Veterans committee

History of the veteran team

Do you want to see Yuri Gavrilov's jewel-like passes? Or admire Rinat Dasaev's tiger jumps? Or enjoy Valery Shmarov's strokes?

Then bring the Spartak Moscow veterans team and come to their games and you will see that as the years go by, the only thing you lose is your speed, but the skill doesn't fade away. Red and white veterans play dozens of games a year in different cities in Russia and the CIS, often drawing full stadiums. Spartak players are loved and welcomed in different corners of «one-sixth of the land». They can decorate any tournament and make an unforgettable celebration of a city or region.

The team of veterans (or as it was called before the Great Patriotic War, the team of «old men») appeared at Spartak back in the 1930s, but was not officially registered with the club until December 1996. Some of its achievements ought to enter the Guinness Book of Records. Once in a month (it was in May) veterans of the Red-Whites played 28 games! Of course, there was rotation, but the fact remains that such a number of games is unthinkable even for working professionals. Once Spartak players traveled to Donetsk region, where they had a very busy schedule: in three days they played nine games. In one of the games both halves were played by 75-year-old (!) Nikolai Dementiev. Isn't that a record!

For the veterans it's not just exhibition games and the joy of playing their favorite game. it's also an opportunity to earn money. the current players have multi thousand and million dollar contracts, and they can feel confident about their post-football future, and the generation of 70-80s can't boast such a financial situation, alas. not to mention the «old-timers» - the 50s and 60s. By the way, the Spartak veteran team is gradually rejuvenating. recently representatives of the golden generation of the '90s and '00s joined the team. in the meeting of 2022 at the opening Bank Arena against Zenit our youngest veterans Artem Rebrov and Andrey Eschenko played.

In veteran matches no one is forced to take to the field. If you can play fifteen minutes - play fifteen. If you can play ten, then play ten. The most important thing in these games is the joy of meeting the audience and communicating with old friends. It is symbolic that on August 30, 2014, famous Spartak veterans were the first to set foot on the field of the newly built our stadium in Tushino, where they played the All-Star Game - «reds» against «whites».

That same year, 2014, the Spartak veteran team was invited to Dushanbe. For the first time since the Soviet championship, the central stadium in the capital of Tajikistan was filled to capacity: 20,000 people and no room to spare. Russian pop stars came to Dushanbe with the Spartak team. After the match a concert was held, but the audience was very few: most of them left the stadium immediately after the game. The organizers, far from soccer, shrugged their shoulders in surprise and asked the locals: «Did you come for the concert?» «no. -The Dushanbe residents answered. - We only came to see «Spartak»: No one has seen soccer like this here in fifteen years».

Here's another story. At the end of the 1980s, Spartak veterans went on a tour of Siberian cities. Forty kilometers from Bratsk they stopped in a small mining village, where there was a store with Japanese electrical equipment, which was in terrible short supply at the time. There was nothing else noteworthy about the village, but its administration had the idea of having the Spartak players play there as well. «But you don't even have a soccer ground!» - the Muscovites were surprised at the insistence of the hosts-«We'll do it!» - followed the confident reply. «When? We just came to visit you for a week!» «We'll get it done.» - The stubborn Siberians insisted.

What was the surprise of the veterans when five days later they received a call from the administration and were told: «Come, everything is ready for the game». The Spartak players couldn't believe their eyes: specifically for the match in the village they built the field within days, installed the gates, built a stand full of spectators. Isn't it a miracle? !

• Р. S. If you want to invite a team of Spartak veterans to an exhibition match, city festival or other festive events, please call: 8-916-568-36-16 (Aleksandr Mikhailovich Kokorev).
• Or write to the email: komveteranov@spartak.com.