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Aleksandr Ivanovich Kupriyanov was a Soviet footballer who gave his entire professional life to one club and one city. Born on 23 July 1952 in Kuybyshev, the Volga city later restored to the name Samara, he grew up a physically gifted boy who tried several sports before settling on football…
Aleksandr Ivanovich Kupriyanov was a Soviet footballer who gave his entire professional life to one club and one city. Born on 23 July 1952 in Kuybyshev, the Volga city later restored to the name Samara, he grew up a physically gifted boy who tried several sports before settling on football at the local youth side Voskhod. Partners and coaches soon saw a tall, coordinated forward with a placed shot, clever dribbling and the instincts of a playmaker. Older club idol Boris Kazakov, who once led him onto the pitch, said the teenager was more technical and versatile than he had been, and hoped Kupriyanov would go further.
He debuted for Krylia Sovetov Kuybyshev on 3 July 1970 away to Lokomotiv Tbilisi in the Soviet First League. His first goal followed on 1 August against SKA Kiev at Metallurg Stadium: coming on for Yuri Yutkin in the first half, he equalised within minutes. From then on he barely left the side. In eleven seasons he played through every role the club asked of him. He began as a centre-forward and attacking midfielder, scored a career-best 13 league goals in 1974, and on 15 April that year in Dushanbe against Pamir struck Krylia Sovetov's 1,000th goal in Soviet championship football. In 1975 he helped the team win the First League title and return to the Top League, combining with Ravil Aryapov and Anatoly Fetisov in a free-scoring side. After relegation he again drove promotion as playmaker in 1978, then, when the squad was short of centre-backs in 1979, moved into central defence and still earned a call-up to the RSFSR team at the Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, where Russia finished fourth. That year he received the title Master of Sport of the USSR.
English and Russian statistical summaries agree on the scale of the commitment: about 328 to 329 league appearances and 59 league goals for Krylia alone, plus a club-record 28 Soviet Cup appearances. Including cup and other official matches, Samara chroniclers credit him with roughly 340 to 360 games and around 60 goals in the green-and-white. He never left for Moscow or Kiev. Club record scorer Ravil Aryapov later called him the best Krylia midfielder of the 1970s. Poet and Samara football museum keeper Sergei Leibgrad wrote that Kupriyanov was born to fly, a local talent who stayed when the Wings rose and fell, and who finished his last league match on 2 November 1980 against Tavriya as a late attacking substitute, striking the post in the dying seconds.
After football he remained a familiar guest at Krylia events. He married and raised two sons, Boris and Ivan, who played amateur football in Samara and helped run the Real-Svyaz side. On 14 September 2026 PFC Krylia Sovetov announced that Aleksandr Ivanovich had died suddenly in his 75th year. The club listed funeral arrangements in Samara for 16 September. No medical cause was published. For supporters who still measure loyalty in one-club careers, Kupriyanov remains one of the last Kuybyshev-bred stars who made the Wings feel like a city festival again.
English Wikipedia and Transfermarkt keep the seasonal ledger that underpins the memorial: First League seasons stacked with double-digit appearances, Top League spells in 1976, 1977 and 1979, and a quiet exit still wearing the same badge. For People Forever readers discovering Samara football for the first time, Kupriyanov is the human measure of that badge: not a touring star, but a neighbour who stayed.
Biography adapted from PFC Krylia Sovetov press notice (14 Sep 2026); NIA Samara; stuki-druki career obituary; English and Russian Wikipedia (Aleksandr Kupriyanov / Куприянов, Александр Иванович (футболист)); Transfermarkt;. Wikipedia ↗
In their own words
“Aryapov called Aleksandr Kupriyanov the best Krylia midfielder of the 1970s.”
Career summary after his death, citing Ravil Aryapov (stuki-druki / club memory)
“Sasha is more technical, more versatile, more many-sided, and just as tall. He should go further than I did.”
Boris Kazakov on the young Kupriyanov, recalled by Sergei Leibgrad (SOFF essay, 2021)
“He was born to fly, yet he stayed when the Wings rose and fell, a local master who never left Kuybyshev.”
Paraphrase of Sergei Leibgrad's tribute theme in Born to Fly, or Aleksandr Kupriyanov (2021)
“PFC Krylia Sovetov expresses sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Aleksandr Ivanovich. We mourn with you.”
Club press notice, 14 September 2026 (English rendering)
“On the 75th year of his life, Honoured Krylia Sovetov veteran and Master of Sport of the USSR Aleksandr Ivanovich Kupriyanov has died suddenly.”
PFC Krylia Sovetov / NIA Samara announcement, 14 September 2026
Photos
6Young Aleksandr Kupriyanov during his Krylia Sovetov playing career
by People Forever
Aleksandr Kupriyanov in a Krylia Sovetov veterans jersey, portrait released with the club death notice
by People Forever
Aleksandr Kupriyanov, as published by NIA Samara with the club announcement
by People Forever
Aleksandr Kupriyanov portrait used in the 14 September 2026 career obituary
by People Forever
Your dad had good taste. That's exactly what the old timers say about him.