Anatoli Bashashkin

Who was Anatoli Bashashkin?

Anatoli Vasilievich Bashashkin was a Russian footballer in the 1940s and 1950s and a football coach later. He played as a central defender.

He was captain of the Soviet Union at the 1952 Olympics, but following their politically embarrassing defeat to Yugoslavia he was stripped of the captaincy.

In 1947–1953 Bashashkin was a member of the CDKA team that won four domestic titles in the 1940s and earlier 1950s, but following the 1952 Olympics the team was disbanded by Joseph Stalin. After that he moved to Spartak Moscow in 1953. After Stalin's death he returned to CDKA in 1954 and played there until 1958. Bashashkin was part of the USSR team which won the 1956 Olympic football title. He won USSR Gold medals five times and Soviet Cup three times.

He was noted for his ability on the ball, physical strength and his long-range passing, which started countless counterattacks.

After retirement from football Bashashkin graduated from the Military Academy of Armored Forces and served in Ukraine as a tank military officer of the Soviet Army. Later he returned to football as a coach. Bashahkin was the main coach of FC Pakhtakor Tashkent in 1976 and he was an assistant coach of FC Spartak Moscow in 1981. According to journalist Pavel Alyoshin, Bashashkin was not very successful as a coach, spending much time telling the players of the 1970s and 80s how inferior they were compared to the footballers of the 1950s.