EURO history-maker Ilyin dies aged 84
Thursday, February 11, 2016
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Anatoli Ilyin, scorer of the first ever UEFA European Championship qualifying goal and the strike that earned the Soviet Union Olympic gold in 1956, has died aged 84.
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Anatoli Ilyin, scorer of the first ever UEFA European Championship qualifying goal, died on Wednesday at the age of 84.
The new continental competition was four minutes old on 28 September 1958 when Ilyin struck his historic goal at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium. The Soviet Union went on to beat Hungary 3-1 and lifted the inaugural trophy two years later, though Ilyin was not in the squad in France.
He was in the party that won Olympic gold four years earlier in Melbourne, however, scoring the only goal of the final against Yugoslavia. He certainly knew how to pick his moment.
Ilyin won five Soviet Top League titles and two Soviet Cups during a club career spent exclusively at home-town Spartak Moskva. He was the league's top scorer in 1954 and 1958, and in all managed 106 goals during a 13-year playing career.
Ilyin hung up his boots in 1962 and worked as a coach in the Spartak academy until 1996.
