This Day in History: 2023-05-09

Nr. 453

ORDER OF LENIN AWARDED TO ‘BLACK SPIDER’ (1968)

In 1968 Lev Yashin, the man credited with bringing a new dominance to the penalty area, received his country’s highest honour, the Order of Lenin, for his services to Soviet football from Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. He played for Dynamo Moscow, his only club, for 22 seasons and in winning 78 caps for his country played in three World Cups. A great ambassador for Russian soccer, he won a football gold medal at the 1956 Olympics and remains the only goalkeeper named European Player of the Year – in 1963. In 1999, nine years after his death, he was voted Russia’s athlete of the century.

Yashin was nicknamed the ‘Black Spider’ due to his distinctive all-black kit and the belief that he must have eight arms to make so many incredible saves.