# 1984 Soviet Top League

The 1984 Soviet Top League was the 15th season of the Soviet Top League and 47th since the start of the Soviet top-tier club competitions. It started on March 10 and continued until November 24.
Zenit Leningrad won their first league title, while the defending champion Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk finished third. The league was composed of 18 teams and draw limit was implemented this season of 10 games. There were only allowed two substitutions. Footballers who were on a team list for one team, during the season were not allowed to compete for another except for those who were demobilized from the Soviet Army (sic) and returned to their home club. Those athletes transferred during the season were not allowed to play against the team for which they played earlier.

## Teams
### Promoted teams

* FC Kairat Alma-Ata – champion (returning after a season)
* SKA Rostov-na-Donu – 2nd place (returning after two seasons)

### Location
## League standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Zenit Leningrad (C) | 34 | 19 | 9 | 6 | 60 | 32 | +28 | 47 | Qualification for European Cup first round |
| 2 | Spartak Moscow | 34 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 53 | 29 | +24 | 45 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 34 | 17 | 8 | 9 | 54 | 40 | +14 | 42 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Chornomorets Odessa | 34 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 49 | 38 | +11 | 41 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Dinamo Minsk | 34 | 15 | 13 | 6 | 43 | 28 | +15 | 40 | |
| 6 | Torpedo Moscow | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 43 | 36 | +7 | 40 | |
| 7 | Dinamo Tbilisi | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 36 | 41 | −5 | 36 | |
| 8 | Kairat Alma-Ata | 34 | 13 | 8 | 13 | 44 | 42 | +2 | 34 | |
| 9 | Žalgiris Vilnius | 34 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 30 | 38 | −8 | 34 | |
| 10 | Dynamo Kyiv | 34 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 46 | 30 | +16 | 34 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 11 | Ararat Yerevan | 34 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 46 | 50 | −4 | 31 | |
| 12 | Metalist Kharkiv | 34 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 42 | 53 | −11 | 29 | |
| 13 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 47 | 46 | +1 | 29 | |
| 14 | SKA Rostov-on-Don | 34 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 48 | 58 | −10 | 27 | |
| 15 | Neftchi Baku | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 30 | 50 | −20 | 26 | |
| 16 | Dynamo Moscow | 34 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 35 | 43 | −8 | 26 | |
| 17 | Pakhtakor Tashkent (R) | 34 | 10 | 5 | 19 | 37 | 58 | −21 | 25 | Relegation to First League |
| 18 | CSKA Moscow (R) | 34 | 5 | 9 | 20 | 24 | 55 | −31 | 19 | Relegation to First League |
* 1 2 3 points deducted (10 draw limit)
* 1 2 Dinamo Minsk wins head-to-head against Torpedo
* ↑ 1 point deducted (10 draw limit)
* 1 2 Žalgiris wins head-to-head against Dynamo Kyiv

## Results

| Home \ Away | ARA | CHO | CSK | DNI | DYK | DMN | DYN | DTB | KAI | MKH | NEF | PAK | SHA | SKA | SPA | TOR | ŽAL | ZEN |
| Ararat Yerevan | | 3–3 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 5–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 |
| Chornomorets Odessa | 2–1 | | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–3 |
| CSKA Moscow | 2–2 | 1–6 | | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 3–4 | 0–2 | 0–0 |
| Dnipro | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | | 1–3 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 6–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 7–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Dinamo Minsk | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | | 0–0 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 |
| Dynamo Moscow | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | | 0–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 2–3 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| Dinamo Tbilisi | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–3 |
| Kairat Alma-Ata | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 4–0 | | 1–0 | 2–0 | 6–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 |
| Metalist Kharkiv | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | | 4–0 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 |
| Neftçi Baku | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 |
| Pakhtakor Tashkent | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 1–4 |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 3–2 | | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 |
| SKA Rostov-on-Don | 1–2 | 2–2 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 3–2 | | 1–2 | 2–4 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Spartak Moscow | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–6 | | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–3 |
| Torpedo Moscow | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–4 | | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| Žalgiris Vilnius | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | | 1–0 |
| Zenit Leningrad | 6–4 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | |

## Top scorers
### 19 goals

* Sergey Andreyev (SKA Rostov-on-Don)

### 18 goals

* Hamlet Mkhitaryan (Ararat)

### 17 goals

* Oleh Protasov (Dnipro)
* Yuri Tarasov (Metalist)
* Yuri Zheludkov (Zenit)

### 14 goals

* Andrei Redkous (Torpedo Moscow)

### 13 goals

* Sergey Rodionov (Spartak Moscow)
* Sergei Stukashov (Kairat)

### 12 goals

* Georgi Kondratyev (Dinamo Minsk)
* Yevstafi Pekhlevanidi (Kairat)

## Medal squads

(league appearances and goals listed in brackets)
* 1. FC Zenit Leningrad
* Goalkeepers: Mikhail Biryukov (34).
* Defenders: Aleksei Stepanov (32 / 2), Sergei Vedeneyev (28 / 1), Anatoli Davydov (27 / 1), Vladimir Dolgopolov (27), Sergey Kuznetsov (22), Valeri Zolin (13), Nikolai Vorobyov (8), Gennadi Timofeyev (6).
* Midfielders: Valeri Broshin (32 / 4), Yuri Zheludkov (31 / 17), Arkadi Afanasyev (28 / 1), Vyacheslav Melnikov (21 / 3), Dmitri Barannik (19), Nikolay Larionov (9 / 2), Igor Komarov (5 / 2).
* Forwards: Sergey Dmitriev (30 / 8), Vladimir Klementyev (29 / 10), Boris Chukhlov (28 / 7), Yuri Gerasimov (7 / 1), Aleksandr Zakharikov (6).
* Manager: Pavel Sadyrin.
* Transferred out during the season: none.
* 2. FC Spartak Moscow
* Goalkeepers: Rinat Dasayev (34), Stanislav Cherchesov (2), Andrei Mikhalychev (1).
* Defenders: Vladimir Sochnov (33 / 2), Aleksandr Bubnov (33 / 1), Gennady Morozov (31), Boris Pozdnyakov (30 / 2), Sergei Bazulev (16), Sergei Shvetsov (11), Sergei Shulgin (3), Almir Kayumov (1).
* Midfielders: Yuri Gavrilov (34 / 8), Yevgeni Kuznetsov (34 / 5), Sergey Shavlo (32 / 5), Yevgeni Sidorov (26 / 4), Fyodor Cherenkov (25 / 8), Guram Adzhoyev (13 / 1), Valeri Gladilin (12 / 3), Oleksandr Baranov (2).
* Forwards: Sergey Rodionov (32 / 13), Mikhail Rusyayev (6 / 1), Jevgeņijs Miļevskis (6), Oleg Kuzhlev (5).
* Manager: Konstantin Beskov.
* Transferred out during the season: none.
* 3. FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
* Goalkeepers: Serhiy Krakovskyi (31 / 3), Viktor Konsevich (3).
* Defenders: Sergei Bashkirov (32), Serhiy Puchkov (29 / 2), Oleksandr Lysenko (28 / 2), Mykola Pavlov (19 / 1), Ivan Vyshnevskyi (17), Petro Kutuzov (17), Petro Chylibi (9), Andriy Bobrikov (1), Anatoliy Nazarenko (1), Oleksandr Chervonyi (1).
* Midfielders: Hennadiy Lytovchenko (33 / 7), Vyktor Kuznetsov (30 / 2), Andriy Dilay (30 / 1), Volodymyr Bahmut (25 / 2), Oleksiy Cherednyk (19 / 2), Oleh Serebryanskyi (13 / 2), Mykola Fedorenko (9), Serhiy Khudozhylov (3), Anatoli Zagrebayev (2), Volodymyr Ustymchyk (2).
* Forwards: Oleh Protasov (34 / 17), Volodymyr Lyutyi (30 / 8), Oleh Taran (20 / 7).
* One own goal scored by Yuri Lykov (FC SKA Rostov-on-Don).
* Manager: Volodymyr Yemets.
* Transferred out during the season: Volodymyr Ustymchyk (retired).

## Number of teams by union republic

| Rank | Union republic | Number of teams | Club(s) |
| 1 | RSFSR | 6 | CSKA Moscow, Dinamo Moscow, SKA Rostov-na-Donu, Spartak Moscow, Torpedo Moscow, Zenit Leningrad |
| 2 | Ukrainian SSR | 5 | Chernomorets Odessa, Dinamo Kiev, Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk, Metallist Kharkov, Shakhter Donetsk |
| 3 | Armenian SSR | 1 | Ararat Yerevan |
| 3 | Azerbaijan SSR | 1 | Neftchi Baku |
| 3 | Belarusian SSR | 1 | Dinamo Minsk |
| 3 | Georgian SSR | 1 | Dinamo Tbilisi |
| 3 | Kazakh SSR | 1 | Kairat Alma-Ata |
| 3 | Lithuanian SSR | 1 | Zhalgiris Vilnius |
| 3 | Uzbek SSR | 1 | Pakhtakor Tashkent |