1991 Soviet Top League

The 1991 Soviet Top League season (Russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу 1991 (высшая лига)) was 22nd in the Top League and the 54th since the establishment of nationwide club competition, also the last one. Dynamo Kyiv were the defending 13-times champions and came fifth this season. A total of sixteen teams participated in the league, twelve of them have contested in the 1990 season while the remaining four were promoted from the Soviet First League due to withdrawals. The representatives of the Baltic states as well as Georgia chose not to take part in the competition.

Soviet Top League
Season1991
Dates10 March – 2 November 1991
ChampionsCSKA Moscow
(7th title)
Relegatednone (7 clubs withdrew)
Champions LeagueCSKA Moscow (for Russia)
Cup Winners' CupSpartak Moscow (for Russia)
UEFA CupDynamo Moscow
Torpedo Moscow
(for Russia)
Top goalscorer(18) Igor Kolyvanov (Dynamo Moscow)
Biggest home winSpartak – Dynamo M. 7–1 (26th)
Biggest away winDynamo M. – Torpedo 1–4 (18th)
Metalurh – Chornomorets 1–4 (16th)
Highest scoringSpartak – Dynamo M. 7–1 (26th)
Dynamo M. – Dnipro 6–2 (28th)
← 1990
1992 →

The season began on 10 March and lasted until 2 November 1991. The season was won by PFC CSKA Moscow that returned to the top league prior to the last season while winning the Soviet Cup competition as well. The season's culmination occurred in its final rounds, when the army team managed to overtake Spartak, while with four rounds left in the season, Spartak was leading the table a point ahead of CSKA and a recent thrashing of Dynamo Moscow 7 to 1.

Due to participants withdrawal in the preceding season four new teams entered the league. Upon the conclusion of the season no clubs were relegated and 12 out of its 16 participants formed a base for either the Russian or the Ukrainian competitions, while other four participants joined their own newly formed national leagues. If the Soviet Union had remained intact, Metalist Kharkiv and Lokomotiv Moscow would have been relegated to the Soviet First League for the next season, while FC Rotor Volgograd and FC Tiligul Tiraspol would have been promoted to the Top League for 1992.

The top six clubs of the league later entered European competitions for their respective nations. The Ukrainian clubs chose to qualify through a separate national competition.

Participating teams

The league was expanded to 16 after the last season, during which number of clubs left the Soviet competitions (from Georgia and Baltic states). The last-placed FC Rotor Volgograd of the 1990 Soviet Top League lost promotion/relegation playoff to Lokomotiv Moscow and was relegated to the 1991 Soviet First League. Rotor Volgograd returned to the Soviet First League after two seasons absence, while at the same time Lokomotiv Moscow returned to the Soviet Top League after only a one-season absence.

Beside the fourth placed Lokomotiv three more teams were promoted and included the champion (FC Spartak Vladikavkaz) and the runners-up of the 1990 Soviet First League (FC Pakhtakor Tashkent and FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia).

Locations
Location of teams in the 1991 Soviet Top League.

Stadiums
Stadium Team Opened Capacity Notes
Republican Stadium, Kyiv Dynamo Kyiv 1923 100,062
Olympic Stadium Luzhniki, Moscow Spartak Moscow 1956 81,000
CSKA
Central Stadium Dynamo, Moscow Dynamo Moscow 1928 71,430
Central Stadium Hrazdan, Yerevan Ararat 1970 70,000
BSS Central Stadium, Odesa Chornomorets 1935 55,000
Central Stadium Pakhtakor, Tashkent Pakhtakor 1956 55,000
OSC Metalist, Kharkiv Metalist 1926 42,000
Dinamo Stadium, Minsk Dinamo Minsk 1934 40,000
Meteor Stadium, Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro 1966 40,000
Republican Stadium Spartak, Vladikavkaz Spartak Vladikavkaz 1962 32,464
Central Stadium Shakhtar, Donetsk Shakhtar 1936 31,718
Central Stadium Lokomotiv, Moscow Lokomotiv 1966 30,000
SC Olimpiyskiy, Moscow Dynamo Moscow 1980 22,000 used in round 2nd
Frunze Republican Stadium, Dushanbe Pamir 1946 21,400
Torpedo Stadium, Moscow Torpedo 1959 16,000
CSKA used in round 29th
Abovyan City Stadium, Abovyan Ararat 1966 5,500 used in rounds 19th, 22nd, 23rd
LFK CSKA, Moscow CSKA 1979 4,000 used in rounds 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th
Spartak Moscow used in round 3rd
Dynamo Moscow used in rounds 1st, 5th, 6th
Lokomotiv used in round 4th
Central Stadium Metalurh, Zaporizhzhia Metalurh 1938  ?

Managers
ClubHead coach
PFC CSKA MoscowPavel Sadyrin
FC Spartak MoscowOleg Romantsev
FC Torpedo MoscowValentin Ivanov (until September)
Yevgeni Skomorokhov (from September)
FC Chornomorets OdesaViktor Prokopenko
FC Dynamo KyivAnatoliy Puzach
FC Dynamo MoscowSemen Altman (until March)
Valery Gazzaev (from April)
FC Dinamo MinskEduard Malofeyev (until April)
Mikhail Vergeyenko (from April)
FC Ararat YerevanArmen Sarkisyan
FC Dnipro DnipropetrovskYevhen Kucherevskyi
FC Pamir DushanbeSharif Nazarov
FC Spartak VladikavkazValery Gazzaev (until March)
Nikolai Khudiyev (April to July)
Ruslan Khadartsev (from July)
FC Shakhtar DonetskValeriy Yaremchenko
FC Metalurh ZaporizhzhiaIhor Nadein
FC Pakhtakor TashkentFyodor Novikov (until June)
Ahrol Inoyatov (from July to October)
Alexander Tarkhanov (from November)
FC Metalist KharkivLeonid Tkachenko
FC Lokomotiv MoscowValeri Filatov

Final standings

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic CSKA Moscow (C) 30 17 9 4 57 32 +25 43 Qualification for Champions League first round
2 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Spartak Moscow 30 17 7 6 57 30 +27 41 Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round
3 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Torpedo Moscow 30 13 10 7 36 20 +16 36 Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
4 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Chornomorets 30 10 16 4 39 24 +15 36 Withdrew from the league
5 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Dynamo Kyiv 30 13 9 8 43 34 +9 35
6 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Dynamo Moscow 30 12 7 11 43 42 +1 31 Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
7 Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic Ararat 30 11 7 12 29 36 −7 29 Withdrew from the league
8 Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic Dinamo Minsk 30 9 11 10 29 31 −2 29
9 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Dnipro 30 9 10 11 31 36 −5 28 Withdrew from the league
10 Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic Pamir Dushanbe 30 7 13 10 28 32 −4 27
11 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Spartak Vladikavkaz 30 9 8 13 33 41 −8 26
12 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Shakhtar Donetsk 30 6 14 10 33 41 −8 26 Withdrew from the league
13 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Metalurh Zaporizhzhia 30 9 7 14 27 38 −11 25[lower-alpha 1]
14 Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic Pakhtakor Tashkent 30 9 7 14 37 45 −8 25[lower-alpha 1]
15 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Metalist Kharkiv[lower-alpha 2] 30 8 9 13 32 43 −11 25 Withdrew from the league
16 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Lokomotiv Moscow 30 5 8 17 18 47 −29 18 Avoided relegation
Source: footbook.ru footballfacts.ru
Rules for classification: 1) Total points (If two or more teams have equal points for the first place, the winner is determined by additional single round-robin play-off on condition and place determined by the Federation); 2) Total wins; 3) Head-to-head results (3.1. points 3.2. goal difference 3.3. goal scored); 4) Total goal difference; 5) Total games scored; 6) Draw lots[1]
(C) Champions
Notes:
  1. Metallurg received more head-to-head points against Pakhtakor.
  2. Metallist placed last in total wins tie-breaker to Metallurg and Pakhtakor.
  • Immediately following this season, initially only Ukrainian-based teams officially informed the Football Federation of the Soviet Union about their withdrawal and participation in own national competitions. Just before organization of the next season, the Football Federation of the Soviet Union discovered that Armenian Ararat has no intentions to continue its participation either.

Results
Home \ Away ARA CHO CSK DNE DYK DMN DMO LOK MKH MZA PAK PAM SHA SPA SPV TOR
Ararat Yerevan 0–0 0–1 1–0 1–1 1–0 1–1 1–0 2–1 2–0 2–1 2–1 2–1 2–1 2–0 0–0
Chornomorets Odesa 5–0 1–1 0–0 0–1 1–1 3–0 1–0 0–0 3–0 2–0 1–0 1–1 1–1 1–3 2–1
CSKA Moscow 2–1 4–3 1–0 0–0 3–1 1–0 5–1 4–0 4–0 3–1 2–1 3–4 0–1 2–1 3–1
Dnipro 1–0 1–1 2–2 1–1 1–1 1–0 2–0 3–0 1–0 1–3 1–2 3–1 0–2 1–1 0–0
Dynamo Kyiv 4–3 0–1 2–2 2–0 3–1 2–1 2–0 1–1 1–0 3–3 2–0 0–0 2–3 2–1 1–3
Dinamo Minsk 0–0 0–0 0–1 4–1 2–2 1–0 1–0 0–0 2–0 2–1 2–2 3–0 1–0 0–1 0–0
Dynamo Moscow 1–0 1–1 1–2 6–2 1–0 1–1 6–1 2–1 1–1 3–1 0–0 1–1 1–1 3–1 1–4
Lokomotiv Moscow 0–0 0–0 1–3 0–2 1–2 2–0 1–0 0–0 2–0 2–1 2–0 0–0 0–2 1–2 0–2
Metalist Kharkiv 0–1 3–1 3–2 1–1 0–2 0–0 0–1 3–1 3–1 3–1 0–0 2–2 1–3 2–0 0–2
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia 1–1 1–4 0–0 3–2 2–1 2–1 2–0 3–0 0–1 3–0 2–0 0–0 2–1 2–0 0–0
Pakhtakor Tashkent 3–1 0–0 0–0 1–2 2–0 1–1 1–2 1–0 4–2 0–0 2–2 4–1 1–0 2–0 1–1
Pamir Dushanbe 2–1 1–1 2–2 0–0 2–1 2–1 2–1 0–0 2–2 3–0 0–1 0–0 2–2 2–0 0–0
Shakhtar Donetsk 2–0 2–2 1–1 0–1 1–2 2–0 2–3 0–0 2–3 1–0 2–1 0–0 1–1 2–0 2–2
Spartak Moscow 3–2 1–1 2–0 1–0 0–2 4–0 7–1 1–1 2–0 2–1 4–0 1–0 3–1 2–1 1–2
Spartak Vladikavkaz 2–0 1–2 1–1 1–1 1–1 0–2 1–2 2–2 1–0 2–1 2–0 2–0 1–1 3–3 1–0
Torpedo Moscow 2–0 0–0 1–2 1–0 1–0 0–1 0–2 5–0 2–0 0–0 1–0 1–0 2–0 1–2 1–1
Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Number of teams by union republic
Rank Union republic Number of teams Club(s)
1  RSFSR 6 CSKA Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Spartak Vladikavkaz, Torpedo Moscow
 Ukrainian SSR Chornomorets Odesa, Dynamo Kyiv, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Metalist Kharkiv, Metalurh Zaporizhzhia, Shakhtar Donetsk
3  Armenian SSR 1 Ararat Yerevan
 Belarusian SSR Dinamo Minsk
 Tajik SSR Pamir Dushanbe
 Uzbek SSR Pakhtakor Tashkent

Top scorers
18 goals
14 goals
13 goals
12 goals
10 goals
9 goals

Clean sheets

14 matches
11 matches
10 matches
9 matches
8 matches

Awards
PrizeFounderLaureate
Footballer of the YearFootball weeklyIgor Kolyvanov
Goalkeeper of the YearOgoniok magazineValeri Sarychev
Top Scorernewspaper LaborIgor Kolyvanov
Knight of AttackSoviet Warrior magazineIgor Kolyvanov
Top RookieSport Games magazineValeriy Velichko
With Two SquadsFootball FederationSpartak Moscow
Grigory Fedotov MemorialCSKA MoscowSpartak Moscow
Fair PlayPerson and Law magazineChornomorets Odesa
Large ScoreFootball weeklyChornomorets Odesa
Will to Winnewspaper Sovetskaya RossiyaPamir Dushanbe
Best Difference of AggregatesStart magazineSpartak Moscow
Aggressive Visitornewspaper Komsomol's BannerCSKA Moscow
Danger of the BestSport Moscow weeklyChornomorets Odesa
Progress Cupnewspaper Labor NewspaperChornomrets Odesa
First Heightnewspaper Socialist IndustryCSKA Moscow

Medal squads

(league appearances and goals listed in brackets)

1. PFC CSKA Moscow[2]

Goalkeepers: Mikhail Yeremin (15 / -14), Dmitri Kharine (11 / -8), Aleksandr Guteyev (6 / -10).
Defenders: Sergei Kolotovkin (25 / 1), Sergei Fokin (25 / 1), Dmitri Galiamin (21 / 2), Dmitri Bystrov (21), Oleg Malyukov (19), Vasili Ivanov (15), Valeri Minko (8), Viktor Yanushevsky (8), Mikhail Sinyov (1).
Midfielders: Valeri Broshin (30 / 4), Dmitri Kuznetsov (29 / 12), Igor Korneev (29 / 10), Mikhail Kolesnikov (28 / 2), Vladimir Tatarchuk (24 / 5), Aleksandr Grishin (5), Dmitri Karsakov (1), Lev Matveyev (1).
Forwards: Oleg Sergeyev (30 / 9), Valeri Masalitin (18 / 7), Sergey Dmitriev (16 / 4), Ilshat Faizulin (3).

Manager: Pavel Sadyrin.

Transferred in during the season: Dmitri Kharine (from Dynamo Moscow), Lev Matveyev (from Zvezda Perm), Sergey Dmitriev (from Spain Xerez CD), Viktor Yanushevsky (from Germany Tennis Borussia).

Transferred out during the season: Mikhail Yeremin (deceased), Dmitri Karsakov (to FC KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny), Dmitri Galiamin, Dmitri Kuznetsov, Igor Korneev (all to Spain Espanyol), Vladimir Tatarchuk (to Czech Republic Slavia Prague), Valeri Broshin (to Finland Kuopion Palloseura), Sergei Fokin (to Finland HJK Helsinki), Sergey Dmitriev (to Austria Stahl Linz).

2. FC Spartak Moscow

Goalkeepers: Stanislav Cherchesov (30 / -30).
Defenders: Dmitri Popov (30 / 5), Vasili Kulkov (22 / 1), Andrei Mokh (20 / 1), Dmitri Khlestov (14), Boris Pozdnyakov (10), Yevgeni Bushmanov (8 / 1), Dmitri Ananko (7), Dmitri Gradilenko (6), Sergei Bazulev (4), Sergei Chudin (1).
Midfielders: Hennadiy Perepadenko (28 / 5), Valery Karpin (28 / 3), Aleksandr Mostovoi (27 / 13), Andrei Ivanov (23), Igor Shalimov (22 / 5), Fyodor Cherenkov (22 / 3), Oleg Ivanov (14), Valeri Popovitch (6), Igor Kozlov (2), Oleg Imrekov (1), Aleksandr Karatayev (1), Serhiy Perepadenko (1).
Forwards: Dmitri Radchenko (29 / 13), Valeri Shmarov (19 / 6).

One own goal scored by Viktor Vasilyev (FC Spartak Vladikavkaz).

Manager: Oleg Romantsev.

Transferred in during the season: Andrei Mokh (from Dynamo Moscow), Dmitri Radchenko (from Zenit Leningrad), Igor Kozlov (from CSKA Moscow), Fyodor Cherenkov (from France Red Star).

Transferred out during the season: Igor Shalimov (to Italy Foggia), Vasili Kulkov, Aleksandr Mostovoi (both to Portugal Benfica), Valeri Shmarov (to Germany Karlsruher SC), Boris Pozdnyakov, Oleg Imrekov (both to Austria FC Stahl Linz), Sergei Bazulev (to Finland OLS), Andrei Mokh (to Spain Espanyol), Hennadiy Perepadenko (to Israel Hapoel Tzafririm).

3. FC Torpedo Moscow

Goalkeepers: Valeri Sarychev (17 / -12), Aleksandr Podshivalov (14 / -8).
Defenders: Andrei Afanasyev (27 / 1), Aleksei Yushkov (24 / 5), Aleksandr Polukarov (19 / 1), Mikhail Solovyov (17), Maksim Cheltsov (5).
Midfielders: Gennadi Grishin (29 / 7), Igor Chugainov (28 / 2), Sergei Shustikov (28 / 1), Sergey Agashkov (26 / 3), Andrei Kalaychev (23 / 2), Nikolai Savichev (21 / 3), Dmitri Ulyanov (16 / 1), Sergei Zhukov (9), Oleg Shirinbekov (8 / 1), Sergey Borisov (7), Vladimir Yeryomin (3), Aleksei Arefyev (1).
Forwards: Yuri Tishkov (24 / 8), Vadim Rogovskoy (14), Yuri Matveyev (12 / 1), Aleksandr Kuzmichyov (6), Andrei Talalayev (5), Aleksandr Gitselov (3).

Manager: Valentin Ivanov (until September), Yevgeni Skomorokhov (from September).

Transferred in during the season: Aleksandr Podshivalov (from Ararat Yerevan), Aleksei Yushkov, Yuri Matveyev (both from Uralmash Sverdlovsk), Igor Chugainov (from Lokomotiv Moscow), Vladimir Yeryomin (from Chornomorets Odesa).

Transferred out during the season: Aleksandr Polukarov (to Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C.), Vadim Rogovskoy (free agent), Oleg Shirinbekov (to Hungary Vasas SC), Vladimir Yeryomin (to FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia), Aleksei Yushkov (to Dynamo Moscow), Aleksandr Gitselov (to Poland Zagłębie Lubin), Sergei Zhukov, Aleksei Arefyev (both to Bangladesh Abahani Dhaka), Yuri Matveyev (to Uralmash Yekaterinburg), Aleksandr Kuzmichyov (to Lokomotiv Moscow).

See also

References
  1. "ФУТБОЛ - 1991. О ПРОВЕДЕНИЕ СОРЕВНОВАНИЙ. (Football – 1991. On conducting the competitions". Центральный стадион им. В.И.Ленина (Tsentralny Stadion imeni V.I.Lenina). Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  2. ЦСКА-1991. Последнее золото СССР. Как это было. www.championat.com. 27 October 2016
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