The Soviet football championship was composed of professional teams that were known as "teams of masters".
The first professional football competitions in the Soviet Union started in 1936. The format of Soviet football championship was not consisted and was changing almost every year.
Officially professional sports in the Soviet Union was prohibitedJ. N. Washburn. Soviet Amateur Athlete: A Real Pro. New York Times. July 21, 1974 as any other private form of business. As anything else in the country, football also was controlled by Soviet government and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The best "teams of masters" were Dynamo controlled by Soviet secret police, Army and Armed Forces clubs, and Spartak which officially represented "industrial cooperation" but was actually directed by the young communists of Komsomol.Stalinism – Football and Culture in the Interwar Soviet Union. www.futbolgrad.com Following the so-called "liberation of Europe by the Red Army" in 1944–45, numerous Dynamos, CSKA, and Spartaks were set up in countries of the Warsaw Pact. These teams were also instantaneously created with occupation of eastern Poland, Baltics and eastern Romania in 1939–1940.
Officially all footballers were employed because unemployment was illegal. So, footballers were playing football, while on the books working and getting paid as a regular worker. Unlike professional athletes in the West who were becoming rich celebrities, in the Soviet Union notable sports athletes were transitioning to their new career as an "apparatchik", or Communist official, whether in coaching or administrative positions.
Teams of masters ClubUnion republicFirst LeagueseasonLast LeagueseasonStatusSpartak MoscowRussia1936 1991 Joined Russian competitionsDynamo MoscowRussia1936 1991 Joined Russian competitionsDynamo KyivUkraine1936 1991 Joined Ukrainian competitionsDinamo TbilisiGeorgia1936 1989 Joined Georgian competitionsTorpedo MoscowRussia1936 1991 Joined Russian competitionsCSKA MoscowRussia1936 1991 Joined Russian competitionsZenit LeningradRussia1936 1991 Joined Russian competitionsShakhtar DonetskUkraine1936 1991 Joined Ukrainian competitionsDinamo MinskBelarus1940 1991 Joined Belarusian competitionsArarat YerevanArmenia1937 1991 Joined Armenian competitionsLokomotiv MoscowRussia1936 1991 Joined Russian competitionsNeftchi BakuAzerbaijan1937 1991 Joined Azerbaijani competitionsChornomorets OdesaUkraine1936 1991 Joined Ukrainian competitionsKairat Alma-AtaKazakhstan1947 1991 Joined Kazakhstani competitionsSKA Rostov-na-DonuRussia1958 1991 Joined Russian competitionsPakhtakor TashkentUzbekistan1947 1991 Joined Uzbekistani competitionsDnipro DnipropetrovskUkraine1937 1991 Joined Ukrainian competitionsKrylya Sovetov KuybyshevRussia1945 1991 Joined Russian competitionsDinamo LeningradRussia1936 1991 Joined Russian competitionsMetalist KharkivUkraine1936 1991 Joined Ukrainian competitionsZorya LuhanskUkraine1939 1991 Joined Ukrainian competitionsMetalurh OdesaUkraine1953 1954 Joined Ukrainian competitionsTrudovi Rezervy VoroshilovgradUkraine1949 1963 Joined Ukrainian competitionsTorpedo KutaisiGeorgia1949 1989 Joined Georgian competitionsZalgiris VilniusLithuania1947 1991 Joined Lithuanian competitionsRotor VolgogradRussia1936 1991 Joined Russian competitionsNistru KishinevMoldova1947 1991 Joined Moldovan competitionsKarpaty LvivUkraine1963 1991 Joined Ukrainian competitionsVVS MoscowRussia1945 1952 DissolvedDaugava RigaLatvia1948 1990 DissolvedSerp i Molot MoscowRussia1936 1969 DissolvedKrylia Sovetov MoscowRussia1936 1969 DissolvedLokomotyv KharkivUkraine1945 1955 DissolvedKuban KrasnodarRussia1949 1991 Joined Russian competitionsAdmiralteyets LeningradRussia1939 1961 DissolvedPamir DushanbeTajikistan1947 1991 Joined Tajikistani competitionsElektrosila LeningradRussia1936 1946 DissolvedFakel VoronezhRussia1954 1991 Joined Russian competitionsSpartak TbilisiGeorgia1947 1977 DissolvedTrudovye Rezervy LeningradRussia1954 1959 DissolvedSpartak VladikavkazRussia1960 1991 Joined Russian competitionsMetalurh ZaporizhzhiaUkraine1947 1991 Joined Ukrainian competitionsTorpedo GorkyRussia1936 1962 DissolvedVolga GorkyRussia1963 1984 DissolvedAvtomobilist LeningradRussia1936 1966 DissolvedTavria SimferopolUkraine1958 1991 Joined Ukrainian competitionsSKA OdesaUkraine1958 1991 Replaced with SC OdesaSilmash KharkivUkraine1937 1940 DissolvedVMS MoscowRussia1946 1953 DissolvedStalinets MoscowRussia1936 1939 DissolvedLokomotyv KyivUkraine1936 1940 DissolvedUralmash SverdlovskRussia1945 1991 Joined Russian competitionsSpartak KharkivUkraine1936 1941 DissolvedKalev TallinnEstonia1947 1962 DissolvedDynamo Rostov-na-DonuRussia1936 1949 DissolvedShinnik YaroslavlRussia1947 1991 Joined Russian competitionsTemp BakuAzerbaijan1936 1939 DissolvedKapaz GanjaAzerbaijan1959 1991 Joined Azerbaijani competitionsLokomotivi TbilisiGeorgia1936 1986 Joined Georgian competitionsGuria LanchkhutiGeorgia1967 1989 Joined Georgian competitionsODO SverdlovskRussia1946 1959 DissolvedPischevik MoscowRussia1938 1947 DissolvedKalininRussia1945 1953 DissolvedBurevestnik MoscowRussia1937 1947 DissolvedProfsoyuzy-1 MoscowRussia1941 1941 DissolvedProfsoyuzy-2 MoscowRussia1941 1941 DissolvedKuzbass KemerevoRussia1948 1991 Joined Russian competitionsTekstilschik IvanovoRussia1939 1991 Joined Russian competitionsSKA LvivUkraine1949 1991 Turned into FC Halychyna DrohobychZvezda PermRussia1945 1991 Joined Russian competitionsKopetdag AshgabatTurkmenistan1947 1991 Joined Turkmenistani competitionsRostselmash Rostov-na-DonuRussia1953 1991 Joined Russian competitionsSKA KhabarovskRussia1957 1991 Joined Russian competitionsAlga FrunzeKyrgyzstan1947 1991 Joined Kyrgyzstani competitionsDynamo StavropolRussia1957 1991 Joined Russian competitionsSKA KyivUkraine1947 1991 Turned into CSKA KyivShakhter KaragandaKazakhstan1958 1991 Joined Kazakhstani competitionsTerek GroznyRussia1957 1991 Joined Russian competitionsPrykarpattia Ivano-FrankivskUkraine1956 1991 Joined Ukrainian competitionsSudnobudivnyk MykolaivUkraine1939 1991 Turned into Evis MykolaivRubin KazanRussia1958 1991 Joined Russian competitionsDinamo BatumiGeorgia1939 1989 Joined Georgian competitionsVolga KalininRussia1949 1991 Joined Russian competitionsSokol SaratovRussia1947 1991 Joined Russian competitionsLokomotiv ChelyabinskRussia1957 1987 Joined Russian competitionsKolos NikopolUkraine1962 1991 Joined Ukrainian competitionsSpartak NalchikRussia1959 1991 Joined Russian competitionsSKA TbilisiGeorgia1946 1959 Joined Georgian competitionsSKA NovosibirskRussia1945 1968 Joined Russian competitionsIrtysh OmskRussia1947 1991 Joined Russian competitionsNyva VinnytsiaUkraine1958 1991 Joined Ukrainian competitionsAvtomobilist LeningradRussia1936 1966 DissolvedZakarpattia UzhhorodUkraine1947 1991 Joined Ukrainian competitionsTorpedo TaganrogRussia1948 1991 Joined Russian competitions
References
External links Bob Oates. Sports in Soviet Union Only for Elite : There Are Top Athletes, and Then There Are Those Who Sunbathe and Watch Drawbridges Go Up. Los Angeles Times. July 22, 1986 Чемпионат СССР, высшая лига. Суммарная таблица за все годы . wildstat.ru Чемпионат СССР, первая лига. Суммарная таблица за все годы. wildstat.ru Чемпионат СССР, вторая лига. Суммарная таблица за все годы. wildstat.ru