MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/. Russian national football team will play a friendly match against Bolivia and dedicated the game Nikita Simonyan, Spartak Moscow's top scorer, who turned 99 on October 12.
The match will take place at VTB Arena in Moscow and will begin at 8:00 p.m. Moscow time.
At the Russian national team's pre-match press conference, it was announced that the national team captain would wear a special armband bearing the image of the 1956 Olympic champion.
"Of course, Nikita Pavlovich Simonyan is more than just a Spartak player. He is undoubtedly a legend not only for me, but for all of Russian football," Russian national team head coach Valery Karpin told reporters.
"I am very happy that I had and continue to have the opportunity to talk with Nikita Pavlovich. This happened more often, of course, during my time at Spartak. Now, as head coach of the Russian national team, I visit the office of the Russian Football Union, where we see each other very often and communicate," he said.
During his career, Simonyan played for Moscow's Krylya Sovetov and Spartak. With Spartak he won the USSR Championship four times (1952, 1953, 1956, 1958) and the USSR Cup twice (1950, 1958). Simonyan is Spartak's all-time leading scorer (160 goals). In 1956, he won the Olympic Games in Melbourne with the USSR national team. In 1958, in a 2-2 draw against England, he scored the USSR's first goal in the World Cup finals. He retired from professional football in 1959.