Monday marks the 95th anniversary of the birth of the famous Dynamo Moscow striker, three-time USSR champion Vladimir Ryzhkin.
Vladimir Alekseevich was born on December 29, 1930, in Moscow and was a product of the youth team of Moscow's Metallurg. After serving in the army with the Minsk District Officers' Club team, Ryzhkin returned to Moscow in 1951 and became a player for CDSA, after which he was transferred to Kalinin, to the MVO (Moscow Military District) club, representing the capital.
In 1953, after six rounds, the team withdrew from the tournament, its results were annulled, and the players were disbanded. Ryzhkin transferred to Dynamo Moscow, where he played for nine seasons and won six USSR Championship medals – three gold (1954, 1955, 1957), two silver (1956, 1958), one bronze (1960) – and the USSR Cup (1953).
While playing for Dynamo, he earned a call-up to the USSR national team, where he played five official matches, including three at the 1956 Olympics, winning gold.
He was considered one of the fastest footballers in the USSR of the 1950s. Thanks to his exceptional speed, Ryzhkin could get past almost any opponent on the wing, then either finish his runs with powerful shots or make a long, precise pass to his teammates. He always maintained the team's tempo and was known for his discipline.
"On the field, he was such a hard worker, such a dynamic left wing. One of the most interesting players of that era. The Mikhey (Mikhail Yakushin) school showed in him—his work ethic was simply phenomenal; he could run, it seemed, for four periods from one end of the pitch to the next. He had a very good left foot," said another Dynamo legend, Valery Maslov, about Ryzhkin.
He captained Dynamo in the 1957 and 1958 seasons. In 1958, he suffered a serious knee injury and completely missed the "golden" 1959 season, never to return to his previous level. He ended his career in 1962 in Riga, playing for Daugava.
He later graduated from the Coaching School, but chose to work as a diplomatic courier for the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which allowed him to circle the globe several times and visit all the countries with which the Soviet Union maintained diplomatic relations. He was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor (1957).
"I'm naturally a two-legged player, and I ran really well. But I didn't have any signature moves like Meskhi. I mostly created space for myself with my body. I'd sway a defender one way, then move the other—that's all there was to it. I had enough agility to get going. In our business, intuition plays a crucial role, as does mutual understanding with our teammates. For example, Volodya Ilyin and I understood each other with just a glance. He usually paused before deciding what to do with the ball, waiting for me to initiate the play: whether I'd dash behind the defender or play the ball under. And I rarely made mistakes," Ryzhkin recalled.
Vladimir Alekseevich Ryzhkin died on May 19, 2011, at the age of 80. He is buried at the Troekurovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.