The twentieth winner of the "Golden Ball" - Oleg Blokhin

Twothe tenth Ballon d'Or winner - Oleg Blokhin

The winner of the most significant individual award that swept the competition in 1975

The years without a World or European Championship are the most difficult to determine the winner of the most prestigious individual award in football in Europe. However, the "Golden Ball" in 1975 does not seem difficult to award to Oleg Blokhin. The Kiev-born Ukrainian transformed Dynamo into a team that easily won two major honours, leaving a lasting mark not only on the Soviet Union's championship but also on the Old Continent.

Blokhin is the player who has won the Ballon d'Or by the biggest margin since then, bettering even Johan Cruyff's achievement in 1971. After the three awards for the Dutchman and one for Franz Beckenbauer, on December 30, 1975, the award was presented to Oleg Blokhin. He collected 122 points after all 26 journalists with the right to vote voted for him. He impresses at most with 20 of them placing him in first position, five leaving him second and one even fourth. Second in the ranking is the European club champion for the second consecutive year with Bayern Munich, Franz Beckenbauer. His constant presence in the top 5 of the ranking, and in recent years in the top 3, makes him a true legend, but Beckenbauer collected only 42 points, which is almost three times less than the winner. Only 12 people put the Bayern defender in the top five, and only four put him in the top spot. Third in the ranking is Johan Cruyff, and the top five are completed by Berti Vogts and Sepp Meier, respectively from Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayern.

Again we can find the name of Hristo Bonev, but only in the 17th position. The striker of Lokomotiv Plovdiv collects 4 points from one second place, but Bayern's top scorer Gerd Müller, Czechoslovakia star Ivo Viktor, 1974 World Finals scorer Grzegorz Lato and Josip Katalinski from Yugoslavia have more than that.

Extremely fast, with a goal-scoring flair, with a desire for continuous success, Oleg Blokhin stood out in 1975. Born 23 years earlier in Kiev, the athlete comes from a family of athletes. His mother is an athlete in three disciplines - pentathlon, sprint and long jump, and his father is a policeman, but also a sprinter. Thus, in his genes, Blokhin has the sporting qualities that he demonstrated on the football field with the local Dynamo team, which in the 70s was one of the best teams in the USSR. Dynamo won the Soviet Union title by five points over Shakhtar, cementing the dominance of non-Russian teams. Blokhin became the top scorer with 18 goals out of all 53 scored by his team. His achievement is 5 goals better than that of the second Boris Kopeikin from CSKA Moscow.

The failure in the tournament for the cup won by the previous USSR champion Ararat Yerevan was not taken so badly, however, as the cup won the previous year turned out to be more important. It provides Dynamo and Blokhin participation in the tournament for the Cup Winners' Cup. A race that was won by the Ukrainians in 1975. In KNK Blokhin hinted at his incredible potential as early as 1974 and only defeated the strong team of CSKA Sofia, scoring 1 goal in the two meetings between them. In the semi-finals, the striker also scored in the goal of PSV Eindhoven in the first match, forming the final 3:0, which made the rematch on Dutch soil much easier for the Ukrainians. The representative of the USSR copes with ease in the final against Ferencvaros. Another 3-0 win and another Blokhin goal take the trophy from the prestigious European club competition.

The double for Dynamo Kyiv is a fact, the top scorer prize in the USSR championship and the great performance of Oleg Blokhin in every match of his team, became the reason why he was awarded the prize for the best football player in Europe in 1975. The only 24-year-old athlete will have success, but on an individual level this is his biggest. After Lev Yashin, the Soviet Union can also boast of a field player who won the Golden Ball.

.