Viacheslav Alexandrovich "Slava" Fetisov is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played for HC CSKA Moscow for 13 seasons before joining the National Hockey League (NHL), where he played with the New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings. With the Wings, he won back-to-back Stanley Cups and was part of the team's Russian Five unit. After retiring from his playing career, he became the assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils. Having a very successful four years, he helped get the team to two Stanley Cup finals and one Stanley Cup victory. In addition to that, he won two Olympic gold medals and seven world championships. His Stanley Cup wins, Olympic gold medals, and World Championship wins make him a member of his sport's prestigious Triple Gold Club.
Sportin Latvia includes basketball, football, ice hockey, athletics (track), rugby, tennis, cycling, and others. Ice hockey is historically the most popular of the Latvian sports and is closely followed by basketball. Some of Latvia’s most notable athletes include hockey player Sandis Ozoliņš, football player Māris Verpakovskis, olympic javelin thrower Jānis Lūsis, two-time Olympic BMX champion Maris Strombergs, and basketball player Kristaps Porziņģis. The national sport of Latvia is ice hockey.
FC Spartak Moscow is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet championships and a record 10 Russian championships, it is the country's most successful club. They have also won a record 10 Soviet Cups, 4 Russian Cups and one Russian Super Cup. Spartak have also reached the semi-finals of all three European club competitions.
The Russian men's national ice hockey team is the national men's ice hockey team of Russia, overseen by the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia. As of 2021, they were rated third in the IIHF World Ranking. The team has competed internationally from 1992 until a 2022 ban, and is recognized by the IIHF as the successor to the Soviet Union team and CIS team. Russia has been one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world and a member of the so-called "Big Six," the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, and the United States. The European nations of the Big Six participate in the Euro Hockey Tour, which Russia won nine times since 2005. Since September 2021, the head coach is Alexei Zhamnov, who took over from Valeri Bragin.
The Football Federation of the USSR was a governing body of football in the Soviet Union and since 1972 the main governing body of football in the country. The Federation was created late in 1934 by the decision of the Supreme Council of Physical Culture of the USSR as its sports section governing specifically football. It was the only organization that obtained recognition of FIFA in 1946.
Alexander Yakovlevich Gomelsky was a Russian professional basketball player and coach. The Father of Soviet and Russian basketball, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 and the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007.
Sergei Alexandrovich Belov was a Russian professional basketball player, most noted for playing for CSKA Moscow and the senior Soviet Union national basketball team. He is considered to be one of the best European basketball players of all time, and was given the honour of lighting the Olympic Cauldron with the Olympic flame during the 1980 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, in Moscow.
Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR is a document which provided general Soviet physical education system requirements for both athletes and coaches. Similar systems still exist today in several former Soviet republics.
The Soviet Union men's national volleyball team was the national volleyball team that had represented the Soviet Union in the International competitions between 1948 until 1991.
The Russia men's national volleyball team is governed by the Russian Volleyball Federation and took part in international volleyball competitions.
A wide array of sports are played in Armenia. Popular sports in Armenia include football, basketball, volleyball, and ice hockey. Further, the country sends athletes to the Olympics in boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, gymnastics, track and field, diving, swimming, and shooting. Armenia's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and rock climbing. Being a landlocked country, water sports can only be practiced on lakes, notably Lake Sevan. Competitively, Armenia has been very successful at chess, weightlifting, and wrestling at the international level. Armenia is also an active member of the international sports community, with full membership in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Federation of International Bandy (FIB), International School Sport Federation, International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), among others. It also hosts the Pan-Armenian Games.
The most popular sportin Russia is soccer. According to Yandex search analysis results rating of the most popular sports among Russians: "Football topped the list of the most popular sports in Russia" with 5 to 10 million requests. Ice Hockey came in second with handball, basketball, futsal, boxing, auto racing, volleyball, athletics, tennis and chess rounding out the top ten rankings. Other popular sports include bandy, biathlon, figure skating, weightlifting, gymnastics, wrestling, martial arts, rugby union, and skiing.
Ukrainians in Russia make up the largest single diaspora group of the Ukrainian people. The 2010 Russian census identified 1.9 million Ukrainians living in Russia, representing over 1.4% of the total population of the Russian Federation and comprising the third-largest ethnic group after ethnic Russians and Tatars. An estimated 340,000 people born in Ukraine, mostly young people, permanently settle legally in Russia each year. In February 2014, there were 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens in the territory of Russia, two-thirds of the labour migrants; however, after the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and the start of the War in Donbas, the number was estimated to have risen to 2.5 million as of December 2014. Over 420,000 asylum-seekers from Ukraine had registered in Russia as of November 2017.
Ice hockey in Russia is one of the most popular sports in the country.
Aleksandr Borisovich Savin is a Russian former volleyball player who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1976 Summer Olympics and in the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Sport in Azerbaijan has ancient roots, and even now, both traditional and modern sports are still practiced. Freestyle wrestling has been traditionally regarded as Azerbaijan's national sport, however today, the most popular sports in Azerbaijan are football and chess. Other popular sports are gymnastics, judo, futsal, weightlifting, and boxing. Azerbaijan's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and rock climbing. Water sports are practiced on the Caspian Sea and in inland waters. Competitively, Azerbaijan has been very successful at chess, weightlifting, and wrestling at the international level. Azerbaijan is also an active member of the international sports community, with full membership in the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), European Athletics Association (EAA), International Olympic Committee (IOC), among many others. It has also hosted the first European Games and 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games. Azerbaijan has recently employed a number of top Iranian athletes and coaches to its national teams by granting them Azerbaijani nationalities. These include Saman Tahmasebi, Sabah Shariati and Jamshid Kheyrabadi in wrestling; and Reza Mehmandoost and Milad Beigi in Taekwondo.
The Russian men's national under 20 ice hockey team is the national under-20 ice hockey team in Russia. The team represents Russia at the International Ice Hockey Federation's World Junior Hockey Championship, held annually every December and January. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Ice Hockey Federation suspended Russia from all levels of competition.
Yuri Nikolaevich Kleschev was a Soviet volleyball coach, referee, writer, and teacher. He was an Honored Coach of the USSR (1965), a Judge Union category (1971), and an Honored Worker of Physical Culture of the RSFSR (1989).
VC Avtomobilist Saint Petersburg is a Russian men's volleyball club. It was founded in 1935. The club was a three-time champion of the Soviet Union, twice champion of Russia, and four-time winner of the European cup. In January 2016, the club stopped participating in the national championships, and was eliminated to the Second League.
The Russian Volleyball Federation is the governing body of volleyball in Russia; although existing since 1991, it is the prosecutor of the pre-existing Soviet volleyball federation.
