Viktor Vladimirovich Ponedelnik

Viktor Ponedelnik
Wiktor Ponedelnik in 2007
Personnel
Surname	Viktor Vladimirovich Ponedelnik
birthday	May 22, 1937
place of birth	Rostov-on-Don ,  Russian SFSR
size	181 cm
position	striker
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1956-1958	Rostselmasch	78 (32)
1958-1965	SKA Rostov-on-Don	156 (54)
1965-1966	Spartak Moscow	0 0(0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1960-1966	Soviet Union	29 (20)
1 Only league games are given.

Viktor Wladimirowitsch Ponedelnik ( Russian Виктор Владимирович Понедельник ; born May 22, 1937 in Rostov-on-Don ) is a former Soviet football player .

Club career

Ponedelnik is considered to be one of the best strikers the Soviet Union has ever produced. He began his football career at Rostselmasch, today's FK Rostow . In 1958 he moved to local rivals SKA Rostov . After nine years in his hometown he left in 1965 for one final season for Moscow to Spartak Moscow . In 1966, Ponedelnik ended his career due to excessive weight and appendicitis .

International career

For the first time Ponedelnik was appointed to the Soviet national team in 1960. He took part in the 1960 European Football Championship in France and scored his country with two goals for the title. At the same time he was the top scorer of the tournament with four other players. Ponedelnik scored the winning goal in the final against Yugoslavia . Two years later he took part in the 1962 World Cup in Chile . Despite two goals from Ponedelnik in the preliminary round, the Soviet Union was eliminated in the quarter-finals against hosts Chile . Ponedelnik ended his national team career in 1966.

After the active career

After retiring, Ponedelnik became a trainer, sports journalist and advisor to the Russian President . He received numerous honors related to Soviet and Russian sports. Ponedelnik is married and has three children and four grandchildren.

successes

• European champion in 1960 with the Soviet Union
• Top scorer at the 1960 European Championships with two goals

Oddities

His surname Ponedelnik means something like Monday in German . He scored the winning goal for the European title in 1960 on a Monday, shortly after midnight Moscow time . All newspapers had the headline "Ponedelnik sabil w Ponedelnik" (Monday meets Monday).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. EURO 2008 (Russian) 

Web links

• Short biography and interview