Igor Aleksandrovich Netto (russian: Игорь Александрович Нетто; 9 January 1930 – 30 March 1999) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, considered one of the greatest Soviet players ever. He started out playing on the left of defense but, due to his offensive mentality, dribbling and technical abilities turned into a dynamic central midfielder. His versatility and footballing intelligence allowed him to play a number of positions across defense and midfield.

Ice hockey and club career

Besides football, Netto played 22 games in the 1948–49 and 1950–51 seasons as an ice hockey forward for Spartak. He quit because of the high level of traumatize intrinsic to hockey. During his club career he played for

FC Spartak Moscow FC Spartak Moscow (russian: Футбольный клуб «Спартак» Москва, Futbolʹnyy klub «Spartak» Moskva, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet championships (second only to Dy ...

from 1949 until 1966, scoring 37 goals in 367 league games, winning five Soviet championships and three cups.

International career

Igor Netto, Sergei Salnikov, Lev Yashin 1958

He was the captain of the

USSR national football team The Soviet Union national football team ( rus, сбо́рная СССР по футбо́лу, r=sbórnaya SSSR po futbólu) was the national football team of the former Soviet Union. After the breakup of the Union the team was transformed i ...

from 1952 to 1965. He led the country to the gold medal in the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, wh ...

, and victory at the first ever European Championship in

1960 It is also known as the " Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * J ...

. He missed all but one match in the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil ...

due to injury, and also played all four matches in the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place b ...

when the Soviet Union reached the quarterfinals. In total he collected 54 international caps and four goals. Netto was a person of exceptional honesty, which was revealed most remarkably during the

match against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. At a 1–1 score,

Igor Chislenko Igor Leonidovich Chislenko (russian: Игорь Леонидович Численко, 4 January 1939 — 22 September 1994) was a Soviet association football player. He played over 200 league games for FC Dinamo Moscow, winning two Soviet league ...

managed to strike through the net, and the resulting goal was mistakenly counted by the referee who has not seen the ball trajectory. Hearing protests from the Uruguayan keeper, Netto confirmed with Chislenko that the ball went through the net, and convinced the referee to discount the goal. Netto's team won that match anyway.

Managerial career

After retiring in 1966 he had a long, though unsuccessful career as a coach, training

AC Omonia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Oμόνοιας Λευκωσίας, ΑΣΟΛ; ''Athlitikos Sillogos Omonias Lefkosias'', ''ASOL''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia ("Harmony"; also trans ...

FC Shinnik Yaroslavl FC Shinnik Yaroslavl (russian: Футбольный клуб «Шинник» Ярославль) is a Russian football club, based in Yaroslavl. From 1957 to 1960 the team was called Khimik (russian: Химик - "the chemist"). In the USSR ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club ( Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'' ...

and Neftchi Baku. Netto was awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...

in 1957. The stadium of Spartak Moscow reserves team is named after him.

Personal life

Igor Netto was of Estonian and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

descent, with his Italian lineage traced from an Italian gardener emigrated to the

Governorate of Estonia The Governorate of Estonia, also known as the Governorate of Esthonia (Pre-reformed rus, Эстля́ндская губе́рнія, r=Estlyandskaya guberniya); et, Eestimaa kubermang was a governorate in the Baltic region, along with the ...

in the 18th century. His father Aleksander Netto (1885–1956) was originally a carpenter from Valga,

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

, and mother Juuli (née Tamm) (1894–1977) from

Vaimastvere Vaimastvere is a village in Jõgeva Parish, Jõgeva County in eastern Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021) Details Playwright Hugo Raudsepp Hugo Raudsepp (10 July 1883 – 15 September 1952) was an influential and prolific Estonian playwright ...

Tartu County Tartu County ( et, Tartu maakond or ''Tartumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in eastern Estonia bordering Põlva County, Valga County, Viljandi County and Jõgeva County. The area of Tartu County is , which covers 6.9% of ...

. Aleksander left Livonia for

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

with Red Latvian Riflemen in 1918. Aleksander was a fervent Communist, who even acted as a Bolshevik Councilman in Moscow. During the 1930s and Stalin's

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secreta ...

, the family didn't dare to speak Estonian and Igor learned only Russian. Igor's brother Lev Netto (1925–2017), who spoke Estonian and was named after Lev Trotsky, was a Soviet prisoner for 8 years in Norilsk Gulag. as was also Aleksander's brother Sergei. He was known as ''goose'' for his hissing voice, as well as goose-like walk and head shape. On 9 January 1960 he married Olga Yakovleva, an actress. They divorced around 1987 when Netto was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Career statistics

International goals

Honours

;Spartak Moscow * Soviet Champion (5): 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1962 * Soviet Cup Winner (3): 1950, 1958, 1963 ;Soviet Union *

UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

(1):

* Soviet Olympic team: 3 games in 1952 and 5 games in 1956, with 1 goal and gold medal in 1956. *

National team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

: 54 caps, 4 goals; participant and quarter finalist in the 1958 and

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wo ...

playing totally in 6 matches ;Individual * UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament (1):

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Netto, Igor 1930 births 1999 deaths Footballers from Moscow Russian people of Estonian descent Russian people of Italian descent Russian footballers Soviet footballers Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic footballers of the Soviet Union Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1956 Summer Olympics 1958 FIFA World Cup players 1960 European Nations' Cup players 1962 FIFA World Cup players UEFA European Championship-winning players UEFA European Championship-winning captains Soviet Top League players FC Spartak Moscow players Spartak athletes Expatriate football managers in Greece Soviet expatriate sportspeople in Greece AC Omonia managers Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Soviet expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Soviet Union international footballers Soviet football managers Soviet expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Iran Iran national football team managers Neftçi PFK managers FC Shinnik Yaroslavl managers Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Association football midfielders