# 1981 Soviet Top League

Statistics of Soviet Top League for the 1981 season.

## Overview

It was contested by 18 teams, and Dynamo Kyiv won the championship.

## League standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Dynamo Kyiv (C) | 34 | 22 | 9 | 3 | 58 | 26 | +32 | 53 | Qualification for European Cup first round |
| 2 | Spartak Moscow | 34 | 19 | 8 | 7 | 70 | 40 | +30 | 46 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | Dinamo Tbilisi | 34 | 16 | 10 | 8 | 62 | 35 | +27 | 42 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Dynamo Moscow | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 41 | 29 | +12 | 40 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Torpedo Moscow | 34 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 41 | 29 | +12 | 38 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 6 | CSKA Moscow | 34 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 39 | 33 | +6 | 37 | |
| 7 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 34 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 51 | 39 | +12 | 34 | |
| 8 | Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 34 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 42 | 53 | −11 | 32 | |
| 9 | Dinamo Minsk | 34 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 44 | 39 | +5 | 32 | |
| 10 | Neftchi Baku | 34 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 34 | 49 | −15 | 32 | |
| 11 | Chornomorets Odessa | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 36 | 44 | −8 | 31 | |
| 12 | Kairat Alma-Ata | 34 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 42 | 46 | −4 | 30 | |
| 13 | Kuban Krasnodar | 34 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 42 | 54 | −12 | 29 | |
| 14 | Ararat Yerevan | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 44 | 50 | −6 | 29 | |
| 15 | Zenit Leningrad | 34 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 33 | 43 | −10 | 28 | |
| 16 | SKA Rostov-on-Don (R) | 34 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 39 | 58 | −19 | 26 | Relegation to First League |
| 17 | Tavria Simferopol (R) | 34 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 27 | 54 | −27 | 23 | Relegation to First League |
| 18 | Pakhtakor Tashkent | 34 | 7 | 5 | 22 | 34 | 58 | −24 | 19 | |
* ↑ 4 points deducted (10 draw limit)
* ↑ 3 points deducted (10 draw limit)
* 1 2 2 points deducted (10 draw limit)
* ↑ Pakhtakor Tashkent avoided relegation as it received a three year guarantee of no relegation after the 1979 airplane crash.

## Results

| Home \ Away | ARA | CHO | CSK | DNI | DYK | DMN | DYN | DTB | KAI | KUB | NEF | PAK | SHA | SKA | SPA | TAV | TOR | ZEN |
| Ararat Yerevan | | 2–3 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 6–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 |
| Chornomorets Odessa | 1–0 | | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 3–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| CSKA Moscow | 0–0 | 0–2 | | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 |
| Dnipro | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 4–3 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | | 3–3 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Dinamo Minsk | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | | 0–2 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| Dynamo Moscow | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 |
| Dinamo Tbilisi | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 5–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 |
| Kairat Alma-Ata | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 |
| Kuban Krasnodar | 5–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 |
| Neftçi Baku | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Pakhtakor Tashkent | 3–1 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 3–0 | | 3–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 5–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 1–1 | | 4–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 |
| SKA Rostov-on-Don | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 6–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 | | 3–4 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–3 |
| Spartak Moscow | 3–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 4–2 | 4–1 | 5–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | | 6–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| Tavriya Simferopol | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 3–3 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–2 | | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Torpedo Moscow | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | | 1–0 |
| Zenit Leningrad | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | |

## Top scorers
### 23 goals

* Ramaz Shengelia (Dinamo Tbilisi)

### 21 goals

* Yuri Gavrilov (Spartak Moscow)

### 19 goals

* Oleg Blokhin (Dynamo Kyiv)

### 16 goals

* Vladimir Kazachyonok (Zenit)

### 15 goals

* Valery Gazzaev (Dynamo Moscow)

### 14 goals

* Khoren Hovhannisyan (Ararat)
* Pyotr Vasilevsky (Dinamo Minsk)

### 13 goals

* Andrei Yakubik (Pakhtakor)

### 12 goals

* Viktor Grachyov (Shakhtar)
* Aleksandr Pogorelov (Dnipro)

## Medal squads

(league appearances and goals listed in brackets)
* 1. FC Dynamo Kyiv
* Goalkeepers: Mykhaylo Mykhaylov (25), Yuriy Romenskyi (9).
* Defenders: Volodymyr Lozynskyi (34 / 2), Anatoliy Konkov (31), Sergei Baltacha (29), Anatoliy Demyanenko (29 / 2), Oleksandr Boyko (22), Oleksandr Sorokalet (10 / 1), Serhiy Zhuravlyov (5), Viktor Kaplun (5), Yuriy Makhynya (3).
* Midfielders: Andriy Bal (30 / 3), Leonid Buryak (29 / 9), Volodymyr Bezsonov (25 / 2), Volodymyr Veremeyev (24 / 4), Yaroslav Dumanskyi (12), Viktor Kolotov (4), Vasyl Rats (2).
* Forwards: Vadym Yevtushenko (31 / 8), Oleg Blokhin (29 / 19), Viktor Khlus (28 / 8), Aleksandr Khapsalis (21), Stepan Yurchyshyn (1).
* Manager: Valeriy Lobanovskyi.
* Transferred out during the season: .
* 2. FC Spartak Moscow
* Goalkeepers: Rinat Dasayev (34), Aleksei Prudnikov (1).
* Defenders: Vladimir Sochnov (32 / 1), Viktor Samokhin (27 / 1), Oleg Romantsev (25), Alexander Mirzoyan (22), Gennady Morozov (14), Gocha Machaidze (1).
* Midfielders: Sergey Shavlo (34 / 8), Fyodor Cherenkov (32 / 4), Sergei Shvetsov (25 / 5), Yevgeni Sidorov (21), Boris Pozdnyakov (14), Manuchar Machaidze (2).
* Forwards: Yuri Gavrilov (33 / 21), Edgar Gess (33 / 11), Aleksandr Kalashnikov (32 / 9), Sergey Rodionov (29 / 9), Vladimir Safronenko (12 / 1), Sergei Krestenenko (9), Sergei Argudyayev (2).
* Manager: Konstantin Beskov.
* Transferred out during the season: .
* 3. FC Dinamo Tbilisi
* Goalkeepers: Otar Gabelia (31), Karlo Mchedlidze (5).
* Defenders: Nodar Khizanishvili (30), Tengiz Sulakvelidze (29 / 4), Giorgi Tavadze (28 / 1), Aleksandre Chivadze (28 / 2), Shota Khinchagashvili (19), Tamaz Kostava (15), David Mudzhiri (13), Amiran Andguladze (9), Levan Melikia (7), Giorgi Chilaia (4).
* Midfielders: Vitaly Daraselia (33 / 2), Zaur Svanadze (33 / 2), Nugzar Kakilashvili (25 / 5), Gocha Dzhohadze (7 / 1), Amiran Minashvili (1).
* Forwards: Vladimir Gutsaev (33 / 3), Ramaz Shengelia (31 / 23), Vazha Zhvania (19 / 4), David Kipiani (18 / 8), Revaz Chelebadze (6 / 3), Grigol Tsaava (5).
* Manager: Nodar Akhalkatsi.
* Transferred out during the season: .