Anatoli Alekseyevich Zinchenko (Russian: Анатолий Алексеевич Зинченко) (born 8 August 1949, in Stalinsk) is a retired Soviet football player and Russian coach. He is best known for being the first Soviet football player to play for a Western European professional club. His transfer to SK Rapid Wien was facilitated by Austrian communist journalist Kurt Chastka. Because Soviet footballers were officially amateurs, Zichenko was formally employed as an equipment technician at the Soviet embassy while playing for Rapid. His salary from Rapid was sent to the Soviet government.
International career
Zinchenko made his debut for USSR on 24 September 1969 in a friendly against Yugoslavia. He was capped three times in total.[1]
Honours
- Soviet Cup finalist: 1969, 1971
- Austrian Football Bundesliga winner: 1982, 1983
- Austrian Cup winner: 1983
References
- ^ "Anatoly Zinchenko". National-Football-Teams.com. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
External links
- Profile (in Russian)