Spartak legend Nikita Simonyan died at the age of 100.

Nikita Simonyan, Olympic football champion in 1956, ex-striker of FC Spartak and the USSR national team, passed away at the age of 99. According to Alexander Mirzoyan, President of the Russian Football Veterans Union, Simonyan was hospitalized on November 20 due to poor health and died on November 23.

"Nikita Pavlovich died. <...> he died half an hour ago. It's a horror," Sport-Express quotes him as saying.

Nikita Simonyan is one of the most prominent figures in the history of Soviet football. His brilliant career was marked by his victory at the 1956 Olympic Games as a member of the USSR national team. At the first World Cup for the Soviet team in 1958, it was he who opened the scoring for the national team, hitting the gates of the British. Simonyan played 20 matches for the national team, scoring 10 goals.

A club legend of Spartak Moscow, he became the champion of the USSR four times (1952, 1953, 1956, 1958) and twice the winner of the National Cup (1950, 1958). With an impressive 160 goals, Simonyan is still the best sniper in the history of the Redskins. After finishing his playing career, Simonyan continued his career in football as a successful coach. Under his leadership, Spartak won the USSR championship twice (1962, 1969), and Ararat Yerevan became the national champion in 1973 for the first time in its history.

Simonyan turned 99 on October 12. Shortly before this significant event, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded him the title of Hero of Labor. From 1998 to the end of his life, Simonyan served as first vice-president of the Russian Football Union, actively contributing to the development of domestic football.