The Soviet Union Olympic football team was the national Olympic football team of the Soviet Union from 1952 to 1992. The team participated in all of the qualification football tournaments for Summer Olympics (except for 1980 when it qualified as hosts). Until 1992, when age restrictions were officially introduced, the Soviet Union used the first team both in qualification tournaments and finals except for 1960 and 1964 when the second national team was used for the qualification tournaments (the first team succeeded it in the finals in those years).
History Officially the Olympic national team was founded in 1959 after the FIFA adopted its decision in 1958 prohibiting players who played in the World Cup finals from participation in the Olympics. The Soviet Union did not participate in the World Cup until 1958 (see 1958 World Cup (qualifications)); instead, it used its first team (base team) to compete at the Olympics (since 1952) as it deemed that tournament more important. The USSR continued to use its best players in the Olympics after 1958 despite the FIFA ruling, with the branding "Olympic team" being rather formal, with all the players being part of the national team and competing both at the World Cup and Olympics.
1960 Olympics Qualification
To defend their Olympic title at the 1960 Summer Olympics, the Soviet Union national football team had to pass through a demanding qualification process. Based on the territorial system, the team was placed in the third European qualifying group alongside Bulgaria and Romania.
This time, officials decided to form a separate Olympic squad rather than rely on the main national team. The roster consisted largely of players considered part of the reserve pool for the senior side. Among those who participated in the qualification matches, only goalkeeper Boris Razinsky had also been a member of the team that won Olympic gold in Melbourne. Boris Arkadiev was appointed head coach, while the coaching council included Mikhail Yakushin and Aleksandr Ponomarev.
The match schedule was arranged so that the Soviet team played all of its first four games early, while Bulgaria and Romania were set to face each other in the final two matches of the group.
3rd Group Team421143+15412132+14411224–23
Games
Bulgaria qualified for the 1960 Summer Olympics.
Roster Head coach: Boris Arkadyev (CSK MO Moscow) Coaching council staff members: Mikhail Yakushin (Dynamo Moscow) and Aleksandr Ponomarev
Notes: Age on 12 December 1959.
1964 Olympics Qualification
According to the results of the draw, the USSR national team got into the third European group of the qualifying tournament for the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. The country was represented by the Olympic team, but in reality, the second team: the players of the first team (Glotov, Korneev, Mudrik) played together with the players of the nearest (Anichkin, Lobanovsky, Urushadze) and deep (Biba, Sevidov, Fadeev) reserve of the main team. There were no age restrictions for the players; for example, the goalkeeper Kotrikadze at the time of the first meeting with the Finns was 27 years old. The team was headed by Vyacheslav Solovyov, who combined this post with a similar job at CSKA. Assistant - E. I. Lyadin.
The tournament regulations did not provide for a group round-robin tournament. The teams had to play two-legged knockout matches. In the preliminary round, the East Germany Olympic football team knocked out the team of another Germany – West (payback for the last qualification). At the next stage, they had to challenge the Dutch, and the Soviet Union Olympic team challenged their access to the next round in the play-off with Finland.
Group 3 First round
Second round
According to the rules of the tournament, the teams had to play the third decisive game on a neutral field. The arena for the match picked was the Warsaw Stadium of the Decade.
Second round third match in Warsaw, Poland
United Team of Germany qualified for the 1964 Summer Olympics.
Roster Head coach: Vyacheslav Solovyov (CSKA Moscow) Assistant: Yevgeny Lyadin
Notes: Age on 31 December 1963.
1972 Olympics Qualification
Play-off stage
Group 1
Roster In bold are players and coaches that actually went to Munich, see Olympic team squad for more information. Head coach: Aleksandr Ponomarev (away game with France Boris Nabokov)
Notes: Age on 31 May 1972.
1976 Olympics Qualification
Preliminary stage
Group 1
Roster In bold are players and coaches that actually went to Montreal, see Olympic team squad for more information. Head coach: Konstantin Beskov
Notes: Age on 31 December 1975.
1980 Olympics Qualification
Final tournament
First round Group A
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Bronze Medal match
Roster
Head coach: Konstantin Beskov No.Pos.PlayerDoBAgeCapsClubTournamentgamesTournamentgoalsMinutesplayedSub offSub onCardsyellow/red 1 GK Rinat Dasaev 13 June 1957 22 7 Spartak Moscow 6 0 514 1 0 0 2 DF Tengiz Sulakvelidze 27 July 1956 23 4 Dynamo Tbilisi 6 0 540 0 0 1Y 3 DF Aleksandr Chivadze 8 April 1955 25 4 Dynamo Tbilisi 6 0 540 0 0 1Y 4 DF Vagiz Khidiyatullin 3 March 1959 21 21 Spartak Moscow 6 0 540 0 0 0 5 DF Oleg Romantsev 4 January 1954 26 5 Spartak Moscow 6 1 540 0 0 2Y 6 MD Sergei Shavlo 4 September 1956 23 10 Spartak Moscow 5 1 450 0 0 0 7 MD Sergei Andreev 17 May 1956 24 7 SKA Rostov-on-Don 6 5 540 0 0 0 8 MD Volodymyr Bezsonov 5 March 1958 22 24 Dynamo Kiev 6 1 540 0 0 0 9 FW Yuri Gavrilov 3 May 1953 27 15 Spartak Moscow 5 3 387 2 0 0 10 FW Fedor Cherenkov 25 July 1959 20 6 Spartak Moscow 6 4 432 2 1 0 11 FW Valery Gazzaev 8 August 1954 25 7 Dynamo Moscow 6 0 372 2 1 0 12 GK Vladimir Pilguy 26 January 1948 32 12 Dynamo Moscow 1 0 26 0 1 0 13 DF Sergei Baltacha 3 March 1958 22 1 Dynamo Kiev 2 0 108 0 1 0 14 DF Sergei Nikulin 1 January 1951 29 3 Dynamo Moscow 1 0 45 0 1 0 15 MD Khoren Hovhannisyan 10 January 1955 25 7 Ararat Yerevan 3 2 143 0 3 0 16 MD Aleksandr Prokopenko 16 November 1953 26 1 Dinamo Minsk 2 0 117 0 1 0 17 FW Revaz Chelebadze 2 October 1955 24 7 Dynamo Tbilisi 2 0 108 2 0 0
1984 Olympics Qualification
Group 1
Roster Head coach: Eduard Malofeyev (first 2 games in May of 1983 Vladimir Salkov)
Notes: Age on 31 May 1984.
1988 Olympics Qualification
Group D
Final tournament Group stage Group C
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Gold medal match
Roster
Head coach: Anatoliy Byshovets, assistants: Vladimir Salkov, Gadzhi Gadzhiyev
Notes: Age on 31 August 1988.
Summer Olympics record Source:Olympic tournamentsSoviet Union Olympic team
Gold medalists Silver medalists Bronze medalists
Summer OlympicsQualificationYearHostRoundSquad1952See Soviet Union national football teamSee Soviet Union national football team19561960Did not qualify2nd4121321964R252211461968See Soviet Union national football teamSee Soviet Union national football team19721st440013219761st65101421980Bronze medal6501193SquadQualified as hosts1984Withdrew1st6321941988Gold medal6510146Squad1st8620122Total121011339—3321936518
Venues VenueCityPlayedWonDrawnLostGFGAPoints per gameCentral Lenin StadiumMoscow1959-198413922278Central Dynamo StadiumMoscow1956-19919720241Lokomotiv StadiumSimferopol1988-1991321051Central StadiumKiev1963110070Druzhba StadiumLvov1971110040Hrazdan StadiumYerevan1971110051Central Lokomotiv StadiumMoscow1990101022Totals 1956-1991 29 21 6 2 74 13
Soviet managers The list does not include games of the senior team such as participation at the Olympic tournaments finals (1952–1980).
ManagerNationYearsPlayedWonDrawnLostGFGAWin %Qualifying cycleFinal tourBoris Arkadiev19594121321960Vyacheslav Solovyov1963-196452211461964Aleksandr Ponomarev1971541014119721972Konstantin Beskov1975651014219761976Konstantin Beskov198065011931980Vladimir Salkov19832110521984Eduard Malofeyev1983-198442114219841984*Anatoly Byshovets1986-198814113026819881988
Notes: The USSR Olympic team withdrew from the football tournament at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Since 1991, UEFA nations qualify for the Olympics via continental under-21 tournaments.
See also Football in the Soviet Union Soviet Union national football team Soviet Union national under-21 football team Soviet Union national under-19 football team
References
External links URSS national football team website