November 25 – Nikita Simonian (pictured) will serve as interim President of the Russian Football Union (RFU) until February after Vitaly Mutko officially stepped down.
Mutko’s resignation was expected after Russain President Dmitry Medvedev recently announced that all sports federations must be run by full-time professionals.
Simonian, 83, is one of Russia’s greatest ever players.
He was a member of the Soviet Union team that won the Olympic gold medal at the 1956 Games in Melbourne and finished top scorer in the Soviet League on three occasions during a career with Spartak Moscow that saw him score 133 goals in 233 appearances.
As a manager, he won the Soviet Top League with Spartak and Ararat Yerevan and was in charge of the national team between 1977 and 1979.
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