Legendary domestic footballer and coach - Oleg Romantsev - today embodies the very concept of "football" in our country. His name is engraved in "golden letters" in the hearts of all fans of the country, and especially FC Spartak.
A man of the era, steeped in legends and title victories - Oleg Romantsev - is currently the most eminent Russian coach. It was under his leadership that FC Spartak became the champion of the country nine times. Such achievements cannot be attributed to ordinary football fortune, because sport is not fortune-telling on coffee grounds, but everyday hard work and a well-thought-out long-term development strategy.
The history of football formation of Oleg Romantsev
Oleg Romantsev was born on January 4, 1954 in the Ryazan village of Gavrilovskoye into an intelligent family in which his father worked as a civil engineer. Due to the nomadic lifestyle, the entire family, which had three children, often moved from place to place. So, the geography of the childhood and youth periods of the life of the future coaching star was very extensive. Kyrgyzstan, Gorny Altai, the Kola Peninsula and, finally, Krasnoyarsk, which Romantsev began to call his own, replaced each other very rapidly.
Even during his studies at school, Oleg liked many sports related to the ball. First there was water polo, then basketball, and only then the athlete's aspirations became associated with football. By the way, his Krasnoyarsk basketball team played quite successfully at the regional championship games.
Children and youth FC "Metallurg" under the leadership of Yuri Urinovich became a second home for the teenager. And two years later, practicing every day for six hours and bringing technical perfection to the highest level, Oleg managed to become the leading player of the club, and then its captain. And then there was a transition to the Krasnoyarsk Avtomobilist and a successful debut at the championship of Siberia.
In the mid-seventies, Oleg's outstanding performance was also noticed in the capital's Spartak. He was invited to the team, but the first match with Zenit St. Petersburg was unsuccessful, which intensified the already emerging split in the team. Therefore Romantsev, who does not want to participate in the football "behind the scenes", decided to return to Krasnoyarsk.
After FC Spartak was headed by Konstantin Beskov, the situation in the team changed for the better and the head coach managed to persuade the promising striker to return. Then there were four successful years of performances as a captain (until 1983), when the main trophy of the national championship was also won.
Legendary career of the great Russian coach
If, in short, and without revealing all the drama of the master's coaching fate, then you can evaluate the contribution of Oleg Romantsev to the development of domestic football by his titles given below.
The coach of FC Spartak brought his club to the titles: Champion of the USSR (1989), Champion of Russia (1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001), Winner of the USSR Cup (1991/1992), Winner of the Russian Cup (1993/1994, 1997/1998, 2002/2003), Winner of the Commonwealth Champions Cup (1993, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001), Silver medalist of the USSR Championship (1991), Bronze medalist of the Russian Championship (1995, 2002), Participant semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League (1990/1991), Participant in the ¼ final of the UEFA Champions League (1993/1994, 1995/1996), Participant in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup (1997/1998), Participant in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1992/1993).
Oleg Romantsev in 1995 received the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree, and in 2004 - the Order of Friendship. And in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 he was recognized as the Coach of the Year by the RFU.
