Childhood and youth
Lev Ivanovich was born in the Bogorodsky district of Moscow. Father Ivan Petrovich worked as a mechanic at a factory, and mother Alexandra Petrovna was also a foreman. The boy received his first football lessons in the courtyard of his home. When Lev was 11 years old, the Great Patriotic War began.
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Goalkeeper Lev Yashin
Together with his family, he was evacuated to Ulyanovsk and went to help the elders as a loader. Soon the teenager qualified as a mechanic and began making military equipment.
After the war, the Yashins returned to Moscow, Lev continued to work at the factory, and in the evenings he played for the amateur team “Red October” from Tushino. Professional trainers paid attention to the young man when he served in the army. Yashin chose the Moscow club Dynamo and became the goalkeeper of the youth team.
Football
He soon became third after the famous goalkeepers Alexei Khomich and Walter Sanaya in the main team. Since then, Lev Yashin played only for Dynamo, spending 22 seasons in the T-shirt of this club, which is considered a unique achievement. Yashin became so attached to this team that even in matches for the national team he came out with the letter “D” on his chest.
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Footballer Lev Yashin
Few people know that at first Lev Yashin played both football and hockey at the same time, and he also showed good results in playing with the puck. For example, in 1953 he became the champion of the USSR and was even a candidate for the national team, but by this time he decided to focus exclusively on football.
The goalkeeper began to use innovative methods of playing in the penalty area, using not only his hands, as was customary for goalkeepers of that time, but also playing with his feet. The coaches of Dynamo and the USSR national team often had to listen to dissatisfied statements from the Ministry of Sports, whose leaders did not understand why Yashin did not play “the old fashioned way,” and called his style a “circus.”
Children of Lev Yashin (daughters)
Lev Yashin’s family is his beloved wife Valentina Timofeevna and two daughters, Irina Frolova and Lena Yakovleva, who now work at Aeroflot. The children of Lev Yashin do not like to talk about their personal lives, they are not used to communicating with journalists, so there is very little information about them. It is known that daddy’s beloved daughters gave him grandchildren, among whom is Vasily Frolov, who continued his grandfather’s sports dynasty.
Personal life
Lev Ivanovich Yashin was married for many years. His personal life developed happily in his youth. The wife of football player Valentin Yashin gave the hope of Soviet sports two daughters, Irina and Elena.
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Lev Yashin and his wife Valentina
Yashin's grandson, whose name is Vasily Frolov, was also a goalkeeper for Dynamo Moscow, like his grandfather. And then he played for the St. Petersburg teams Dynamo and Zelenograd.
Lev Yashin loved fishing and could spend many hours sitting at a fishing rod, contemplating the water surface in peace and quiet.
Personal life and death of a football legend: no one is forgotten
Many famous people's personal lives are not going well, because finding a soul mate in a crowd can be difficult. In addition, it is believed that fame spoils people, makes them spoiled and demanding, where appropriate and inappropriate. This did not happen with Leva. He always, until his death, seemed to be the same shirtless guy who in his youth jumped from homemade springboards surrounded by yard kids. This is probably why everything was always smooth with him personally.
Worth knowing
When understanding what Lev Yashin is famous for, one must not lose sight of his total, global smoking from the age of twelve or thirteen. When he was working at a factory in Simbirsk and began to nod off, his father, fearing work-related injuries, himself put a strong cigarette into the teenager’s fingers. This grew into a habit, which Lev Ivanovich could not get rid of until his death.
Wife and kids
In his youth, Leo was still handsome and dapper, but he looked somewhat awkward. Tall, thin, with long arms like a gorilla, he was even a little funny when the neighbor girl Valya Shashkova drew attention to him. Valyushkin’s brother introduced the young people, who brought the future football player to visit for the first time in 1949. The couple decided to get married only in 1955, a landmark year when the guy was entrusted with playing for the Soviet Union national team in Federal Germany. Valentina Timofeevna gave birth to her beloved two daughters.
- Irina (March 20, 1958).
- Elena (January 20, 1962).
Daughters changed their surnames when married, and Yashin never thought that this was wrong. It is interesting that his grandson Lev Ivanovich, Vasily Frolov, followed in his grandfather’s footsteps and also became a football goalkeeper, playing for Dynamo.
In Memory of the Black Spider: forever in the hearts of fans
Goalkeeper Yashin's statistics are amazing; he played almost eighty matches, more than half of which were winning. He has only thirteen defeats, most of which also happened for a reason. The memory of this simple guy from the old Moscow courtyards will forever remain in the hearts of all fans, and even those who do not consider themselves such.
Interesting
Yashin was ostracized for an incident at the World Championships in Chile in 1962, when Lev missed two penalties that seemed so simple. In defense, it is worth saying that he was playing with a recent concussion, when reactions were inhibited and the clarity of understanding was erased. But that’s not all, the most furious “screamers” can watch the recordings of that game themselves, they are on the World Wide Web, and understand that most likely not a single goalkeeper would have taken them. At least, this is what professional expert and modern coach of the Chilean national team Juan Antonio Pizzi thinks.
There are many monuments to Lev Ivanovich Yashin throughout our vast country, as well as far beyond it. Squares, avenues, streets, buildings and even stadiums and sports schools were named after him in Moscow, Grozny, St. Petersburg. Even in Rio de Janeiro, there is a monument to the great goalkeeper in the Museu de Arte Moderna (Museum of Modern Art). Interestingly, FIFA even came up with and introduced a special prize named after Yashin.
In literature, many writers and poets dedicated their works to this guy. Rozhdestvensky, Vysotsky, Yevtushenko, Maslachenko and many others wrote about him. And he himself was the author of books called “Notes of a Goalkeeper” and “The Happiness of Difficult Victories.” A movie was made about him, and commemorative commemorative banknotes and stamps were also issued in his honor, which collectors are well aware of. The symbolic Yashin Club is named in his honor, which includes all domestic and Soviet goalkeepers who played more than a hundred matches without scoring in their own goal.
Death of a football star
After fifty years, Lev Ivanovich suddenly began to “give up”; his health was undermined by constant intense training, travel, and training camps. However, smoking played a key role in his sudden death, which he was never able to get rid of. As his wife said, “cigarettes finished him off.” Lev developed gangrene in his left leg, caused by chronic vascular disease due to excessive smoking. In 1989, his leg had to be taken away, which was a real shock for Yashin, but he managed to pull himself out, albeit not for long.
Russian writer Mark Zaichik says that in the same year, during the trip of the “old men” of the national team to Israel, a very high-quality prosthesis, good for that time, was made especially for Lev Yashin, the great goalkeeper. Moreover, they did not take money from the football player for this, which brought the poor fellow to tears. On March 18, 1990, he received the Hero star, but was unable to remain in this status for long; two days later he died in his apartment. The doctor’s report included a diagnosis of a malignant tumor of the stomach, cancer, and no one even suspected its existence. Yashin was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.
Interesting facts from the life of Lev Yashin
- Yashin's coaches, for example, Yakushin or Kachalin, did not forbid the goalkeeper to smoke, because they knew that it was completely useless. He smoked like a locomotive from the age of thirteen and would hardly have given up the bad habit. Because of this, he often suffered from stomach ulcers, at least everyone thought that was it.
- In the landmark year of 1949, when a strange match took place between Dynamo and Torpedo in Gagra, Lev missed the most amazing and ridiculous goal in his entire career. Playing in his own style, he simply collided with the midfielder at the exit of the goal, while the ball calmly rolled out of the frame.
- Twenty-two seasons in one club is a truly outstanding achievement, which Yashin decided to celebrate in his own way. He initially chose a black uniform with the letter “D” embroidered on it.
Memory
In memory of the famous player, many streets and a number of stadiums were named, monuments were erected, and the International Football Federation founded the Yashin Prize, which is awarded to the best goalkeeper of the final stage of the World Cup.
Alexander Fokin as Lev Yashin (still from the film “Lev Yashin. Goalkeeper of My Dreams”)
The name of Lev Ivanovich began to be immortalized not only after his death. Even when he was a player, such poets as Vladimir Vysotsky, Robert Rozhdestvensky, Evgeny Yevtushenko and others dedicated their lines to the goalkeeper. Yashin also appears in the popular “chants” of Dynamo fans.
The image of the goalkeeper first appeared in films in the year of the 90th anniversary of his birth. The film “Lev Yashin” was dedicated to the biography of the football player. The goalkeeper of my dreams." The main character of the biopic was played by 3 actors: Elisey Tarasenko in childhood, Alexander Fokin in his youth and Alexander Ermakov in adulthood. The first screening of the film took place in Russian cinemas on November 28, 2020.
Death
Leaving sports had a negative impact on Lev Ivanovich’s health. The athlete’s body was discouraged by the cessation of exercise. Yashin survived cancer, a stroke, two heart attacks and leg amputation. At the beginning of 1990, Lev Ivanovich received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. The award was supposed to be presented personally by Gorbachev, but in the end a high-ranking official came. Six days later, Lev Ivanovich passed away.
The fate of the legendary goalkeeper was not easy. But with his actions, achievements and work, the athlete forever inscribed his name in the history of football. A true hero, legend and role model - that’s what Lev Yashin was for the people. Dynamo, or rather its fans, wear T-shirts with his image and mention the goalkeeper’s name in chants. They also place a goalie figure on the banners. And in July 2020, it became known that the Lev Yashin Stadium would soon open. This will be the former Dynamo arena after reconstruction. Thus, the club management decided to perpetuate the name of the legendary goalkeeper.
