Nikita Simonyan, the legendary Soviet football player and Vice-President of the Russian Football Union, is marking his 85th birthday.
He played for Dynamo Sukhumi (1944-1945), Krylya Sovetov Moscow (1946-1948) and Spartak (1949-1959). He played for the USSR national team for 20 years and scored 10 goals (1954-1958). He started training players for Spartak (1960—1965, 1967—1972), Ararat Yerevan (1973—1974, 1984—1985), Chernomorets Odessa (1980—1981) and the USSR national team (1977—1979). He became the Acting President of the Russian Football Union in November 2009 until February 2010.
Simonyan won 6 USSR championships, five Union Cups and became Top Goalscorer, with 160 goals in 245 matches.
The legendary player received an Olympic gold medal in Melbourne in 1956 and 1973 while playing for Ararat Yerevan and a gold medal in the European Championship of 1988, ITAR-TASS reports.
