered the field of the local Dynamo stadium for the first time in his life. His team was leading 1:0 by this point, but due to a ridiculous oversight by Yashin, who collided with his own defender at the exit from the gate, the final score became 1:1. And four days later there was a complete embarrassment. In the away game with Dynamo Tbilisi, the capital's players started confidently (4:1), but then Yashin conceded three goals in a row in fifteen minutes, and two of them were clearly on his conscience. Although the team of Lev Ivanovich managed to snatch a victory (5: 4), the young goalkeeper was excommunicated for a long time from big football- He had to play for three years only for the double.

The offensive three-year "link" to the backup team went to Lev Ivanovich in the end to the benefit. The understudies had their own championship, and thus Yashin had no downtime. Constantly being in the game, he gradually gained confidence in his abilities. However, the most important thing is that it was here that Lev Ivanovich could calmly improve his unique goalkeeping style. However, this could not be called style. It was whole system game, which consisted in the fact that the goalkeeper not only protected the goal frame, but, in fact, was the organizer of the entire team game. Yashin set his goal not only to repel shots on goal, but also to interrupt the enemy’s attacks in the bud. To do this, he often ran far into the field - outside the penalty area - and played with his feet and head. In fact, Lev Ivanovich acted as another defender, cleaning up the tactical mistakes of his partners. Having mastered the ball, the goalkeeper immediately tried to organize a counterattack. For greater accuracy, he, as a rule, sent the ball to the attackers not with his foot, as was customary in those years, but with his hand. And, finally, Yashin prompted the defense players which specific zones needed to be covered. All this led to the fact that the enemy was not allowed to hit on goal or was forced to do it from disadvantageous positions. Partners, who quickly understood the usefulness of the goalkeeper's advice, immensely trusted Yashin's "eccentricities".

Meanwhile, Arkady Chernyshev did not forget about his pupil. In the thirties and forties, almost all Soviet football players put on skates and played bandy in winter - its rules resembled football ones and such a transition was not difficult for the players. Lev Ivanovich, on the other hand, showed the makings of an outstanding striker on the ice. In the early fifties, Canadian hockey was already being cultivated in the USSR with might and main, and Chernyshev was among the first to take up its development. In the fall of 1950, a couple of months after Yashin's unsuccessful debut in the first team, Arkady Ivanovich invited him to try his hand at ice hockey as a striker. However, Yashin himself, despite his impressive growth, wanted to take the gate. Only in March 1953 did he have the opportunity to play in the USSR Cup as an understudy for the Estonian Karl Liiv. He performed quite well and helped his team to win the honorary prize. It is curious that Lev received the title of master of sports first as a hockey player, and only then as a football player. Given the sympathy of Chernyshev, who was the head coach of the USSR national hockey team, he had excellent prospects in 1954 to be part of the main hockey squad and go to Sweden for the World Championship, where, I must say, our team won gold medals for the first time. However, Yashin liked football much more, and, having received a place in the Dynamo starting lineup in 1953, Lev Ivanovich left hockey forever.

On May 2, 1953, the twenty-four-year-old Yashin again appeared on the field of the Dynamo stadium in a match with the capital's Lokomotiv. From the very first minutes, Zhuravl (as the fans called it in those years) played so reliably that since then its place at the base has not been in doubt. And on September 8, 1954, Yashin played his first match for the national team. Soviet football players defeated the Swedes with a score of 7:0. The triumphant return of Lev Ivanovich to big football coincided in time both with the "golden age" of the capital's "Dynamo", and with the outstanding achievements of the national team Soviet Union, one of the first teams in the world. It was Yashin who played a huge role in the success of our players. In the first decade of the legendary goalkeeper's appearance for Dynamo, the club became the champion five times and took second place three times. The defense led by him was considered the most reliable in the country and successfully resisted the strongest torpedo and Spartak forwards in the USSR. Yashin himself, who perfectly studied the style of their game, acted on them like a boa constrictor on rabbits. Defense players in international matches coped with their duties somewhat worse - they knew less about the "habits" of foreign attackers, which means that Lev Ivanovich more often had to enter the game, demonstrating his skills.

In the fifties, Moscow Spartak and Dynamo, as well as the national team of the Soviet Union, began to increasingly go abroad for friendly games with the strongest foreign teams. Yashin was seen in Europe already in 1954, when Dynamo defeated the famous Milan with a score of 4: 1. The results of the games of the USSR national team were just as successful in general - it is enough to note two victories over the German national team, which was world champions (in 1955 in Moscow - 3:2 and in 1956 in Hannover - 2:1). The victory in these matches, as well as the triumph of the Soviet team in the fall of 1956 in Melbourne at the Olympic tournament, was largely determined by the game of the goalkeeper. It was the goalkeeper, who “pulled” literally everything, who ensured victory (1:0) in the most difficult final duel with the Yugoslavs, who owned the initiative for the main part of the match.

The victory at the Olympic tournament elevated the players of the national team to the rank of national heroes. The titles of Honored Masters of Sports were awarded to eleven participants in the final match, including Lev Ivanovich. But the strongest football teams of the planet did not participate in this Olympiad, they were considered - unlike players from the socialist countries - professionals. The Soviet team had to prove its strength at the 1958 World Cup. Preparation for it was difficult. Glory turned the heads of a number of young players, and the team did not play very well in the qualifying matches - a replay with the Poles was needed. The Soviet players eventually defeated the Polish national team (2: 0), but thunder struck right before leaving for Sweden. Three players from the main squad, who had spent a stormy evening with the girls the day before, were arrested. The incident also took a heavy toll on the team's morale.

Our players had to fight with the national teams of Brazil, Austria and England to get out of the group. And already the first match with the British, which was successfully developing at first (the score was 2:0 after the first half), went sideways - with the score 2:1, the judge from Hungary awarded a penalty to our goal for a violation that happened outside the penalty area. The Soviet players tried to protest the decision, but the referee answered them: “Not fair? And in the 56th you acted honestly? So entering to Hungary Soviet troops backfired on the football arena... The USSR national team played a draw with the British (2:2), and then our athletes beat the Austrians (2:0) and lost to the Brazilians (0:2), the future world champions. A day after the third match was to meet again with the England team for reaching the quarterfinals. The exhausted players of both teams fought to the last, and our players turned out to be stronger (the score was 1:0). However, resist - again in a day! - three times more resting Swedish team, they failed - 0:2. They had nothing to reproach themselves with, Yashin, for example, lost seven kilograms at that competition, and the Western press spoke admiringly of him as the best goalkeeper in the world.

By today's standards, the team's performance could be considered successful - a place in the top eight and losing only to vice-champions and world champions. However, in those years, only the most maximalist tasks were set. Both the players and the coaches of the team were criticized, and only Yashin was not touched. In July 1960, the USSR national team, which significantly rejuvenated the composition, took part in the first European Championship. A number of leading football federations (England, Germany, Italy) refused to participate in the competition. The teams of the USSR, France, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia advanced to the final stage of the championship. Confidently beating the Czechoslovaks (3:0), our team met with skilled Yugoslavs. In the first half, the advantage was with the opponent, but Yashin was reliable. Gradually, the Yugoslavs, who had played the duel with the French the day before, "got hooked", and the game leveled off. And in the 113th minute Viktor Monday scored the winning goal (2:1).

The phenomenal game of Yashin amazed not only his opponents, but also those who happened to play with him on the same team. Striker Valentin Bubukin spoke about this: "All of us - Ivanov, Meskhi, Streltsov, I - played, and Lev lived in football." In practice, according to Bubukin, it happened like this: “In 1960, our team beat the Poles 7:1. The goalkeeper rushed after the ball just a couple of times. But here is what he did, in his own words, during the game: “I knocked Kesareva out of the gate, but did not switch off from the episode, but mentally worked as a right-back. He shouted: let's go to Ivanov, then for Vanka he gave a pass to Monday, together with him he struck at the gate. Then he worked in defense, hedged his partners. The opposing striker got into a good position and hit hard, I took the ball with almost no movement. The press then wrote: "Yashin, having read the combination, was in the right place!" However, he did not read the combination, he PARTICIPATED in it!

French journalists called the Russian goalkeeper a "playing coach." In 1961, the leading football magazine of Argentina described Lev Ivanovich's game as follows: “Yashin showed us what a goalkeeper should be in football. With his instructions, with his commanding voice, with his exits and passes to the edge of the field, he is the basis of the Russian defense, effectively eliminating best combinations. He really deserves to be called the best goalkeeper in the world, because he became the author of a certain system of the football game.

Winning the European Cup resurrected the hopes of our fans for the successful performance of the team at the next World Cup, held in Chile in May 1962. However, disappointment awaited them - the USSR national team, having started very cheerfully (victory over the Yugoslavs 2: 0), looked more and more tired from game to game. With great difficulty, beating the Colombians and Uruguayans, the Soviet players reached the quarterfinals. At the beginning of the match with the hosts of the championship, Lev Ivanovich received a concussion - one of the Chilean forwards dealt him a severe blow to the head. Substitutions were not allowed at that time, and the goalkeeper was forced to play until the end of the entire match. It is not surprising that he did not save the team in the eleventh and twenty-seventh minutes. There was still an hour of playing time left, but the Soviet players were still unable to score.

At home, the performance of the football team was perceived as a shame. Yashin became the scapegoat this time. It should be noted here that deeply disappointed football fans could judge what happened only by the articles of TASS correspondents and radio reports by Nikolai Ozerov. And from them it just followed that the goalkeeper was to blame for the early departure of Soviet football players, first of all, who did not beat off two long-range and supposedly simple blows - "for Yashin to miss such balls is unforgivable." It seemed that in the current situation, the thirty-two-year-old goalkeeper should retire. Fortunately, the head coach of Dynamo Ponomarev was sympathetic to the feelings of Lev Ivanovich, who did not even try to defend himself from unfair accusations. Often, instead of training, the mentor sent Yashin on a fishing trip so that he could put his feelings in order.

It took a long time to restore peace of mind to the goalkeeper. For the first time, he stood in the frame in Tashkent on July 22 in the Dynamo game with the local Pakhtakor. By autumn, Yashin had regained his fitness form, having conceded only four goals in the last eleven matches of the USSR championship. And in the 1963 USSR Championship, Lev Ivanovich set a record of impenetrability at all, having defended “to zero” in 22 out of 27 games and conceding only six goals. At the end of the year, he received an invitation to play in a friendly game of the world team against the England team. The match dedicated to the 100th anniversary of English football took place on October 23, 1963. The Soviet leadership, which, in general, favored Lev Ivanovich, took an unprecedented step - a live TV broadcast of the game. The famous goalkeeper defended the gates of the world team for the entire first half, and defended in such a way that his game became the main event of the match. The opponent delivered many dangerous shots on goal, but Yashin could not break through. In the second half he was replaced by Yugoslav Milutin Soskic, whom the British scored two goals. The 25-year-old English goalkeeper Gordon Banks, who is still considered the No. 1 goalkeeper in British football, subsequently wrote: “One half spent on the field with him was enough for me to understand that we have a genius in front of us. ... I'm sure if Yashin had remained at the gate, we would not have won. I also remember that the audience at the stadium reacted to Lev more emotionally than to our players. When he left the field, they gave him a real standing ovation. After playing in the world team, Yashin's international authority rose to sky-high heights. A vote by the French edition of France Football recognized Lev Ivanovich as the best football player in Europe in 1963. Yashin became the first goalkeeper to be awarded the Golden Ball.

It should be noted that all football life Lev Ivanovich, not sparing himself, trained hard. For the most part, he "rattled his bones" on grassless driving ranges, stony in summer, muddy and wet in autumn and spring. In one training session, Yashin received over 200 blows to the chest with a ball. He had, obviously, a completely “beaten off” stomach. But this iron man not only did not wince in pain, but demanded that they beat on his gates and with close range, and point blank. Only once in her life his wife Valentina Timofeevna visited her husband’s training and ran home in tears - she was unable to see such a “torture”. The famous hockey player Vladimir Yurzinov recalled how in the fall of 1970 he happened to watch a two-hour training session of Dynamo football players. Lev Ivanovich was in the game all the time. Then the players went home, and only the 41-year-old goalkeeper and several guys from the team remained on the field, agreeing to “knock” on the goal at his request. When the tired youth left the field, Yashin, noticing the hockey players, persuaded the "real men" to kick him. Vladimir Vladimirovich said: “And we beat. To sweat, to frenzy, to darkness. That's when the camera was needed, the crowd of reporters, flashes of blitzes. That's when people would see the real Yashin - a great man and athlete."

In 1964, the USSR team played in the second European Cup held in Spain. Having easily dealt with the Danes in the semi-finals (3:0), she met with the hosts of the tournament. The game had a clear political connotation - four years earlier, Franco forbade his athletes to play with the national team of the Soviet Union. Despite the confident play of our players, they lost the match (2:1). Fortunately, the goalkeeper was not blamed for the defeat. After that, the USSR national team was headed by Nikolai Morozov, who headed for the renewal of the composition. Throughout 1965, young Yuri Pshenichnikov, Anzor Kavazashvili and Viktor Bannikov alternately defended the gates, and Yashin returned to the national team only in the fall, at the beginning of the qualifying matches. At the end of the year, the Soviet team went on a tour of Latin America, where they played with the strongest teams in the New World. Lev Ivanovich also took part in this trip, defending the gate during the games with the teams of Brazil (2:2) and Argentina (1:1). The performance of the veteran convinced the coach of his indispensability: “We have two Yashins in the frame! Himself and his last name. Even the two-time world champions, led by Pele himself, experienced obvious reverence for the Soviet goalkeeper, and seemed to attack his goal with timidity.

In July 1966, the 36-year-old goalkeeper went to the World Cup in England, where he again became one of the main characters. However, this time he did not play in all, but only in the most important meetings. Having taken first place in the preliminary tournament, the USSR national team defeated the Hungarians in the quarterfinals, and for the first time in history reached the semifinals of the world championship. The game with the FRG team was extremely difficult - at the beginning of the match our midfielder Jozsef Sabo was injured, in the middle of the game the best Soviet striker Igor Chislenko was sent off. A series of unforced oversights on the part of the defenders crossed out Yashin's brilliant game - the Soviet team lost with a score of 1:2. One of the local newspapers called the Soviet goalkeeper the "tragic hero" of the match.

Returning to his homeland, Lev Ivanovich continued to play for his native Dynamo and for various teams: his country, Europe and the world. In his long career as a goalkeeper, Lev Ivanovich has seen many coaches. Relations with them were built, as a rule, on mutual respect. Mentors, understanding the special role of Yashin in the team, usually turned a blind eye to his smoking habit. Another privilege of the famous goalkeeper was the right to leave hotels and training bases and go fishing - even on foreign trips, he carried fishing tackle with him and, upon arrival, first of all asked the locals where the nearest reservoir was located. In his own words, watching the bobber calmed his nerves and helped him tune in to the game.

For the last time, Yashin played for the Soviet national team on July 16, 1967 in a match with the Greek national team. At the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, he was in the application as the third goalkeeper, but he did not enter the field. When the head coach suggested that he go to the game with the players of El Salvador in order to "check in" at the championship, Lev Ivanovich flatly refused, not wanting to deprive the main goalkeeper Anzor Kavazashvili of confidence. And on May 27, 1971, Yashin's farewell match took place, in which the world team played against the Dynamo team. Lev Ivanovich played for fifty minutes and did not concede a single goal, then giving way to Vladimir Pilguy, who was scored twice by world football stars. The match ended with the score 2:2.

Having completed his football career at an unthinkably late age (at 41), Yashin headed his native team, and in 1975 became deputy head of the hockey and football department of the Dynamo Central Council. A year later, Lev Ivanovich left for similar work to the Sports Committee. Very often they turned to him for the most help- both familiar people associated with sports, and those whom Yashin had not seen before. And he helped - went to the authorities, called, punched. A great many letters came to him, and he at least looked through all of them. Sometimes incidents happened because of this: once, in response to a warm letter, a fan from Uzbekistan arrived in Moscow, bringing his wife and seven children with him. He showed up at Lev Ivanovich's apartment, turning it into a hostel for a whole week. All this time, Yashin fed the guests at his own expense and showed them Moscow.

Outwardly, the fate of the former football player looked quite safe, but it was only outwardly - the famous goalkeeper felt like a "black sheep" in the world of officials and could not do anything about it. Accustomed to telling his partners whatever he considered necessary, he found it difficult to put up with the need to hide his thoughts or express himself roundly. "Colleagues" also did not favor him. In the course of public events, being next to Yashin, the country's largest officials involuntarily found out their true price - it was the legendary goalkeeper that the attention of the audience was always drawn to. In 1982, Yashin - despite the personal invitation of the organizers - was not included in the Soviet delegation that went to the World Cup in Spain. The bewilderment expressed on this occasion by the international football community led to the fact that sports officials still took Yashin with them as ... an interpreter. It must be said that the proud football player did not agree with the humiliating status for a long time, but in the end he realized that his “colleagues” characterized themselves by this, not him. Of course, in Spain everything fell into place - the football world perceived him precisely as Yashin and nothing else.

With age, the numerous illnesses of the great goalkeeper began to remind of themselves more and more. Some of them arose a long time ago, for example, a stomach ulcer, others appeared after the body stopped receiving the usual physical exercise. Long-term smoking played a fatal role. Yashin had a stroke, followed by a couple of heart attacks, gangrene, which led to the amputation of his legs, cancer ... March 20, 1990 he died.

Everyone who knew Lev Ivanovich admitted that he was an extraordinary person. And this was not due to his rare football talent. Even more contemporaries were struck by Yashin's human talent. The former locksmith, who only graduated from the school for working youth, knew how to behave with dignity among working people, and next to football and non-football celebrities. Both partners and rivals Yashin enjoyed unquestioning authority. “Screaming” during matches at the defenders, outside the game, he never tried to command anyone and did not try to stand out. He endured grievances patiently, never trying to evade responsibility, if indeed, he was at least a little guilty. Relatives, trying to save the goalkeeper from "self-discipline", told him: "Why are you tormenting yourself, did the team win?" However, Yashin answered this: "The field players won, but I lost." Another characteristic episode - the boys who served balls during the matches, said that Yashin - the famous Yashin - said “thank you” to them for each ball served and never cursed if they were involuntarily mistaken.

To get acquainted, and even more so to make friends with Lev Ivanovich, was considered an honor by all football stars without exception. With many outstanding athletes, Yashin had a purely human sympathy, so among his close friends were football players Franz Beckenbauer, Uwe Seeler, Ferenc Puskas, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, Bobby Charlton, Eusebio, Gyula Grosic and Pele himself. The great Brazilian athlete always looked at Yashin with reverence and, when he came to Moscow, he would definitely visit him.

Based on the materials of the weekly edition “Our history. 100 Great Names” and books by A.M. Soskin "Shine through tears".

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Lev Ivanovich Yashin (1929-1990) - an outstanding Soviet football goalkeeper who for many years defended the gates of the capital's Dynamo and the USSR national team. Together with the Soviet team, he became the Olympic champion in 1956 and the winner of the European championship in 1960.

He was repeatedly recognized as the best goalkeeper of the planet according to various versions, including such authoritative organizations as FIFA and World Soccer. Included in the list of the best players of the last century. Lev Yashin is a five-time champion of the Soviet Union, in 1957 he received the title of Honored Master of Sports. In his honor, a prize was established, which is awarded to the best goalkeeper of the final part of the World Cup.

Childhood and youth

Lev Yashin is a native Muscovite, he was born on October 22, 1929 in a working-class family. His father worked as a mechanic at one of the factories and after his shift he liked to play football. Over time, the love for the game of millions was transferred to his son, who began by playing for the yard team. The film adaptation of L. Kassil's novel "The Goalkeeper" made a huge impression on the boy, in which the personality of the goalkeeper Anton Kandidov was vividly shown.

When Leo was six years old, his mother, Anna Mitrofanovna, died. The upbringing of the boy and his brother Boris was taken up by the second wife of his father ─ Anna Petrovna, who gave them her maternal warmth so much that they called her only mother.

Leo's childhood passed within the walls small apartment, located next to the Krasny Bogatyr enterprise. After the start of the Great Patriotic War, the family was evacuated to Ulyanovsk, where Yashin, after completing five classes, went to work at a local factory.

After returning to Moscow, he found a job at a Tushino enterprise, whose honor he defended by playing in a football team, while at the same time managing to study at a seven-year school. Then, like many peers, Leo dreamed of playing as a striker, but coach V. Checherov was relentless: "Be the goalkeeper!". He stood in the frame, although at first he did not show any special talent.

Career at Dynamo

For the first time, Lev Ivanovich tried on a T-shirt of the Moscow Dynamo in 1949, when he was invited to the youth team of the club. It happened almost by accident. Hard, exhausting work and long journeys to the factory affected the psychological state of the young man. He went to live with a friend and quit working. He was advised to join the army so as not to get a term for parasitism. So, Yashin ended up in the ranks of the armed forces, serving on the outskirts of the capital. Here he was noticed by coach A. Chernyshev, who invited him to the team. Soon Lev became the third goalkeeper after the famous A. Khomich and V. Sanay. Interestingly, until 1954, the athlete combined performance for the football and hockey teams.

Yashin's first performances were accompanied by a number of ridiculous mistakes that made the old-timers of the team laugh to their heart's content. In 1949, in one of the test matches, he collided with his own defender, after which the ball calmly rolled into the goal. In another meeting, Lev came on as a substitute for Khomich and again could not figure out the situation with the defender, after which the opponent scored an offensive goal. High police officials forced to remove “this sucker” from the gates, and Yashin went to a remote reserve to polish the bench for three years. These failures only tempered the character of the goalkeeper, who at that time was able to open up in hockey. It was in this sport that Yashin achieved his first notable successes - he won silver and bronze medals, won the Cup of the country, received the title of master of sports.

Starting in 1953, Lev Ivanovich managed to become the main goalkeeper of Dynamo. This was facilitated by the invaluable experience that A. Khomich gave him. He taught his successor to work tirelessly in training, and over time, quantity began to develop into quality.

His style of play for the 50s was peculiar: Yashin went far from the goal and effectively stopped the opponent's attacks on the distant approaches to the goal. Distinctive features goalkeeper became the ease and elegance with which he made his famous shots for the ball. Lev Ivanovich had a lightning-fast reaction and had excellent coordination. In fact, in his penalty area, he played the role of the last defender and could control the ball, giving an accurate pass to his player.

Performances for the national team

In the mid-50s, Yashin became unconditionally the best goalkeeper in the USSR, and he was immediately invited to the national team of the country. The first triumph was not long in coming. In 1956, our team took part in the XVI Olympic Games held in Melbourne, Australia. In total, seven meetings were held, in which Yashin defended six at the gate. He conceded only three goals, immediately turning into a world-class star. Moreover, the Soviet team became the Olympic champion. After that, the Soviet goalkeeper began to be recognized in many countries.

Four years later, the USSR national team achieved the highest achievement in its history, winning the 1960 European Cup. During the tournament, the national teams of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia (in the final) were defeated, and, by all accounts, it was Yashin who made a great contribution to these victories. The British sports publication Worker Sport then wrote: "The victory of the Soviet team is largely determined by the outstanding skill of its goalkeeper." A year later, during a tour of South America, journalists from one of the Argentine newspapers, assessing the strength of Soviet players in the currency, called Yashin priceless.

In 1962, the USSR national team performed unsuccessfully at the World Championships in Chile, losing 0:2 to the hosts and failing to reach the semi-finals. Then, many in our country accused Yashin of the failure of the team, but they thought differently abroad, recognizing him as the best goalkeeper in the world in 1963. Few people knew that already at the beginning of the meeting, after a collision with the opponent's attacker, our goalkeeper received a concussion, so he played overcoming pain and severe dizziness.

The goalkeeper himself was very upset by the defeat, saying: “What kind of goalkeeper is he who does not torment himself for a missed goal!”. Nevertheless, after returning to his homeland, they tried to watch for him, called and threatened on the phone. And when he entered the field, the fans accompanied his every touch of the ball with angry hoots and shouts: “Yashina is retired!”. He was even going to finish with football, although by goalkeeper standards (33 years old) Lev Ivanovich was still in the juice.

In total, Yashin played 78 matches for the national team, playing for it for 14 consecutive seasons.

In 1963, Yashin played for the world team in a match dedicated to the centenary of English football. In those days, such meetings were held infrequently, and each of them attracted Special attention. The Soviet goalkeeper confirmed his highest class and did not concede a single goal in the allotted 45 minutes.

Sports achivments

Lev Yashin became the only goalkeeper awarded the Golden Ball in 1963. Throughout his career, the great goalkeeper saved one and a half hundred penalties, which no one else could do. He owns another achievement - among the Soviet goalkeepers for the first time played one hundred "dry" matches. In total, Yashin did not miss in 207 meetings, his achievement could only be beaten in 1987 by R. Dasaev.

Lev Ivanovich was recognized as the absolute best in his role in the USSR championships for a record 11 times. For 12 years (1956 ─ 1968), he was consistently among the 33 best football players in the country. Yashin was recognized three times as the best goalkeeper of the USSR according to the Ogonyok magazine.

End of career

On May 27, 1991, the farewell match of Lev Yashin took place. It was attended by over 100 thousand spectators who came to honor the merits of the great master. According to the format of the meeting, the home club of the goalkeeper, Dynamo Moscow, played against the world team, which included first-rate stars representing 12 countries - G. Muller, Eusebio, B. Charlton. As a result, in the 813th match of Yashin, the rivals parted with the world 2:2.
After the end of his career, Lev Ivanovich graduated from coaching courses and decided to stay in his native club, working as the head of the team, as well as working in the sports committee. In addition, he managed to train several children's teams.

Back in 1984, his leg was amputated due to progressive gangrene. In the late 80s, Lev Ivanovich was diagnosed with a terrible diagnosis - abdominal cancer. Yashin underwent several operations that caused a complication, aggravated by smoking. On March 20, 1990, the great goalkeeper died.

Personal life

Lev Ivanovich was married all his life to Valentina Timofeevna. They met on the dance floor, and then began to go to the football together. The goalkeeper courted the girl for a long time and romantically, often took her to the movies. They managed to watch one film "Chapaev" 26 times. They officially signed on December 31, 1955, since then the New Year's holiday at the Yashins had a double connotation.

The couple has two children - Irina and Elena. The grandson of Lev Ivanovich Vasily Frolov followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and also decided to become a goalkeeper. He even played for the double of the Moscow Dynamo, but, unable to withstand comparison with his relative, he left professional football.

Sports achivments

Command

Performance statistics

Yashin's matches for the USSR national team

Lev Ivanovich Yashin(October 22, 1929, Moscow - March 20, 1990, Moscow) - Soviet football player, goalkeeper, Olympic champion in 1956 and European champion in 1960, 5-time champion of the USSR, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1957). Hero of Socialist Labor (1990).

The best goalkeeper of the 20th century according to FIFA, IFFIIS, World Soccer, France Football and Placar. Included in the list of the best players of the 20th century according to Venerdì, Guerin Sportivo, Planète Foot and Voetbal International. The only goalkeeper in history to receive the Ballon d'Or.

Colonel of the USSR Armed Forces, member of the CPSU since 1958.

Biography

Lev Yashin was born in the Bogorodskoye district of Moscow in a working-class family of Ivan Petrovich and Anna Petrovna. He spent his childhood on Millionnaya Street at number 15. During the Great Patriotic War, at the age of twelve, Lev Yashin was evacuated with his family near Ulyanovsk, where in the spring of 1943 he went to the factory as a fitter's apprentice. He returned to Moscow in 1944 and, continuing to work at the plant, he devoted all his free time to his favorite game, acting as a goalkeeper for the Tushin national team.

Since 1949 he began to play for the youth team football club"Dynamo" (Moscow), where he soon became the understudy of A.P. Khomich. Since then, Lev Yashin played only for this club, until the end of his football career in 1971.

At the beginning of his sports career Yashin also played ice hockey (from 1950 to 1953). In 1953, he became the owner of the USSR Ice Hockey Cup and the bronze medalist of the USSR championship, also playing as a goalkeeper. Before the hockey world championship in 1954, he was a candidate for the national team, but decided to concentrate on football.

It was not easy to take a place in the main team of the Dynamo football team. At that time, the main goalkeeper of Dynamo was the famous goalkeeper Alexei Khomich, whom the fans nicknamed "Tiger". Only since 1953, Yashin has firmly taken his place at the gates of Dynamo.

Together with his club, Lev Yashin became the champion of the USSR five times (1954, 1955, 1957, 1959 and 1963) and won the USSR football cup three times.

Since 1954, Yashin has been the goalkeeper of the USSR national football team. In total, Yashin played 78 matches for the national team. Together with the USSR national team in 1956, Yashin won the Olympic Games in Melbourne, the 1960 European Cup.

As part of the national team, he played three times in the final stage of the World Cup - in 1958 in Sweden, in 1962 in Chile and in 1966 in England. The highest achievement in the world championships is fourth place in the 1966 championship. Yashin was also announced as the third goalkeeper at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, but did not participate directly in the games.

In 1963, in London, at Wembley Stadium, Lev Yashin played for the world team in a match dedicated to the centenary of English football. All over the world, Yashin was called: "Black Panther" - for his always black goalkeeper uniform, his mobility and acrobatic jumps; "Black Spider" or "Black Octopus" - for his long, reaching arms.

In 1963, Yashin (the only goalkeeper) received the prize of the best football player in Europe - the Golden Ball from the weekly France Football.

On May 27, 1971, in the presence of 103,000 spectators, Lev Yashin's farewell match took place. In this match, the team of clubs of the All-Union Sports Society "Dynamo" (masters from Moscow, Kyiv and Tbilisi participated in the match) played against the team of World stars, which was played by Eusebio, Bobby Charlton, Gerd Muller and many others. Leaving the field during the match, Yashin handed over his gloves to 23-year-old goalkeeper Vladimir Pilguy, symbolically appointing him as his successor at Dynamo. The match ended with a score of 2:2, and Pilgui took his place at the Dynamo goal for the next 11 years.

After completing his football career, he graduated from the coaching school at the State Central Institute of Physical Culture (GTSOLIFKe) (in 1967). Head of the Dynamo team (in 1971 - April 1975). After the tragedy with the young talented football player Kozhemyakin, Lev Ivanovich was accused of "weakening the moral and educational work." He worked as a coach of the second national team of the USSR and for some time children's teams.

After 50 years, Yashin developed gangrene on his left leg, caused by obliterating endarteritis of the vessels due to heavy smoking. In 1984, his leg was amputated. After the operation, he continued to smoke. According to Mark Zaichik, in 1989, during the visit of the veterans' team to Israel, Yashin was given a "very good prosthesis" for free.

On March 18, Lev Yashin received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, having stayed with him for only two days. He died on Tuesday, March 20, 1990, after complications from smoking and ongoing gangrene. He was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery.

Family

Lev Yashin left a wife: Valentina Timofeevna and two daughters - Irina and Elena. Yashin's grandson Vasily Frolov was also a football goalkeeper. In 2009, he ended his career as a physical education teacher. Vasily played for the backup team of Dynamo, St. Petersburg Dynamo and Zelenograd.

Sports achivments

Command

Dynamo (hockey club)

• USSR Cup winner: (1) 1953
• Bronze medalist of the USSR Championship: (1) 1953

Dynamo (football club)

• Champion of the USSR: (5) 1954, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1963
• USSR Cup winner: (3) 1953, 1967, 1970
• Silver medalist of the USSR Championship: (5) 1956, 1958, 1962, 1967, 1970
• Bronze medalist of the USSR Championship: (1) 1960

USSR national team

• Olympic champion: (1) 1956
• European Cup Winner: (1) 1960
• Silver medalist of the European Cup: (1) 1964
• World Championship bronze medalist: (1) 1966

Personal

• Winner of the "Golden Ball" as the best football player in Europe according to France Football: 1963
• 11 times recognized as the best goalkeeper of the USSR.
• In the lists of the best football players of the season in the USSR 16 times, of which No. 1 (1955-1966 and 1968) - 13 times, No. 2 (1953), No. 3 (1969) and b / n (1967).

Awards

• Hero of Socialist Labor (1990)
• Order of Lenin (1967, 1990)
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1957, 1971)
• "Golden Ball" - a prize for the best football player in Europe in 1963
• Silver Olympic Order (1986)
• Golden Order of Merit, FIFA (1988)
• Honored Master of Sports (1957)
• 3 times received the prize "Goalkeeper of the Year" - 1960, 1963, 1966.
• Medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic war 1941-1945"

Performance statistics

Yashin's matches for Dynamo Moscow

Yashin's matches for the USSR national team

Total: 74 matches / 70 goals conceded; 42 wins, 19 draws, 13 losses.

Yashin in literature and folklore

Yashin's sports talent was noted by Vladimir Vysotsky in the song "Goalkeeper":

Robert Rozhdestvensky dedicated the poem “The Years Fly” to Yashin:

Yevgeny Yevtushenko wrote a poem about Yashin "The goalkeeper comes out of the gate", which was included in the book "My football game". The poet read a poem before the matches of the Dynamo teams and the world teams (veterans and current players) on the day of the celebration of Yashin's 60th birthday on August 10, 1989 at the Dynamo stadium in Petrovsky Park in Moscow. The text compares Yashin's non-standard style of play with the free-thinking characteristic of the "sixties" in the USSR.

Lev Yashin is immortalized in one of the most famous Dynamo chants:

Memory

Addresses

In his youth, Yashin lived at 15 Millionnaya Street. Now this house is under threat of demolition, despite the fact that a memorial plaque dedicated to the famous goalkeeper has been installed on it.

In the 1960s, Yashin moved to the area of ​​Sandy Streets. On October 22, 2011, a memorial plaque was installed on the house at Chapaevsky Lane, 18/1, where he lived from 1964 to 1990.

Stamps

• World Cup, USA-94 block. 4 stamps for $2.

Facts

• It is known that Yashin smoked a lot. Started smoking at the age of 13. Coaches such as Yakushin and Kachalin, who categorically forbade their wards to do this, treated Yashin's addiction condescendingly.
• Because of smoking, Yashin often suffered from stomach ulcers. Therefore, I always carried baking soda with me - it pacified the pain.
• Smoking provoked the development of an obliterating disease of the vessels of the lower limb in Yashin, as a result, the leg underwent necrotization (gangrene developed) and in 1984 it was amputated.
• Yashin's height was 186 cm.
• In the spring of 1949, in a test match in Gagra with the Stalingrad Tractor team - one of his first matches - Yashin missed the most ridiculous goal in his entire career - the ball was with a strong blow introduced into the game by the goalkeeper of the rivals Yermasov, Yashin collided with his defensive partner Averyanov at the exit of the gate, and the ball rolled into the net.
• Yashin also missed the same ridiculous ball into his own net in 1950. The goalkeeper of the Leningrad "Zenith" Zurab Shekhtel knocked the ball from his goalkeeper's area with such force that this ball, flying across the entire football field, hit the goal of the Moscow "Dynamo", which was defended by Lev Yashin in that match.
• On July 2, 1967, Lev Yashin entered the field with the rank of captain of the Turkish national team, which met in Istanbul with Galatasaray. The match was dedicated to the Turkish goalkeeper Turgay Seren, who retired from football, who defended the colors of his club in this game.
• Lev Yashin is the author of a unique achievement: he spent 22 seasons in one club - from 1949 to 1970. Even in matches for the national team, Yashin played in a uniform with the letter "D" on a T-shirt. He was the first goalkeeper in Soviet football to keep a clean sheet in 100 games. The hundredth on his account was the match of the national championship between Dynamo and CSKA on October 28, 1962. In total, Yashin played 207 "dry" matches out of 438 credits in the symbolic Club of his name, which includes domestic goalkeepers who have kept their gates intact in 100 or more games.

The world's best goalkeeper of the 20th century would have turned 75 today

In South America it was called the Black Spider, in Europe - the Black Panther. A brilliant game in invariably black boots, socks, shorts and a goalkeeper's sweater has been the hallmark of the great football goalkeeper Lev Yashin for many years. How many years have passed since the distant 1963, and he still remains the only goalkeeper in the world who won the Golden Ball of the best player in Europe.

Fate gave Lev Ivanovich only 60 years of life. But how much he managed to do over the years, how the people idolized this legendary athlete and man! Moreover, football was far from Yashin's only passion. For example, any connoisseur could envy his photo archive, compiled from pictures that he himself took around the world, as well as a collection of recordings of modern jazz. Yashin himself believed that in his life he made two big mistakes - he did not learn a single foreign language and has not played sports since he ended his stellar career.

Ten facts from the life of the legendary football goalkeeper

Once in Brazil, an avid fisherman Yashin caught ... a small shark

1. Lev Yashin stood at the gate until he was 41! He played his last - 813th - match on May 27, 1971. More than 100 thousand spectators, as well as such world stars as Gerd Muller, Eusebiu, Giacinto Fakchetti, Bobby Charlton and others (including three Kyiv Dynamo players - Jozsef Sabo, Vitaly Khmelnitsky and Anatoly Puzach) saw off Yashin in the Moscow Luzhniki from big football. No matter how hard the players of the world team tried to hit the gates of Lev Ivanovich, they could not. Yashin left undefeated and unsurpassed. Or rather, he left. On the brand new Mazda, which was presented to the legendary athlete by one of the Japanese companies. Finally, he addressed the fans with a short but capacious phrase: “Thank you, people!”

2. Little Leva lived with his parents and numerous relatives in a cramped apartment on Millionnaya Street, not far from the Krasny Bogatyr plant in Moscow. He studied football in his native yard, in between playing Cossack robbers and putting caps on tram rails. And how much joy the children had when they managed to buy a leatherette ball together!

Yashin's childhood, like that of all his peers, ended in 1941. Together with his parents, he went to the evacuation near Ulyanovsk. After graduating from five classes, the boy went to a military factory as an apprentice locksmith. In 1944, the Yashins returned to Moscow, but the factory routine continued. From Sokolniki, Leva had to travel to work in Tushino by two trams and the metro. He got up at five in the morning, and returned home after dark, because in the evenings he played football for the factory. Yashin's first coach, Vladimir Checherov, immediately singled him out in the line of boys and put him in the goal, although in Lev's yard he was considered a scorer.

3. He became a Dynamo member by accident. Exhausting factory work led the 18-year-old guy to a mental breakdown. Yashin left home, moved in with a friend and stopped going to the factory. Kind people advised to go to the army - otherwise you could get a term for parasitism. He began to serve in Moscow and soon, with light hand Arkady Chernyshev, ended up in the youth team of the Moscow Dynamo. And in the spring of 1949, he was already the third goalkeeper of the main team, after Khomich and Walter Sanay. But until 1953, Lev sat deafly in the reserve, and when he accidentally appeared on the field in a game with Tbilisi, the numbers 4:1 in favor of the Muscovites quickly turned into 4:4. It's good that Beskov scored the winning goal at the end of the match. But after such a “shame”, Yashin decided to quit football and, out of grief, left to play ... ice hockey, subsequently winning the USSR Cup with Dynamo!

4. The lion was just crazy about fishing. Wherever he came, his first question was: “Where can I fish here?” Once in Brazil I even caught a small shark. He also drove a great car. At the end of the 50s, many Dynamo football players got "Moskvich". But for Leo, they were not very comfortable - there was nowhere to put his legs. Therefore, he decided to buy the Volga right away. Loved the speed madly! A total headache for cops. Fortunately, the policemen, as a rule, recognized Yashin and let him go with God, asking only for an autograph. But one day the "racer" got caught. Once he was driving with his wife from Mozhaisk to Moscow, and the inspector who stopped him habitually said that they, they say, are colleagues with him and should be merciful to each other. But it was not there. “I support Spartak,” the law enforcement officer retorted and immediately slammed a hole into Yashin's ticket.

During his career, the great goalkeeper "took" more than 150 penalties

5. He met his future wife at a dance. In one of the interviews, Valentina Timofeevna told how it happened: “We were both Tushino with Leva. My brother was friends with Levina's factory team coach Ivan Shubin. Once we went to the cinema, were late for the beginning of the session and got into the hall when the lights had already gone out. Shubin brought his team to the same session. Yashin, with whom we had not yet met, gallantly offered me his fiber suitcase instead of a chair (there were such then, in which the players wore their uniforms). Some time has passed. One day, the guys in Tushino at the stadium say: “Today Yashin will arrive, we can introduce you.” Yashin arrives: frail, skinny, legs dangling in the tops of his boots. And funny bass, holding out his hand: "Lion." But most importantly - nice and polite. Then Leva took me home. We met with him several times. He was a busy man - a football player. And we got married just before the New Year 1955. The wedding was played on Mayakovka, where he had a room in a communal apartment. The Yashins lived together for almost 35 years.

6. Few people know that when Lev Yashin loudly bassed his teammates during the match: “Let him get closer!”, No one opposed this. They knew the biggest secret of the great goalkeeper - his terrible myopia! It was sometimes easier for Yashin to repel an 11-meter kick (during his career he “took” more than 150 penalties) than to consider the flight of a ball launched from 30-40 meters. None of the rivals had any idea about his vision problems.

And Yashin also had a sign. For many years he played in the same cap. But when the headgear wore out over the years, the goalkeeper did not throw it away. Wherever Leo went, he always took this cap with him, and before the most important matches he quietly put it next to the goal. True, once in Marseilles, Yashin almost lost his talisman. I even had to catch up with one of the fans who encroached on the “shrine”.

Hero of Socialist Labor Lev Yashin spent only 13 days

7. In the early 80s, the great football player suffered a stroke. He moved his hand badly, dragged his leg. Doctors advised to go to the hospital, but Lev Ivanovich refused. In 1984, he went on a tour abroad with a group of veterans of Soviet football, and there his leg failed. In Hungary, I had to have an operation, but it was unsuccessful. Yashin and his wife traveled to Moscow for a long time and were late - our doctors had to amputate their leg. When Lev Ivanovich came to his senses in the hospital after anesthesia, then, seeing his wife in tears, he said to her: “Valya, why do I need a leg? I don't play football anymore."

Six years after the amputation of his leg, Lev Ivanovich was diagnosed with lung cancer (Yashin had previously suffered two heart attacks). He knew that the disease was progressing, but he did not show it. He cried only once - when he was awarded the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor. The award order was signed by Mikhail Gorbachev on March 7, 1990. And on March 20, at the age of 61, the legendary goalkeeper passed away. Hero of Socialist Labor Yashin spent only 13 days

8. In 1966, during the World Cup in England, where the USSR national team won bronze medals for the only time in its history, a funny incident happened to Yashin. After the match with the Portuguese, two of our players were randomly invited to doping control. One of them was Yashin. Many years later, Lev Ivanovich recalled that story with a smile: “I go into the doping control room, and there a commission is sitting at the table in full force - doctors, laboratory assistants. There are guards at the door. They gave me a glass flask and showed me: come on, they say, fill it up, don't be shy... But I can't do it in front of everyone. Well, no way! They offered beer. Then dry wine. All in vain. I try to convince them with gestures: I’m ready to drink in public even before dawn, but the rest ... I couldn’t. In the end, the British got the hang of it and let me go in peace."

By the way, a real lion on the football field, in everyday life, Yashin was a very shy person and often blushed. He did not abuse alcohol, but he smoked almost his entire adult life. Basically - a strong "Belomor".

9. In October 1999, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Lev Yashin, a monument to the famous goalkeeper by the famous sculptor Alexander Rukavishnikov was unveiled at the Moscow Dynamo Stadium (among his other creations are monuments to Vladimir Vysotsky and Yuri Nikulin in Moscow, Vladimir Nabokov in Switzerland). The author depicted Yashin in a jump, hitting the ball flying "to the nine". The bronze figure of the goalkeeper is mounted on a football goal post.

10. Already after the death of Lev Ivanovich, trouble again came to his family. On October 22, 1992, the very day the legendary goalkeeper would have turned 73, his 14-year-old grandson Sasha went for a bike ride. During a walk, stumbled upon a stone, the boy fell, hitting his head hard. He was sent to the hospital. Sasha was still able to lie down on a medical gurney himself, but then he lost consciousness. Doctors performed two operations, but it did not help. The boy developed cerebral edema, and after being in a coma for almost three weeks, he died. They buried Sasha, like his grandfather, at the Vagankovsky cemetery

Lev Ivanovich Yashin. Born October 22, 1929 in Moscow - died March 20, 1990 in Moscow. An outstanding Soviet football goalkeeper who played for Dynamo Moscow and the USSR national team. Olympic champion in 1956 and European champion in 1960, 5-time champion of the USSR, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1957). Hero of Socialist Labor (1990).

The best goalkeeper of the 20th century according to FIFA, IFFIIS, World Soccer, France Football and Placar. Included in the list of the best players of the 20th century according to Venerdì, Guerin Sportivo, Planète Foot and Voetbal International.

The only goalkeeper in history to receive the Ballon d'Or.

In December 2016, the prestigious football award "Golden Ball" since the establishment of this award in 1956 until 1995. The motive is the desire of French journalists to eliminate the alleged injustice that arose because of the rule that previously only a football player from Europe could receive a trophy. As a result, journalists came to the conclusion that 12 awards were awarded "incorrectly." Among those who lost the prestigious award in absentia was Lev Yashin, whose 1963 award was given to Pele.

Lev Yashin

Lev Yashin was born on October 22, 1929 in the Bogorodskoye district of Moscow in a working-class family of a highly qualified locksmith Ivan Petrovich and Alexandra Petrovna.

For the first 13 years of his life, the future great goalkeeper lived on Millionnaya Street at number 15. It was here, chasing the ball with his peers in neighboring yards, that the future great goalkeeper began his football career.

The beginning of the Great Patriotic War caught 11-year-old Lyova near Podolsk - with relatives, to whom the parents sent their son for a summer vacation. In October, the defense plant where Ivan Petrovich worked was evacuated near Ulyanovsk; the whole family moved there, so Lyova celebrated his twelfth birthday by unloading a train with factory machines. He went to work at this plant, becoming a fitter's apprentice in the spring of 1943. Already at the age of 16, Lev Yashin received the first award of the Motherland - the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."

The Yashins returned to Moscow in 1944. Leo, while continuing to work at the plant, devoted all his free time to his favorite game, acting as a goalkeeper for the Tushin national team.

At the age of 18 he was drafted into the army. He had a chance to serve in Moscow, and here he was noticed by the coach of the Dynamo football club (Moscow) A.I. Chernyshev, who invited him to the youth team of the club. In the spring of 1949, Yashin became the third goalkeeper of the main team - an understudy and Walter Sanaya. Since then, Lev Yashin played only for this club, until the end of his football career in 1971.

At the beginning of his sports career, Yashin also played ice hockey (from 1950 to 1953). In 1953, he became the owner of the USSR Ice Hockey Cup and the bronze medalist of the USSR championship, also playing as a goalkeeper. Before the hockey world championship in 1954, he was a candidate for the national team, but decided to concentrate on football.

In the early 1950s, Alexey Khomich, whom the fans nicknamed "Tiger", remained the main goalkeeper of Dynamo. Only since 1953, Yashin has firmly taken first place at the gates of Dynamo.

Together with his club, Lev Yashin became the champion of the USSR five times (1954, 1955, 1957, 1959 and 1963) and won the USSR football cup three times.

Since 1954, Yashin has been the goalkeeper of the USSR national team, for which he played 78 matches. Together with the national team in 1956, Yashin won the Olympic Games in Melbourne, the 1960 European Cup.

As part of the national team, he played three times in the final stage of the World Cup - in 1958 in Sweden, in 1962 in Chile and in 1966 in England. The highest achievement in the world championships is fourth place in the 1966 championship.

Yashin was also announced as the third goalkeeper at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, but did not participate directly in the games.

October 23, 1963 in London, at Wembley Stadium, Lev Yashin played for the world team against England in the famous "Match of the Century", dedicated to the centenary of English football (the match was won by the British 2: 1; although Yashin did not miss a single ball , who replaced him at the gate in the second half, Yugoslav Milutin Shoshkic twice got the ball out of his goal).

Throughout the world, Yashin was called either the "Black Panther" (for his always black goalkeeper uniform, his mobility and acrobatic jumps), or the "Black Spider" (for his long, reaching arms).

In 1963, Yashin received the prize of the best football player in Europe - the Golden Ball from the weekly France Football.

Lev Yashin with the Golden Ball award

On May 27, 1971, at the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, in the presence of 103 thousand spectators, Lev Yashin's farewell match took place.

In this match, the team of clubs of the All-Union Sports Society "Dynamo" (masters from Moscow, Kyiv and Tbilisi participated in the match) played against the team of "stars" of the world, which was played by Eusebio, Bobby Charlton, Gerd Muller and many others. Leaving the field during the match, Yashin handed over his gloves to 23-year-old goalkeeper Vladimir Pilguy, symbolically appointing him as his successor at Dynamo. The match ended with a score of 2:2, and Pilgui took his place at the Dynamo goal for the next 11 years.

On August 31 of the same year, Yashin again entered the field; this time he defended the gates of the world's "stars" in a match with the Italian team (which won the match with a score of 4: 2).

After completing his football career, L. I. Yashin graduated from the coaching school at the State Central Institute of Physical Culture (GTSOLIFKe) (in 1967). Head of the Dynamo team (in 1971 - April 1975). After the tragedy with the young talented football player A.E. Kozhemyakin, Lev Ivanovich was accused of "weakening the moral and educational work." He worked as a coach of the second national team of the USSR and for some time children's teams.

After 50 years, Yashin developed gangrene of the left leg, caused by obliterating endarteritis of the vessels due to heavy smoking. In 1984, his leg was amputated. After the operation, he continued to smoke. According to Mark Zaichik, in 1989, during the visit of the veterans' team to Israel, Yashin was given a "very good prosthesis" for free.

On March 18, 1990, Lev Yashin received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, having stayed with him for only two days. He died on Tuesday 20 March after complications from smoking and ongoing gangrene. He was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery.

Lev Yashin's height: 189 centimeters.

Family and personal life of Lev Yashin:

Wife - Valentina Timofeevna (nee Shashkova). They met at a dance. Both were Tushino. Valentina then studied at a technical school (then she graduated from the printing institute, editorial department). After dancing, he went to see her off, met for several years. The wedding was played on the eve of the new year, 1955, when Lev had already received the first gold medal of the national champion and a room in a communal apartment on Mayakovskaya, where many Dynamo players lived in a departmental house. It was there that the wedding took place.

They had two daughters - Irina and Lena, whom Yashin adored.

Yashin's grandson Vasily Frolov was also a football goalkeeper: he played for the backup team of Dynamo, St. Petersburg Dynamo and Zelenograd, and in 2009 he ended his career, becoming a physical education teacher, later became the coach of the children's football team.

Interesting Facts about Lev Yashin:

Yashin smoked a lot. Started smoking at the age of 13. Coaches such as M. I. Yakushin and G. D. Kachalin, who categorically forbade their wards to do this, treated Yashin's addiction condescendingly. Because of smoking, Yashin often suffered from stomach ulcers. Therefore, I always carried baking soda with me - it pacified the pain.

In the spring of 1949, in a control match in Gagra with the Stalingrad Tractor team - one of his first matches - Yashin missed the most ridiculous goal in his entire career: the ball was put into play by the goalkeeper of the rivals Yermasov with a strong blow, Yashin collided with his partner in defense Averyanov, and the ball rolled into the net.

On July 2, 1967, Lev Yashin entered the field as the captain of the Turkish national football team, which met in Istanbul with Galatasaray. The match was dedicated to the Turkish goalkeeper Turgay Sheren, who retired from football, who defended the colors of his club in this game. In the game, Yashin did not miss a single ball, and Sheren twice took the ball out of the net.

Lev Yashin is the author of a unique achievement: he spent 22 seasons in one club (from 1949 to 1970). Even in matches for the national team, Yashin played in a uniform with the letter "D" on a T-shirt. He was the first goalkeeper in Soviet football to keep a clean sheet in 100 games. The hundredth on his account was the match of the national championship between Dynamo and CSKA on October 28, 1962. In total, Yashin played 207 "dry" matches out of 438 credits in the symbolic Club of his name, which includes domestic goalkeepers who have kept their gates intact in 100 or more games.