1991 Soviet Top League
The 1991 Soviet Top League season was the 54th since its establishment and the last one. Dynamo Kyiv were the defending 13-times champions. 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.
Season | 1991 |
---|---|
Champions | CSKA Moscow |
Champions League | CSKA Moscow (for Russia) |
Cup Winners' Cup | Spartak Moscow (for Russia) |
UEFA Cup | Dynamo Moscow Torpedo Moscow (for Russia) |
Top goalscorer | (18) Igor Kolyvanov (Dynamo Moscow) |
Biggest home win | Spartak – Dynamo M. 7–1 (26th) |
Biggest away win | Dynamo M. – Torpedo 1–4 (18th) Metalurh – Chornomorets 1–4 (16th) |
Highest scoring | Spartak – Dynamo M. 7–1 (26th) Dynamo M. – Dnipro 6–2 (28th) |
← 1990 |
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. 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.
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 Volograd 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 Zaporizhia).
- FC Spartak Vladikavkaz – champions (returning for the first time since 1970 after 20 seasons absence)
- FC Pakhtakor Tashkent – 2nd place (returning after six seasons)
- FC Metalurh Zaporizhia – 3rd place (debut)
- FC Lokomotiv Moscow – promotion play-off (returning after a season)
Locations
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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, Zaporizhia | Metalurh | 1938 | ? |
Final standings
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
30 | 17 | 9 | 4 | 57 | 32 | +25 | 43 | Qualification for Champions League first round |
2 | ![]() |
30 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 57 | 30 | +27 | 41 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round |
3 | ![]() |
30 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 36 | 20 | +16 | 36 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
4 | ![]() |
30 | 10 | 16 | 4 | 39 | 24 | +15 | 36 | Withdrew from the league |
5 | ![]() |
30 | 13 | 9 | 8 | 43 | 34 | +9 | 35 | |
6 | ![]() |
30 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 43 | 42 | +1 | 31 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
7 | ![]() |
30 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 29 | 36 | −7 | 29 | Withdrew from the league |
8 | ![]() |
30 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 29 | 31 | −2 | 29 | |
9 | ![]() |
30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 31 | 36 | −5 | 28 | |
10 | ![]() |
30 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 28 | 32 | −4 | 27 | |
11 | ![]() |
30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 33 | 41 | −8 | 26 | |
12 | ![]() |
30 | 6 | 14 | 10 | 33 | 41 | −8 | 26 | Withdrew from the league |
13 | ![]() |
30 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 27 | 38 | −11 | 25 | |
14 | ![]() |
30 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 37 | 45 | −8 | 25 | |
15 | ![]() |
30 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 32 | 43 | −11 | 25 | |
16 | ![]() |
30 | 5 | 8 | 17 | 18 | 47 | −29 | 18 |
(C) Champion.
- After this season the league was reorganized as the Soviet Union fell apart. All of the non-Russia based participant teams went on to compete at the top national level of their native countries. The Russian Premier League became the direct successor of the Soviet Top League.
Under UEFA
Belarusian Premier League (Dinamo Minsk) Vyscha Liha (Chornomorets Odesa, Dynamo Kyiv, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Shakhtar Donetsk, Metalurh Zaporizhia, Metalist Kharkiv) Armenian Premier League (Ararat Yerevan)
Under AFC
Number of teams by union republic
Rank | Union republic | Number of teams | Club(s) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
6 | CSKA Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Spartak Vladikavkaz, Torpedo Moscow |
![]() |
Chornomorets Odesa, Dynamo Kyiv, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Metalist Kharkiv, Metalurh Zaporizhia, Shakhtar Donetsk | ||
3 | ![]() |
1 | Ararat Yerevan |
![]() |
Dinamo Minsk | ||
![]() |
Pamir Dushanbe | ||
![]() |
Pakhtakor Tashkent | ||
Top scorers
- 18 goals
- Igor Kolyvanov (Dynamo Moscow)
- 14 goals
- Oleg Salenko (Dynamo Kyiv)
- Igor Shkvyrin (Pakhtakor)
- 13 goals
- Aleksandr Mostovoi (Spartak Moscow)
- Dmitri Radchenko (Spartak Moscow)
- Nazim Suleymanov (Spartak Vladikavkaz)
- 12 goals
- Dmitri Kuznetsov (CSKA Moscow)
- 10 goals
- Igor Korneev (CSKA Moscow)
- Andrei Piatnitski (Pakhtakor)
- 9 goals
- Andrei Kobelev (Dynamo Moscow)
- Viktor Leonenko (Dynamo Moscow)
- Oleg Sergeyev (CSKA Moscow)
- Valeri Velichko (Dinamo Minsk)
Managers
Club | Head coach |
---|---|
PFC CSKA Moscow | Pavel Sadyrin |
FC Spartak Moscow | Oleg Romantsev |
FC Torpedo Moscow | Valentin Ivanov (until September) Yevgeni Skomorokhov (from September) |
FC Chornomorets Odessa | Viktor Prokopenko |
FC Dynamo Kyiv | Anatoliy Puzach |
FC Dynamo Moscow | Semen Altman (until March) Valery Gazzaev (from April) |
FC Dinamo Minsk | Eduard Malofeyev (until April) Mikhail Vergeyenko (from April) |
FC Ararat Yerevan | Armen Sarkisyan |
FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | Yevhen Kucherevskyi |
FC Pamir Dushanbe | Sharif Nazarov |
FC Spartak Vladikavkaz | Valery Gazzaev (until March) Nikolai Khudiyev (April to July) Ruslan Khadartsev (from July) |
FC Shakhtar Donetsk | Valeriy Yaremchenko |
FC Metalurh Zaporizhya | Ihor Nadein |
FC Pakhtakor Tashkent | Fyodor Novikov (until June) Alexander Tarkhanov (from November) |
FC Metalist Kharkiv | Leonid Tkachenko |
FC Lokomotiv Moscow | Valeri Filatov |
Awards
Prize | Founder | Laureate |
---|---|---|
Footballer of the Year | Football weekly | Igor Kolyvanov |
Goalkeeper of the Year | Ogoniok magazine | Valeri Sarychev |
Top Scorer | newspaper Labor | Igor Kolyvanov |
Knight of Attack | Soviet Warrior magazine | Igor Kolyvanov |
Top Rookie | Sport Games magazine | Valeriy Velichko |
With Two Squads | Football Federation | Spartak Moscow |
Grigory Fedotov Memorial | CSKA Moscow | Spartak Moscow |
Fair Play | Person and Law magazine | Chornomorets Odessa |
Large Score | Football weekly | Chornomorets Odessa |
Will to Win | newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya | Pamir Dushanbe |
Best Difference of Aggregates | Start magazine | Spartak Moscow |
Aggressive Visitor | newspaper Komsomol's Banner | CSKA Moscow |
Danger of the Best | Sport Moscow weekly | Chornomorets Odessa |
Progress Cup | newspaper Labor Newspaper | Chornomrets Odessa |
First Height | newspaper Socialist Industry | CSKA Moscow |
Medal squads
(league appearances and goals listed in brackets)
1. PFC CSKA Moscow |
Goalkeepers: Mikhail Yeremin (15 / -14), Dmitri Kharine (11 / -8), Aleksandr Guteyev (6 / -10). Manager: Pavel Sadyrin. Transferred in during the season: Dmitri Kharine (from Dynamo Moscow), Lev Matveyev (from Zvezda Perm), Sergey Dmitriev (from Transferred out during the season: Mikhail Yeremin (deceased), Dmitri Karsakov (to FC KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny), Dmitri Galiamin, Dmitri Kuznetsov, Igor Korneev (all to |
2. FC Spartak Moscow |
Goalkeepers: Stanislav Cherchesov (30 / -30). 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 Transferred out during the season: Igor Shalimov (to |
3. FC Torpedo Moscow |
Goalkeepers: Valeri Sarychev (17 / -12), Aleksandr Podshivalov (14 / -8). 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 Odessa). Transferred out during the season: Aleksandr Polukarov (to |
Managers and captains
Club | Republic | Coach | Replaced coach(es) |
---|---|---|---|
PFC CSKA Moscow | ![]() | Pavel Sadyrin | |
FC Dynamo Moscow | ![]() | Valeri Gazzayev | Semen Altman (acting) |
FC Lokomotiv Moscow | ![]() | Valeri Filatov | |
FC Spartak Moscow | ![]() | Oleg Romantsev | |
FC Spartak Vladikavkaz | ![]() | Nikolai Khudiyev | Valeri Gazzayev |
FC Torpedo Moscow | ![]() | Yevgeni Skomorokhov | Valentin Ivanov |
FC Chornomorets Odessa | ![]() | Viktor Prokopenko | |
FC Dynamo Kyiv | ![]() | Anatoli Puzach | |
FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | ![]() | Yevhen Kucherevskyi | |
FC Metalist Kharkiv | ![]() | Leonid Tkachenko | |
FC Metalurh Zaporizhia | ![]() | Ihor Nadein | |
FC Shakhtar Donetsk | ![]() | Valeri Yaremchenko | |
FC Ararat Yerevan | ![]() | Armenak Sarkisyan | |
FC Dinamo Minsk | ![]() | Mikhail Vergeyenko | Eduard Malofeyev |
FC Pakhtakor Tashkent | ![]() | Aleksandr Tarkhanov | Fyodor Novikov Akhrol Inoyatov |
FC Pamir Dushanbe | ![]() | Sharif Nazarov |
See also
External links
- (in Russian) KLISF. Soviet Top League 1991.
- 1991 Soviet Top League. FootballFacts.ru