Oleg Romantsev facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Oleg Romantsev

Romantsev in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Oleg Ivanovich Romantsev
Date of birth	(1954-01-04) 4 January 1954 (age 71)
Place of birth	Gavrilovskoye, Ryazan Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1971–1976	Avtomobilist Krasnoyarsk	60	(10)
1976–1983	Spartak Moscow	180	(6)
National team
1980–1982	Soviet Union	9	(0)
Teams managed
1984–1987	Krasnaya Presnya Moscow
1988	Spartak Ordzhonikidze
1989–1995	Spartak Moscow
1994–1996	Russia
1997–2003	Spartak Moscow
1998–2002	Russia
2003–2004	Saturn Ramenskoye
2004–2005	Dynamo Moscow
2009–2012	Spartak Moscow (consultant)
Honours Representing  Soviet Union Men's Football Bronze 1980 Moscow Team Competition
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Oleg Ivanovich Romantsev, born on January 4, 1954, is a famous former football player and coach from Russia. He is best known for his amazing success with Spartak Moscow, where he helped the team win a record eight national league titles. Many people think he is the best coach in Russian football history. He also coached the Russian national team.

Oleg Romantsev's Early Life

Oleg Romantsev was born on January 4, 1954, in a small village called Gavrilovskoye in Russia. His father managed road construction, so Oleg's family moved around a lot. They lived in places like the Kola peninsula, Altay, and Kyrgyzstan. In the early 1960s, they settled in Krasnoyarsk. When Oleg was 12, he worked as a loader's helper at a factory to earn money.

Oleg loved trains when he was young and dreamed of becoming a train driver. But when his father left the family, football became very important to him. It helped his mother support him, his brother, and his sister.

Oleg joined a local youth football team called Metallurg. He played as a striker, which means he tried to score goals. Within two years, he became the team's captain. His great playing led him to be invited to play for Avtomobilist, another team in Krasnoyarsk. At a youth championship, he scored seven goals in just four games! He stayed with Avtomobilist and helped them get third place in the USSR Youth Championship.

Football Career as a Player

Starting with Avtomobilist

In 1971, Oleg Romantsev joined the main team of Avtomobilist. They were playing in the Soviet Second League, a lower division. He scored a goal in his very first game and two goals in his second game. Soon, he became a regular player on the team.

Oleg changed his position from a striker to a left-back, which is a defensive player. Other big clubs, like Dynamo Kiev, started to notice his skills. In 1976, Avtomobilist played a friendly match against Spartak Moscow. This club would become very important in Romantsev's football life.

Joining Spartak Moscow

After impressing Spartak Moscow during the match, Oleg was offered a place on their team. He joined them, but at first, he didn't like it. He left after only two matches, saying the atmosphere was "unprofessional."

However, in 1977, Konstantin Beskov, the new manager of Spartak Moscow, convinced him to come back. Spartak had been relegated (moved down a league) in 1976, and Beskov wanted to bring them back to the Soviet Top League. Romantsev eventually agreed after talking with Beskov, who was also the manager of the Soviet Union national team.

Oleg Romantsev played 180 matches for Spartak Moscow and scored six goals. In 1979, he became the team captain. He stayed captain until 1983, when injuries forced him to stop playing at just 29 years old.

During his time as a player with Spartak, Romantsev helped the team win the 1979 Soviet Top League. They also won the 1977 Soviet First League title. They finished second in the Soviet Top League in 1980, 1981, and 1983.

Playing for the Soviet Union

Oleg Romantsev played nine matches for the Soviet Union national team. He also played six matches and scored one goal for the team that won a bronze medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Managerial Career

First Steps as a Coach

A year after he stopped playing, Nikolai Starostin, who founded Spartak Moscow, offered Oleg Romantsev a coaching job. This was at Krasnaya Presnya, a smaller club in Moscow. Here, he met Aleksandr Mostovoi, who was a 16-year-old player and would later become a big star for Russia. They became very close. Mostovoi said Romantsev was like a "father in football" to him. Romantsev coached Presnya for three years. Then, he spent a few months coaching Spartak Ordzhonikidze (now Spartak Vladikavkaz) in 1988.

Leading Spartak Moscow to Glory

Later in 1988, Romantsev returned to Spartak Moscow, the club where he had been a famous player. He became their new manager. This was a surprise to many. His impact was huge and immediate. Spartak won the Russian title in his first season, 1989. This was their first title since Romantsev himself was captain in 1979.

Under Romantsev, Spartak played a special style of football. It was all about "short passes and quick thinking." He was known for being very strict and for carefully studying his team's and opponents' performances. He trained his players very hard, with tough sessions that were like "Special Forces training." Players respected him greatly. For example, star player Yegor Titov said he didn't leave Spartak for other big clubs because he was "afraid to go to Oleg Romantsev’s office and tell him I was leaving."

Spartak Moscow was the best team in Russian football during the 1990s under Romantsev. The club found young talented players from all over the former Soviet Union. They helped these players become very good. After the fall of Communism, they could sell these players to clubs in Western Europe for a lot of money. This money helped them find and develop new young players. Many future Russian international players came through Spartak during this time, like Valery Karpin and Dmitry Alenichev.

By the time Romantsev left Spartak, the team had won nine league titles. They won three in a row from 1992 to 1994, and then six in a row from 1996 to 2001. They also won four Russian Cups. Under his leadership, Spartak also reached the semi-finals of three big European competitions: the 1990–91 European Cup, the 1992–93 European Cup Winners' Cup, and the 1997–98 UEFA Cup. They even beat famous teams like Real Madrid, Liverpool, and Diego Maradona's Napoli.

Coaching the Russian National Team

First Time as Russia's Coach

Oleg Romantsev became the manager of the Russian national football team after the 1994 FIFA World Cup. His job was to help Russia qualify for UEFA Euro 1996, which was held in England. He did this job at the same time as managing Spartak Moscow. Russia finished first in their qualifying group, winning eight games and drawing two.

At the Euro 96 tournament, Russia was in a very tough group with Czech Republic, Germany, and Italy. Germany ended up winning the tournament, and the Czech Republic were finalists. Russia lost their first two games and were eliminated. They drew their last game 3-3 with the Czechs. After this disappointing tournament, Romantsev left the national team and focused only on Spartak.

Second Time as Russia's Coach

In the qualifiers for the 2000 European Championship, Russia lost their first three games. This made the Russian Football Union very upset, and the manager was fired. Romantsev was asked to come back and manage the national team again.

He was not sure at first, but he eventually agreed. He led a huge comeback, with Russia winning their next six games in a row. The most impressive win was a 3-2 victory over France in Paris. In their final game, Russia needed to win against Ukraine to qualify for the championship. They were leading 1-0, but a mistake by the goalkeeper meant the game ended 1-1. Russia did not qualify. This loss was very hard for Romantsev.

Despite the tough loss, the team's big improvement meant Romantsev stayed on as manager for the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. Russia again finished first in their group. They won seven games, drew two, and lost only one.

At the World Cup in Japan and South Korea, Russia was in a group with Belgium, Tunisia, and co-hosts Japan. Russia won their first game against Tunisia 2-0. But they lost their next match to Japan 1-0, which caused some riots in Moscow. For their last game against Belgium, Russia needed a draw to move to the next round, but they lost 3-2 and were out of the tournament. Romantsev quit as manager after this result.

Later Coaching Career

As time went on, some people thought that managing both Spartak and the national team was too much for Romantsev. His health seemed to be getting worse. He also had problems with Andrei Chervichenko, the new chairman of Spartak. Romantsev said that Chervichenko was not respecting the club. He also criticized UEFA and referees, saying they were unfair to Russian clubs in Europe.

Spartak still won titles under Romantsev, but by smaller margins. In 2003, Romantsev accused Chervichenko of trying to fix the result of the 2003 Russian Cup final. After this, Romantsev was finally fired from Spartak Moscow.

He then had two short coaching jobs: at Saturn Ramenskoe (2003–2004) and Dynamo Moscow (2004–2005). But these jobs were not successful. Romantsev stayed away from football for four years. Then, in 2009, he agreed to help the manager of Spartak, Valeri Karpin, as a consultant coach. He left this role a few years later.

In 2018, Oleg Romantsev's autobiography, Romantsev: The Truth about Me and Spartak, was published. In the book, he explained that he retired from coaching because he was "tired" of football. He said that coaching needs full dedication, which he could no longer give.

Oleg Romantsev's Public Life

Oleg Romantsev was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union when he was a team captain. Before elections in 1999, he was listed as a leader in a political movement called "Interregional Unity Movement." However, he said this was done without his permission. Romantsev said he was tired of "the eternal Russian mess" and did not want to be involved in politics. Later, he officially joined the United Russia political party.

Romantsev has said that he was offered jobs abroad, where life was calmer. But he wanted to stay in Russia to bring joy to people who could not choose where to live. In 2000, he expressed concerns about people leaving Russia. He worried that if too many people left, the country could be taken over by "nonentities" who might "rob, kill, and deceive."

Romantsev has also been involved in projects to help develop children's football in Russia. These projects included the "Smart Football Academy: Legacy" and other programs before the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Achievements and Honours

As a Player

Spartak Moscow

• Soviet Top League:
  • Winner: 1979
  • Runner-up: 1980, 1981, 1983
  • Third place: 1982
• Soviet First League:
  • Winner: 1977
• Soviet Cup:
  • Runner-up: 1981

Soviet Union

• Olympic Games:
  • Bronze medal: 1980

As a Coach

Spartak Moscow

• Soviet Top League:
  • Winner: 1989
  • Runner-up: 1991
• Russian Premier League:
  • Winner: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
  • Third place: 1995, 2002
• Soviet Cup:
  • Winner: 1992
• Russian Cup:
  • Winner: 1994, 1998, 2003
• CIS Cup:
  • Winner: 1993, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001
  • Runner-up: 1997, 1998, 2002
• European Cup:
  • Semi-finalist: 1990–91
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup:
  • Semi-finalist: 1992–93
• UEFA Cup:
  • Semi-finalist: 1997–98

Images for kids

• 

  Romantsev in 2012 (also in infobox)

See also

In Spanish: Oleg Romántsev para niños