Soviet Top League

Soviet Top League
Высшая лига
Founded22 May 1936 (as Group A)
Folded1991
CountrySoviet Union
ConfederationUEFA
Divisions1
Number of clubsVarious
Level on pyramidLevel 1
Relegation toSoviet First League
Domestic cup(s)USSR Cup
USSR Super Cup (unofficial)
League cup(s)USSR Federation Cup
(1940–1990)
International cup(s)
Last championsCSKA Moscow
(1991)
Most championshipsDynamo Kyiv (13)
Most appearancesOleg Blokhin (432)
Top goalscorerOleg Blokhin (211)

The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (Russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу: Высшая лига, romanizedVyschaya Liga),[1] served as the top division (tier) of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The league's name was a conditional designation used for brevity since being completely owned and governed by the All-Union Committee of Physical Culture (an institution of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union). The winner of the competition was awarded the All-Union Committee banner. Created in 1936 the tier was originally known as "Gruppa A" and was one of four tiers that were part of the Soviet football championship.

From the very start to its eclipse, the top tier ran in conjunction with the 2nd tier for most of time allowing for participants exchange between tiers. In 1963 there was introduced a third tier. Starting from 1971 the full official name was the USSR Championship in football: Top League. An attempt to create an independent league as an autonomously governed business entity or organization during "perestroika" period was denied by the Federation due to political culture in the Soviet Union.

Please note that although the competition is considered professional, it should be remembered that there were no professional (or commercial) sports in the Communist state due to its political stance on that issue. The teams that played in the league were composed of players who officially, in fiscal books, were employed and paid by the state enterprises or agencies (such as SKA or Dynamo) that the teams represented. Also, players from the state agencies' teams, SKA or Dynamo, held a rank, captain, lieutenant, major etc. Also, the naming of teams was strictly controlled and had to be approved by the central government. Only after the death of Stalin, teams were allowed to have names associated with their geographic location, due to the Soviet political stance on the national issue. Also, officially teams represented so called "voluntary" sports societies, which is a political oxymoron considering organization of business in the Soviet Union (Voluntary Sports Societies of the Soviet Union).

Originally the top tier was named Group A. After World War II it became known as the First Group. In 1950, after another reform of football in the Soviet Union, the First Group was replaced with Class A. By 1970, the Class A had expanded to three tiers with the top tier known as the Higher Group (Top Group) which in 1971 was renamed into the Higher League (Top League). The winner of the competition was honored with a title "USSR Champion".

After the World War II, along with the competition among the first teams also there were conducted official competitions among reserve squads. It carried the name of "Tournament of the Doubles" (Turnir doublyorov). The reserve squads' competitions were running parallel to the first teams' competitions normally scheduled a day prior with relegation rule completely depended on the league standing of their respective first team.

The Top League was one of the best football leagues in Europe, ranking second among the UEFA members in the 1988–89 season. Three of its representatives reached the finals of the European club tournaments on four occasions: FC Dynamo Kyiv, FC Dinamo Tbilisi, and FC Dynamo Moscow (all in the European Cup Winners' Cup). In the same way Russia politically succeeded the Soviet Union, UEFA considers the Russian Premier League to have succeeded the Soviet Top League.[2][3]

  1. ^ Ukrainian: Вища ліга, romanizedVyshcha Liga; Belarusian: Вышэйшая ліга, romanizedVysheyshaya Liga
  2. ^ Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations from the President of the Russian Federation
  3. ^ Bühler, Konrad G. (2001). State Succession and Membership in International Organizations. Legal Aspects of International Organization Series. Vol. 38. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 158–64. ISBN 9789041115539.

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