Mikhail Pavlovich Ogonkov (; 24 June 1932 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

– 14 August 1979, Moscow) was a Russian

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 lea ...

of the 1950s and 1960s.Gennady Larchikov ''Artist on the Field and in Life'',

Sovetsky Sport ''Sovetsky Sport'' (; English: Soviet Sports) is a Russian national daily sports newspaper. Until 19 March 1946 the newspaper was called ''Red Sports'' (Russian: Красный спорт), it was not printed between 1928 and 1932. History Fo ...

N109, 2002 He played as a left-back for

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * ...

. According to the footballer

Nikita Simonyan Nikita Pavlovich Simonyan (, , 12 October 1926) is a Soviet and Russian former Association football, football Forward (association football), striker and coach of Armenians, Armenian descent. He was born in Armavir, Russia, Armavir. As of 2021 ...

''Mikhail Ogonkov was the best Soviet Full Back of all times'' Ogonkov was a member of the USSR team that won the 1956 Olympic gold medal. His main attributes were his positioning, exceptional fitness and strong tackling. In 1958 he was arrested, along with

Eduard Streltsov Eduard Anatolyevich Streltsov ( rus, Эдуа́рд Анато́льевич Стрельцо́в, p=ɨdʊˈart ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲitɕ strʲɪlʲˈtsof, a=Ru-Eduard Streltsov-yzavyalo.ogg; 21 July 1937 – 22 July 1990) was a Soviet footballer ...

and Boris Tatushin, over an alleged rape. The resulting indefinite ban later reduced to three-year ban from football deprived him of playing at his peak. Soon after his return from suspension in 1961 he was badly injured (his

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

was removed) and forced to retire from playing football. He then worked as a children coach in Spartak Moscow. In 1979 his dead body was found in his Moscow apartment apparently two weeks after the death. The cause of the death was not properly investigated although murder was rumored.

References

1932 births 1979 deaths FC Spartak Moscow players Russian men's footballers Soviet men's footballers Soviet Union men's international footballers Olympic footballers for the Soviet Union Footballers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Men's association football defenders 20th-century Russian sportsmen {{USSR-footy-defender-stub