Outstanding coach Konstantin Beskov worked in such renowned clubs as Dynamo, Torpedo and Spartak that do not need extra introduction. He also headed the USSR national team. The number of his awards and achievements in football is hard to count.
Beskov as a player
Konstantin Ivanovich Beskov was born in Moscow in 1920 into an ordinary working-class family. He developed a passion for football at the age of six, after going with a relative to one of the matches.
In 1934 (Beskov was only fourteen then) he was taken to the football club of the Mikhail Khrunichev Machine-Building Plant. And four years later, in 1938, he became the center forward of Metallurg, a major league club.
During the war with Nazi Germany, Konstantin Ivanovich served in a special motorized rifle brigade (OMSBON).
In 1944, in the USSR, the football championship was held again, as in peacetime, and Beskov took an active part in it as part of the capital "Dynamo".
In the fall of 1945, that is, after the war, Dynamo's legendary tour of Britain took place. During this round, four games were played, and in each Konstantin Ivanovich showed remarkable skill - in total he hammered five magnificent balls into the opponents' goal.
In February 1946, shortly after arriving from Europe, Beskov married a girl named Valeria, an actress by training (she studied at GITIS). In 1947, the couple had a daughter, Love.
In 1948, Beskov, as a forward of the Dynamo team, became a silver medalist of the all-Union championship, and in 1949 he won gold.
In 1950, he was included in the list of the best players of the season, and among the center forwards there was no equal to him at all.
In 1952, Beskov took part (although he did not fully recover from his injury) in a football tournament as part of the XV Summer Olympics in Finland.
Coaching in the USSR and the Russian Federation
In 1954, Beskov's career as a field player was virtually over.
In 1955, he was hired as a second coach immediately to the national team of the Soviet Union, and in 1956 he performed coaching duties at FC Torpedo.
In 1960-1962. Beskov coached FC CSKA. Having come to this club, he decided to attract little-known players and radically change the line-up, which caused misunderstanding on the part of a certain part of the fans. During the period of Beskov's work at CSKA, the army team twice became 4th in the USSR championship.
Then Beskov was appointed the main coach of the Union national team. Under his competent leadership, the team made it to the 1964 European Championship final. In the final match, Soviet footballers fought against the most powerful Spanish national team. The fight was stubborn, but the USSR still lost - 2: 1. General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev was dissatisfied with the "silver", as a result of which Beskov lost his post.
From 1964 to 1965 he was the mentor of the club from Lugansk "Zorya", which did not play very well not even in the highest, but in the first league. Beskov managed to move this team from the bottom of the table to 3rd place.
From 1967 to 1972, Beskov coached the capital "Dynamo". During this period, the club twice occupied the 2nd line in the championships of the Union and twice won the so-called USSR Cup.
And 1972 will be remembered for the fact that Beskov brought Dynamo to the final of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup. However, there the Soviet club, alas, lost to the Rangers (Scotland, Glasgow) - 2: 3.
From 1974 to 1976, Konstantin Ivanovich was the mentor of the Union's Olympic team. The team under his mentorship brilliantly carried out the qualifying series of games and secured a passage to the tournament in Montreal.
At the end of 1976, Beskov headed the coaching staff of FC Spartak. It was Beskov who found and lured to this club such gifted and outstanding players as Rinat Dasaev, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Sergey Shavlo, Georgy Yartsev.
In 1979, "Spartacus" naturally became the champions of the USSR. In the future, the club has been consistently among the coveted three prize-winners for nine years in a row. In general, Beskov was in charge of the “red-whites” for about 12 years, and during this period the club won about 180 victories.
In 1988, Spartak was only 4th in the season, and Beskov was suddenly dismissed. It is significant that the decision to remove Beskov was made behind his back when he was on a planned vacation. He himself did not want to leave the club.
In 1993, Beskov received an offer to become a coach of FC Dynamo again, and he accepted it. Under him, the club (after many years of failures) achieved silver medals in the Russian championship and the owner of such a prestigious trophy as the Cup of Russia. Only after that Beskov announced his retirement.
The legendary football coach died in the spring of 2006.
In December 2009, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation announced the issue of a circulation of 3,000 copies of a coin with the image of Beskov. This two-ruble coin was created from high-grade silver.
