Quick Facts
Biography
Viktor Vladimirovich Ponedelnik (Russian: Виктор Владимирович Понедельник, born 22 May 1937 in Rostov-on-Don) is a former Soviet football player, regarded as one of the best strikers in Soviet football history.
Ponedelnik first started playing for a local team, Rostselmash, in 1956. In 1958 he switched to SKA Rostov-on-Don and was invited to join the Soviet national team. In the 1960 European Championship, the only major Championship ever won by the Soviet Union, Ponedelnik headed home the winning goal in extra time in the final game against Yugoslavia. Ponedelnik retired in 1966 after gaining weight and undergoing surgery for appendicitis. He scored 20 (according to some accounts, 21) goals in 29 games for his country.
In later years, Ponedelnik worked as a coach, a sports journalist, an editor of a sports publication, and an advisor to the President of the Russian Federation. He has received numerous awards for his contribution to Soviet and Russian sport. He is married and has three children and four grandchildren.
In Rostov-on-Don at the stadium, Olimp-2 28 August 2015 a monument depicting a young Ponedelnik with the cup in his hands.
Honours
Club
- European Cup Runner-up: 1963–64
International
- UEFA European Football Championship: 1960
Individual
- Honored Master of Sports
- Order of the Badge of Honour: 1980
- Order of Friendship: 1997
- Cavalier of the Order of the Ruby League For Merit: 2009
- Order For Services to the Rostov Oblast: 2013
Books
- My love, football
- Penalty area
- Ball - the gate
- Confessions of a central striker