Nikita Simonyan

Simonyan was a player for Dynamo Sukhumi during his youth career. After sixteen years of living in Sukhumi, he moved to Moscow, where he joined the local club Krylya Sovetov Moscow, also known as the "Wings of the Soviets". Gorokhov became Simonyan's first coach in Moscow. After Krylya Sovetov Moscow came in last place at the 1948 Soviet Top League, the club was disbanded. Simonyan signed with Spartak Moscow in 1949. In his first year, Spartak Moscow came in third place at the 1949 Soviet Top League. Simonyan and Spartak finally achieved victory in the 1952 Soviet Top League. He made 233 appearances and scored 133 goals for Spartak in his career.

Simonyan made his debut for the Soviet Union national team in 1954. He competed with the team at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, where the team won the gold medal in football. Simonyan was a member of the Soviet football team at the 1958 FIFA World Cup, its first World Cup. Because Igor Netto was unable to play due to injury for most of the World Cup, Simonyan was named captain of the team in his place. He scored in a 2–2 draw with England as the Soviets advanced from a group also including Austria and Brazil; the Soviets were eliminated by hosts Sweden in the quarter-finals. Due to high hopes since winning the Olympic gold, the performance was considered a failure by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Simonyan played his last match on 19 June 1958. Out of 20 internationals for the team, he scored 10 goals.

After retiring from football as a player, Simonyan became the manager and head coach of Spartak Moscow in 1960. After he and Spartak won the 1965 Soviet Cup, Simonyan stopped managing the club. He started managing Spartak again in 1967. Spartak made it to the Top League finals again in 1968 but did not win. The club won the 1969 Soviet Top League, their second Top League title with Simonyan as head coach and manager. Simonyan and Spartak won the 1971 Soviet Cup. Simonyan stopped managing Spartak for good in 1972. Simonyan, an Armenian himself, began managing and coaching Armenian club Ararat Yerevan in 1973. He led the club to victory at 1973 Soviet Top League. Ararat Yerevan won the 1973 Soviet Cup as well that year. Under Simonyan, the club won its first Soviet titles. Simonyan stopped leading the club in 1974. He came back to Ararat Yerevan in 1984 and stopped managing for good in 1985.

Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"

Simonyan was born with the Armenian name Mkrtich (Մկրտիչ), but was given the Russian name Nikita by friends. He was known as Nikita for the rest of his life, including in Armenia. When he was four, he settled in Abkhazia, where his father was a cobbler.