kids encyclopedia robot

Eduard Streltsov facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Eduard Streltsov
A young man with a ruffled tuft of hair and a white shirt bearing the Cyrillic letters "CCCP".
Streltsov, photographed in USSR colours, c. 1955–58
Personal information
Full name Eduard Anatolyevich Streltsov
Date of birth (1937-07-21)21 July 1937
Place of birth Perovo, Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR
Date of death 22 July 1990(1990-07-22) (aged 53)
Place of death Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR
Playing position Forward
Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1950–53 Fraser
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1953–1958 Torpedo Moscow 89 (48)
1965–1970 Torpedo Moscow 133 (51)
Total 222 (99)
National team
1955–1968 Soviet Union 38 (25)
  • Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).
In this article, the patronymic is Anatolyevich and the family name is Streltsov.

Eduard Anatolyevich Streltsov (Russian: Эдуа́рд Анато́льевич Стрельцо́в, IPA: [ɨdʊˈart ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲitɕ strʲɪlʲˈtsof]; 21 July 1937 – 22 July 1990) was a Soviet footballer who played as a forward for Torpedo Moscow and the Soviet national team during the 1950s and 1960s. A powerful and skilful attacking player, he scored the fourth-highest number of goals for the Soviet Union and has been called "the greatest outfield player Russia has ever produced". He is sometimes dubbed "the Russian Pelé".

Born and raised in east Moscow, Streltsov joined Torpedo at the age of 16 in 1953 and made his international debut two years later. He was part of the squad that won the gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and came seventh in the 1957 Ballon d'Or.

In 1967 and 1968 Streltsov was named Soviet Footballer of the Year. By the time of his retirement in 1970 he had pioneered innovations such as the back-heeled pass, which became known in Russia as "Streltsov's pass". He died in Moscow in 1990 from throat cancer, which his first wife alleges was a result of irradiated food served to him during incarceration. Six years later, Torpedo renamed their home ground "Eduard Streltsov Stadium" in his honour. Statues of Streltsov now stand outside the stadium bearing his name and the Luzhniki Olympic Complex in Moscow.

Early life

Eduard Anatolyevich Streltsov was born in Perovo, an eastern district of Moscow, on 21 July 1937, the son of Anatoly Streltsov, a front-line soldier and intelligence officer, and Sofia Frolovna. Anatoly did not return to the family following the Second World War, instead choosing to settle alone in Kiev; Sofia therefore raised her son on her own, working at the Fraser Cutting Instruments Factory to support Eduard and herself. As a result, Streltsov had a modest upbringing, the highlights of which were playing football and following his favoured team, Spartak Moscow.

The factory recognised his talent from a young age: Streltsov became the Fraser Factory football team's youngest ever player when he was 13 years old. Three years later in 1953, a friendly match was organised between Fraser and a youth team from Torpedo Moscow. Streltsov impressed the Torpedo coach, Vasily Provornov, and after befriending him, left Fraser to play for Torpedo.

Career

Aged 16, Streltsov made his debut for Torpedo during the 1954 season, appeared in every league game and scored four goals. The team finished ninth in the league, a drop from third the previous year. In his second season Streltsov was the league's most prolific goalscorer, scoring 15 goals in 22 games as his side rose to fourth place. Streltsov was selected for the Soviet national team for the first time in 1955, halfway through the season; his debut came in a friendly match against Sweden in Stockholm on 26 June, when he scored a hat-trick within the first 45 minutes as the Swedish team was defeated 6–0. On his second appearance, a friendly home game against India, he scored three goals again. A further game in Hungary and a goal against France meant that by the start of 1956, Streltsov had scored seven goals for the Soviet Union in four matches. After scoring in a match against Denmark in April 1956, he missed three international matches before returning in September with a goal after three minutes in a 2–1 away victory over West Germany. Streltsov continued to score regularly for Torpedo, managing 12 league goals during the 1956 season, but appeared in two successive defeats for the Soviets before they travelled in November 1956 to the Olympic Games in Melbourne. Streltsov scored three goals in a 16–2 victory over Australia in an unofficial match on 15 November before scoring a late winning goal in the first tournament match against the United Team of Germany nine days later. The Soviets required a replay to overcome Indonesia in the quarter-finals and met Bulgaria in the semi-final.

The match finished 0–0 after 90 minutes, and with defender Nikolai Tishchenko and Streltsov's fellow Torpedo forward Valentin Ivanov both injured, the Soviet team had only nine fit players when Bulgaria scored early in extra time. Streltsov's performance was later described by journalist Jonathan Wilson as "magnificent"; he scored an equaliser after 112 minutes and then set up Boris Tatushin of Spartak Moscow four minutes later to score the winning goal. Streltsov missed the final against Yugoslavia as the team manager, Gavriil Kachalin, believed the two forward players should be club team-mates; as Ivanov was unfit, Streltsov was dropped as well. Nikita Simonyan, who took his place, offered Streltsov his gold medal following a 1–0 victory over the Yugoslavs, an offer which the Torpedo player refused, saying "Nikita, I will win many other trophies". Streltsov received two votes in the 1956 Ballon d'Or.

Streltsov scored the first goal in a 2–0 win in a World Cup qualifying play-off match in Poland which meant the Soviet Union qualified for the 1958 World Cup. At club level, he scored 12 goals in 15 league matches during the 1957 season. Torpedo, never league champions and traditionally overshadowed by local rivals such as CSKA, Dynamo and Spartak, finished as runners-up of the Soviet Top League. At the end of that season, Streltsov came seventh in the 1957 Ballon d'Or, gaining 12 votes; by the start of the World Cup year, 1958, his international record stood at 18 goals in 20 games. Streltsov scored five goals in the first eight league matches of the 1958 Top League season, and appeared in a 1–1 friendly draw with England in Moscow on 18 May 1958.

Streltsov's presence helped Torpedo to win the 1965 Soviet championship, with Streltsov scoring 12 goals from 26 league matches. At the end of the season, he came second in the voting for the Soviet Footballer of the Year behind Torpedo team-mate Valery Voronin. It was the second time that Torpedo had won the league; the club had won its first title five years earlier, during Streltsov's imprisonment. Streltsov made his debut in continental club competition on 28 September 1966, playing in a 1–0 defeat away to Inter Milan in the European Cup. He was recalled to the Soviet national team on 16 October 1966 in a 2–0 home defeat against Turkey, and scored the first international goal of his comeback a week later in a 2–2 draw with East Germany. An appearance in a 1–0 away defeat against Italy followed two weeks later. Torpedo reached the final of the Soviet Cup in 1966, but lost 2–0 to Dynamo. Streltsov matched his previous seasonal tally of 12 league goals during the 1966 Top League season.

Streltsov successfully re-established himself in the Soviet team over the following year, as he appeared in eight consecutive USSR matches, starting with a 2–0 friendly victory over Scotland in Glasgow in May 1967. He scored two goals during this run in the national side: one each in a 4–2 win against France in Paris on 3 June 1967 and a 4–3 European Championship qualifying home victory over Austria eight days later. After losing his place for the 1968 European Championship qualifying match against Finland on 30 August 1967, Streltsov missed three Soviet Union matches. He regained his place for an away friendly match against Bulgaria on 8 October, scoring a goal as the Soviets fought back from 1–0 to record a 2–1 win. He retained his place for the rest of the calendar year, and scored a hat-trick away against Chile on 17 December. He was voted Soviet Footballer of the Year at the end of the season, although he scored a relatively low six league goals during 1967, his lowest for a full season since his debut year of 1954.

Streltsov was dropped from the Soviet team for the first three national team matches of 1968. After featuring in a home friendly win over Belgium in April, he made his final appearance for the USSR in the 2–0 1968 European Championship quarter-final first leg loss to Hungary on 4 May 1968. The Soviets beat Hungary 3–0 in Moscow a week later, without Streltsov, to qualify for the final tournament on aggregate. Streltsov was left out of the tournament squad, and never played for the USSR again; after his final appearance, his international tally stood at 25 goals in 38 matches. Torpedo won the Soviet Cup during the 1968 season, overcoming Uzbek side Pakhtakor Tashkent 1–0 in the final. Streltsov retained his title of Soviet Footballer of the Year after scoring the highest seasonal total of his career, 21 (in the league), but was moved back to midfield before the 1969 season and did not score in 23 league matches during his final two years. He retired from football in 1970, at the age of 33, leaving his final league record for Torpedo over both spells standing at 99 goals from 222 games.

Post-retirement career

Following a footballing career spent exclusively with Torpedo, Streltsov, a supporter of Spartak Moscow, repeatedly complained about his failure to play for his favourite team. After his retirement, Torpedo continued to pay his salary to fund his study of football coaching at the Institute of Physical Culture. Streltsov returned to Torpedo in the capacity of youth team manager following his qualification; he also spent a brief spell as manager of the first team before returning to the youth team in 1982. He also took part in matches contested by former players before dying in 1990 from throat cancer.

Olympic policy in 1956 was to award gold medals only to members of the winning football squad who had played in the final match. Since Streltsov did not play in the final, he did not receive a medal. He was posthumously given a gold medal in 2006, after this policy was changed retroactively to allow all members of winning Olympic squads to receive medals.

Style of play and legacy

Many critics consider Streltsov to be one of the finest footballers ever from Russia or the Soviet Union: British journalist and author Jonathan Wilson describes him as "the greatest outfield player Russia has ever produced ... a tall, powerful forward, possessed of a fine first touch and extraordinary footballing intelligence", while Russian author Aleksandr Nilin writes that "the boy came to us from the land of wonder". Streltsov's skilful, innovative style of play helped him to stand out in Soviet football, and his pioneering of the back-heeled pass resulted in it becoming known in Russia as "Streltsov's pass". During his early career, this technical ability combined with considerable speed and physical presence to create a formidable all-round forward player. In his later years, with his physical attributes reduced, he emphasised his skill and on-field intelligence to become more of a playmaker, playing further back and setting up attacking moves for team-mates rather than leading them himself. Indeed, for his final two seasons, Streltsov played in an attacking midfield role rather than up front. Despite the eight-year gap between his two spells as a member of the Soviet national team, Streltsov, nicknamed "The Russian Pelé", was the fourth highest international goalscorer in the country's history.

Torpedo-stadium
Eduard Streltsov Stadium in 2007

Torpedo Moscow's ground, Torpedo Stadium, was redubbed the "Eduard Streltsov Stadium" in 1996. A year later, the Russian Football Union introduced the Strelyets prizes as the most prestigious individual honours in Russian football, awarded annually to the best manager in the Russian league and the best players in each position until discontinued in 2003. A statue of Streltsov was constructed within Moscow's Luzhniki Olympic Complex in 1998, and another was erected by Torpedo outside the stadium bearing his name during the following year.

Honours and achievements

RR5110-0102R
A commemorative two-ruble coin bearing Streltsov's likeness was issued in 2010.
RU139-15
Streltsov on a 2016 Russian stamp from the series "Football Legends"

Torpedo Moscow

  • Soviet Top League: 1965
  • Soviet Cup: 1968
Runner-up
  • Soviet Top League: 1957
  • Soviet Cup: 1966

International

Individual

  • The best 33 football players of the Soviet Union (7): No. 1 (1955-1957, 1965, 1967, 1968), No. 2 (1966)
  • Soviet Footballer of the Year: 1967, 1968; Second Place: 1965
  • Soviet Top League top goalscorer: 1955 (15 goals from 22 matches)
  • Ballon d'Or: 13th place (1956), 7th place (1957)

Career statistics

Statistics for domestic cup competitions unknown at this time save 1968 Soviet Cup.
Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Soviet Union League Soviet Cup Federation Cup Europe Total
1954 Torpedo Moscow Soviet Top League 22 4 – – – – – – 22 4
1955 22 15 – – – – – – 22 15
1956 22 12 – – – – – – 22 12
1957 15 12 – – – – – – 15 12
1958 8 5 – – – – – – 8 5
1965 Torpedo Moscow Soviet Top League 26 12 – – – – – – 26 12
1966 31 12 – – – – 2 0 33 12
1967 20 6 – – – – 4 3 24 9
1968 33 21 6 3 – – 3 0 42 24
1969 11 0 – – – – – – 11 0
1970 12 0 – – – – – – 12 0
Country Soviet Union 222 99 6 3 – – 9 3 237 105
Total 222 99 6 3 – – 9 3 237 105
Soviet Union national team
Year Apps Goals
1955 4 7
1956 8 4
1957 8 7
1958 1 0
1959 0 0
1960 0 0
1961 0 0
1962 0 0
1963 0 0
1964 0 0
1965 0 0
1966 3 1
1967 12 6
1968 2 0
Total 38 25

International goals

Scores and results list the Soviet Union's goal tally first.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Eduard Streltsov para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Eduard Streltsov Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.