Anatoliy Ilyin

Anatoliy Ilyin was born on June 27, 1931, in Moscow, USSR. He began playing football with the Gorky Park club. Then, in 1945, he joined the Pishchvik youth team in Moscow. It was at the Trudovye Rezervy club that he specialized in attacking midfield.

Some time later, in 1948, he was spotted by Pyotr Isakov, a key figure at Spartak Moscow, who saw enormous potential in the young player. He was not mistaken. Ilyin then made his debut with the youth teams and, in the summer of 1949, he played his first match with the first team. This was the beginning of a beautiful and long love story between him and his club. Indeed, Ilyin would remain loyal to Spartak Moscow for 13 years. He would never leave his club for another. As part of Spartak's attack, he was quickly considered one of the best players of his generation in the country.

Capable of playing as an attacking midfielder, center forward, or left winger, his great versatility earned him a place in the team of the USSR's golden age of football, the 1950s. He participated with the USSR in the 1956 Olympic Games and started in the final against Greater Yugoslavia. The two teams played evenly, but Ilyin scored the winning goal in the 48th minute. It was surely the most important goal of his career.

Unfortunately, he would not be part of the adventure for Euro 1960. His last match for the USSR had been a year earlier, bringing his total to 33 appearances for 18 goals, often decisive. He had the finest performance of his career with the USSR in 1956 against Denmark, a match in which he scored four goals.

His club career was honorable; he played a total of 224 matches for Spartak over 13 years, scoring 83 goals. He won five USSR championships and one USSR Cup. But above all, he was twice the league's top scorer, in 1954 with 11 goals and in 1958 with 20 goals.

- Soviet Top League top scorer: 1954 (11 goals), 1958 (20 goals)

- Grigory Fedotov club member

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