The triumphant march of the VUSSR continues (someone else feel free to pick
), as we go off the board in the
Athlete category to select...
VSEVOLOD BOBROV
Who the fata, you might say. Well, this chap is considered one of the greatest Soviet/Russian hockey players of all time AND one of the greatest Soviet football (soccer) players as well, having been the star of both hockey and football national teams at the same time! An amazing achievement and amazing athletic ability...
Vsevolod Mikhailovich Bobrov (
Russian: Всеволод Михайлович Бобров; December 1, 1922 – July 1, 1979) was a
Soviet athlete, who excelled in both
football (soccer),
bandy, and
ice hockey. He is considered one of the best
Russians ever in all of those sports.
[edit] Biography
Russian commemorative coin celebrating
Bobrov
Bobrov was born in
Morshansk. After serving in the
Soviet Army during
World War II he was invited to play football for the Army club
CSKA Moscow in 1945. Playing until 1953 for CSKA,
VVS, and
Spartak, he would go on to win the Soviet Championship three times, scoring 97 goals in only 116 games. Bobrov led the country in goals in 1945 with 24 and 1947 with 14. In 1945, Vsevolod was a guest player for
Dynamo Moscow's tour of
Great Britain, and drew rave reviews after scoring six goals as the Russian club played such teams as
Chelsea,
Arsenal, and
Rangers. He was capped three times for the
Soviet Union national team representing them in the
1952 Summer Olympics. He scored five goals in total, including a hat trick against
Yugoslavia.
Bobrov began playing hockey for
CSKA a year after his football start, in 1946. His playing career in this sport lasted until 1957, with the years between 1950 and 1953 spent with VVS. Although football was Bobrov's first sport, his success in hockey was even greater. In 1950, a
plane crash almost killed the entire Soviet national hockey team, though it had been suppressed by the Soviet government. Bobrov survived the crash by traveling by
rail than by
air. In the Soviet Championship, that his teams won seven times, Vsevolod scored an amazing 254 goals in only 130 games. He played for the
Soviet national team in the
1956 Winter Olympics, becoming one of the few athletes to participate in both the Summer and Winter games. Bobrov proceeded to lead his country to the
gold medal, and also won the
World Championship in 1954 and 1956. Overall, he scored 89 goals in 59 games for his country. In Russian hockey, his name was given to an exclusive list of players, the
Bobrov Club, who scored over 250 goals during their career.
Bobrov, who served as a player-coach in both sports during his time with VVS, would go on to coach various teams after retiring as a player in both football and hockey. In the latter, he coached the USSR in the
1972 Summit Series and then led them to the World Championship in 1974 and 1975.