During his career, Igor Chislenko was forgiven for his spree. But the Dynamo legend failed to realize his potential after football.
January 4 marks the 87th anniversary of the birth of one of the most outstanding football players in the history of Russian football. At one time, the name of Igor Chislenko thundered throughout Europe along with Yashin and Streltsov, but at the end of his career, the superstar of his time was consigned to oblivion.
A technician with a difficult character
How cool the era of the 60s was in Soviet football is shown by a simple fact. In the entire recent history of Russia, only three players have been nominated for the Golden Ball: Sergei Kiryakov (1993), Andrei Arshavin (2008, 2009) and Yuri Zhirkov (2008). In just eight years from 1961 to 1969, eleven Soviet players were included in the list of contenders for the main individual award in football. One of them was the forward of Dynamo Moscow and the USSR national team Igor Chislenko. In 1967, he entered the top 10 players in the world, ahead of Johan Cruyff and many other stars in a France Football poll.
For fans who haven’t seen the right winger play, it’s difficult to understand the scale of his talent and his place in world football. If we take modern realities, then for football of that time Chislenko was no less a figure than Salah or Rodrigo are now. His short stature (171 cm) was compensated by speed, unique technique and arrogance, characteristic of boys who grew up in the courtyards of post-war Moscow. The player’s peculiarity was that his feet were tiny for an adult man, size 37, but thanks to this, the ball after his hits flew along a completely unpredictable trajectory. Nikolai Starostin described Chislenko in his book:
– Small, strong, with strong legs, he boldly fights for every ball. He doesn’t complain when he gets bruises, but he doesn’t forgive them either. According to his psychology, he is an individualist; he relies most on himself. He does not avoid responsibility, but constantly attacks and shoots with the ball at his feet. He is quite rough by nature, and his relationships with coaches are not always cloudless,” Starostin wrote.
Almost Chislenko’s entire career was spent in one club, which was common for football players of that time. It is noteworthy that in the list of scorers for Dynamo (73 goals) and the USSR national team (20 goals) he is in the same sixth place. The main tournament in Chislenko’s career was the 1966 World Cup, where he scored two goals against Italy (1:0) in the group stage and in the quarterfinal game with Hungary (2:1).
That tournament ended dramatically for the team’s brightest player. In Liverpool, in the battle for a ticket to the final, the Soviet team competed with one of the main favorites of the tournament – the German team. The German Schnellinger had one goal: to stop Chislenko by any means. The defender hit Dynamo’s legs throughout the entire half, but Italian referee Lo Bello did not react. As soon as Chislenko hit Schnellinger once, he collapsed as if knocked down, and the referee immediately took a red card from his pocket. The archival footage clearly shows that the German staged a performance – Chislenko didn’t even really hit him.
Igor Chislenko / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Yuri Somov
“The Germans deliberately pissed him off. They understood that he was very dangerous for them. I see that Igor is already wound up. He is generally nervous and quick-tempered by nature. He runs up to the German, and I shout: “Igorek, don’t!” But he was already swinging his leg, and the devil took it and jumped up as if he had a fracture, although they barely touched him,” recalled another participant in that match, defender Vladimir Ponomarev.
At home, no one began to understand these subtleties. The USSR national team lost to the Germans and was content with only bronze medals, and Chislenko was appointed the main culprit for the defeat from Germany.
“He who doesn’t drink doesn’t play”
On the field, Chislenko was considered a superstar of his time, but in everyday life he did not abuse his status. He did not refuse to communicate with anyone and could, after a game at the old Dynamo, go to the nearest establishment with ordinary fans. The favorite place of Chislenko and many Dynamo players was the restaurant of the legendary Sovetskaya Hotel, where, according to the football player himself, he left most of his fortune.
Chislenko was easy to talk to, but off the field he lit up like a rock star. He spared no expense on expensive suits and a generally beautiful life. The girls around him were also difficult: at the age of 22, he married Olga Chernysheva, a model from the Moscow Model House, who had previously dated the captain of Spartak and the USSR national team, Igor Netto. The marriage did not last long and ended, as in a bad joke: having returned early from training camp, Chislenko found his wife with another man, who turned out to be the son of Marshal Timoshenko. The lover had to jump from the fourth floor and escape persecution at the cost of several fractures.
It is generally accepted that Chislenko had problems with alcohol. When the doctors asked “how long have you been drinking?”, he answered: “since childhood.” In terms of revelry and unbridled fun, he would give odds to the main partygoer of modern football, Jack Grealish. During the season, he could go on a walk for a few days, but his craving for strong drinks did not affect the field. One day, he and his friend, another star of that time, Valery Voronin, went straight from the national team’s training camp to Sochi for a couple of days. Even this was forgiven to the country’s main football talents, especially since they still remained the best on the field.
Mikhail Yakushin / Photo: © RIA News / Dmitry Donskoy
The famous coach of Dynamo and the USSR national team, Mikhail Yakushin, turned a blind eye to the star player’s spree, realizing that if you start putting pressure on a person with such a character, it will only get worse. Chislenko liked to repeat the phrase: “He who doesn’t drink doesn’t play.” Surprisingly, the player avoided injuries, although alcohol has a bad effect on recovery and can cause injuries.
Such stories did not always end harmlessly. After another get-together, Chislenko got behind the wheel drunk and crashed into a police patrol on a motorcycle with a sidecar. The footballer’s partners saved him from serious trouble: the Dynamo players bowed to the deputy minister and managed to defend their partner.
Sad end
Chislenko’s career ended suddenly and tragically. In 1968, in a match against Czechoslovakia, defender Vladimir Hagara stopped him with a brutal move. After rupturing his cruciate ligament at the age of 28, the Dynamo star never returned to his previous level. If earlier he was forgiven for any antics off the field, then after the injury the club began to look for a reason to get rid of the problem player. By that time, the team was no longer led by Yakushin, but by the stern Konstantin Beskov. After one of his trips abroad, Chislenko was accused of profiteering for selling five jackets through a consignment store. That story put an end to his relationship with the “blue and white”.
In general, the club treated the public’s favorite with great restraint even during his career. He fought for his small one-room apartment next to the Dynamo stadium. After a match with the world team in 1971, he invited Italian national team star Giacinto Facchetti, who was shocked by Chislenko’s modest living conditions: “I have a closet in my house in which I keep my football souvenirs. It’s one and a half times larger than your entire apartment.”
At the end of his career, Chislenko was unable to find himself in football. He never received the substantial pension that many Dynamo players were entitled to. The club was only able to offer its legend a position as a children’s coach with a minimum salary. He had to get a job as a physical education instructor in Filevsky Park, and later a friend hired him at Zelentrest, where he was planting trees and cleaning the territory.
If during his career Chislenko was distinguished by excellent health, then in adulthood chronic diseases made themselves known. Alcohol abuse only hastened the sad end. The legendary player passed away at the age of 55 in September 1994.
