On Thursday, the 75th anniversary of the former defender of Dynamo, one of the record holders for the duration of performances for the blue and whites Sergei Nikulin.
Sergei Nikolaevich was born on January 1, 1951, in Dushanbe. At the age of 13, he joined the youth team of Dynamo Moscow, where he subsequently spent almost his entire career. In 1969, he was called up to the main team, making his official debut on June 1, 1970, in a cup match against Yerevan's Ararat. A year later, Nikulin made his first appearance in the Soviet Championship, again against Ararat.
In 1974, Sergei Nikolaevich reached his peak form and was listed among the "33 best football players in the country" for two consecutive years. In 1976, he won the USSR Spring Championship with Dynamo, and the USSR Cup in 1977. In total, over 15 seasons with the white-blues, he played 336 matches (the sixth-highest total in the club's history) and scored one goal – against Tbilisi's Dynamo in the 1978 season.
"The 1976 spring championship is the most memorable. That was the first time I played every game for the main squad and won the championship title with the team. Of all the championship matches, I remember the first-round encounter with Dynamo Tbilisi in 1978. In that match, I excelled both in defense and in attacking moves, during one of which I scored my first goal in the national championship. True, we tied 1-1, but against the future champions," Nikulin later recalled.
Nikulin was one of the most reliable defenders in the USSR, with excellent skills in covering for his teammates. He was also quite tough and decisive in one-on-one battles and excelled in man-marking. He was a true team player who handled a huge amount of the dirty work.
His defensive partner was another legendary Dynamo player, Alexander Novikov; they played over 600 matches for Dynamo between them in the Soviet championship. This duo was feared by all Soviet forwards, as both Nikulin and Novikov spared neither themselves nor their opponents on the field. This earned them the nicknames "Scythe" (Nikulin's nickname) and "Blowtorch."
While playing for Dynamo, he was called up to the USSR national team, where he played three official matches and won a bronze medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
"I didn't play many games under Beskov, but what he and Golodets taught us served us well later." Sevidov took over the team at a time when athletic, total football was all the rage in world football. "Our defensive approach was dominated by the collective selection method demonstrated by the Dutch national team at the 1974 World Cup. It was at that time that our team was at its most balanced, successfully employing a dynamic defensive system with quick transitions from defense to attack. This enabled us to win the 1976 autumn championship, the USSR Cup, and reach the semifinals of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1978," said Nikulin.
In 1984, Nikulin transferred to another Dynamo, Kashira, where he spent two years and played 52 matches—all in the Second League. After retiring in 1985, Sergei Nikolaevich continued to work for Dynamo Moscow as a coach of the children's and youth teams. From the late 1990s, he served as the club's team manager.