Who is Igor Shkvyrin, former Mohun Bagan talisman?

Hailing from Uzbekistan, the forward plied his trade for the Mariners over a short yet memorable period.

The central Asian forward Igor Shkvyrin formed a deadly trio alongside Brazilian Jose Ramirez Barreto and Nigerian Stephen Abarowei. One might recall Mohun Bagan’s legendary trophy run in the National Football League1999-2000 victory.

Shkvryin played an integral part in that and became one of the finest ever foreigners to don the Mariners’ colors. Senior fans have even claimed despite being 37 or 38 years old when he came to Mohun Bagan, he was a top-class player they had seen in recent times.

Here we will dig deep into why is Igor Shkvryin still remembered by the Mariners!

Club 200 of Berador Abduraimov member

Abduraimov was a famous USSR goal-scorer after whom a coveted list of goal-scorers was crafted. Only the best of the best players made it to this eminent catalogue, as it required a minimum of 200 career goals scored.

Uzbek striker Igor Shkvyrin stands in sixth place amongst this famous group as he accumulated 275 goals. He spent the majority of his footballing career in the Soviet Pro League and for Uzbekistani side Pakhtakor Tashkent. For the latter, he scored a whopping 130 times over a staggering 235 appearances.

Although he had five different stints with the Sherlar, Shkvyrin returned to his boyhood side to hang up his boots. Shkvyrin also plied his trade with Israeli sides and it was only in his third outing with Pakhtakor that Indian side Mohun Bagan noticed him.

Igor Shkvyrin’s tryst with India

The lean yet athletic striker caught the eyes of the Mariners’ scouting heads. In the previous season (1998-1999), he had just scored a jaw-dropping 39 goals in 43 appearances. Mohun Bagan decided that they had to secure the services of the clinical No. 9.

As expected, he took the National Football League (now I-League) by storm, scoring 11 times and grabbing the Golden Boot. Two of his final strikes came after Bagan had already secured the title as he scored off a flick and a deft side volley against Tollygunge Agragami.

He terrorised defences en route to the 1999-2000 league trophy despite joining the Kolkata-based outfit four games into the start of the league. One spectacular season later, however, Shkvyrin returned to Pakhtakor. Eventually, he decided to give it another shot in India and came back the following season. This time he joined Goan outfit Churchill Brothers and surprisingly bettered his own tally with 12 strikes. In doing so, he helped the Red Machine to a third-placed finish in the league.  

As manager

Even after retiring as a player, Igor Shkvyrin’s love for football never faded. He joined as assistant coach to Aleksandr Tarkhanov in FC Krylia Sovetov Samara for the 2003–04 season. In 2007, he was appointed as assistant coach to Vadim Abramov for Uzbekistan U-23 national team, and in 2008–2010 worked as a co-trainer for the Uzbekistan national team.

His feats with Olmaliq FK were his personal best as in 2009 their fourth-placed finish in the league got him the Coach of the Year award. Uzbekistan’s Player of the Year in 1994 last managed Uzbekistan Super League side Sogdiana Jizzakh in 2017.