Lev Yashin - USSR
The “Black Spider” was regarded as the greatest goalie of his generation and according to many, perhaps the greatest goalie of all-time. Successor to his mentor and teammate at Dynamo, Alexei Khomich (The “Tiger”), Yashin spent his entire career as a one-club man. Before receiving the gifts of national adulation, Yashin’s life was one of hardship, suffering and fear. Born into post-Revolution Russia, followed by the darkness of Stalin’s purges and into the horrors of World War II (where as a child he worked in a munitions factory). In 1947, Yashin’s mental health had deteriorated and he was forced to relocate to Moscow where he was placed into work at a munitions factory. After the War, Yashin began playing for his factory team and his professional career took-hold in 1950 after being transferred to Dynamo Moscow. Throughout the ‘50s, the most powerful Soviet clubs were known for their associations with branches of the military or governmental departments. Competition for the best players and ultimate club success was, to put it gently…fierce. Yashin’s club, Dynamo Moscow, was noted for its affiliation with the MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) a department which included the KGB and the club’s most recognizable (and feared) supporter, Lavrentiy Beria. Subsequent to World War II, the style of play for the early part of the Silver Age saw goaltenders mostly reverting back to stationary positions between the posts until they were pressed into battle. Yashin broke the mold of normalcy as he was by no means passive in his approach. He was vocal in commanding the positioning of his defenders and was extremely aggressive in the way he frequently ventured from the solitude of his net and attacked the play of the invading team. He was, by any generation’s definition, a truly exciting player to watch.
Although Yashin and the Soviet team had great success in the ’56 Olympics (seeing the team win a Gold Medal) it was during the 1958 World Cup where Yashin’s talents really came into global focus. The ’58 World Cup was remarkable for the inclusion of televised games that then consisted of advances in television and cinematography which even today, makes watching these
classics enjoyable. As a result, highlight reels catching glimpses of the Black Spider springing from his net to snag crosses snapped in from the wing were and remain on full display for all to appreciate. At Dynamo, Yashin was surrounded with some of the best Soviet talents of the day as was evidenced by the club’s immense success throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s where they went on to
win multiple cups and titles.
As an international, Yashin took over the job in 1954 and held it down for the next 16 years until his retirement in 1970. This period remains the most successful era of Russian Football. As of this writing, Yahsin is the only goaltender to have won the Ballon d’Or, a feat which he accomplished in 1963. The highlights from Yashin’s career resume would certainly make it difficult for anyone to argue against him as being included in any conversation of “greatest goaltender ever.” To this day, Yashin’s 151 saves against free-kicks remains a FIFA record. Further, as a professional Yashin locked down an amazing 270 clean sheets over the course of
only 326 games – said another way, if your team was playing Dynamo you had roughly a 1 in 5 chance of scoring a goal.
A true folk hero for the people of Russia, Yashin’s accomplishments and bravery saw his fans honor him by erecting a bronze statue in 1967 at the grounds of his old Club (even though he was still an active player) and award him with the “Order of Lenin”– the highest award in the Soviet Union.
As if Yashin’s legacy as a footballer weren’t enough, he was also a two-sport star and in 1953, while playing as a goaltender he won the Soviet Ice Hockey Cup. Yashin’s hockey career ended in 1954 so that he could focus his efforts solely on footballing.
After fighting a losing battle with cancer, Yashin died at the young age of 60 and on his passing, he was recognized with a funeral that included full State Honors and named him as a “Soviet Honored Master of Sport.”
Notable Accomplishments
Soviet Top League Champion: 1954, 1957, 1959 and 1963;
Soviet Cup Winner: 1953, 1966, 1967 and 1970;
Soviet Cup (Runner-up): 1955;
UEFA Champion: 1960;
UEFA (Runner-up): 1964;
Olympic Games – Gold Medal: 1956;
FIFA World Cup (4 th Place): 1966;
European Goalkeeper of the Year: 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966;
USSR Goalkeeper of the Year: 1960, 1963 and 1966
UEFA Championship All Tournament Team: 1960 and 1964;
Ballon d’Or: 1963;
FIFA XI 1963 and 1968;
World Soccer World XI: 1963, 1964, 1966 and 1967;
Order of Lenin : 1967;
Silver Olympic Order;
FIFA Order of Merit
FIFA World Cup All-Time Team
World Team of the 20 th Century
Berth-Britz Goalkeeper of the Decade (1960s)
FIFA World Cup Dream Team
Golden Player of Russia
IFFHS Legends
Ballon d’Or Dream Team
CARDBOARD NOTES
Although there are probably more football cards of Lev Yashin than any other vintage Soviet player the vast majority of those cards were issued in the 1960s. There are only two known “individual” cards of Yashin from the ‘50s. The highly sought after but more common of the two is found in the 1959 Heinerle set from Germany. The Heinerle cards from ’59 are extremely difficult to find in higher grades for two reasons, first the Germans commonly glued these cards into albums; so many of the cards available today have either glue residue or paper loss from the album removal. Second, the Heinerle cards are slightly oversized which means that the corners are often soft and/ or rounded as a result of being stored with smaller cards. Of note, the ’59 Heinerle Yashin card is often found with a thin white line on either the left and/or the right hand side of the picture. There is no real consensus about what this stems from or, what if any impact it has on the value of the card. To my understanding, the grading companies are ignorant to this issue and for now, it has no impact on their grades.
The earliest and by far, rarest individual card of Yashin is found in the 1958 ___ set. Valuing this card is extremely difficult, the item is so rare that it took significant efforts from Swedish card experts to even identify the limited World Cup set that it came out of. As of this date, there have been no submissions to any of the grading companies for this card and the only known sale that took place in 2014. Yashin does appear in a variety of different “Action” cards in both the Weltmeisterschaft Verlag-Fussball and also the Bremmer sets out of Germany from 1958. These cards are sought after and do have a following of collectors however, the ‘Action” photos are not attractive to many collectors. Regardless, because supply is limited prices remain high for these issues- this is especially so for the regional Bremmer issue which, is always in high demand.
As is the case with many Soviet players, Yashin did not appear on an individual card from the Soviet Union during either the early or later part of his playing career. The Soviet culture at this time had a tendency to focus on the collective or group effort (rather than the individual) and as such, images of Yashin out of the Soviet Union typically only appear on postcards in a team setting. The 1956 postal issue of the Soviet team (likely issued for the upcoming Olympics) is the earliest known cardboard image of Yashin.
Throughout the ‘60s, Yashin appears on dozens of cards however, the 1967 Figuritas Sport card that was issued in Argentina is perhaps one of the most unique cards of his career. The caricature depiction of the “Black Spider” with his eight arms and trademark cap is extremely popular with collectors and is one of the most sought after cards of the decade.
