Goalkeeper of the century. Lev Ivanovich Yashin (15 photos)

Maybe I’m wrong, but, in my opinion, his name is known to everyone who knows that there is such a game - football. And there’s no need to talk about those who were lucky enough to see him play, the experienced fans.

He was GREAT! And not only the Soviet press spoke and wrote about his greatness; his phenomenon was recognized throughout the world. He was admired by journalists, fans and players against whom Lev Yashin played.

It was no coincidence that I placed a photo of Yashin together with Pele at the beginning of the post. Agree, such an assessment of the king of football is expensive.

He is the best in the world, at least in his role

Well, since I started with assessments of the greats of the football world, I will continue.

• Eusebio is another ball wizard from Portugal:
  “Lev Yashin is an incomparable goalkeeper, the best in our century”
• Sir Bobby Charlton - captain of Manchester United, best European footballer 1966:
  “Yashin is an outstanding goalkeeper. I am sure that there will be no such thing. He's also a great guy."
• Franz Beckenbauer - twice recognized as the best football player in Europe:
  “This is not just a goalkeeper from God - this is one of the greatest football players”

It’s still impossible to tell everything about this person. But, I will try to tell you about the main thing as interesting as possible. From the article you will learn:

1. What Yashin did for Soviet and world football...
2. About his unique tricks in training...
3. About how the country persecuted someone whom it idolized only yesterday... and about the fact that the rest of the football world did not betray him
4. About how, after the 1966 World Cup in England, they couldn’t take a doping test from Lev Ivanovich...
5. Why did Gabriel Dmitrievich Kachalin call Lev Ivanovich a scoundrel...
6. About how Santiago Bernabeu invited Yashin to Real Madrid
7. And finally, about what kind of bastards and freaks there are among the fans...

So, read to the end

Golden Lev Yashin

• The only winner in the world of the France Football weekly prize is the Golden Ball.
• He played for the USSR national team until he was 38 years old and played 78 games (14 seasons in a row)
• Played 326 matches (22 seasons) at Dynamo Moscow
• In total, according to statistics from the public press center of Dynamo Moscow, Lev Ivanovich has accumulated 812 games.
• Record holder among all Soviet football players in the number of medals:
  Gold – (1954,1955,1957,1959,1963),
  Silver – 1956,1958,1962,1967,1970),
  Bronze – 1960
• The best goalkeeper in the country in 1956-1968.
• Olympic champion of the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.
• European Champion 1960 in Paris
• Participated in the finals of the World Cup three times (1958,1962,1966).
• He played his farewell match 813 on May 27, 1971.

Many people call Yashin a revolutionary in football. In any case, no one did what is now considered the norm before Lev Ivanovich:

1. He was the first goalkeeper to start putting the ball into play with his hand. Moreover, he could throw the ball almost to the middle of the field. Well, there’s nothing to say about the fact that this method is much more accurate than entering from your feet.
2. First out of the penalty area
3. Knowing how to read the game perfectly, he was the first to direct the defenders during its course

There were legends about Lev Ivanovich's jumping ability and flexibility. Actually, thanks to her, Leo received the nickname Panther...

That's right - a panther. The lion, indeed, could make incredible jumps.

A very interesting incident occurred at the World Cup in Sweden 1958 during a game with Austria. I don’t know why Yashin needed this show off, but what happened was…

Ours were leading 2:0 and a penalty was awarded... Yashin defiantly stands near the left post... The Austrian shoots exactly into the lower right corner... Yashin takes it.

Well what can I say? The head coach of the national team, Gavriil Kachalin, spoke about this as follows:

“Well, I’ll tell you, you, Leo, are a scoundrel. A scoundrel, not a guy. Well, you have to be such a scoundrel!”

Biography of Lev Yashin. Main dates.

Lev Ivanovich Yashin was born on October 22, 1929 in Moscow. The family lived in a small apartment on Millionnaya Street, next to the Krasny Bogatyr plant, where Lev’s parents worked.
Like all the boys of that time, Leva disappeared on the street day and night. In the summer they kicked the ball, in the winter they played hockey. I hardly thought about goalkeeping, although in 1936 the film “Goalkeeper” was released and its main character Anton Kandidov became the idol of many boys.

• 1946 - Lev Yashin was awarded the medal “For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War”
• Autumn 1947 - Conscripted into the Soviet army (internal troops)
• June 1949 – Invited to Dynamo youth team
• 1950 – Transferred to the main team. But, after the first 3 unsuccessful matches, he was sent back. That same year I tried my hand at ice hockey for the first time.
• 1951-1953 - Combined football and hockey. Moreover, he showed excellent results in hockey. Also in the goalkeeper position.
  In 1953, Yashin, together with Dynamo, won the USSR Cup and bronze in the national championship. Moreover, his name was among the candidates for the main USSR national team for the 1954 World Cup. And yet, Yashin chose football.
• 1954 - USSR champion with Dynamo and debut in the USSR national football team.
• 1955 – Again gold at the Union Championship and awarding the title “Master of Sports”.
• 1956 – Silver in the home championship and gold at the XVI Olympic Games in Melbourne.
• 1957 - And again Dynamo is the champion. Yashin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and he was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports.
• 1960 – USSR national team – European champion. Lev Yashin was awarded the Order of Lenin. Ogonyok magazine declares him the best goalkeeper of the USSR.
• In 1962 - the “Black” year in the life of Lev Ivanovich. At the World Championships in Chile, Yashin concedes 7 goals in 4 games and Soviet journalists blame him for the defeat from the hosts in the quarterfinals. After the championship, Yashin falls into disgrace with the officials and (worst of all, with the fans). But, more on that later...
• 1963 – Fifth gold at the USSR Championship. Lev Yashin was included in the world team for a friendly match between the England team and the world team, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of English football. And in December 1963, Lev Ivanovich was recognized as the best football player in Europe. In the entire history of football, this is the only time when a goalkeeper received the Golden Ball.
• 1964 – Silver at the European Championship in Spain.
• 1966 Fourth place at the World Championships in England. Yashin was awarded the title “Master of Sports of International Class”
• 1971 – Farewell match
• 1985 - The IOC awards Yashin with the Olympic Order.
• 1988 - FIFA Golden Order of Merit award.
• 1990 - A few days before his death, Lev Ivanovich Yashin is awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.
• Lev Ivanovich Yashin died on March 20, 1990. A GREAT man was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

These are the dry numbers and dates. But how much health, strength and courage lies behind them!

Lev Ivanovich Yashin: “Thank you, people!”

He will have a nice rest today!

These are lines from a song by Vladimir Semenovich Vysotsky, dedicated to Lev Yashin. And they refer to the poor fellow photojournalist, who is unsuccessfully waiting for the moment when Lev Ivanovich misses a goal. This is the song. Listen

Yes, it was difficult for Yashin to score.

More than 150 penalties taken. This number says a lot.

Some world football stars complained that the goal was not visible behind it. 🙂

Thank you from all the Russian people

Lev Ivanovich became a national favorite after the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. Then our team became the Olympic champion. I have already written that I have my own attitude towards that triumph, but the fact that it was thanks to Yashin’s reliable play that the USSR national team won gold is indisputable.

How the people applauded. Listen to a very touching story.

While returning home from Vladivostok to Moscow, an elderly man entered the train, found Yashin... And then, taking moonshine and a bag of seeds out of the bag, he fell to his knees and said:

“That's all there is. Thank you from all the Russian people"

Enter the contract amount yourself. How Bernabeu called Yashin to Real Madrid

And then there was 1960. And our team’s victory at the European Championships in France. The victory was soaked in the Eiffel Tower restaurant.

And Santiago Bernabeu himself gave each player a cool watch, and then gave everyone an envelope containing a contract with Real Madrid. But only Lev Yashin was asked to enter the contract amount himself.

And again, stormy manifestations of popular and bureaucratic love. Order of Lenin and recognition of Lev Ivanovich Yashin as the best goalkeeper of the USSR.

“Leva, great!”, “Leva, good fellow.” They hugged, kissed... We met and escorted home. The suitcase was carried instead of him. But, as they say, from love to hate...

Yashin is a hole.

1962 The final part of the World Championship in Chile. In the quarterfinals, our players lose to the hosts 1:2 and go home.

The Soviet press blames Yashin for the loss. Lev Ivanovich is subjected to such persecution that it is not clear how he found the strength to stay.

Everyone, officials and fans, hounded him. And the worst thing is that people did this without even seeing the game! And it never occurred to anyone that the score was only 1:2, not because of, but thanks to Yashin. But, since Pravda wrote that Yashin is to blame and it’s time for him to retire, that means away with him!

From the main Dynamo squad, Yashin was removed from the reserve team... He was booed, windows were broken, offensive messages were written in the entrances, and his car was smashed.

Thank you, World, thank you, Europe, for returning Yashin.

The foreign press assessed our goalkeeper’s performance completely differently. And not only the press.

On October 23, the “Match of the Century” took place. In honor of the 100th anniversary of English football, the England team hosted the world team at Wembley. And one of the goalkeepers who defended the goal of the star team was Lev Ivanovich Yashin. And it was truly a royal gift for his birthday!

Lev Ivanovich defended the entire first half and did not miss a single goal. If you want, you can watch the “Match of the Century” and Yashin’s game online right here. Here she is.

None of our goalkeepers has ever received such recognition of a footballer’s skill.

Just as he was not awarded the Golden Ball prize as the best football player in Europe, which Lev Ivanovich was awarded in the same 1963.

So it turns out that where they betrayed their own, they supported those with whom they came out as the last and decisive...

Farewell match of Lev Yashin

It took place on May 27, 1971. Then, in Luzhniki, in the presence of 103,000 spectators, the world team and the team of Dynamo players from Moscow, Kyiv, Tbilisi and Minsk met. The level of the World Team was very high. Unfortunately, Pele could not come, but even without him there were enough stars.

It was a grandiose and very sad spectacle. An era was passing.

Yashin defended one half, and in the second, at the 52nd minute, he threw up his hands, waved to the spectators and players and went to the locker room.

After the match, when he walked up to the microphone, the GREAT Yashin said only two words

Thanks, people!

Friends, you can find out how the future life of the best goalkeeper in the world of the 20th century developed and what he had to go through by watching this film about Lev Ivanovich. It’s just that writing about this is very painful.

Briefly about interesting things

• Great trick
  During training, Yashin performed an amazing trick. While jumping, he grabbed the ball tightly, immediately jumped up and threw it to another, thrown into the opposite corner. And, the most interesting thing, I almost always got it.
• How Yashin passed the doping test
  After the last match of the USSR national team at the World Championships in England 1966, two players were selectively tested for doping. One of the two was Yashin. But they couldn’t take a sample from him. The point is that you had to urinate into the flask in the presence of the commission. And Yashin was shy. They did everything they could... they gave me beer, dry wine, and nothing else. In general, they released him in peace.
• 208 of 813
  Out of 813 matches (including the farewell match), Yashin had 208 clean sheets.
• “Everything is fine, only my legs are crooked”
  So one day, without thinking, my wife answered Lev Yashin’s question about how he looked in goal. And she shouldn’t have said that. 🙂 Literally during the next game, Valentina Timofeevna noticed that Lev didn’t just stand there for a second. He kept shifting from foot to foot... This is so that the curvature is not noticeable :)

That's it, I'll finish. But before I finish...

Football is one of the most popular and spectacular sports. Russian football, unfortunately, so far evokes more sympathy for our players than joy and pride in them. However, this was not always the case. And our football was once known throughout the world on the positive side...

According to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, our compatriot, the now deceased (although one can rightly say, murdered) Lev Ivanovich Yashin, was recognized as the best goalkeeper of the 20th century. Lev Yashin is a legend not only of domestic, but of world football. He still holds an unbroken record: 207 matches in a row without a single goal. Abroad, he was often called the "Black Panther", "Black Spider" and "Black Octopus" because he always wore a black uniform and seemed to be able to reach any ball from any position and at any speed. But…

Lev Ivanovich Yashin was not just a heavy smoker, but downright obsessed. Smoking four packs of cigarettes a day, he first developed a stomach ulcer and because of this he constantly carried a bag of soda with him, which dulled the incessant pain. And then, after 50 years, he developed gangrene in his left leg due to obliteration of the blood vessels. This is such a nasty thing that a kind of blockage of blood vessels occurs, which is why intensive tissue death begins. In order to prevent blood poisoning, in 1984 the great goalkeeper’s leg was amputated...

Imagine what it would be like for a football player whose name the whole world knew to be in a wheelchair due to the loss of a leg? What does it feel like to know that you have turned into a stump just because of the passionate desire to smoke another cigarette? I think this is scary, to say the least. It would seem that the realization that this cheap (although not always cheap) poison has made you disabled would lead, at a minimum, to repentance and a desire to quit smoking. Unfortunately, the loss of the most important limb for a football athlete did not stop Lev Ivanovich, and he continued to smoke with no less passion than before gangrene. Despite the fact that Yashin’s friends and associates tried to somehow influence the smoker and convince him, Lev Ivanovich treated his health with absolutely no regard. As if it was not his health.

The result of this tobacco fanaticism was a completely predictable death from lung cancer, aggravated, moreover, by the consequences of the obliteration of blood vessels. On March 20, 1990, tobacco carried out its merciless sentence, and the life of the greatest goalkeeper of the twentieth century, and perhaps the entire history of football, was interrupted. Lev Ivanovich Yashin, the "Black Panther" of football, has died at the age of 60. In a sense, he committed suicide. After all, each of us who smoked or smokes will never believe that by smoking another cigarette, we are killing ourselves with our own hands.

Yes, we can say that it is smokers who kill, and they do not kill themselves. But did someone forcefully pump them full of tobacco smoke? Or did someone force all these people to smoke under threat of death? No. And to claim the opposite is the same as to claim that a rope and an unsuccessfully placed stool killed a man who hanged himself. It's the same with smoking. When we start smoking, we very quickly turn into slaves of tobacco and, in a sense, slaves of tobacco companies. Ultimately, we end our lives in a cemetery ahead of schedule, often having gone through all the torment of cancer patients.

Lev Yashin died. He killed himself with a habit that not only destroyed him, but also caused irreparable harm to the people around him. And we can only remember this. And remember that tobacco has never been and will never be harmless. He always kills. And to hope that this cup will pass from one of us is stupid and naive...

Sports achivments

Team

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, IFFIS, 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 into a working-class family of Ivan Petrovich and Anna Petrovna. He spent his childhood on Millionnaya Street in house 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 a factory as a mechanic's apprentice. He returned to Moscow in 1944 and, while continuing to work at the factory, devoted all his free time to his favorite game, playing as a goalkeeper for the Tushin national team.

In 1949, he began playing for the youth team of the Dynamo football club (Moscow), where he soon became A.P. Khomich’s backup. 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 won the USSR Hockey Cup and bronze medalist at the USSR Championship, also playing as a goalkeeper. Before the 1954 World Hockey Championship, 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 this time, the main goalkeeper of Dynamo was the famous goalkeeper Alexey Khomich, whom the fans nicknamed “Tiger”. Only since 1953 did Yashin firmly take his place in the Dynamo goal.

Together with his club, Lev Yashin became the USSR champion 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 and the 1960 European Cup.

As part of the national team, he played in the final stage of the FIFA World Cup three times - in 1958 in Sweden, in 1962 in Chile and in 1966 in England. The highest achievement in the world championships was fourth place at the 1966 championship. Yashin was also announced as the third goalkeeper at the 1970 World Championships in Mexico, but did not directly participate 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 for the best football player in Europe - the Golden Ball from the France Football weekly.

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 from the All-Union Sports Society "Dynamo" (masters from Moscow, Kyiv and Tbilisi took part in the match) played against the team of World Stars, for which Eusebio, Bobby Charlton, Gerd Muller and many others played. 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 Pilguy took his place in 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 (1971 - April 1975). After the tragedy with the young talented football player Kozhemyakin, Lev Ivanovich was accused of “weakening moral and educational work.” He worked as a coach of the second USSR national team and for some time children's teams.

After 50 years, Yashin began to develop gangrene on his left leg, caused by vascular endarteritis obliterans 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 been there for only two days. He died on Tuesday, March 20, 1990, after complications caused by smoking and ongoing gangrene. He was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

Family

Lev Yashin is survived by his 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 by becoming a physical education teacher. Vasily played for the reserve team of Dynamo, St. Petersburg Dynamo and Zelenograd.

Sports achivments

Team

Dynamo (hockey club)

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

Dynamo (football club)

• USSR Champion: (5) 1954, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1963
• Winner of the USSR Cup: (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
• European Cup silver medalist: (1) 1964
• World Championship bronze medalist: (1) 1966

Personal

• Winner of the Ballon d'Or as the best footballer 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" - 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)
• Received the “Goalkeeper of the Year” prize 3 times - 1960, 1963, 1966.
• Medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 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 athletic 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 Games.” The poet read a poem before the matches of the Dynamo national teams and the world national teams (veterans and current players at that time) on the day of Yashin’s 60th birthday celebration on August 10, 1989 at the Dynamo stadium in Petrovsky Park in Moscow. The text compares Yashin’s unconventional playing style with the freethinking 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 there is a memorial plaque dedicated to the famous goalkeeper.

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

Stamps

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

Data

• It is known that Yashin smoked a lot. Started smoking at age 13. Coaches such as Yakushin and Kachalin, who categorically forbade their players to do this, treated Yashin’s addiction condescendingly.
• Due to smoking, Yashin often suffered from stomach ulcers. That's why I always carried baking soda with me - it pacified the pain.
• Smoking caused Yashin to develop obliterating vascular disease of the lower limb; as a result, his leg became necrotic (gangrene developed) and was amputated in 1984.
• Yashin's height was 186 cm.
• In the spring of 1949, in a control match in Gagra with the Stalingrad Traktor team - one of his first matches - Yashin missed the most ridiculous goal in his entire career - the ball was put into play with a strong blow by the opposing goalkeeper Ermasov, Yashin collided with his own at the exit from the gate defensive partner Averyanov, and the ball rolled into the net.
• Yashin missed another equally ridiculous goal into his own goal in 1950. Leningrad Zenit goalkeeper Zurab Shekhtel knocked the ball out of his goal area with such force that the ball flew across the entire football field and hit the Dynamo Moscow goal, which was defended by Lev Yashin in that match.
• On July 2, 1967, Lev Yashin entered the field as captain of the Turkish national team, which met in Istanbul with Galatasaray. The match was dedicated to Turkish goalkeeper Turgay Seren, who was retiring from football, and 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 the T-shirt. He was the first goalkeeper in Soviet football to keep a hundred clean sheets. The hundredth match on his account was the national championship match between Dynamo and CSKA on October 28, 1962. In total, Yashin played 207 clean sheets out of 438 in the symbolic Club of his name, which includes domestic goalkeepers who have kept their goal intact in 100 or more games.

Goalkeepers have a difficult fate. While the field players carry out previously planned combinations, delighting the spectators, they - the goal guards - do everything possible to ensure that fans of the combination game are as rarely as possible in the ecstasy of crossing the ball and the goal line.

Lev Ivanovich Yashin, like no one else, knew how to ruin the plans of attacking players of opposing teams, for which he was awarded, as the only one of many excellent goalkeepers, the most prestigious award - the Golden Ball for the best football player in Europe.

Yashin Lev Ivanovich

22.10.1929 – 20.03.1990

Career:

• Dynamo Moscow (1949-1970; 326 matches).
• USSR national team (1954-1967; 74 matches).

Team Achievements:

• Olympic champion 1956.
• European champion 1960.
• Vice-champion of Europe in 1964.
• Champion of the USSR 1954, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1963.
• Silver medalist of the USSR championships in 1956, 1958, 1962, 1967, 1970.
• Bronze medalist at the 1960 USSR Championship.
• Winner of the USSR Cup in 1953, 1967, 1970.

Personal achievements:

• Winner of the Golden Ball for the best football player in Europe in 1963.
• The best goalkeeper of the USSR 1960, 1963, 1966.

On the verge of despair

Lev was born into a working-class family in Moscow. It is symbolic that Yashin, the future Dynamo legend, spent his childhood years in a small apartment on Millionnaya Street, in Bogorodskoye - one of the most “Spartak” districts of the capital. Like most of his peers, little Leva learned football in the yard, being considered a scorer.

But the carefree time soon ended - after the fifth grade, Lev went to work at a factory as a mechanic's apprentice. And then I had to forget about football and the plant - the Great Patriotic War began, and the Yashin family went into evacuation near Ulyanovsk, from where they returned home in 1944.

The year 1945 not only put an end to the most terrible war, but also brought about a legendary sporting event in the fall - the tour of Dynamo Moscow to Great Britain. It’s not hard to guess how powerful an impetus the development of youth football was given by Dynamo’s brilliant performance. It was then that Lev decided for himself that he intended to connect his life with football. But the teenager’s desire alone was not enough. Moreover, the gates of the blue and white were brilliantly defended at that time by the nickname “Tiger”.

But Yashin did not give up, playing in the evenings for the factory team. During the day he worked, minding his own business. As a result, monotonous and hard work brought the future goalkeeper to depression - Lev stopped going to the factory, left his home and moved to live with a friend. Hard times began for our hero, because at that time, for such a lifestyle one could lose his freedom, falling under a criminal article for parasitism. There was no choice left - it was necessary to join the army. It was there that for the first time in his life, luck smiled on Yashin. Arkady Ivanovich Chernyshev noticed him and invited him to the youth team of Dynamo Moscow.

A crumpled debut

The young man’s dream has come true - until recently his life had an exclusively black hue, and now he is in the best team in the country, learning from the experience of his idol - Alexei Khomich. Yashin worked hard in training and soon got his chance. The young goalkeeper’s debut came in a friendly match in Gagra against Traktor Stalingrad. It was in the spring of 1949.

As often happens, the first pancake came out lumpy. Yashin missed a most curious goal - the opposing goalkeeper powerfully knocked the ball out, which flew into the Dynamo penalty area. The debutant was preparing to fix the leather projectile, but at the most inopportune moment he collided with his defender, and his colleague became the author of the goal.

The next appearance of Yashin in the “frame” is dated in the fall of 1950. Unlike the match in Gagra, this time the game was on a completely different level. Dynamo met with Spartak, Khomich took his place in the goal as usual, but was injured in the game. The time had come for the backup, who again blundered by colliding with his player, as a result of which the red and whites reduced the match to a draw.

This mistake cost Yashin a lot - beating Spartak was a matter of honor for Dynamo. Lev spent the next two seasons firmly in the reserves, and when his third appearance in goal was not crowned with success, he went into hockey, simultaneously winning the USSR Cup with Dynamo.

The best goalkeeper of the USSR

Meanwhile, Alexey Khomich left Dynamo Moscow for Minsk to finish the game. Walter Sanaya, a long-time backup of the Tiger, also left the ranks of the Muscovites. A vacant position has become available. “Patience and work will grind everything down” - this is about Yashin. Many years of hard training could not have gone in vain. The further career of the Dynamo player only went from strength to strength. Having settled in the gates of his native team, the doors of the USSR national team soon opened for Yashin.

The mid-50s - the heyday of Lev Ivanovich. From a timid and insecure young man, he turns into a thunderstorm for all forwards - a venerable goalkeeper. Yashin's style is unique: he allows himself to go far out of the gate, calculating his opponents' combinations in advance. The first of the goalkeepers of his time, the Dynamo player began attacks for his team, throwing the ball far with one hand.

Yashin's best years coincide with a similar period in the history of Dynamo Moscow. The fundamental principle of Dynamo - strength in movement - is successfully combined with an impenetrable defense, led by the brilliant Yashin, whose success deservedly comes in the international arena.

Without exception, all the successes of our team of those years are associated with the name of Lev Ivanovich: victory at the Olympics in Melbourne in 1956, winning the 1960 European Cup, silver at the 1964 European Championship, fourth place at the 1966 World Championship. But there were also the 1958 and 1962 World Championships.

The 1962 World Championship occupies a special place in the fate of Lev Ivanovich, despite the lack of titles at its end. By that time, Yashin's fame had reached unprecedented heights. Public recognition did not provide any room for error, and at the world forum in Chile Yashin did not help out. To tell the truth, that championship really didn’t turn out in the best way for the famous goalkeeper.

Further more. The journalistic fraternity decided to blame Lev Yashin, who was the target of mass persecution, for all the failures of the team. Evil tongues demanded the end of the career of a recent idol. Yashin could not withstand such harsh pressure and retired to the village, but returned some time later. And how he returned!

World fame

The year 1963 became, without exaggeration, a triumphant year in the already bright career of Lev Ivanovich. Yashin did not take offense at fate, but gritted his teeth and continued to work even harder. Together with his Dynamo, the stately goalkeeper became the champion of the USSR, and in the fall of that year the Dynamo player was invited to the world team to participate in the match dedicated to the centenary of English football.

This was a recognition - in those years, such matches were of the most serious nature. Without conceding a single goal during the allotted time, the USSR representative received a standing ovation from Wembley. The main award awaited Yashin ahead - Lev Ivanovich was awarded the title of the best football player in Europe in 1963, receiving the Golden Ball as confirmation.

Yashin proved that he has character, and without him, as we know, great success cannot be achieved in sports. In the future, Lev Ivanovich did not give skeptics any reason to doubt his greatness. Despite the fact that he no longer won the gold of the Union championships - in the late 60s, Dynamo lost their ground somewhat - Yashin is the undisputed number one both in the club and in the national team. Fate pays him for its whims. Yashin, at almost forty years old, is in perfect order, setting an example of true professionalism. Lev Yashin retires from big-time football at the age of 41.

Lev Ivanovich’s farewell match brings together the brightest stars of world football of those years (only Yashin could not come to Yashin’s farewell) and the crowded Luzhniki Stadium. No matter how hard the world stars tried to upset our goalkeeper, he again, as in 1963 at Wembley, left with his head held high, without conceding a single goal. I couldn't think of a better way to end my career.

After leaving the green lawn, Yashin did not leave football, concentrating on administrative and coaching activities, holding important positions both in his native Dynamo and in the USSR Football Federation. At the same time, Lev Ivanovich's health is deteriorating sharply. The last time Yashin appeared in public was to celebrate his sixtieth birthday. Soon Lev Ivanovich died.

Greatness

Yashin cannot be called the darling of fate. She often tripped him up, but he got up and moved on, step by step building his amazing football career. Neither the failed first matches for Dynamo nor the mass persecution after the 1962 World Cup broke him.

It is especially valuable that Yashin became famous not only in the USSR, but in all corners of the world where they heard about football. And most importantly: to this day Lev Ivanovich is the only goalkeeper to become the best football player in Europe.

This article will talk about an athlete, an amazing person who became a symbol of Dynamo Moscow and all football in the USSR. Lev Ivanovich Yashin, without exaggeration, is a legend, and his talents and successes are recognized throughout the world. The achievements of this goalkeeper are countless. Everyone knows that the best football players on the planet receive the Golden Ball. And during the entire existence of the award, only one goalkeeper was able to receive it. It was Lev Yashin.

Childhood

Our hero was born in 1929 in Moscow. Lev's parents were simple workers. His father, Ivan Petrovich, worked at an aircraft factory, and his mother, Anna Mitrofanovna, worked at the “Red Bogatyr”. Parents often had to work overtime, so relatives looked after the boy. When Leo was six years old, his mother died. From then on, he began to spend a lot of time on the street, which became his second home.

Leo was left to his own devices. Over time, his father realized that the boy needed a mother and married again. The reason was an incident that happened to my son. One winter, Yashin Jr. came home covered in tears and wearing only felt boots. It turned out that he was riding with friends on the tram buffers, and a shoe accidentally fell off his foot. After riding the tram a little more, Lev Yashin went in search of a felt boot, but never found it. The boy had an excellent relationship with his stepmother. From time to time he called her mom. Soon Lev had a brother - Boris.

Introduction to Football

The Yashin family lived in a working-class area of ​​Moscow. Harsh morals reigned there. and the youth had their own hobbies and rules. The future goalkeeper grew up as an ordinary guy. He often fought, made caps, and rode the tram as a “hare.” And in winter, Lev Yashin loved to ski. Only instead of snow, he drove on the roofs of barns that had a slope.

Football became another hobby of the boy. Lev and the boys played it in the warm season. Of course, the guys had the simplest ball - a rag one. But after a while they chipped in with the whole yard and bought a real one. It’s funny that the boy “disdained” goals and loved to play in attack. In winter, Lev also continued to play sports, but football was replaced by skiing and bandy.