Eduard Streltsov

Eduard Streltsov

Eduard Anatolyevich Streltsov (Russian: Эдуа́рд Анато́льевич Стрельцо́в; 21 July 1937 – 22 July 1990) was a Soviet footballer who represented Torpedo Moscow and the Soviet national team as a forward. Joining Torpedo at the age of 16 from the Fraser factory team in 1953, Streltsov made his international debut two years later and was part of the squad that won the gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He came seventh in a poll of Western European sports journalists to name the top footballer in Europe during 1957, but his promising career was then interrupted at the age of 20 by a conviction of rape that led to five years in the Gulag's forced labour camp system.

Streltsov was accused of raping a 20-year-old woman, Marina Lebedeva, in 1958. After being told an admission of guilt would allow his participation in the 1958 World Cup, Streltsov confessed to the crime, despite inconclusive evidence against him. Instead sentenced to twelve years in a labour camp, Streltsov was released after five and resumed his football career with Torpedo Moscow two years later. In the first season of his comeback, Torpedo won the Soviet Championship for only the second time in their history. He returned to the Soviet national team in 1966, won the Soviet Cup with his club two years later, and was named Soviet Footballer of the Year in 1967 and 1968.

Streltsov retired in 1970, and died in Moscow in July 1990. In 1996, Torpedo renamed their home ground "Eduard Streltsov Stadium" in his honour; the following year, the Russian Football Union named the highest individual honour in Russian football after him. A statue of Streltsov was erected at the Luzhniki Olympic Complex in 1998, and in 1999 Torpedo built a second outside their stadium.

Streltsov was widely regarded as one of the Soviet Union's finest players, earning the nickname "the Russian Pelé". British author Jonathan Wilson calls him "the greatest outfield player Russia has ever produced", while Soviet football writer Aleksandr Nilin says "the boy came to us from the land of wonder". The powerful and skilful attacking player pioneered innovations such as the back-heeled pass, which became known in Russia as "Streltsov's pass", and scored the fourth-highest number of goals for the Soviet national team despite his eight-year absence from international football.