Albert Alekseyevich Shesternyov ( rus, Альбе́рт Алексе́евич Шестернёв, p=ɐlʲˈbʲert ɐlʲɪˈksʲeɪvʲɪtɕ ʂɨsʲtʲɪrˈnʲɵf; 20 June 1941 – 5 November 1994) was a football player for

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet era, it was a central piece of the big So ...

and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. He is generally regarded as the best football defender in Soviet football history. Shesternyov was born and died 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 ...

. Nicknamed "Ivan the Terrible", he was the captain of the great Soviet team of the 1960s, he earned 90 caps an appearance record only broken subsequently by Oleg Blokhin and Rinat Dasaev in the late 1980s. An international from 1961 to 1971, the

libero played and represented his country at three

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

s and two European Championships:

1964 European Nations' Cup The 1964 European Nations' Cup was the second edition of the UEFA European Championship. The final tournament was held in Spain. It was won by the hosts 2–1 over the defending champions, the Soviet Union. The tournament was a knockout compe ...

and the

UEFA Euro 1968 The 1968 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Italy. This was the third UEFA European Championship, an event held every four years and organised by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 5 and 10 June 1968. It ...

. During the latter tournament the Soviet team faced

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in one of the semi-finals. The game finished in a 0–0 tie, (including extra time), and according to the rules at the time the winner was to be decided by a

coin toss A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...

. The Soviet side were given the opportunity to call the coin, and as captain Shesternyov called it. He called it incorrectly and they were out of the final. They finished in 4th place, after losing to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in the Third place play-off game. Shesternyov was captain of the Soviet national team for 62 of his 90 caps. He was

's youngest ever debutant at 17 years old and also the club's youngest ever captain at just 21 years old. He captained the club for nearly 10 years and played his entire career with CSKA Moscow. Shesternyov featured in the European Championships - UEFA Teams of Tournament twice and was the

Soviet Footballer of the Year The award Soviet Footballer of the Year was awarded to the best footballer of the Soviet Union from 1964 until 1991. The poll was conducted among journalists by the weekly sport newspaper ''Football'' (Football-Hockey). Each journalist named his ow ...

in 1970, he was also voted 3rd in 1966, 1968 & 1969. After leading CSKA to their first national title in 19 years he chose to retire from football on a high at only 30. He was voted, by

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine '' France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (f ...

, the 14th, 11th, 10th and then 22nd best footballer in the world in 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1971 respectively. During these years he was regarded as one of the best defenders in the world and if he had chosen to join one of the many European big teams that were chasing him, many said he would have been even more so highly regarded in the footballing world. He was, however, always commended for his one-club career. He was recently voted into the Soviet Union all-time World Cup team by football media website PlanetWorldCup. In 1970, he became the

Honours

;CSKA Moscow * USSR Championship: 1970 ;Soviet Union *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

runner-up: 1964 ;Individual * UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament:

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

: 1970

Personal life

Shesternyov was married to the Soviet figure skater Tatyana Zhuk. This marriage lasted until 1973. He married again in 1974. Due to depression and alcohol abuse, he died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1994, at the age of 53.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shesternyov, Albert 1941 births 1994 deaths Soviet men's footballers Soviet Union men's international footballers Russian men's footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players 1966 FIFA World Cup players 1970 FIFA World Cup players 1964 European Nations' Cup players UEFA Euro 1968 players Soviet Top League players PFC CSKA Moscow players Footballers from Moscow Soviet football managers Russian football managers PFC CSKA Moscow managers Men's association football sweepers

Honours

Personal life

References

External links