Football was a popular sport in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, with the national football championships being one of the major annual sporting events. Youth and children competitions as a regular event started after the war and each team of masters (official designation for professional team) in the top two tiers were fielding its youth squad in separate competition. Women official competitions started only 1990, just before dissolution of the Soviet Union. Football in the Soviet Union existed in realities of the

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

and

law of the Soviet Union The Law of the Soviet Union was the law as it developed in the Soviet Union (USSR) following the October Revolution of 1917. Modified versions of the Soviet legal system operated in many Communist states following the Second World War—including ...

where state owned everything and

professional sports In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought l ...

were prohibited. The way the Soviet sports administrators were going around that limitation is that they were placing athletes as employees of either a state enterprise or a state government department, to which a sports society belonged or assigned. Therefore, in the Soviet Union existed two statuses for footballers: amateur and non-amateur.

History

Before the

revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

, football was quite widespread in the Tsarist Russian Empire. In 1914, the Russian Football Union included representatives from 33 cities, while the number of football teams was close to two hundred and the number of registered players - five thousand. There were only two championships played and one of them was unfinished due to the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The All-Russian competitions were conducted among the united city teams composed of better players from each of the city's championships. Interest in football has not fallen, and after the revolution, the number of football teams continued to grow. And soon, along with urban and territorial competitions, it was decided to hold the championships of the RSFSR and the USSR. Until 1936, teams representing cities and republics, as opposed to club teams, took part in these competitions. It was not until 1924 when the first All-Union championship was held. They were organized five times in total (1924, 1928, 1931, 1932 and 1935). In the first three tournaments, the team participated republics and cities, only two of the latter city. Since 1936, the USSR championships for club teams representing companies and institutions were held annually, and in two cases (1936, 1976) - twice a year. They were interrupted only once, during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Eastern Front (locally – the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sou ...

). Tournaments were notable for their organizational instability. The number of participating teams was constantly changing (ranging from 7 to 26), some of the changes taking place in the course of the championship tournament. The championship tournaments lasted from 57 to 282 days, they were played in one (1936, 1938, 1952, 1976) or two rounds, there were single and multi-stage ones (1960, 1961, 1962, 1969). Changes to the scoring system were also made - during different seasons, the number of points awarded for a draw was two, one, or even none. The name of the tournament itself was also changed over the years: ''группа «А»'' (Group A), ''класс «А»'' (Class A), ''I группа'' (Group I), ''I группа класса «А»'' (Group I Class A), ''высшая группа класса «А»'' (Top Group Class A), ''высшая лига'' (Top League). In the second half of the 1980s, leading players of the Soviet teams began to move to foreign clubs. In 1990, Dinamo Tbilisi and Žalgiris Vilnius left the competitions of the Soviet Union. Other clubs had similar intentions but these plans were not implemented before the actual collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1991, the history of the football championships of the Soviet Union ended with the victory of FC CSKA Moscow. The

Commonwealth of Independent States Cup The Commonwealth of Independent States Cup (russian: Кубок чемпионов Содружества, Кубок Содружества, Кубок чемпионов содружества стран СНГ и Балтии) is a defunct ann ...

, traditionally attended by the winners of national championships from the former Soviet republics, was a reminder of the existence of the USSR Championships.

Competitions

League (round-robin)

; Male * Tier 1 – Top League (1971–1992) ** single group with number of participant and format changing * Tier 2 – First League (1971–1991) ** single group for most of its history, inconsistency in number of participants and format * Tier 3 – Buffer League (1990–1991) ** tier three competitions were oftentimes regional based with multiple groups (zones), introduced in 1990 the buffer league reduced number of groups to slim down the competition pyramid structure * Tier 4 – Second League (1971–1991) * Tier 5 – Group D ** tier five competitions existed in very early period before

for a short time * Republican-level competitions ** Each

union republic The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were national-based administrative units of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( ...

had its own separate competition including the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

and was standardized as the competitions among the "collectives of physical culture" (KFK) * Regional-level competitions ** competitions based on primary administrative division of the union republics including autonomous republics within those union republics as well as the federal-level cities of the Soviet Union * Local-level competitions ** competitions of cities and smaller administrative division of the union republics ; Female * Tier 1 – Top League (1990–1991) * Tier 2 – First League (1990–1991) * Tier 3 – Buffer League (1990–1991)

Cup (elimination)

* Soviet Cup * Federation Cup * First League Cup, other elimination-type competitions * Soviet Women Cup

Unofficial

* Soviet Super Cup

Evolution of the Soviet football league system

National team

At its peak the Soviet national team was amongst the strongest in the world. The national team's greatest achievements was winning

Euro 1960 The 1960 European Nations' Cup was the first edition of the UEFA European Championship, held every four years and organised by UEFA. The first tournament was held in France. It was won by the Soviet Union national football team, Soviet Union, wh ...

and reaching the 1966 FIFA World Cup semi finals.

References

External links

USSR (Soviet Union) - List of Champions
at RSSSF. {{Football in Europe 1922 establishments in the Soviet Union 1991 disestablishments in the Soviet Union