Lev Yashin
Goalkeeper · Dynamo Moscow · Russia
About Lev Yashin
Lev Yashin was a one-club goalkeeper from Moscow, credited with revolutionising his position: punching or catching shots previously thought unreachable, commanding his box aggressively and organising his defence vocally. He is credited with saving more than 150 career penalties, more than any other goalkeeper in history, per FIFA.
Lev Yashin's story
The Black Spider’s Origins
Born on 22 October 1929 to a working-class Moscow family, Yashin was a child of the war. When the Nazis advanced in 1941 the family evacuated to Ulyanovsk, where the 12-year-old worked factory shifts. Back in Moscow he played football, hockey and lapta, and ski-jumped from homemade snow ramps. Dynamo coach Arkady Chernyshev spotted him during his military service and brought him to the club in 1949, where he waited behind first-choice keeper Alexei “Tiger” Khomich.
Revolutionising the Position
Yashin redefined the job. He organised his defence with commanding authority, claimed crosses in a crowd and threw the ball out quickly to start attacks, a concept almost unheard of in 1950s football. The all-black kit was calculated intimidation. After a heavily criticised 1962 World Cup, national coach Konstantin Beskov kept faith with him, and in 1963 Ballon d’Or voters made a choice no generation has repeated since.
Friends, Sleepless Nights and Farewells
His wife named teammates Zhora Ryabov and Vladimir Shabrov as his closest friends. After matches, even wins, he was gloomy and could not sleep, replaying the goals he had conceded. In 1965 he and Ferenc Puskás carried Stanley Matthews on their shoulders at Matthews’ testimonial. His own farewell match at the Luzhniki on 27 May 1971 drew 103,000 fans, and Yashin was carried off the pitch on supporters’ shoulders.
A Legacy in Bronze
Two days before he died, Yashin was named a Hero of Socialist Labour, and he was given a state funeral. Statues of him stand at the Luzhniki and at Dynamo’s Central Stadium, Dynamo’s VTB Arena is officially the Lev Yashin Stadium, and several Russian streets carry his name. Eusébio wept when news of his death was announced during a match.
Did you know?
- 🥇 Yashin won both the Olympic gold medal in Melbourne in 1956 and the inaugural UEFA European Championship in France in 1960 with the Soviet Union — two international titles that remain the USSR’s greatest footballing achievements. He was the last line of defence for both triumphs.
- 🧤 FIFA created the Lev Yashin Award in 1994 for the best goalkeeper at the World Cup. It carried his name for four tournaments before being renamed the Golden Glove in 2010, and France Football’s Yashin Trophy, launched in 2019, now honours the best goalkeeper of each season.
- 👨👩👧👦 Married Valentina Timofeeva; daughters Irina and Elena grew up in Moscow. As of 2018 his widow still lived in the Moscow apartment the state gave him in 1964, and his grandson Vasili Frolov runs a goalkeeper school in the city.
- 🏒 Before committing to football, Yashin was a competitive ice hockey goalkeeper — and actually won the Soviet Ice Hockey Cup with Dynamo Moscow’s hockey team in 1953, picking up a championship bronze medal the same season. Only then did he give up the puck and focus entirely on football.
- 🖤 His all-black kit — gloves, jersey, shorts — was so distinctive that referees used it to identify him, and opponents reported being psychologically intimidated by his dark, towering presence in goal.
- 🏆 In 2000, the IFFHS named him World’s Best Goalkeeper of the 20th Century. Dynamo Moscow’s own club archive credits him with 178 clean sheets in 358 matches for the club.
- 🏥 In 1986, thrombophlebitis — a blood-clotting disorder worsened by decades of heavy smoking — led to the amputation of his left leg. Yashin had started smoking at the age of 12, working factory shifts in Ulyanovsk during the wartime evacuation from Moscow.
- 🌟 Eusébio — who faced Yashin at the 1966 World Cup — once said: “He was the greatest goalkeeper in history, and he was easily the greatest at saving penalties.” The tribute is preserved in FIFA’s own archive of writing about Yashin.
- 🏟️ The Dynamo Moscow football stadium’s official name is the “Dynamo Central Stadium Lev Yashin” — named permanently in his honour. The wider complex carries the commercial VTB Arena name, but the football ground itself belongs to Yashin.
Honours
- Ballon d'Or: 1963 — only goalkeeper in history to win it
- Soviet Top League x5: Dynamo Moscow (1954,1955,1957,1959,1963)
- UEFA Euro: Soviet Union (1960 — inaugural tournament)
- Olympics: Soviet Union (1956)
- Order of Lenin: Awarded in 1967 by the Soviet state
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