From: S947607@UMSLVMA.UMSL.EDU (Pavel Nikiforovitch)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer
Subject: SOVIET: The compilation of all available info about football in ex
 -USSR
Date: 1 Sep 92 00:15:04 GMT


   Hello, all football fans !
   --------------------------

   As all of you know, December 1991 became the last month of the great
Communist superpower, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. All 15 ex-
Soviet republics became independent states (though 11 of them are still
united in very loose confederation (CIS -- Commonwealth of Independent
States)).
   That was the end of one of the best European soccer powers, which used
to be European champion (in 1960), runner-up (in 1964, 1972, 1988), 4th
place holder (in 1968); Olympic champion (in 1956, 1988), bronze medal
winner (in 1972, 1976, 1980); and World Cup 4th place holder (in 1966).
   So, what has happened (and is happening, and will be happening) to hun
dreds of ex-Soviet teams, thousands of ex-Soviet footballers, millions of
ex-Soviet football fans ? I am sure that a lot of people in this net (not
only ex-Soviets, like me, but a lot of other football lovers, too) want
to know what is going on behind what used to be Iron Curtain.
   That topic deserves separate newsgroup "rec.sport.soccer.soviet", but
since I don't know how to handle this, I'll just post all relevant mate-
rials in "rec.sport.soccer" with the word "SOVIET" in the header.
   It's not easy to find any materials about football in ex-USSR, so that
I'm asking everyone to post any info found by him/her in various sources.
Sources I use are:"World Soccer"(very outdated), "Soccer America"(outda-
ted) and Russian newspapers "Pravda" and "Izvestiya"(which are delivered
to our University library with 1- or 2-week delay). And, of course, the
great postings by Karel Stokkermans, who can read "Sport and Toto".

   This posting is a kind of description of all major events happened to
ex-Soviet football since last December.

A.) Leagues of newborn countries.
---------------------------------
   The last Soviet championship was in 1991. CSKA (Moscow, Russia) were
the champions, "Spartak" (Moscow, Russia) were runner-ups, and the 3rd
prize was won by "Torpedo" (Moscow, Russia).
   The last Soviet Cup, played in 1990/91, was also won by CSKA. The Cup
of 1991/92 was started as Soviet Cup, but finished in 1992 as CIS Cup.
"Spartak" (Moscow) beat CSKA 1:0 in the final game.
   Meanwhile, the idea of a kind of a joint CIS league miserably failed -
each republic started her own league...

1.) Russian League.
-------------------
   Russia was always one of the best Soviet republics in football, espe-
cially in 1936 - 1960, when no one club from another republic won the So-
viet championship. Then the situation changed -- Russian teams had to
compete hard with Ukrainians and Georgians. In 1980s, Russian teams won
the championship just three times ("Zenit" (Leningrad) in 1984, "Spartak"
(Moscow) in 1987 and 1989). However, in 1991 Russians managed to get all
three top places (CSKA, "Spartak" and "Torpedo" -- all from Moscow).
   First Russian Premier League was composed in Spring 1992 of 20 teams.
Four of them were considered as clear favorites: CSKA (Soviet champions
1991, runner-ups 1990), "Spartak" (champions 1987 and 1989, runner-ups
1991), "Torpedo" (3rd in 1991, 4th in 1990) and "Dinamo" (3rd in 1990,
but just 6th in 1991) (all from Moscow). Out of 20 teams composed in Rus-
sian Premier League 1992, just 6 played in Soviet Premier League in 1991:
4 favorites, mentioned above, "Spartak" (Vladikavkaz) (used to play in
Soviet First League (2nd best), but in 1990 was promoted to Premier (and
got there 12th place in 1991)) and "Lokomotiv" (Moscow) (used to play in
Premier and First, was 16th in Premier in 1991). Other 14 teams were
from Soviet First and Second Leagues.
   20 teams were divided into 2 groups. Each group had two-round tourna-
ment, and 4 top teams from each group reached finals.
   Those are the results of those group tournaments (thanx to Karel):

Group A
 1.Dinamo Moskva               18 35-16  24
 2.Lokomotiv Moskva            18 23-14  24
 3.Spartak Vladikavkaz         18 31-18  23
 4.CSKA Moskva                 18 29-20  23
-------------------------------------------
 5.Tekstilschik Kamyshin       18 20-17  21
 6.Uralmash Ekaterinsburg      18 28-29  19
 7.Okean Nakhodka              18 24-25  18
 8.Fakel Voronezh              18 10-19  14
 9.Dynamo Stavropol            18 14-31   9
10.Dynamo Gazovik Tyumen       18 11-36   5

Group B
 1.Spartak Moskva              18 35- 9  28
 2.Asmaral Moskva              18 34-21  26
 3.Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod   18 16-11  23
 4.Rostselmash Rostov-na-Donu  18 20-17  20
-------------------------------------------
 5.Krylya Sovetov Samara       18 12-19  18
 6.Torpedo Moskva              18 20-20  17
 7.Rotor Volgograd             18 23-19  16
 8.Zenit Sankt Petersburg      18 21-35  14
 9.Kuban Krasnodar             18 19-30  12
10.Shinnik Yaroslavl           18 11-30   6

Final Poule
 1.Spartak Moskva               6  9- 2   9
 2.Spartak Vladikavkaz          6 10- 5   8
 3.Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod    6  3- 3   6
 4.Lokomotiv Moskva             6  3- 4   6
 5.Dynamo Moskva                6  6- 8   6
 6.Asmaral Moskva               6  5- 8   6
 7.CSKA Moskva                  6  8-10   4
 8.Rostselmash Rostov-na-Donu   6  1- 5   3

Championship to be decided in 14-match-competition between August 29 and
November 8 (8 more rounds). Results from direct confrontations in the
group matches taken into account (see above table).

   Thus, only 3 out of 4 clear favorites managed to get to the finals --
"Torpedo" did not. 2 finalists are from Soviet First League ("Rostsel-
mash" and "Lokomotiv" (Nizhny Novgorod)), and "Asmaral" is from Second !
(That's really a surprise !)

   So far -- no more info.

2.) Ukrainian League.
---------------------
   Since 1960s, Ukrainians were leaders in Soviet football. Until 1980s,
that was mostly because of one great club -- "Dinamo" (Kiev), Soviet
champion of 1961, 1966 - 1968, 1974 - 1975, 1977, 1980 - 1981, 1985 -
1986, 1990, EC2 holder in 1975 and 1986... and so on. In 1980s, another
very good Ukrainian club, "Dnepr" (Dnepropetrovsk), arose -- they were
champions in 1983 and 1988.
   First Ukrainian Premier League was composed in Spring 1992 of 20 teams
Six of them played in 1991 in Soviet Premier League ("Dinamo" (Kiev)
(just 5th in 1991), "Chernomorets" (4th in 1991), "Dnepr", "Shakhter",
"Metallist" and "Metallurg"). Others were from First and Second Leagues.
   20 teams were divided into 2 groups. Each group had two-round tourna-
ment, and winners of 2 groups played for champion title.
   Those are the results of those group tournaments (thanx to Karel):

Group 1
 1.Tavria Simferopol           18  28
 ------------------------------------
 2.Shakhter Donetsk            18  26
 3.Chernomorets Odessa         18  25
 4.Torpedo Zaporozhye          18  19
 5.Metallurg Zaporozhye        18  18
 6.Karpaty Lvov                18  16
 7.Kremen Kremenchug           18  16
 ------------------------------------
 8.Niva Vinnitsa               18  14
 9.Evis Nikolaev               18  10
10.Temp Shepetovka             18   8

Group 2
 1.Dinamo Kiev                 18  30
 ------------------------------------
 2.Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk        18  23
 3.Metallist Kharkov           18  21
 4.Niva Ternopol               18  21
 5.Volyn Lutsk                 18  18
 6.Bukovina Chernovtsy         18  18
 7.Zarya Lugansk               18  17
 ------------------------------------
 8.Neftyanik Akhtyrka          18  13
 9.Prikarpatye Ivano-Frankovsk 18  12
10.SKA Odessa                  18   7

   In the final game, "Tavria" beat "Dinamo" (Kiev) 1:0. That was really
a surprise -- a team which used to play in Soviet First League, became
champions, while all former Premier League clubs couldn't do it.
   First Ukrainian Cup was won by "Chernomorets", who beat "Metallist" in
the final game -- 1:0 (aet).
   Three bottom teams from each group were relegated to the First League,
and two clubs from First League ("Veres" (Rovno) and "Krivbass" (Krivoi
Rog)).
   The second Ukrainian championship has already been started. The format
is: two-round tournament with 16 clubs participating.
   These are the first results (played August 16-17 (approx.); sorry, no
more info):

  "Metallist" - "Chernomorets" -- 1:1
  "Dinamo" - "Kremen" -- 5:0
  "Torpedo" - "Dnepr" -- 0:1
  "Shakhter" - "Bukovina" -- 0:0
  "Veres" - "Karpaty" -- 1:1
  "Krivbass" - "Niva"(Ternopol) -- 1:0
  "Volyn" - "Metallurg" -- 0:0
  "Tavria" - "Zarya" (postponed)

3.) Georgian League.
--------------------
   Georgians had one very good team in Soviet Premier League. That was
"Dinamo" (Tbilisi), who used to be Soviet champions a few times, some-
times got Soviet Cup, and once even got EC2 (in 1981). Sometimes another
Georgian team ("Torpedo" (Kutaisi) or "Guria" (Lanchkhuti)) got promoted
to Premier League from First, but not for more than 1-2 years... Also
"Dinamo"(Sukhumi) and "Dimano"(Batumi) used to play in First Division...
other Georgian teams played in Second one.
   Yet in 1990 Georgians refused to play in Soviet League (though they
didn't achieve independence from USSR until last December) and had their
own League started. Since then, Georgians had three championships, all
of them won by "Dinamo" (Tbilisi) (they used to call themselves "Iberia"
in 1990 - 1992, but now they changed back to "Dinamo").
   Unfortunately, I don't know much about last Georgian championship. As
I already said, "Dinamo" (Tbilisi) won. "Gorda" (Rustavi) were runner-
ups. Georgian Cup was won by "Tskhumi" (Sukhumi) (I suspect (but I'm not
sure) that "Tskhumi" is just new name for "Dinamo" (Sukhumi).)

4.) Belorussian League.
-----------------------
   Only one Belorussian club used to play in Soviet Premier League. It
was "Dinamo" (Minsk). They became pretty strong in 1980s (champions in
1982, 3rd place in 1983, 4th in 1985, 5th in 1984, 1987, 1989, Cup fina-
lists in 1987...). Other 5 Belorussian clubs ("Dnepr" (Mogilev), "Khimik"
(Grodno), "Dinamo" (Brest), "Gomselmash" (Gomel) and "Dvina" (Vitebsk))
played in Second League. Only once (in 1982) one of them ("Dnepr") was
promoted to First, but in 1983 was relegated back.
   When Belarus got independent, the first championship was held. Pre-
mier League was composed in Spring 1992 of 16 teams (including "Dinamo"
(Minsk) (who was just 8th in 1991 Soviet Premier League) and 5 Soviet
Second League teams), who had one-round tournament.
   That is the final table (thanx to Karel):

 1.Dinamo Minsk                15 38- 5  25
 2.Dnepr Mogilev               15 28- 4  24
 3.Dinamo Brest                15 21- 9  20
 4.Traktor Bobruysk            15 13-10  19
 5.Khimik Grodno               15 21-17  18
 6.KIM Vitebsk                 15 19-15  16  (former "Dvina" ?)
 7.Torpedo Mogilev             15 16-14  16
 8.Metallurg Molodechno        15 11-12  15
 9.Vedrich Rechitsa            15 17-19  15
10.Shakhter Soligorsk          15 15-17  13
   Torpedo Minsk               15 15-17  13
12.Obuvschik Lida              15 13-18  11
13.Stroitel Starye Dorogi      15 14-22  10
14.Lokomotiv Vitebsk           15 14-28  10
15.BELAZ Zhodino               15 13-31  10
16.Gomselmash Gomel            15  5-35   5

The first Belorussian Cup was won by "Dinamo" (Minsk), who beat "Dnepr"
in final game -- 6:1.

5.) Lithuanian League.
----------------------
   When Lithuania declared her independence in 1990, Lithuanian clubs
left Soviet League. From 1983 to 1989, one of them, "Zhalgiris" (Vilnus)
played in Premier League and was considered pretty good team (in 1988
"Zhalgiris" were 3rd). There were no Lithuanian teams in First League,
and the only one Lithuanian team in Second League was "Atlantas" (Klay-
peda).
   Unfortunately, I don't know much about last Lithuanian League champi-
onship. I just know that "Zhalgiris" won and that "Panerys" (Vilnus) we-
re runner-ups. "Lietuvos Makkabi" (Vilnus) got the Cup.

6.) Latvian League.
-------------------
   The only Latvian team average Soviet football fan knew was "Daugava"
(Riga), who used to play in First League. In 1985 - 1987 they had excel-
lent chances to get promoted to Premier League... but they didn't managed
to do it... and in 1989 they were relegated to Second League... then in
1990 they got promoted back... but in 1991 (under new name "Pardaugava")
they played very unsuccesfully.
   Two other Latvian clubs played in Second League: "Zveynieks" (Liepaya)
(now "Olimpia") and RAF (Yelgava).
   Here is the final table of first Latvian League championship (thanx to
Karel):

 1.Skonto Riga                 11 34- 8  20
 2.RAF Yelgava                 11 12- 3  18
 3.VEF Riga                    11 23- 7  17
 4.Daugava Riga                11 20-10  16
 5.Olimpia Liepaya             11 16-14  15
 6.Pardaugava Riga             11 21-12  12
 7.BJSS Daugavpils             11 14-18  10
 8.Torpedo Riga                11 15-15   9
 9.Gauya Valmiera              11 10-19   8
10.Vayrogs Rezekne             11 12-23   8
11.Start Brotseny              11  6-28   2
12.Dilar Ilukste               11  3-29   1

Cup was won by "Skonto", who beat "Daugava" in the final game.

7.) Estonian League.
--------------------
   Estonians never had a single team even in Soviet First League (some-
times even in Second).
   All I know about last Estonian League is:
1."Norma" (Tallinn) won.
2.EP "Johvi" were runner-ups.
3.VMV (Tallinn) got Cup.

8.) Other leagues.
------------------
   Here is all I know about other 8 ex-Soviet republics' leagues:
   In Tadzhik League, former Soviet Premier League team "Pamir" (Dushan-
be) was leading in June (no idea what happened after that).
   In first Moldovian Cup final, "Budjak" (Komrat) beat 1991 Soviet First
League leader "Tiligul" (Tiraspol) -- 5:0.
   No idea about what's going on in Armenian, Azerbajzdhani, Kazakh, Kir-
ghiz, Uzbek and Turkmenian Leagues...


B.) EuroCups and ex-USSR.
-------------------------
   Everyone knows, that in EuroCups Soviets usually were among top 10...
In 1991/92, 5 Soviet teams started in new EuroCups cycle... 4 of them
(all Russian) were out before the end of the USSR, and "Dinamo" (Kiev)
was the only team who reached quarterfinals (but couldn't get thru the
EC1 semifinal mini-league).
   Several ex-Soviet republics applied for the participation in EuroCups
in 1992/93. Russia was granted ex-Soviet places in all 3 Cups (1 in EC1,
1 in EC2, 2 in EC3). CSKA (the USSR champion of 1991) went to EC1,
"Spartak" (Moscow) (the CIS Cup 1992 winner) -- to EC2, "Torpedo" (3rd
in Soviet League in 1991) and "Dinamo" (Moscow) (6th in Soviet League in
1991 (4th and 5th were Ukrainian teams)) -- to EC3.
   Ukraine got 3 places (1 in each Cup). "Tavria", "Chernomorets" and
"Dinamo" (Kiev) (according to Ukrainian League championship and Cup re-
sults) went to EC1, EC2 and EC3 respectively.
   Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian teams got permission to play... only
in EC1. The official reason for such idiotic UEFA decision was the bad
conditions of the stadiums in all three Baltic countries. Thus, only
champions of these countries ("Norma", "Skonto" and "Zhalgiris") were
allowed to play in EuroCups this year.
   Georgians were refused in the last minute (because of "unsecurity" in
this country (very standard refusal !)). Other republics were just igno-
red by UEFA.

   On August 19, the 1st leg games of the preliminary round were played,
and some ex-Soviets also participated:

EC1.) "Shelbourne" (Ireland) - "Tavria" -- 0:0 (good !)
      "Klaksvikar Itrottarfelage" (Faroes) - "Skonto" -- 1:2 (not bad !)
      "Olimpia" (Slovenia) - "Norma" -- 3:0 (well, who had doubts ?)

EC2.) FC "Vaduz" (Liechtenstein) - "Chernomorets" -- 0:5 (it would be
                                                           shame not to)

   2nd leg games will be played on September 2. All ex-Soviets (except
"Norma") have good chances.

   And here is the schedule of first round for ex-Soviet teams:

EC1.) AC "Milan" (Italy) - "Norma" (if qualifies)
      "Lech" (Poland) - "Skonto" (if qualifies)
      PSV (Holland) - "Zhalgiris"
      "Sion" (Switzerland) - "Tavria" (if qualifies)
      "Vikingur" (Iceland) - CSKA

EC2.) "Olympiakos" (Greece) - "Chernomorets" (if qualifies)
      "Boltfelagid 1936" (Faroes) or "Avenir" (Luxembourg) - "Spartak"

EC3.) "Manchester United" (England) - "Torpedo"
      "Dinamo" (Moscow) - "Rosenborg" (Norway)
      "Dinamo" (Kiev) - "Rapid" (Austria)


C.) New national teams.
-----------------------
   After being one of the best in Europe in 1960s, Soviet national team
had kind of crisis in 1970s - 1980s. However, in 1986 - 1988 things got
better: Soviets showed very good play in World Cup 1986 and became run-
ner-ups in Euro-88. Then, World Cup 1990 was a failure (Soviets couldn't
even pass the first round). However, Euro-92 qualifiers were passed by
Soviet team very confidently.
   After the dissolution of the USSR CIS team (which actually was the
same team that managed to win in the qualifiers) replaced USSR team in
Euro-92 finals. It was a disgrace: after ties with Germany (1:1) and Hol-
land (0:0) CISers lost to... Scotland -- 0:3. That was the fameless end
of CIS team.
   Meanwhile, it was unclear what to do with Soviet participation in
World Cup 1994. The draw of it, held in December 1991, had considered
USSR as the united country (that was a few days BEFORE the end of the
USSR) (actually, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania got separate places in
World Cup qualifiers -- but that was just because they already were inde-
pendent from September 1991). So what had to be done with USSR place in
5th European qualifying group ?
   Ukrainians suggested fair tournament between ex-Soviet republics' na-
tional teams, winner of which would take USSR place. But brainless FIFA
bastards.. gave this place to... Russia, who was considered by them as
successor to the USSR. (Why ???)
   Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia and Armenia also were admitted to FIFA, but
without any World Cup participation so far...
   Well, how are newborn national teams doing ?

1.) Russia.
-----------
   This team was founded a month or two ago, after the dissolution of
the CIS team (after Euro-92). Pavel Sadyrin, the coach of CSKA, became
the coach of Russian national team.
   So far this team played only one game -- and it was the win over Me-
xico in Moscow -- 2:0. Karpin and Popov scored.

2.) Ukraine.
------------
   This team was founded in April. Viktor Prokopenko, the "Chernomorets"
coach, became the coach of Ukrainian national team, after Valery Loba-
novsky, who used to be the famous coach of "Dinamo" (Kiev) and Soviet
national team, refused this offer.
   Two games were played so far: with Hungary at home (1:3) and with US
in New Jersey (0:0). Also I heard (but I'm not sure) that another game
with Hungary (away this time) was played -- 1:2.

3.) Estonia.
------------
   I know precisely only about three games: two friendlies (with Slove-
nia -- 1:1 and Latvia -- 1:2) and one shameful World Cup qualifier (with
Switzerland -- 0:6).

4.) Lithuania.
--------------
   A couple of friendlies were played (all lost, as far as I remember)
and three World Cup qualifiers, too (all away: with North Ireland -- 2:2,
with Albania -- 0:1, with Latvia -- 2:1).

5.) Latvia.
-----------
   A couple of friendlies and two qualifiers were played. In qualifiers
Lativans first lost to Lithuanians (1:2), but then (on August 26) managed
to tie with European champions -- the Danes ! (0:0)


Well, that's all so far. All comments and updates are strongly encoura-
ged and positively welcomed !!!
                                        Regards,

                                             Pavel.