Life Stories
Vsevolod Bobrov
Beginnings
Vsevolod Mikhailovich Bobrov was born in 1922, just as the Soviet Union was being formed after the Russian Revolution. He served in the Red Army during the Second World War and started playing for the Army football team, CSKA Moscow. After the war, Bobrov was “loaned” to Moscow Dynamo for their prestige tour of Britain in 1945. Strong and athletic, Bobrov was a great goalscorer and won the Soviet league championship three times.
Losing to Yugoslavia
In 1952, Vsevolod Bobrov played for the USSR at the Olympic Games in Helsinki. His team was expected to win gold, and the players came under heavy propaganda pressure from Stalin. In an epic semi-final against Yugoslavia, Bobrov scored three goals. The game ended 5-5, but the USSR lost the replay. Stalin was furious about losing to the team of his bitter rival, Tito. As punishment for “failure”, Stalin ordered the CSKA team to be disbanded.
Legacy
Bobrov was an exceptional athlete, even better at ice hockey than football. He coached the national teams in both sports after he stopped playing. From 1947, Bobrov was a star for the CSKA hockey team that won the national title seven times. He was in the Soviet team that won the World Championships in 1954 and 1956. Vsevolod Bobrov died in Moscow in 1979.
Thinking points
Vsevolod Bobrov was a double hero, winning glory in both football, and in ice hockey, yet he was part of a team disbanded in disgrace by Josef Stalin after failing to win the gold medal at the 1952 Olympics.
Educators could look at the life story of Vsevolod Bobrov and work with young people to consider these questions:
- What does this tell us about the propaganda pressures placed on sportsmen in a dictatorship?
- Bobrov lived his whole life in the Soviet Union. When Russia recently hosted the Winter Olympics and the World Cup, he was praised as a Russian sporting hero. What are the reasons for countries to celebrate athletes after their deaths?
Find out more
You can read a more detailed life story on Canadian Ice Hockey page 1972 Summit Series. Watch him in action on YouTube, or explore his sporting career on Pantheon.
COVER Image
Vsevolod Bobrov of the USSR at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina-d’Ampezzo, Italy.
Life Story
52
LIFE STORIES To discover now
Do you wanna know more?
HISTORY CAN BE EXPLORED THROUGH THE LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS
Stories
Browse our collection of stories about football history and inclusion. With the history of football being made up of millions of stories, of individuals and communities, of movements and processes, we offer stories that can inspire our cultural conversations today.
Videos
Get to know untold stories where individuals are making history with football. When faced with insurmountable challenges, individuals past and present can use football as a cultural force to foster positive change in society. We honour these individuals and tell their ‘untold’ stories in short videos.
Educational Resources
Explore our innovative educational resources that use football’s history, heritage and legacy to engage young people. The resources include ready-made lesson plans and historical source collections for school history education as well as toolkit with activities for non-formal settings.
Trending Stories
Refugees
In the wake of the 2015 migration peak, activists and volunteers across Europe have been involved in supporting refugees, sometimes with the simple act of offering space and friendship to participate in football through grassroots clubs to help newcomers integrate.
Fergus Suter: Working-Class Professional
Fergus Sutter was one of the first (semi)professional footballers, playing against aristocratic players. A story of origins.
Trending Stories
Refugees
In the wake of the 2015 migration peak, activists and volunteers across Europe have been involved in supporting refugees, sometimes with the simple act of offering space and friendship to participate in football through grassroots clubs to help newcomers integrate.
Fergus Suter: Working-Class Professional
Fergus Sutter was one of the first (semi)professional footballers, playing against aristocratic players. A story of origins.
LATEST POST You may also be interested in

Multiculturalism and representations of national identity
Teach students about questions of identity, citizenship and multiculturalism by looking at national football teams across Western Europe.

When football went viral
On this day in 2020, Atalanta Bergamo hosted Valencia in a final-16 Champions League match. It was a superspreading event of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Should we always blame someone when something goes wrong?
Help your students develop social and civic competences by using examples of events in football history.

A system of push and pull
Expand the knowledge of your students about migration and its push and pull factors through the example of football.

World War 1 in one life
A story of a professional footballer who died at the battle of the Somme in 1916.

Football as a portal to French colonial history
Learn about colonialism and migration by tracing the origins of French football players.