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.
— 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.