1963 Soviet Class B
The 1963 Soviet Football Championship (Class B) was the thirteenth season since creation of Class B in 1950 in place of the Vtoraya Gruppa. At the same time, in 1963 the Class B tournament was shifted one tier down in the Soviet league system. In this way the third level competitions were revived for the first time since 1937. The structure of the tournament was preserved having separate competitions for Russia, Ukraine, and other Soviet republics. Russian SFSR. The Russian Republican competition consisted of five zones of 20 clubs. The top two teams from each zone  advanced to semi-final stage composed of two groups with five teams in each. The top two teams from those two groups advanced to final stage with a single group of four. The winner Volga Kalinin was promoted. Ukrainian SSR. The Ukrainian Republican competition consisted of two zones of 20 clubs. Upon conclusion of the league format each club qualified for a playoff with another club that placed the same place in the other group. The pair of the first placed clubs was sort of a republican championship playoff. The playoffs consisted of two legs - home and away. Note teams  were relegated or withdrawn and only one was promoted to the Subgroup A (the First League). Play-offs. Each team played against the same ranking team from the other zone. Only the two top pairs that really mattered concerning promotion are listed next. No teams were relegated. SKA Odessa obtained the promotion from the Ukraine zone. They were classified as the Republican champions and were promoted to the Inter-Republican level, the Class A. Soviet Republics. Promoted Lokomotiv Tbilisi and Dynamo Tallinn.