Anatoli Zinchenko


Anatoli Alekseyevich Zinchenko is a retired Soviet football player and Russian coach. He is best known for being the first Soviet football player to play for a Western European professional club. His transfer to SK Rapid Wien was initiated by Austrian communist journalist Kurt Chastka. Because Soviet footballers were officially amateurs, he was formally employed as an equipment technician at the Soviet embassy while playing for Rapid, while his Rapid salary was sent over to the Soviet government.

International career

Zinchenko made his debut for USSR on 24 September 1969 in a friendly against Yugoslavia. He was capped three times in total.

Honours