Oleg Romantsev

Oleg Romantsev is a retired Soviet footballer, football coach. He was born in 1954 and began to play football in Krasnoyarsk with the youth team of Metallurg. Romantsev joined Avtomobilist Krasnoyarsk in 1971 and in 1976 he moved to Moscow joining Spartak Moscow but after two matches he came back to Krasnoyarsk. Nevertheless the manager of Spartak talked the promising player into joining them.

In 1979 Romantsev was given the captain’s armband and wore it until he finished his career in 1983. He helped FC Spartak Moscow to claim Soviet Top League title in 1979. In 1980, 1981, 1983 they were league runners-up. In 1981 Spartak won Soviet Cup and in 1980 the team won bronze medals at the Olympic Games in Moscow. All in all he made 180 appearances for Spartak and played 9 games for the USSR national team.

After the retirement he was the coach of Krasnaya Presnya, and then guided Spartak Vladikavkaz. Between 1989 and 2003 Oleg Romantsev was the manager of Spartak Moscow and led the team to Soviet Top League title in 1989 and Soviet Cup in 1992. After the dissolution of USSR, they won 8 Russian Premier League titles, thrice they won Russian Cup. Under his management Spartak Moscow and won 6 CIS Cups, they reached the semifinals of European Champion Clubs’ Cup in 1990/91, Cup Winners’ Cup in 1992/93 and UEFA Cup in 1997/98.

Romantsev was the head coach of the Russia national team between 1994 and 1996 and between 1998 and 2002. In 2003/04 he was he was the manager of Saturn Ramenskoye, in 2004/05 he guided Dynamo Moscow and in 2009 Romantsev joined Spartak Moscow to work as a consultant.