2: Lev Jascin, SSSR, Panini England European Football Championship ‘96

The Ballon d’Or, brainchild of France Football magazine, is regarded as the greatest individual prize available in world football. First awarded in 1956, to the 41-year old English wing wizard Stanley Matthews, its list of recipients reads like a list of the game’s greatest ever players. Eusebio, Johann Cruyff, Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, Roberto Baggio, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have all, deservedly, taken home the golden ball although the latter’s ongoing desire to avoid ‘doing it on a rainy night in Stoke’ does stand against him. There have, of course, been slow years. Michael Owen won in 2001 and Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard came dangerously close to winning in 2005 but thankfully common sense and Ronaldinho prevailed.

As Ballon d’Or winner Michael Owen so sagely informed us “whichever team scores more goals usually wins” and so it is hardly a surprise that the vast majority of the award’s recipients have been attacking players. That being said this does seem to unfairly overlook the importance of defenders and, moreover, goalkeepers in the beautiful game. The last defender to take the golden ball home was Fabio Cannavaro after captaining Italy to World Cup victory in 2006. Prior to that it was German skipper Matthias Sammer after a victorious European Championships in 1996 and before that his compatriot Lothar Matthaus after winning the World Cup in 1990. Although a short list, at least there is a list of winning defenders whereas, since 1956, only one goalkpeer has taken home the Ballon d’Or and that man was Lev Yashin.

At the age of twelve Yashin began working in a munitions factory as the Molotov-Ribentropp Pact was broken with the invasion of the USSR by Nazi Germany in 1941. Over the next four years Yashin impressed with his performances for his factory’s team and joined the Dynamo Moscow youth team at the age of 16. He made his goalkeeping debut for his hometown club in 1950 but conceded a soft goal and found his first team opportunities restricted for the next three years. Undeterred he represented Dynamo’s ice hockey team and won the USSR Cup in 1953 as well as being named as the third best goalkeeper in the tournament. He was given another chance with the club’s football team and for the next seventeen years held on to the no.1 jersey helping Dynamo to five Soviet Top League titles and three Soviet Cups in the process. 

Yashin received his first USSR cap in 1954 and was part of the Soviet teams that claimed the gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics and the inaugural European Championship in 1960. He conceded only three goals across both tournaments and impressed at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden with his performance against the eventual winners, Brazil, limiting the scoreline to 2-0 to the Selecao. The USSR reached the quarter-finals of the 1962 World Cup in Chile but, owing to two separate concussions, Yashin’s performances were erratic and he became the first, and so far only, goalkeeper to concede directly from a corner kick at a World Cup finals during a 4-4 draw with Colombia. French magazine L’Equipe boldly predicted the end of Yashin’s impressive career but the great man bounced back to perform heroics in the USSR’s quarter-finals albeit in a losing effort against the host nation.

In 1963 Yashin was selected in goal for a FIFA Rest of the World XI to face England as part of the Football Association’s centenary celebrations. He pulled off several outstanding saves to keep the tie goalless in the first-half despite the best efforts of an inspired Jimmy Greaves and it was only after Yashin’s replacement after half time that England ran out 2-1 winners. Nevertheless the Soviet star’s performance endeared him to the watching public earning him the nickname ‘The Black Spider’ in homage to his all-black kit and seemingly endless supply of limbs. Let’s ignore the fact that his jersey was actually dark blue and that he had the same number of limbs as his contemporaries. At the end of the year he won the Ballon d’Or.

In the 1966 World Cup Yashin helped the USSR to a best ever fourth-placed finish and proved that he was more than capable of performing heroics on weekday evenings in Sunderland and Middlesbrough. At the age of 41, and now the USSR’s third-choice keeper, Yashin travelled to his final World Cup in Mexico in 1970 and served as his nation’s assistant coach. He played his final game for Dynamo Moscow the following year and was given a testimonial by FIFA in his hometown which was witnessed by 100,000 fans and featured footballing luminaries from Franz Beckenbauer to Pele. He retired having kept 270 clean sheets and saved 151 penalties in over 800 career appearances for club and country.

Lev Yashin died in 1990 and was awarded a state funeral as a Soviet Honoured Master of Sport. ‘The Black Spider’ has been credited with revolutionising the role of the goalkeeper in modern football with his authoritative command of his defence, willingness to dive at the feet of oncoming forwards and ability to launch counter-attacks with quick and powerful throws. FIFA established the Lev Yashin award for the best goalkeeper at the World Cup finals in 1994 and shot-stoppers from Gordon Banks to Dino Zoff acknowledged him as a huge influence on their successful careers. However, only Zoff, Gianluigi Buffon and Manuel Neuer have come close to winning the coveted Ballon d’Or since Yashin’s success in 1963. Goalkeepers are so often overlooked when it comes to awards (just look at Bobby Mimms) that it’s hardly surprising that young players are reluctant to take on the role and in an era where every goalkeeping error is analysed to within an inch of its life, often in place of recognition of excellent saves and positional play, it’s understandable to take the option of playing further up the field where your indiscretions receive less scrutiny.

But to those feeling brave enough to take a turn in nets you should look to Lev Yashin for guidance: “have a smoke to calm your nerves, then toss back a strong drink to tone your muscles”. Different times maybe but a hero for the ages.