15 Facts About Nikita Simonyan

Nikita Pavlovich Simonyan is a Soviet and Russian former football striker and coach of Armenian descent.

Nikita Simonyan is the top scorer in the history of the club Spartak Moscow at 160 goals.

Nikita Simonyan was a player for FC Dinamo Sukhumi during his youth career.

Nikita Simonyan made 233 appearances and scored 133 goals for Spartak in his career.

Nikita Simonyan joined the Soviet Union national football team in 1954.

Nikita Simonyan competed with the team at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.

Nikita Simonyan was a member of the Soviet football team at the 1958 FIFA World Cup, its first World Cup.

Nikita Simonyan scored a goal against England, and the Soviet team would have been defeated without it.

Nikita Simonyan led the club to victory at 1973 Soviet Top League.

Nikita Simonyan came back to Ararat Yerevan in 1984 and stopped managing for good in 1985.

Nikita Simonyan later worked in senior positions at the Football Federation of the Soviet Union, Sports Committee of the USSR and the Russian Football Union.

On 24 November 2009, Nikita Simonyan was appointed acting president of the Russian Football Union following the resignation of Vitaly Mutko.

Nikita Simonyan was in attendance for the UEFA Euro 2012 match between Russia and Armenia in Yerevan, which ended in a draw.

Nikita Simonyan left office on 3 September 2012, when Nikolai Tolstykh was elected president of the Russian Football Union.

Nikita Simonyan reminisced that if he were 20 years younger, he would be happy to still play for the club.