Soviet Cup
The Soviet Cup, or USSR Cup (Russian: Кубок СССР),[lower-alpha 1] was the premier football cup competition in the Soviet Union conducted by the Football Federation of the Soviet Union. As a knockout tournament it was conducted parallel to the All-Union league competitions in double round-robin format.
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| Organising body | Football Federation of the USSR |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1936 |
| Abolished | 1992 |
| Region |  Soviet Union (UEFA) |
| Number of teams | 32 |
| Last champions | Spartak Moscow (10th title) |
| Most successful club(s) | Spartak Moscow (10 titles) |
The winner of the competition was awarded a qualification to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, unless it already qualified for the European Cup, in turn passed the qualification to the finalist. In case if a team would win the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and not win its national league cup titles next year, it qualified to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup along with the new cup holder. The first participation in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup took place in 1965–66 when Dynamo Kyiv qualified for the European competition for winning the 1964 Soviet Cup.
Format
Format of competitions was constantly changing. Until 1984 the Soviet Cup corresponded to the Soviet Top League calendar "spring"-"fall", however after that it changed to "fall"-"spring" calendar which is now the most popular in Europe. In 1959-1960 the competition was conducted for two years. From 1965 to 1968 seasons were overlapping each other. The 1992 Soviet Cup Final took place after the fall of the Soviet Union in the independent Russia.
All tournaments final were played in a single game in Moscow, but until introduction of penalty kicks as a tie-breaker some finals that ended in tie were replayed. Until 1955 the tournament finals were played at Central Stadium "Dynamo", after being transferred to Central Stadium of Lenin (today Luzhniki Stadium).
Finals
Overall statistics
Performance by club
| Club | Winners | Runners-Up | Semi-finalists | Years Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Spartak Moscow |
10 | 5 | 7 | 1938, 1939, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1958, 1963, 1965, 1971, 1992 |
 Dinamo Kiev |
9 | 1 | 4 | 1954, 1964, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1990 |
| Torpedo Moscow |
6 | 9 | 5 | 1949, 1952, 1960, 1968, 1972, 1986 |
| Dinamo Moscow |
6 | 5 | 10 | 1937, 1953, 1967, 1970, 1977, 1984 |
| CSKA Moscow |
5 | 3 | 11 | 1945, 1948, 1951, 1955, 1991 |
| Shakhter Donetsk |
4 | 4 | 6 | 1961, 1962, 1980, 1983 |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Dinamo Tbilisi |
2 | 6 | 7 | 1976, 1979 |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Ararat Yerevan |
2 | 2 | 2 | 1973, 1975 |
| Lokomotiv Moscow |
2 | 1 | 7 | 1936, 1957 |
| Zenit Leningrad |
1 | 2 | 7 | 1944 |
| SKA Rostov-na-Donu |
1 | 2 | 0 | 1981 |
| Metallist Kharkov |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1988 |
| Karpaty Lvov |
1 | 0 | 2 | 1969 |
| Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk |
1 | 0 | 5 | 1989 |
| Krylya Sovetov Kuibyshev |
0 | 2 | 2 | |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Dinamo Minsk |
0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Zaria Voroshilovgrad |
0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Elektrik Leningrad |
0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Kalinin city team |
0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Znamia Truda Orekhovo-Zuyevo |
0 | 1 | 0 | |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Pakhtakor Tashkent |
0 | 1 | 1 | |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Neftianik Baku |
0 | 0 | 4 | |
| Dinamo Leningrad |
0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Rotor Volgograd |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| VSS Moscow |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| SKA Kiev |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| SKA Odessa |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Admiralteyets Leningrad |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Qairat Almaty |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Chernomorets Odessa |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Sokol Saratov |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Sudostroitel Nikolayev |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Iskra Smolensk |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Tavriya Simferopol |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Žalgiris Vilnius |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Pamir Dushanbe |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Fakel Voronezh |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Total | 51 | 51 | 102 |
Performance by republic
| Republic | Winners | Runners-up | Semi-finals | Winning clubs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russian SFSR |
31 | 32 | 59 | Spartak Moscow (10), Dinamo Moscow (6), Torpedo Moscow (6), CSKA Moscow (5), Lokomotiv Moscow (2), Zenit Leningrad (1), SKA Rostov-na-Donu (1) |
| Ukrainian SSR |
16 | 8 | 24 | Dinamo Kiev (9), Shakhter Donetsk (4), Metallist Kharkov (1), Karpaty Lvov (1), Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk (1) |
| Georgian SSR |
2 | 6 | 7 | Dinamo Tbilisi (2) |
| Armenian SSR |
2 | 2 | 2 | Ararat Yerevan (2) |
| Byelorussian SSR |
0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Uzbek SSR |
0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Azerbaijan SSR |
0 | 0 | 4 | |
| Kazakh SSR |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Lithuanian SSR |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Tajik SSR |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Total | 51 | 51 | 102 |
Best coaches
| Place | Name | Medals | Champion clubs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| gold | silver | |||
| 1 | Viktor Maslov | 6 | 3 | Torpedo Moscow (3), Dynamo Kyiv (2), Ararat Yerevan (1) |
| 2 | Valeriy Lobanovsky | 6 | - | Dynamo Kyiv |
| 3 | Boris Arkadiev | 4 | 1 | CDKA Moscow (3), Lokomotiv Moscow (1) |
| Nikita Simonyan | 4 | 1 | Spartak Moscow (3), Ararat Yerevan (1) | |
| 5 | Oleg Oshenkov | 3 | 1 | Shakhtar Donetsk (2), Dynamo Kyiv (1) |
| 6 | Valentin Ivanov | 2 | 5 | Torpedo Moscow |
| 7 | Aleksandr Sevidov | 2 | 2 | Dynamo Moscow |
| 8-11 | Nodar Akhalkatsi | 2 | 1 | Dinamo Tbilisi |
| Konstantin Beskov | 2 | 1 | Dynamo Moscow | |
| Konstantin Kvashnin | 2 | 1 | Spartak Moscow, Torpedo Moscow | |
| Viktor Nosov | 2 | 1 | Shakhtar Donetsk | |
Another coach Albert Vollrat won two cups in 1946 and 1947.
Notes
- Ukrainian: Кубок СРСР, Belarusian: Кубак СССР, Uzbek: СССР Кубоги, Kazakh: КСРО Кубогы, Georgian: სსრკ თასი, Azerbaijani: ССРИ кубоку, Lithuanian: TSRS taurė, Romanian: Cupa URSS (Moldovan Cyrillic: Купа УРСС), Latvian: PSRS kauss, Armenian: ԽՍՀՄ Գավաթ, Estonian: NSVL Karikas.
External links
| National teams |
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| League system |
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| Domestic cups | |||||||||||
| Awards | |||||||||||
| Lists | |||||||||||
| Categories |
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