Soviet First League

Soviet First League

Country	Soviet Union
Founded	1936
Folded	1991 after 52 seasons
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	Soviet Top League
Relegation to	Soviet Second League
Last champions	FC Rotor Volgograd (1)
Most championships	FC Krylya Sovetov Samara (5)

The Soviet First League was the second highest division of Soviet football, below the Soviet Top League. The division lasted from the inception of Soviet league football in 1936 to the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.

Overview

It has been known as Group B, Group 2, Class B, and Class A, group 2 before being renamed First League in 1971. The number of teams playing at this level fluctuated significantly during the history of Soviet football. In 1940s-1970s the league frequently consisted of several groups. The group winners qualified for the final tournament.

• 1936-1940 Group B (no competition in 1938)
• 1945-1949 Second Group
• 1950-1962 Class B
• 1963-1970 Second Group (Class A)
• 1971-1991 First League

One unusual feature of the league was one that have taken place before 1989. The Soviet Football Union tried to eliminate the growing amount of drawn games, thus, intensify the competition. The participated clubs were receiving a point for each drawn game, but the amount of all their drawn games could not exceed a third of all their games played. After that they received no points for any further draws that they earned. In 1987, for example, FC Fakel Voronezh was relegated by being short of a point having received no points for their two extra drawn games.

The season's best

The teams that either won its group or participated in play-offs are included as well. All seasons are double-round robin unless otherwise indicated in "Notes".

Season	Winner	Runners-up	Notes
1936 (spring)	Dinamo Tiflis	ZIS Moscow Stalinets Leningrad
1936 (autumn)	Serp i Molot Moscow	Temp Baku Stalinets Moscow
1937	Spartak Leningrad	FC Dynamo Rostov/Don Temp Baku
1938			not held, part of the Super League
1939	Krylya Sovetov Moscow	Lokomotivi Tbilisi FC Dynamo Rostov/Don	single round robin
1940	Krasnaya Zarya Leningrad	FC Spartak Leningrad Stroitel Yuga Baku
1941-44			no competition due to World War II
1945	Krylya Sovetov Kuybyshev	VVS Moscow FC Moscow Military District	single round robin
1946	VVS Moscow	FC Pischevik Moscow	Final VVS-Pischevik 3:2 1:0
1947	Lokomotiv Moscow	Torpedo Gorkiy Lokomotyv Kharkiv	final between winners of six groups
1948	Lokomotyv Kharkiv	Metallurg Moscow Dynamo Yerevan	final between winners of six groups
1949	Spartak Tbilisi	Kalinin Kaliningrad Kharchovyk Odessa	final between winners of six groups
1950	VMS Moscow	Torpedo Gorkiy Spartak Vilnius
1951	Kalinin	Dinamo Minsk Lokomotiv Moscow
1952	Lokomotyv Kharkiv	Spartak Vilnius DO Tbilisi	three preliminary groups
1953	Dynamo Minsk	Torpedo Gorkiy Shakhtar Stalino	three preliminary groups
1954	Shakhtar Stalino	Spartak Vilnius Neftchi Baku	three groups
1955	Burevestnik Chisinau ODO Sverdlovsk	Spartak Kalinin Spartak Yerevan	two groups, no final
1956	Spartak Minsk Krylya Sovetov Kuybyshev	Torpedo Taganrog ODO Tbilisi	two groups, no final
1957	Avangard Leningrad	Spartak Stanislawow SK Military District Tbilisi	four groups
1958	SK Military District Rostov-na-Donu	SK Military District Sverdlovsk SK Black-Sea Fleet Sevastopol	final between winners of six groups
1959	Admiralteets Leningrad	Trudovye Reservy Leningrad[1] Trud Voronezh	seven group winners; final final between winners of four selected groups
1960	Trud Voronezh (RSFSR) Metalurh Zaporizhzhya (UkrSSR) Torpedo Kutaisi (other republics)	FC Irtysh Omsk Sudobudivnyk Mykolaiv Lokomotivi Tbilisi	nine groups, three final groups
1961	Krylya Sovetov Kuybyshev (RSFSR) Chornomorets Odessa (UkrSSR) Torpedo Kutaisi[2] (other republics)	Terek Grozny SCA Odessa Lokomotivi Tbilisi	ten groups, three final groups
1962	Spartak Krasnodar (RSFSR) Trudovye Rezervy Lugansk (UkrSSR) Shakhtyor Karaganda (other republics)	Trud Voronezh Chornomorets Odessa Lokomotiv Gomel	ten groups, three final groups
1963	Shinnik Yaroslavl	Torpedo Gorkiy Trud Voronezh
1964	Lokomotiv Moscow	SCA Odessa Pakhtakor Tashkent	two preliminary groups
1965	Ararat Yerevan	Kairat Alma-Aty Avanhard Kharkiv	two preliminary groups
1966	Zorya Luhansk	Žalgiris Vilnius Politotdel Tashkent	three groups
1967	Dynamo Kirovabad	Shakhtar Karaganda SCA Kyiv	three groups
1968	Uralmash Sverdlovsk	Karpaty Lviv Irtysh Omsk	four groups
1969	Spartak Ordzhonikidze	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk SKA Khabarovsk	five groups
1970	Karpaty Lviv	Kairat Alma-Aty Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
1971	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Lokomotiv Moscow Chornomorets Odessa
1972	Pakhtakor Tashkent	Shakhtar Donetsk FC Chornomorets Odessa
1973	Chornomorets Odessa	Nistru Kishenev Lokomotiv Moscow
1974	Lokomotiv Moscow	SKA Rostov/Donu Dinamo Minsk
1975	Krylya Sovetov Kuybyshev	Dinamo Minsk Torpedo Kutaisi
1976	Kairat Almaty	Neftchi Baku Pakhtakor Tashkent
1977	Spartak Moscow	Pakhtakor Tashkent Tavriya Simferopol
1978	Krylya Sovetov Kuybyshev	SKA Rostov/Donu Dinamo Minsk
1979	Karpaty Lviv	Kuban Krasnodar Pamir Dushanbe
1980	Tavriya Simferopol	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Metalist Kharkiv
1981	Metalist Kharkiv	Torpedo Kutaisi Lokomotiv Moscow
1982	Žalgiris Vilnius	Nistru Kishenev Kolos Nikopol
1983	Kairat Almaty	SKA Rostov/Donu Fakel Voronezh
1984	Fakel Voronezh	Torpedo Kutaisi SKA Karpaty Lviv
1985	Daugava Rīga	CSKA Moscow SKA Karpaty Lviv	two preliminary groups, two final groups
1986	CSKA Moscow	Guria Lanchkhuti Daugava Rīga
1987	Chornomorets Odessa	Lokomotiv Moscow Daugava Rīga
1988	Pamir Dushanbe	Rotor Volgograd CSKA Moscow
1989[3]	CSKA Moscow	Guria Lanchkhuti Kairat Alma-Aty
1990[4]	Spartak Vladikavkaz	Pakhtakor Tashkent Metalurh Zaporizhia
1991	Rotor Volgograd	Tiligul Tiraspol Uralmash Yekaterinburg	Last season. Russian SFSR clubs form new Russian Top Division with compatriot clubs from Soviet Top League, and other SSR clubs do the same.

References

1. Trudovye Reservy were replacing Dynamo Leningrad for several season. Later Dynamo was reinstated in their place.
2. Torpedo was the winner of one of the two groups. Lokomotivi won the other. No final between them is recorded.
3. After 1989 season teams from Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) and Georgia withdrew from the Soviet competitions. Only the two pro-Soviet, pro-Russian teams: Pardaugava (Riga) and Dinamo Sukhumi continued to participate.
4. Four teams were promoted due to withdrawal of several teams prior to this season. The fourth team was Lokomotiv Moscow.

• "USSR First League". KLISF. Retrieved 2006-06-09.