Yashin, Lev Ivanovich

Yashin, Lev Ivanovich, 1929–90, Russian soccer player. A superb goalkeeper, perhaps the best in the history of the game, he was a Soviet sports hero. Yashin spent his playing career (1949–71) with the Moscow Dynamo club, and after retirement was a coach there. Dynamo won five league championships (1954–55, 1957, 1959, 1963) and three cups (1953, 1967, 1970) due in large part to Yashin's domination of the goal. Yashin's playing was an important element in the Soviet national team's gold medal win at the 1956 Olympics, and he tended goal for the team in three World Cups (1958, 1962, 1966). He became the only goalkeeper to be named (1963) European footballer of the year, and was awarded (2000) the title of world goalkeeper of the 20th cent.