Victor Maslov

Victor Maslov
Personal information
Full nameVictor Aleksandrovich Maslov
Date of birthApril 27, 1910
Place of birthMoscow, Russian Empire
Date of death11 May 1977 (aged 67)
Place of deathMoscow, Russian SFSR
Height?
Club information
Current team
Retired
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1930RDPK Moscow?(?)
1931–40FC Torpedo Moscow[1]?(?)
1941FC Profsoyuz-1 Moscow[2]?(?)
1941–42FC Torpedo Moscow?(?)
Teams managed
1942–48FC Torpedo Moscow
1949–1951Torpedo Gorky
1954–1955FC FShM Moscow
1956Burevestnik Chişinău
1957–61FC Torpedo Moscow
1962–63FC SKA Rostov-na-Donu
1964–1970FC Dynamo Kyiv
1971–73FC Torpedo Moscow
1975FC Ararat Yerevan
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Victor Aleksandrovich Maslov (Russian: Виктор Александрович Маслов; April 27, 1910 in Moscow – May 11, 1977) was a Soviet Russian footballer and coach. He was especially notable during his coaching career. He won numerous USSR Championships with clubs Torpedo Moscow, Dynamo Kyiv, and one with FC Ararat Yerevan.[3] The second best coach in history of Dynamo Kyiv after Valeriy Lobanovsky.

He is often seen as being one of the most innovative and influential football managers of all-time. Notable for inventing the 4-4-2 formation, being the first to experiment with players' nutrition and perhaps most importantly, for his invention of pressing, which, in the words of Jonathan Wilson "may be seen as the birth of modern football".[4] This is also because Wilson also credits Maslov as one of the key progenitors of the pressing game. This was a key development as before Maslov teams tended allow their opponents more time on the ball whereas Maslov's instigation of pressing denied players this time and space and led to the game based more on speed and fitness that can be seen across the top European and South American leagues today.

References

  1. Previous names of Torpedo were AMO and ZiS (Stalin Memorial Plant).
  2. In 1941 Torpedo, Lokomotiv, Metallurg, and Krylya Sovetov were merged and reorganized into Profsoyuz-1 and Profsoyuz-2 competing in the same league.
  3. "Victor Maslov did not avoid rough words, if the footballers did not understand the point of the game" – Information Page on Victor Maslov (Russian)
  4. guardian.co.uk – The end of forward thinking