Cups on the USSR football. The owners of the USSR Cup on football by year

The USSR Cup among football teams was held from 1936 to 1992. During this time, about fifty final and more than ten thousand matches of preliminary rounds were played. In total, about 300 professional clubs and 500 amateur groups took part in the tournament. In addition to the games of the highest league of the USSR, the football All-Union Cup was the most spectacular and popular sports competition among fans. The victory in this prestigious tournament was equated with the champion title.

Fundamentals of the Rules

Cups for the USSR football have always passed through a single set of rules. The only aspect that has undergone several changes has been the tournament grid.

Before the 1957 season in the Cup along with the teams of masters were amateur collectives of physical culture, which according to the results of the city or regional championship got the right to participate at the all-Union level. The draw of the tournament began with preliminary rounds. Representatives of the lower divisions and amateurs played in them. Closer to the final stage in the fight included members of the higher leagues. Strongest clubs of the Soviet Union started with the 1/16 finals.

Cups for the USSR were held on the Olympic system. Games were held at the start, that is, the losing teams automatically left the tournament. The winner of the confrontation was determined in one meeting. If it ended in a draw, then a replay was assigned to the opponent's field. Since the 1950s, the re-match allowed extra time and a penalty shootout. A similar system was taken as the basis and in the cup final. The replay of the decisive match was held only 3 times.

In the late 1970s, the regulations were modified. The preliminary stage of the cup passed along a circular system. The teams were divided according to area membership. In the final round, only clubs that took the first two places in their group came out.

Initially, the cup was held according to the "spring-autumn" scheme, that is, in one year. In the mid-1960s and after 1984, the tournament began in two stages. Preliminary rounds were played in the autumn of one year, and the final ones were played in the spring of another.

Absolutely all the final matches took place at the Moscow stadiums.

The First USSR Cup

In the debut of the tournament 94 teams took part. Of these, only 28 teams had the status of masters. The first USSR Cup began in July 1936.

The drawing started with 1/64 finals. At this stage, along with the amateurs took part such strong teams as "Dynamo" from Batumi, Dnepropetrovsk "Steel", as well as the best clubs of Sverdlovsk and Nikolaev. The strongest was the pair - "Wings of the Soviets" from Zaporozhye and Kharkov "Locomotive". To identify the winner in this tandem had to carry out immediately 2 replay. As a result, Kharkovites managed to achieve a major victory, going to the next round.

The first owner of the USSR Cup in football took part in the tournament only from the stage of the 1/32 finals. Moscow "Locomotive" throughout the entire grid of the competition showed outstanding results. In the early stages, such teams as Dynamo-Trudkommuna and Leningrad Spartak were heavily defeated. The most difficult at this stage was a match against the Kharkov "Dynamo". The game abounded with red cards (6 deletions). And the only goal was scored with a penalty by the leader of Muscovites Lavrov.

In the decisive rounds, a brilliant result was shown at once by several clubs, including the Tbilisi "Dynamo", which on the way to the final with a large score defeated the Moscow "Spartak". Also worth noting is the "Red Flag" from Noginsk.

In the final confrontation met the Moscow "Locomotive" and the Tbilisi "Dynamo". The match ended with a dry victory of the "railwaymen".

The hegemony of Spartak

In 1930 and 1940 in the highest league of the USSR enchanting only one team. It was the fearless Moscow "Spartak" under the leadership of Peter Popov, and then of the Estonian Albert Volrat. It was these two mentors who made the main capital team four times the owner of the All-Union Cup.

In the period from the end of 1930 to 1940, Spartak most of all won this prestigious tournament. Cup of the USSR football season was submitted to red and white in 1938, 1939, 1947 and 1948.

Twice the victory in the competition was celebrated only by the capital's CSKA. One time the Cup was won by the Moscow clubs "Dynamo" and "Torpedo", as well as the Leningrad "Zenith". The most interesting final of those years was the confrontation between Moscow and Tbilisi in 1946. Georgian "Dynamo" in a stubborn struggle in the first half could advance ahead of the capital's "Spartacus". However, as a result, Glazkov score equalized, and Timakov already in the extra time set the final result. Thus, Muscovites celebrated a strong-willed victory - 3: 2.

Persistent confrontation

In the period from 1950 to 1960, the hegemony of the Moscow clubs began with an enviable regularity to disrupt the Ukrainian teams. This applies to the Dynamo Kyiv, the Donetsk Shakhtar, and even the Lviv Carpathians.

It is noteworthy that during this period the team from the Far East left the finals for the first time. In 1968, the Tashkent "Pakhtakor" in the decisive rounds of the Cup first confidently outflanked the Saratov "Falcon" and strong Luhansk "Zaryu", and then did not leave a wet place from the Donetsk "Shakhtar". Many experts believed that the Uzbek club was the favorite of the finals, but the Moscow "Torpedo" did not agree with this. The match ended with a minimal victory for the Russian team.

From the opening of the tournament at that time it is worthwhile to allocate Kuibyshev's "Zenith" and the national team of the city of Kalinin.

Georgian-Armenian Diaspora

In the 1970s and 1980s, the USSR cups became truly international tournaments. The hegemony of the Ukrainian and Russian teams gradually began to fade. The Moscow clubs were replaced by strong Georgian and Armenian teams.

In the 1970s, the Yerevan "Ararat" and the Tbilisi "Dynamo" twice won the honorary Cup. In the final matches they could not be opposed by star Moscow and Kiev teams.

It should be noted the rapid rise of the "Dawn" from Voroshilovgrad, which twice went to the finals in 1974 and 1975. However, each time the matches ended up not in favor of the Ukrainian team.

The period of the 1970s and 1980s was the most successful for another club in the Ukrainian SSR - the Dynamo Kyiv. The USSR Cup in 1985 became the seventh for the white and blue. And after 2 seasons the All-Union tournament was submitted to the citizens of Kiev for the eighth time.

Latest drawings

Since 1990, the owners of the USSR Cup on football have constantly changed. The first winner of the tournament in the new format (raffle "autumn-spring") was Kiev Dynamo. Ukrainians easily defeated the Moscow "Locomotive" with a score of 6: 1. Then on the field shone such stars "Dynamo", as Salenko, Luzhny and Mikhailichenko. In 1991 the All-Union Cup was won by the Moscow "army men". In the final, CSKA Moscow in a stubborn struggle beat the capital's Torpedo. The deciding ball with a score of 2: 2 scored the striker "army" Sergeev for a few minutes before the end of the meeting.

The last owner of the USSR Cup in 1992 was Moscow's Spartak. This is very symbolic, because it is the red and white are considered the best team of the All-Union tournament in its entire history. In the final, the Muscovites confidently defeated CSKA.

The owners of the USSR Cup on football (by years)

Dozens of the strongest national clubs have gathered under the wing of the All-Union tournament. And it should be given credit - all the finals of the USSR Cup in football turned out to be unforgettable by the heat of emotions and the quality of the game on the field. This tournament really revealed the strongest in the Soviet space.

More often the honorable trophy was raised by football players of Moscow "Spartacus" - 10 times (2 cups every 10 years). On one less titles in the Kiev "Dynamo" (from 1954 to 1990).

6 times in the finals Moscow "Torpedo" and "Dynamo" won. Next, with 5 trophies, appears capital's CSKA. Shakhtar from Donetsk won the cup four times (in the early 1960s and 1980s). 2 trophies are in Tbilisi, Yerevan, as well as in the museum of Moscow's Lokomotiv. And a number of teams won the final once, among them there is even Rostov SKA (1981).

Sensational accomplishments

One of the main surprises of the tournament in its history is the entry into the semifinals of the team of the second league of the USSR "Tavria".

In the late 1930s, several semi-professional clubs from the third division made their way to the decisive stages of the Cup. We are talking about the Moscow "Wings", Pyatigorsk "Dynamo" and "Dzerzhynets-STZ".

However, the main sensation was presented by amateur teams - Noginsk "Red Flag" and Tashkent "Dynamo". These collectives in the late 1940's managed to reach the semifinals of the tournament.

Interesting Facts

• Most often in the finals played the Moscow team "Torpedo" and "Spartacus" (15 times). Cups for the USSR football bowed to just 14 clubs.
• No team has managed to win the trophy more than 2 times in a row.
• The first club, which managed to remove the Moscow teams from the Cup pedestal, was Zenit from Leningrad.
• All-Union tournament ceased to exist after the collapse of the USSR.