On December 30, 1975, legendary Dynamo scorer Oleg Blokhin was awarded Europe's most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d'Or, which is traditionally awarded by the French weekly France Football.
Oleg Blokhin (left)— I learned about the victory a week before the New Year. I think I was sitting at home - something happened to my leg then. I got a call from the editorial office of the newspaper "Soviet sport" and was informed about winning the "Golden Ball". At first I thought it was a New Year's joke.
I could not promptly verify the veracity of this information by calling someone from Dynamo - there were no mobile phones in those years. Moreover, before the New Year, everyone was on vacation. But when the calls from different people - colleagues, friends and journalists - began to ring, I immediately understood: I was not being joked about.
If now on the occasion of winning such a valuable prize, there would probably be a pompous celebration, but at that time everything was simple and modest. The Golden Ball itself was more compact.
The team congratulated and praised: well done, supported the reputation of the team. After all, at that time we played for the honor of the club, we were a single team. My success was due to the entire team, its senior coach. The "Golden Ball" is the prestige of "Dynamo"! Oleg Volodymyrovych recalled.
