Vasily Utkin

Vasily Vyacheslavovich Utkin (Russian: Василий Вячеславович Уткин; 6 March 1972 – 19 March 2024) was a Russian sports commentator and reporter, author, host, television and radio presenter, entertainer, and actor. He gained popularity in the mid-1990s as a football commentator for NTV and NTV Plus and as a sports journalist, hosting the TV program The Football Club, which he released on his own YouTube channel until the last days of his life. Winner of the TEFI award in the category "Best Sports Commentator" in 2004 and 2005. From 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2015, he was editor-in-chief of NTV Plus sports channels. From 2014 to 2015, he hosted the entertainment game show Big Question on the STS. From 1 November 2015 to 5 February 2016, he was an employee of Match TV. From 3 March 2016 to 13 May 2017, he was a commentator for Eurosport. He was former co-owner of Sports.ru website. As an actor he collaborated with Kvartet I. He was the owner of the media football club Egrisi. According to a number of colleagues, players, and the media, Utkin created the language and identity of modern sports journalism in Russia, and was the most talented and recognizable Russian-speaking football commentator of his time.