Viktor Tsarev

Viktor Grigorievich Tsarev was born on June 2, 1931 in Moscow. Like many football players of the past, he started playing in the yard. Unlike most boys who dreamed of scoring goals, he preferred to play defense from the very beginning. Since childhood, the future captain of Dynamo was very hard-working, resilient and persistent in achieving his goals.

One day he found himself in the locker room of one of the teams at the Plamya stadium on Taganka. They were about to play a friendly match with the Dynamo boys. Tsarev was also offered to go out on the field, and after the match he was invited to the white-blues' training. So, at the age of 16, his Dynamo career began.

A year later, Tsarev was taken from the youth team to the U21 team, which was coached by Arkady Ivanovich Chernyshev. He took the young defender with him to football and tested him - asked questions about the tactics of the game. According to Tsarev himself, such communication had a great influence on him and helped him understand the essence of football.

Tsarev played in the Dynamo reserve team until he was 23. Despite the fact that he was invited by other Moscow clubs, he patiently waited for his chance. Mikhail Yakushin, who coached the main team, knew all this and asked the talented footballer to be patient.

His debut in the main Dynamo team in the national championship was on July 11, 1955. From that day on, Viktor Tsarev played for the team for 12 years until January 1967, when he decided to leave football. He rightfully earned the reputation of an outstanding defender who never pitied himself, did not respond to rudeness and did a lot of work.

It is no wonder that Viktor Grigorievich holds the record for the number of matches with the captain's armband. Together with Dynamo, he became the USSR champion four times, and with the national team went to the victorious European Championship in 1960.

- Viktor is a fighter to the core. An unyielding, strong-willed athlete who knew no fear or panic, who knew how to captivate the team, lead them, who did not allow a single violation of discipline and the order established by the coaches, - said Lev Yashin.

And two years before that, Tsarev went with the USSR national team to the World Cup in Sweden. In the final match of the group stage against the Brazilians, he had to mark Pele, for whom this match was his debut in the national team jersey. Tsarev, although not without difficulty, was able to contain the Brazilian wunderkind, who then scored six times in three playoff matches.

- At the beginning of the match, he played ahead several times: the first - in the center of the field, the second - in the penalty area, from where he made a shot. I thought to myself that he could have already scored twice because of me, and began to play even more carefully, following him everywhere. He had no more chances to hit the goal. When Pele came to Moscow, Volodya Kesarev joked: "So what about this Pele, where was he when Tsarev played against him? Only after meeting Viktor Grigorievich, he became a footballer," Tsarev recalled.

One of the most unusual trips Dynamo footballers made in 1960, when they were invited to tour Africa. In Ghana, Nigeria and Togo, the white-blues won three times and tied three times, and Tsarev found new unexpected fans.

Upon arrival in Ghana, the Dynamo players were met by a full airport, where the country's national football team had arrived in full force. When the Ghanaian captain was brought to Tsarev, he was dumbfounded and began shouting: "Kirk Douglas!" The white-blue defender tried in vain to explain through an interpreter that he only looked like the famous actor.

- Everyone came running to me, surrounded me. It took a long time to explain that I was Viktor Tsarev. Nevertheless, throughout the entire tour in Ghana, this footballer called me by the Hollywood star's surname and only before departure did he address me by my real name. But I immediately answered him: “No, Babayaro, not Tsarev, but Douglas.” By the way, we corresponded for a long time, he usually sent me a postcard for the New Year, Tsarev recalled.

Tsarev left a bright mark not only on the football field, but also as a coach and manager. He was a member of the coaching staff of the main and youth teams of the USSR, with which he won the European Championship. He also headed Dynamo for a short time, leading the team to the final of the USSR Cup. He worked with the young Dynamo players the longest — as a senior coach and director of the school.

Viktor Grigorievich was a member of the board of directors of Dynamo for many years, was its chairman, and devoted his last years to working with the veterans of the white-blues.

"Dynamo Constellation" is a unique project launched on the day of Alexey Khomich's 100th anniversary in March 2020. Based on the results of the fan vote, the final roster of 11 outstanding Dynamo players was formed. During 2020 and 2021, 11 stars included in the constellation were named after legendary Dynamo football players: Alexey Khomich, Lev Yashin, Mikhail Yakushin, Konstantin Beskov, Mikhail Semichastny, Igor Chislenko, Sergei Solovyov, Valery Maslov, Viktor Tsarev, Igor Dobrovolsky and Alexander Novikov.