Valentin Gavrilovich Ivakin (russian: Валентин Гаврилович Ивакин) (26 March 1930 – 24 November 2010) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

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 ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

and manager.

Playing career

Valentin Ivakin was born in

Uryupinsk Uryupinsk (russian: Урю́пинск) is a town in Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located northwest of Volgograd on the Khopyor River. Population: Etymology There are two theories of the historical background for the town's name. One is that it i ...

. At the age of 17 without former training in football he joined the local football club Pishevik. In 1952 he was sent for military service to

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR), also known as Soviet Latvia or simply Latvia, was a federated republic within the Soviet Union, and formally one of its 16 (later 15) constituent republics. The Latvian Soviet Socialist Rep ...

where he won the

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is Op ...

title and the

Latvian Cup The Latvian Football Cup () is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Latvian Football (soccer), football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Game Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due ...

playing with AVN Riga. After the season Ivakin was selected to join Daugava Riga - the top football club in Soviet Latvia. Over two seasons he played 32 matches for Daugava, showing impressive performances which led to him being transferred to one of the top Soviet clubs -

CDKA Moscow Professional Football Club CSKA (russian: link=yes, Профессиональный футбольный клуб – ЦСКА, derived from the historical name 'Центральный спортивный клуб армии', English: ...

. In 1957 he moved to another top

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

side -

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * WB ...

with which he won 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 ...

gold in 1958 and 1962, in addition to the

Soviet Cup The Soviet Cup, or USSR Cup (russian: Кубок СССР),, be, Кубак СССР, uz, СССР Кубоги, kk, КСРО Кубогы, ka, სსრკ თასი, az, ССРИ кубоку, lt, TSRS taurė, ro, Cupa URSS (Moldova ...

in 1958. At the age of 32 Ivakin had to leave Spartak as it was a usual practice in Soviet football to force footballers to retire at the age of 31-32, however Ivakin moved to

FC Shinnik Yaroslavl FC Shinnik Yaroslavl (russian: Футбольный клуб «Шинник» Ярославль) is a Russian football club, based in Yaroslavl. From 1957 to 1960 the team was called Khimik (russian: Химик - "the chemist"). In the USSR ...

with which he played until 1967. Ivakin also played one international match for

USSR national football team The Soviet Union national football team ( rus, сбо́рная СССР по футбо́лу, r=sbórnaya SSSR po futbólu) was the national football team of the former Soviet Union. After the breakup of the Union the team was transformed in ...

- in a 1-0 victory against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in 1959.

Coaching career

Upon retiring from playing Ivakin was appointed club director of Shinnik Yaroslavl. In later years he mostly worked with young footballers in

, his only experience coaching a senior club was in 1979 when he was the head coach of second league club

FC Spartak Ryazan FC Spartak Ryazan (russian: ФК «Спартак» Рязань) was a Russian football team from Ryazan. It played professionally in 1949 and from 1959 to 1999. It played on the second-highest level (Soviet First League and Russian First Divi ...

. From 1986 to 1987 he coached the USSR U-21 national team.Valentin Ivakin
(Russian) He was the first coach of

Dmitri Kombarov Dmitri Vladimirovich Kombarov ( rus, Дми́трий Влади́мирович Комба́ров, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ kɐmˈbarəf; born 22 January 1987) is a Russian football coach and a former player who played as a ...

and

Kirill Kombarov Kirill Vladimirovich Kombarov ( rus, Кири́лл Влади́мирович Комба́ров, p=kʲɪˈrʲil vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ kɐmˈbarəf; born 22 January 1987) is a Russian football official and a former player who played as a r ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivakin, Valentin 1930 births 2010 deaths Russian footballers Russian football managers Soviet footballers Soviet football managers FC Spartak Moscow players PFC CSKA Moscow players Daugava Rīga players Soviet Union international footballers Association football goalkeepers Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery FC Shinnik Yaroslavl players