Valter Vissarionovich Sanaya (also spelled Walter Sanaya; russian: Вальтер Виссарионович Саная; 24 September 1925 – 29 October 1999) 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 ...

player. A native of

Ochamchire Ochamchire or Ochamchira ( ka, ოჩამჩირე, ; ab, Очамчыра, ''Ochamchyra''; russian: Очамчира, ''Ochamchira'') is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast of Abkhazia, Georgia, and a centre of an eponymous district. Acc ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, Sanaya played as a

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 ...

. He started his professional football career at

FC Dinamo Sukhumi FC Dinamo Sokhumi ( ka, სკ სოხუმის დინამო) is a Georgian association football club from Sokhumi, Georgia, temporarily based in Tbilisi. The most successful club of Abkhazian ASSR currently competes in Regionuli Liga ...

during the 1941 season. In 1944, he then joined

FC Dinamo Tbilisi FC Dinamo Tbilisi ( ka, დინამო თბილისი, ) is a Georgian professional football club based in Tbilisi, Georgia, that competes in the Erovnuli Liga, the top flight of Georgian football. Dinamo Tbilisi was one of the mo ...

. In the 1946 season, Sanaya was hired by

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

, where he spent the next years. As a goalkeeper in Moscow, he was internally competing with teammates

Alexei Khomich Alexei Petrovich Khomich (russian: Алексей Петрович Хомич; 14 March 1920 – 30 May 1980), nicknamed the Tiger, was a Soviet goalkeeper of the 1950s. Club career During his career he played for FC Dynamo Moscow and FC Di ...

and later

Lev Yashin Lev Ivanovich Yashin (russian: Лев Иванович Яшин; 22 October 1929 – 20 March 1990), nicknamed the "Black Spider" or the "Black Panther", was a Soviet professional footballer regarded by many as the greatest goalkeeper in the hi ...

and finally took a back seat. After a short return to Dinamo Tbilisi in 1954, he joined Neftyanik Baku. He retired in 1956. His daughter is former

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

Marina Sanaya Marina Valterovna Sanaya (Melnyk) (russian: Марина Вальтеровна Саная (Мельник); 7 January 1959 – 6 October 2016) was a figure skating official and competitor who represented the Soviet Union. Competing at the age o ...

, Walter Sanaya is also a distant cousin of

Zurab Sanaya Zurab Vladimirovich Sanaya (russian: Зураб Владимирович Саная; born 15 April 1968) is a Russian professional football coach and a former player. As a player, he made his debut in the Soviet Second League in 1985 for FC Nart ...

. He died in 1999 in

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanaya, Valter Footballers from Abkhazia 1925 births 1999 deaths People from Ochamchira District Soviet footballers FC Dinamo Tbilisi players FC Dinamo Sukhumi players FC Dynamo Moscow players Soviet Top League players Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery Association football goalkeepers