# 1963 Soviet Top League

The 1963 Class A, Pervaya Gruppa (Russian: класс «А», первая группа) was the 25th season of top-tier football league in Soviet Union. Due to reorganization of the Soviet Union football competition by adding an extra tier, this season the top tier was renamed as Class A, Pervaya Gruppa compared to previously named as Class A.
20 teams took part in the league with FC Dynamo Moscow winning the championship. Spartak Moscow were the defending champions and came second trailing three points behind.

## Team changes

Both Baltic clubs Daugava Rīga and Žalgiris Vilnius were relegated the last season to the Class A, Vtoraya Gruppa after finishing in the last two places. There were no new teams promoted to the league due to the reorganization and number of participants was reduced from 22 to 20.
Belarus Minsk changed its name to Dinamo Minsk, Spartak Yerevan changed its name to Ararat Yerevan.

## League standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Dynamo Moscow (C) | 38 | 21 | 13 | 4 | 47 | 14 | +33 | 55 | League champions |
| 2 | Spartak Moscow | 38 | 22 | 8 | 8 | 65 | 33 | +32 | 52 | |
| 3 | Dinamo Minsk | 38 | 18 | 12 | 8 | 47 | 27 | +20 | 48 | |
| 4 | SKA Rostov-on-Don | 38 | 20 | 7 | 11 | 73 | 40 | +33 | 47 | |
| 5 | Dinamo Tbilisi | 38 | 17 | 13 | 8 | 56 | 42 | +14 | 47 | |
| 6 | Zenit Leningrad | 38 | 14 | 17 | 7 | 45 | 32 | +13 | 45 | |
| 7 | CSKA Moscow | 38 | 14 | 17 | 7 | 39 | 27 | +12 | 45 | |
| 8 | Neftyanik Baku | 38 | 18 | 9 | 11 | 48 | 44 | +4 | 45 | |
| 9 | Dynamo Kyiv | 38 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 68 | 48 | +20 | 44 | |
| 10 | Torpedo Moscow | 38 | 12 | 16 | 10 | 46 | 41 | +5 | 40 | |
| 11 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 38 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 29 | 33 | −4 | 36 | |
| 12 | Torpedo Kutaisi | 38 | 6 | 21 | 11 | 22 | 37 | −15 | 33 | |
| 13 | Moldova Chisinau | 38 | 8 | 16 | 14 | 27 | 43 | −16 | 32 | |
| 14 | Kairat Alma-Ata | 38 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 28 | 47 | −19 | 32 | |
| 15 | Krylya Sovetov Kuybyshev | 38 | 11 | 7 | 20 | 45 | 53 | −8 | 29 | |
| 16 | Dynamo Leningrad (R) | 38 | 7 | 15 | 16 | 37 | 51 | −14 | 29 | Relegation to Class A Second Group |
| 17 | Lokomotiv Moscow (R) | 38 | 5 | 19 | 14 | 37 | 54 | −17 | 29 | Relegation to Class A Second Group |
| 18 | Ararat Yerevan (R) | 38 | 9 | 8 | 21 | 34 | 57 | −23 | 26 | Relegation to Class A Second Group |
| 19 | Avangard Kharkov (R) | 38 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 25 | 56 | −31 | 25 | Relegation to Class A Second Group |
| 20 | Pakhtakor Tashkent (R) | 38 | 4 | 13 | 21 | 44 | 83 | −39 | 21 | Relegation to Class A Second Group |

## Results

| Home \ Away | ARA | AVA | CSK | DYK | DLE | DMN | DYN | DTB | KAI | KRY | LOK | MOL | NEF | PAK | SHA | SKA | SPA | TKU | TOR | ZEN |
| Ararat Yerevan | | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 5–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–4 |
| Avangard Kharkov | 1–0 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| CSKA Moscow | 0–0 | 0–0 | | 3–2 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 5–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 5–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Dynamo Leningrad | 4–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 1–5 | | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 5–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Dinamo Minsk | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 2–0 | | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 6–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Dynamo Moscow | 1–0 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Dinamo Tbilisi | 2–2 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 |
| Kairat Alma-Ata | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Krylya Sovetov Kuybyshev | 2–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | | 1–0 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 |
| Lokomotiv Moscow | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 2–2 | | 2–0 | 2–4 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–5 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–3 |
| Moldova Chisinau | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | | 0–0 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Neftyanik Baku | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 4–2 | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| Pakhtakor Tashkent | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–6 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–4 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 5–2 | 5–2 | 1–2 | 1–5 | | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–4 |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–2 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| SKA Rostov-on-Don | 0–1 | 7–1 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 3–2 | | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–3 |
| Spartak Moscow | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 4–2 | 4–4 | 1–0 | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| Torpedo Kutaisi | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| Torpedo Moscow | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 7–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 1–4 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | | 3–2 |
| Zenit Leningrad | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | |

## Top scorers
### 27 goals

* Oleg Kopayev (SKA Rostov-on-Don)

### 21 goals

* Eduard Malofeyev (Dinamo Minsk)

### 17 goals

* Valentin Ivanov (Torpedo Moscow)

### 16 goals

* Boris Kazakov (Krylia Sovetov)

### 15 goals

* Vladimir Barkaya (Dinamo Tbilisi)
* Yuri Sevidov (Spartak Moscow)

### 14 goals

* Oleh Bazilevich (Dynamo Kyiv)
* Viktor Kanevski (Dynamo Kyiv)
* Gennadi Krasnitsky (Pakhtakor)
* Galimzyan Khusainov (Spartak Moscow)