“A great loss for all Russian sports.” Roman Rotenberg – about the death of Simonyan

The head coach of the Russia 25 hockey team, Roman Rotenberg, expressed condolences over the death of the Olympic champion and top scorer in the history of football Spartak, Nikita Simonyan.

On Sunday, the president of the Russian Football Veterans Union, Alexander Mirzoyan, told Match TV that Simonyan died at the age of 99.

— Nikita Pavlovich Simonyan passed away. I express my sincere condolences to family and friends. A great loss for all Russian sports,” Rotenberg wrote in the Telegram channel.

Simonyan is a four-time champion of the USSR, a two-time winner of the National Cup as part of Spartak, the top scorer of the “red-whites” with 160 goals. Together with the USSR national team he won gold at the Olympic Games in Melbourne. As a coach, he became the USSR champion three times and won the country’s Cup four times. Since 1992, he served as first vice-president of the RFU.

For outstanding achievements in football, Simonyan was awarded the IOC and FIFA orders, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III and IV degrees, and the honorary title “Honored Worker of Physical Culture of the Russian Federation.” In October, Simonyan was awarded the title of Hero of Labor of Russia for his special services to the state and his great contribution to the development and popularization of domestic football.