00:04Every goalkeeper knows it. The story's not about them. It's about the strikers,
00:10the gun midfielders, the ones who score the goals that win the matches.
00:17But in our regular segment, keep it clean, the goalies get their moment. And this time,
00:22it's arguably the most famous keeper of them all, and certainly the most famous Russian footballer,
00:27Lev Yashin. Yashin never won a World Cup, but he played in four of them from 1958 to 1970.
00:39An icon of the giant Russian club Dynamo Moscow, football's greatest stage provided him the forum
00:45to display to the world his pioneering style of goalkeeping. Unafraid to leave his line,
00:53ordering his defenders into position and launching counterattacks, he carved a pathway to today's
00:59sweeper keepers. So fit and flexible for his era, it appeared he had eight arms.
01:08And when he wore all black on the international stage, he earned the nickname the Black Spider.
01:18Even if he was more commonly dressed in green.
01:22Ten years after winning an Olympic gold medal with the Soviet Union in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games,
01:30Yashin was the driving influence in the Soviets' only World Cup semi-final appearance in 1966.
01:37And their only European championship in 1960.
01:44When he retired in 1971, the list of international greats who travelled to Moscow for his testimonial
01:51included Pele, Eusebio, Bobby Charlton, Gerd Müller and Franz Beckenbauer.
02:00Yashin's reflexes took him to 151 penalty saves and 270 clean sheets, while his devotion to his homeland secured him
02:09the Order of Lenin.
02:13There was no higher honour for a Soviet citizen, but for a citizen of the beautiful game, there were three
02:19awards even greater.
02:22The first, his 1963 Ballon d'Or, still the only time the game's biggest individual honour has gone to a
02:30goalkeeper.
02:32He was also judged goalkeeper of the 20th century by FIFA.
02:38And in 1994, FIFA named the trophy for best goalkeeper at the World Cup, the Levy Yashin Award.
02:46It's since been renamed the Golden Glove, but the trophy's symbolism and connection to Yashin remains as strong as ever.
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