Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tolstykh (russian: Николай Александрович Толстых; born 30 January 1956) is a Russian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

administrator and a former player.

Playing career

As a player, he made his professional debut in the

Soviet Top League The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу: Высшая лига), served as the top division of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The professional top level ...

in 1977 for

FC Dynamo Moscow FC Dynamo Moscow (''FC Dynamo Moskva'', russian: Дина́мо Москва́ ) is a Russian football club based in Moscow. Dynamo returned to the Russian Premier League for the 2017–18 season after one season in the second-tier Russian Footb ...

Later career

He has been the president of the Russian Professional Football League since its founding in 1992. Until 2001 that organization conducted the

Russian Top Division The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

competition, and since that year it is limited to

Russian First Division The Russian First League (russian: Первая лига, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division (russian: Первый дивизион) and Russian Football National League (FNL) (russian: Первенство Футбольн� ...

and

Russian Second Division The Russian Second League (russian: Первенство России II дивизиона ФНЛ), formerly Russian Professional Football League is the third level of Russian professional football (soccer), football. History In 1998–2010, it ...

. From 2012 to 2015 he served as the president of

Russian Football Union The Russian Football Union (russian: Российский Футбольный Союз, ''Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz'' or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it org ...

European club competitions

With

. * European Cup Winners' Cup 1979–80: 1 game. * UEFA Cup 1980–81: 2 games. *

UEFA Cup 1982–83 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

: 2 games.

References

1956 births Footballers from Moscow Living people Russian footballers Soviet footballers FC Dynamo Moscow players Soviet Top League players Association football defenders Russian football chairmen and investors Recipients of the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" II class Presidents of the Russian Football Union {{USSR-footy-bio-stub