Soviet Top League

Soviet Top League
Высшая лига
Founded
22 May 1936
Dissolved
1991
Nation
Soviet Union
Level on Pyramid
Level 1
Relegation from
Soviet First League
Number of Seasons
54
Most wins
Dynamo Kyiv (13)
Last title holder
CSKA Moscow

The Soviet Top League (Russian: Высшая лига^[1]) was the top division of Soviet Union football. It was one of the best football leagues in Europe ranking second among the UEFA members in 1988-1989 seasons. Three of its representatives have reached the finals of the European club tournaments on four occasions: FC Dynamo Kyiv, FC Dynamo Tbilisi, and FC Dynamo Moscow. According to UEFA the main successor of the league became the Russian Premier League.

Overview

The most prominent clubs of the leagues were FC Dynamo Kyiv, FC Spartak Moscow, and FC Dynamo Moscow. The most popular clubs beside of the above mentioned were also the Moscow Army men and FC Dynamo Tbilisi. The first team that won 10 championships and earned their golden star was Dynamo Moscow in 1963, followed by Spartak in 1979. Dinamo Tbilisi became famous for constantly placing the third place. Until 1960's the main title contenders in the league were the Moscow clubs of Spartak and Dynamo whose dominance was disrupted for only a brief period after the World War II by CDKA Moscow, nicknamed as the team of lieutenants.

The 1960's saw the emergence of a new Soviet football elite in face of Torpedo Moscow and Dynamo Kyiv. And if the Moscow's automakers did not manage to grow into main challengers, the Ukrainian capitals since then grew into the top feeder for the Soviet national team and almost entirely replacing Dynamo Moscow. The Ukrainian based clubs success were even more extended in 1980's with the appearance of Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk led by its striker Oleh Protasov who set a new record for goals scored in a season. In 1987, finally, the Soviet champions became the Saint Petersburg's representative, Zenit. The Peter's men having a reach history in the Russian football for a long were not able to break the dominance of the Moscow-based clubs, supplemented with the Dynamos from Tbilisi and Kiev.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the league was seeking to be reestablished in the face of the Commonwealth of Independent States Cup, but due to the lack of interest on various levels that venture was never implemented. There were various other similar initiatives which ultimately found no support and were discontinued.

Names

Throughout the league history the name of it changed a quite few times:

1936 - 1941 Group A (Группа А)

Prior to the World War II the championship was split into several groups usually of eight teams and named by the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet.

1945 - 1949 The First Group of USSR (Первая группа СССР)

Upon the reestablishment of the league after the war for several years it was numbered sequentially with the top league being the First.

1950 - 1962 Class "A" of USSR (Класс "А" СССР)

Since 1950 the alphabetical classification of the Soviet league hierarchy has resumed. In 1960 through 1962 the league consisted of two groups with the better clubs qualified for the championship pool and less fortunate - the relegation pool.

1963 - 1969 The First Group "A" of USSR (Первая группа "А" СССР)

European representation

The first time the Soviet league was represented in Europe in 1966 and until 1972 no more than only two teams participated in the continental competitions. The first club that participated in the European competitions was Dynamo Kyiv. In its first year the club managed to make to the quarterfinals, eliminating on its way Coleraine and Rosenborg and winning all four matches with those clubs. Kievans were eliminated by the Scottish Celtic. In 1968-69 edition all Warsaw Pact countries boycotted the continental competitions. Since 1974 the league was among the best 10 national competitions reaching the 4th place in 1976 and 1977. Only in 1982-83 season the league ranking fell under the 10th place. Since 1985 the Soviet Top League was among the best four in Europe until 1991.

In 1987 and 1988 the Soviet Top league was the second best league in Europe, however by the end of the Soviet Union the results of its representatives worsened. The very last position that the Soviet League placed was No.9 in 1992. The 1992/93 season all the results of the Soviet League were transferred to the Russian Premier League. Throughout its history the representatives of the league on four occasions made to the finals of the three primary European competitions being victorious in three. Once a Soviet club was able to win the UEFA Super Cup.

Champions and top goalscorers

Bold text in the "Champion" column denotes that the club also won the Soviet Cup during the same season. The italicized text in the table indicates the other cup champions that made it the Soviet top-3.

Overall Statistics

Performance by club

Performance by republic

Republic	Winners	Runners-Up	3rd Position	Appearances	Winning Clubs
Russian SFSR	34	32	28	416	Spartak Moscow (12) Dynamo Moscow (11) CSKA Moscow (7) Torpedo Moscow (3) Zenit Leningrad (1)
Ukrainian SSR	16	15	8	191	Dynamo Kyiv (13) Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (2) Zorya Voroshilovgrad (1)
Georgian SSR	2	5	13	68	Dinamo Tbilisi (2)
Armenian SSR	1	2		33	Ararat Yerevan (1)
Byelorussian SSR	1		3	39	Dinamo Minsk (1)
Azerbaijan SSR			1	29
Lithuanian SSR			1	11
Kazakh SSR				24
Uzbek SSR				22
Moldavian SSR				7
Latvian SSR				7
Tajik SSR				3
Estonian SSR				2

Republics never represented at top-level were the Turkmen SSR and the Kyrgyz SSR

All-time table

¹Two points for a win. In 1973, a point for a draw was awarded only to a team that won the subsequent penalty shootout. In 1978–1988, the number of draws for which points were awarded was limited.

See also

National leagues of the former Soviet republics

References

• USSR (Soviet Union) - Final Tables, rsssf.com. Accessed on 9 June 2006.
• Russian Portal about Soviet Football, sovfootball.ru.
• USSR&Russian soccers tables
• An extensive database of game protocols and statistics (Russian)