# 1990 Soviet Top League

The 1990 Soviet Top League season was the 53rd since its establishment. Spartak Moscow were the defending 12-times champions, but came only fifth this season and marginally qualified for continental competitions. The league was shortened and a total of fourteen teams participated. By the start of the season both Georgian teams had withdrawn followed by another withdrawal from Žalgiris at the start of competition. The league consisted of ten teams contested in the 1989 season and the Army club promoted from the Soviet First League. The representatives of the Baltic states as well as Georgia chose not to take part in the competition.
The season began on 1 March with the game between Dnipro and Rotor and lasted until 20 October 1990. The season was won by FC Dynamo Kyiv.

## Participating teams

The league was reduced to 13 after first Georgian clubs (Dinamo Tbilisi and Guria Lanchkhuti) and then Žalgiris withdrew from the Soviet Top League.
Lokomotiv Moscow and the last placed Zenit Leningrad of the 1989 Soviet Top League were relegated to the 1990 Soviet First League. Lokomotiv returned to the Soviet First League after two seasons absence, while Zenit was relegated for the first time since being promoted back in 1938 through the club's merger.
Originally two teams were promoted from the 1989 Soviet First League and included PFC CSKA Moscow and FC Guria Lanchkhuti. Just before the start of new season Georgian clubs and Žalgiris left the league.

### Promoted teams

* PFC CSKA Moscow – champion (returning after two seasons)
* FC Guria Lanchkhuti – 2nd place (returning after two seasons)

### Withdrawn teams

* FC Guria Lanchkhuti, joined the Georgian Top League (Umaglesi Liga)
* FC Dinamo Tbilisi, joined the Georgian Top League (Umaglesi Liga)
* FC Zalgiris Vilnius, joined the 1990 Baltic League

### Stadiums

| Stadium | Team | Opened | Capacity | Notes |
| Republican Stadium, Kyiv | Dynamo Kyiv | 1923 | 100,062 | |
| Olimpic Stadium Luzhniki, Moscow | Spartak | 1956 | 81,000 | |
| Olimpic Stadium Luzhniki, Moscow | CSKA | 1956 | 81,000 | |
| Central Stadium Dinamo, Moscow | Dinamo Moscow | 1928 | 71,430 | |
| Central Stadium Hrazdan, Yerevan | Ararat | 1970 | 70,000 | |
| BSS Central Stadium, Odesa | Chornomorets | 1935 | 55,000 | |
| OSC Metalist, Kharkiv | Metalist | 1926 | 42,000 | |
| Dinamo Stadium, Minsk | Dinamo Minsk | 1934 | 40,000 | |
| Meteor Stadium, Dnipropetrovsk | Dnipro | 1966 | 40,000 | |
| Central Stadium, Volgograd | Rotor | 1962 | 40,000 | |
| Central Stadium Shakhtar, Donetsk | Shakhtar | 1936 | 31,718 | |
| SC Olimpiyskiy, Moscow | Spartak | 1980 | 22,000 | used in round 3rd, 4th, 7th, 9th |
| Frunze Republican Stadium, Dushanbe | Pamir | 1946 | 21,400 | |
| Torpedo Stadium, Moscow | Torpedo | 1959 | 16,000 | |
| LFK CSKA, Moscow | CSKA | 1979 | 4,000 | used in rounds 1st, 2nd, 5th, 10th |
| LFK CSKA, Moscow | Dinamo Moscow | 1979 | 4,000 | used in rounds 1st, 2nd, 5th |

## Managers

| Club | Head coach |
| FC Dynamo Kyiv | Anatoliy Puzach |
| PFC CSKA Moscow | Pavel Sadyrin |
| FC Dynamo Moscow | Semen Altman |
| FC Torpedo Moscow | Valentin Ivanov |
| FC Spartak Moscow | Oleg Romantsev |
| FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | Yevhen Kucherevskyi |
| FC Ararat Yerevan | Armen Sarkisyan |
| FC Shakhtar Donetsk | Valeriy Yaremchenko |
| FC Chornomorets Odessa | Viktor Prokopenko |
| FC Pamir Dushanbe | Sharif Nazarov |
| FC Metalist Kharkiv | Leonid Tkachenko |
| FC Dinamo Minsk | Eduard Malofeyev |
| FC Rotor Volgograd | Vladimir Fayzulin |
| Žalgiris Vilnius | Benjaminas Zelkevičius |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Date of vacancy | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Rotor Volgograd | Aleksandr Sevidov | 31 May 1990 | Vladimir Fayzulin | 1 June 1990 |
| Dinamo Moscow | Anatoliy Byshovets | 31 July 1990 | Semen Altman | 1 August 1990 |
| Dinamo Kiev | Valeriy Lobanovskyi | 31 August 1990 | Anatoliy Puzach | 1 September 1990 |

## Final standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Dynamo Kyiv (C) | 24 | 14 | 6 | 4 | 44 | 20 | +24 | 34 | Qualification for European Cup first round |
| 2 | CSKA Moscow | 24 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 43 | 26 | +17 | 31 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 3 | Dinamo Moscow | 24 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 27 | 24 | +3 | 31 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Torpedo Moscow | 24 | 13 | 4 | 7 | 28 | 24 | +4 | 30 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Spartak Moscow | 24 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 39 | 26 | +13 | 29 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 6 | Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 24 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 39 | 26 | +13 | 28 | |
| 7 | Ararat Yerevan | 24 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 25 | 23 | +2 | 23 | |
| 8 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 24 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 23 | 31 | −8 | 22 | |
| 9 | Chornomorets Odesa | 24 | 8 | 3 | 13 | 23 | 29 | −6 | 19 | |
| 10 | Pamir Dushanbe | 24 | 7 | 4 | 13 | 26 | 34 | −8 | 18 | |
| 11 | Metalist Kharkiv | 24 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 13 | 28 | −15 | 18 | |
| 12 | Dinamo Minsk | 24 | 6 | 3 | 15 | 20 | 34 | −14 | 15 | |
| 13 | Rotor Volgograd (R) | 24 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 14 | 39 | −25 | 14 | Qualification for Relegation play-off |
| 14 | Žalgiris Vilnius (R) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew from the league |
* ↑ Guria and Dinamo Tbilisi never played any games in the league for the season and joined their national competition. Žalgiris joined the 1990 Baltic League which was a regional international competition.
* ↑ Žalgiris Vilnius withdrew from the championship after losing to Chornomorets 1–0 in Odesa. Žalgiris' record was 0 wins, 0 draws and 1 loss with 0-1 goal difference and later was annulled. As Žalgiris withdrew, its European berth was transferred to Chornomorets.

### Promotion/relegation play-off

(13th team of the Top League and 4th team of the First League)
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Lokomotiv Moscow | 3–2 | Rotor Volgograd | 3–1 | 0–1 |
Lokomotiv Moscow won the promotion on 3–2 aggregate

## Results

| Home \ Away | ARA | CHO | CSK | DNI | DMN | DYK | DYN | MKH | PAM | ROT | SHA | SPA | TOR |
| Ararat Yerevan | | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 0–1 |
| Chornomorets Odessa | 1–0 | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| CSKA Moscow | 0–1 | 2–0 | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 7–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 |
| Dnipro | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | | 3–1 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Dinamo Minsk | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | | 3–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 4–3 |
| Dynamo Moscow | 1–2 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Metalist Kharkiv | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Pamir Dushanbe | 3–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | | 1–0 | 2–1 | 5–1 | 0–1 |
| Rotor Volgograd | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | | 3–2 | 0–2 | 2–2 |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 | | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Spartak Moscow | 4–0 | 3–1 | 5–4 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 6–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | | 2–0 |
| Torpedo Moscow | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | |

## Top scorers
### 12 goals

* Oleg Protasov (Dynamo Kyiv)
* Valeri Shmarov (Spartak Moscow)

### 10 goals

* Eduard Son (Dnipro)

### 9 goals

* Mykola Kudrytsky (Dnipro)
* Aleksandr Mostovoi (Spartak Moscow)
* Mukhsin Mukhamadiev (Pamir)
* Sergei Yuran (Dynamo Kyiv)

### 8 goals

* Igor Korneev (CSKA Moscow)
* Valeri Masalitin (CSKA Moscow)
* Yuri Savichev (Torpedo Moscow)

## Clean sheets
### 11 matches

* Stanislav Cherchesov (Spartak Moscow)
* Aleksandr Podshivalov (Torpedo Moscow)

### 10 matches

* Valeri Sarychev (Torpedo Moscow)
* Aleksandr Uvarov (Dynamo Moscow)

### 9 matches

* Viktor Chanov (Dynamo Kyiv)

### 8 matches

* Viktor Hryshko (Chornomorets Odesa)

### 7 matches

* Mikhail Yeryomin (CSKA Moscow)
* Andriy Kovtun (Shakhtar Donetsk)

## Medal squads

(league appearances and goals listed in brackets)
* 1. FC Dynamo Kyiv
* Goalkeepers: Viktor Chanov (21), Aleksandr Zhidkov (4).
* Defenders: Serhiy Shmatovalenko (22 / 1), Oleh Kuznetsov (20 / 2), Akhrik Tsveiba (20), Serhiy Zayets (17 / 1), Anatoliy Demyanenko (15), Oleh Luzhnyi (12), Andriy Annenkov (8), Volodymyr Bezsonov (7 / 1), Andriy Bal (4), Borys Derkach (3 / 2), Andriy Aleksanenkov (3), Yuriy Moroz (3).
* Midfielders: Hennadiy Lytovchenko (24 / 6), Vasyl Rats (21 / 2), Ivan Yaremchuk (18 / 2), Serhiy Kovalets (11 / 2), Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko (8), Pavlo Yakovenko (6).
* Forwards: Oleg Salenko (21 / 4), Oleh Protasov (16 / 12), Sergei Yuran (13 / 9).
* Manager: Valeriy Lobanovskyi (until September), Anatoliy Puzach (from September).
* Transferred out during the season: Oleh Kuznetsov (to Rangers), Oleh Protasov (to Olympiacos), Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko (to Sampdoria).
* 2. PFC CSKA Moscow
* Goalkeepers: Mikhail Yeremin (15), Aleksandr Guteyev (6), Yuri Shishkin (4).
* Defenders: Dmitri Bystrov (23 / 1), Dmitri Galiamin (23), Sergei Fokin (21 / 1), Sergei Kolotovkin (20), Oleg Malyukov (16), Viktor Yanushevsky (12).
* Midfielders: Valeri Broshin (24 / 5), Dmitri Kuznetsov (22 / 5), Igor Korneev (21 / 8), Vladimir Tatarchuk (21 / 3), Mikhail Kolesnikov (18 / 2), Igor Kozlov (8), Sergei Krutov (2), Aleksandr Grishin (1).
* Forwards: Oleg Sergeyev (24 / 6), Sergey Dmitriev (21 / 4), Valeri Masalitin (9 / 8).
* Manager: Pavel Sadyrin.
* Transferred out during the season: none.
* 3. FC Dynamo Moscow
* Goalkeepers: Aleksandr Uvarov (20), Andrei Smetanin (3), Dmitri Kharine (1).
* Defenders: Andrei Chernyshov (22 / 2), Igor Sklyarov (21 / 1), Viktor Losev (20), Andrei Mokh (18 / 2), Yevgeni Smertin (18), Yevgeni Dolgov (16), Vyacheslav Tsaryov (10), Serhiy Protsyuk (9), Andrei Zhirov (2), Ravil Sabitov (2).
* Midfielders: Aleksei Sereda (23), Andrey Kobelev (21 / 4), Sergei Derkach (19 / 4), Igor Dobrovolski (15 / 4), Roman Pylypchuk (15 / 2), Aleksandr Zakharov (4), Aleksandr Smirnov (3), Aleksei Yeryomenko (2), Sergei Neyman (1).
* Forwards: Sergei Kiriakov (22 / 3), Igor Kolyvanov (19 / 5), Igor Simutenkov (1).
* Manager: Anatoli Byshovets (until July), Semen Altman (caretaker, from July).
* Transferred out during the season: Aleksandr Smirnov, Ravil Sabitov (both to FC Dinamo Sukhumi).

## Number of teams by union republic

| Rank | Union republic | Number of teams | Club(s) |
| 1 | RSFSR | 5 | CSKA Moscow, Dinamo Moscow, Rotor Volgograd, Spartak Moscow, Torpedo Moscow |
| 1 | Ukrainian SSR | 5 | Chernomorets Odessa, Dinamo Kiev, Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk, Metallist Kharkov, Shakhter Donetsk |
| 3 | Armenian SSR | 1 | Ararat Yerevan |
| 3 | Belarusian SSR | 1 | Dinamo Minsk |
| 3 | Tajik SSR | 1 | Pamir Dushanbe |
| 3 | Lithuanian SSR | 1 | Zhalgiris Vilnius |