Eastern European Football Stories Quiz

Answer: Eduard Streltsov

There has been a lot of debate and confusion over what actually happened in 1958. Streltsov (nicknamed the 'Russian Pele'), and two of his teammates (Tatushin and Ogonkov) were arrested and charged with raping a woman named Marina Lebedeva. One story goes that Streltsov was told by the powers above him that he would be allowed to play in the World Cup if he confessed to the incident.

He maintained his innocence in writings to his family but confessed, believing that he would be allowed to play. He was sentenced to 12 years in labor camps, but later was released after 5 years. Ogonkov and Tatushin both received bans from playing for the national team also.

He reclaimed a place in the national team by 1966. The lack of transparency in the whole saga could have cost the Soviet Union a much better finish in the 1958 World Cup. Igor Netto played in the 1956 Olympic winning team, as well as in the team that reached the quarterfinals of the 1958 World Cup. Lev Yashin (known as the 'Black Spider') was a key goalkeeper for the national team, and along with playing in 1958.

He helped the Soviet Union to claim the 1960 European Nation's Cup. Oleg Blokhin played for the national team between 1972 and 1988, having scored 42 goals in 112 appearances.

Answer: He scored with a header from 40 yards out

Voted as the UEFA Golden Player of Azerbaijan for the previous fifty years in 2003, Anatoly Banishevsky was a one-club player. He played for Neftchi Baku from 1963 until 1978. In terms of his international career, he went on to help the Soviet Union to reach the semi-finals of the 1966 World Cup in England and to second place in the 1972 European Nation's Cup in Belgium.

He scored 19 goals in 50 appearances for the Soviet Union. FK Masalli in Azerbaijan re-named their stadium after Anatoly. He was a guiding light to Neftchi Baku, particularly when helping the team to third place in the Soviet top league in 1966.

Answer: Georgi Asparuhov

On the 30th of June, 1971, Georgi Asparuhov and his fellow talented footballer, Nikola Kotkov. 'Gundi', as he was nicknamed, was traveling to play in an exhibition game to celebrate the 50th anniversary of a local club called Botev, Georgi pulled into a petrol station to fill up the engine of his car (an Alfa Romeo).

He didn't wait for his change when paying, and subsequently went on to make a fatal collision with an oncoming truck at a blind hairpin. Asparuhov, Kotkov and a hitchhiker he was giving a lift to, were all killed.

At 28 years of age, it was a tragic end to a young footballing gem. Over 500,000 people attended his funeral in Sofia. In 1990, Levski Sofia changed the name of their home stadium to the Georgi Asparuhov Stadium in honor of this great lost talent. Georgi scored 19 goals in 50 games for the Bulgarian national team. Kiril Ivkov (1974 and 1975), Hristo Bonev (1969, 1972 and 1973) and Dimitar Penev (1971), along with Kotkov (1964) and Asparuhov (1965) have all been Bulgarian Footballer of the Year.

Answer: Jan Tomaszewki

On October 17th 1973, England faced Poland at Wembley with a place at the 1974 World Cup at stake. England needed to win the game to qualify. Before the game, Brian Clough referred to Tomaszewski as a 'circus clown in gloves', because he wore red shorts and a yellow shirt previously.

Although Jan was beaten once on the night from the penalty spot, he produced a magnificent display to keep England from scoring the necessary goal they needed to qualify. Clough himself referred to Tomaszewski afterwards as looking like a clown, acting like a clown, but keeping goal like a brick wall.

The game itself finished 1-1 and Poland qualified for the finals in West Germany, where they finished third. Boris 'Bobby' Mikhailov played in goals for Bulgaria, and Yashin and Dasayev both played for the Soviet Union.

Answer: Kakha Kaladze

A few months prior to the kidnapping, Kakha Kaladze completed a move to AC Milan. Levan was only ever seen on a video again after this. After the abduction, several phone calls were made to the Kaladze family. Kakha's father, Karlo, reportedly by Kakho himself, went to meet the kidnappers near Khobi in west Georgia, but the kidnappers panicked and fled the scene when Karlo asked to speak with Levan.

The family even agreed later to pay money in installments, which they bagan to do. What was never determined was whether or not Levan was targeted because he was Kakha's brother or not.

His father notioned that the AC Milan president at the time (Silvio Berlusconi) did more for the case than the Georgian authorities, while demonstrating in front of the Georgian parliament.

The body of Levan was discovered with 7 others in 2005, and confirmed to be Levan the following year after FBI tests were conducted. In July 2009, Kakha's wife gave birth to their first child, whom they named Levan. Kinkladze, Iashvili, and Ketsbaia were all Georgian internationals.

Answer: Ferenc Puskas

Ferenc Puskas scored an amazing 84 goals in 85 appearances for the Hungarian national team in his career. in his wonderfully illustrious career, Puskas scored at the 1952 Olympic final in Helsinki (which Hungary won), and he scored the first goal in the 1954 World cup final against West Germany in Switzerland. West Germany went on to win the title (Puskas actually suffered a hairline fracture of the ankle earlier in the tournament that left him less than at his best for the final).

He scored twice in the dubbed 'Match of the Century' against England in 1953, which finished 6-3 to Hungary. Kocsis (75 goals), Schlosser (59 goals) and Tichy (51 goals) all possessed impressive goalscoring records at international level for Hungary.

The FIFA Puskas Award was introduced in 2009 as an award for the person who scored the most beautiful goal each year.

Answer: Vladimir Petrovic

Although all the players played in the game, Petrovic scored the winning goal from the penalty spot in the final few minutes. Unfortunately, Yugoslavia didn't progress past the first round of the competition. Nicknamed 'Pizon' or 'The Pigeon', Petrovic was one of the most talented players ever to play for Yugoslavia.

He played 34 times for the nation and featured in the squad in the 1974 World Cup and was a prominent player in the 1982 World Cup. He played for Red Star Belgrade from 1971 to 1982 (he made his debut at 16 years of age), where he made over 250 appearances for the team.

He is only one of five individual players to have become a Zvezdine Zvezde (or Stars of the Star). His career after Red Star included stints at Arsenal, Royal Antwerp and Nancy.

After his playing career ended, he became a coach with Red Star Belgrade. The national team of China and the Serbian national team were amongst his jobs.

Answer: true

Florin Piturca, the cousin of Victor, died at the age of 27, on the 10th of December, 1978. He felt ill after playing and scoring in a game for Drobeta Turnu Severin against Metalul Bucharest. The cause of the death of Florin was never fully accounted for, under red tape. One theory surrounding the incident centered on what the players were given to drink at halftime in the game itself.

When the mausoleum was constructed, Maximilian (Florin's father) slept there every night until his own death in 1994.

In 1989, supposedly on orders from Zoia Ceausecu (daughter of Nicolae), the mausoleum was knocked down. Maximilian, according to a groundskeeper there, put a curse on Zoia and her family, saying that the mausoleum would be back up within a year and that Zoia and her family would be dead. Nine months later, Zoia's parents were executed. Subsequently, the mausoleum was re-built. Victor Piturca, Florin's cousin, played for the Romanian national team between 1985 and 1987, and managed the national team from 1998 to 1999, and from 2004 to 2009.

Answer: Valeri Lobanovsky

Known as the 'Cord' as a player, Valeri Lobanovsky guided Dynamo to 5 league titles and 3 domestic cups. He led Dynamo to the semi-finals of the European Cup/Champions League on 3 occasions also. Valeri attributed a lot of his success to a man named Zelentsov, an academic who developed a footballing attacking system with Lobanovsky. Lobanovsky also managed the Soviet Union national team, with his best success being a runners-up position in the 1988 European Nation's Cup.

He died in 2002, following complications in brain surgery, having suffered a stroke.

He was awarded with the prestigious 'Hero of Ukraine' state decoration. Mykhaylichenko, Sabo and Formenko were all previous managers of Dynamo Kiev also.

Answer: Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia have been termed the 'Brazil of Europe' by many commentators. In his book, "Behind The Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football", writer Jonathan Wilson makes this claim also, directing the point that Brazil chose them as the opponents for Pele's testimonial.

He makes mention of the technical excellence that Yugoslavian football possessed throughout the years. In Yugoslavia's World Cup debut in 1930, they beat Brazil 2-1 and went on to finish 4th, a feat repeated in 1962. they won the gold medal in 1960 at the Rome Olympics.

In 1987, Yugoslavia won the FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile, producing a generation of wonderful young players in the process. Due to the relative international success of the emerging nations such as Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia in the times that followed, and the wide expanse of players from the region who made successful careers throughout Europe, it would have been interesting to see how a Yugoslavian team would have done in the subsequent major tournaments.