Nikita Pavlovich Simonyan (, , born Mkrtych Pogosovich Simonyan, 12 October 1926) is a Soviet-Russian former football striker and coach of Armenian descent. He was born in Armavir. As of 2021 he was the Russian football functionary First Vice-President of the Russian Football Union. Simonyan was awarded the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR title in 1954, the Honored Coach of Russia title in 1968, the Merited Coach of the USSR title in 1970 and the Commander of the Order "For Services to the Fatherland" award in 2011. Simonyan is the top scorer in the history of the club Spartak Moscow at 160 goals. Club career Simonyan was a player for FC Dinamo Sukhumi during his youth career. After sixteen years of living in Sokhumi, Simonyan moved to Moscow, where he joined the local club FC Krylya Sovetov Moscow, also known as the "Wings of the Soviets". Gorokhov became Simonyan's first coach in Moscow. After Krylya Sovetov Moscow came in last place at the 1948 Soviet Top League, the club was disbanded. Simonyan signed with Spartak Moscow in 1949. In his first year, Spartak Moscow came in third place at the 1949 Soviet Top League. Simonyan and Spartak finally achieved victory in the 1952 Soviet Top League. He made 233 appearances and scored 133 goals for Spartak in his career. International career Simonyan joined the Soviet Union national football team in 1954. He competed with the team at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. The team defeated Germany, Indonesia, Bulgaria and finally Yugoslavia to win the gold medal in football. Simonyan was a member of the Soviet football team at the 1958 FIFA World Cup, its first World Cup. Because Team Captain Igor Netto was unable to play due to injury for most of the World Cup, Simonyan was named Captain of the team in his place. The team was placed in Group 4. Simonyan scored a goal against England, and the Soviet team would have been defeated without it. The Soviet Union lost to the Pelé-led Brazil team in the final group game. The USSR came in second place, which qualified them for the knockout stage. They were defeated by Sweden. Simonyan played his last match on 19 June 1958. Out of 20 internationals for the team, he scored 10 goals. Managerial career After retiring from football as a player, Simonyan became the manager and head coach of