The Starostin Brothers

11 hrs. 20 min.

Biographies, Memoirs & Life Stories

Language Russian

Authors Boris Dukhon, Georgy Morozov

Author Boris Dukhon

Author Georgy Morozov

Narrator Sergey Kirsanov

Description

The Starostin brothers are a unique phenomenon in the history of sports. They became legends already while alive— and all four at once: Nikolai, Alexander, Andrey, and Peter. Their main creation was the sports society and the football team “Spartak,” created by their efforts and— through their efforts—turned into a truly “people’s” team, becoming an object of worship for millions of fans. It’s hard to find a similar example in world football: the eldest brother, Nikolai Petrovich, began his sports activities even before the revolution, and in 1935 he became the “godfather” of the current “Spartak,” which he continued to lead until his death in 1996. Nearly a century devoted to football! Moreover, specialists—both domestic and foreign—recognize that his principles of managing the team were far ahead of his time.

The third brother, Andrey Petrovich, worked as head of the USSR national team, and his name is associated with our greatest achievement in football—winning the European championship in 1960.

But the brothers proved themselves not only on the football field. Their fate can hardly be called easy. Again, all four of them had to go through prisons and Stalinist camps—12 years were, in essence, crossed out of their lives. In their biographies, like in a drop of water, is reflected the biography of the country—with all its tragic turns.

The book offered to readers is unusual. For the first time in the series “ZhZL” (Life Remarkable), the biography of four heroes is published at once. One can agree with the authors: separating the brothers’ biographies from each other and telling about each of them separately would be fundamentally wrong. Because the strength of the Starostins lay in the fact that wherever and whenever they were, they always acted together—feeling like a family and supporting each other.