 CIS Cup logo. | |
| Organiser(s) | Russian Football Union,FIFA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1993 |
| Abolished | 2016 |
TheCommonwealth of Independent States Cup (Russian:Кубок чемпионов Содружества, Кубок Содружества, Кубок чемпионов содружества стран СНГ и Балтии) is a defunct[1] annual regionalassociation football tournament, recognized byFIFA.[2][3]
The tournament was initially established forfootball clubs of the formerSoviet Union republics in 1993 (a year later since the collapse). On several occasions, some national football organizations of the former Soviet republics as well as individual clubs refused participation in the tournament for different reasons. Usually the invitation was sent to the best clubs of theCommonwealth of Independent States member states, as well asEstonia,Latvia,Lithuania, i.e. either a champion or a runner-up, while in the later editions the Cup (before 2012) saw participation of clubs fromSerbia andFinland.
In 2012, the CIS Cup became a competition of national youth teams. Previously only the Russia under-21 team competed in the competition.
The competition was disestablished in 2016.[1]
The Commonwealth of Independent States Cup was planned to be the Champions' Cup of countries of CIS Commonwealth and Baltics. In July 1992 at a meeting of executive committee of the CIS Association of Football Federations adopted decision on launching the First Commonwealth of Independent States Cup[4] since 1993 as an open tournament to champions from theUSSR successor states (TheCommonwealth of Independent States, and well asEstonia,Latvia andLithuania).
Until 1996Ukraine officially boycotted the competition, but in1995FC Shakhtar Donetsk on own initiative broke the boycott.
In1995–2006 theRussia national under-21 football team participated in the tournament as the 16th team, but in2007 and2008Serbia replaced it as the 17th nation sending a team to play in it, and became the first non-former Soviet Union nation participating in the tournament. Unlike the rest of the states, who send their latest champions to play in the tournament,Serbia has sentOFK Beograd to play in the tournament.
In its first years the tournament was popular in the territories of theformer Soviet Union, including the most titled teams from the oldSoviet Top League.Spartak Moscow fromRussia, andDynamo Kyiv fromUkraine each won the cup several times but, after less than a decade, the teams fromRussia andUkraine became hesitant to send their best players to play on the artificial turf at theOlympic Stadium, so they sent their reserve players instead[5][6][7] or sometimes the league runners-up participated in their place. This resulted in the decrease of the tournament's popularity in those states particularly and in the international value of the tournament overall.
In 2006 a new tournament,Channel One Cup, started and caught the attention of theRussian andUkrainian teams, which even more decreased the popularity of the Commonwealth of Independent States Cup tournament.
A big scandal occurred in2006, when theArmenian championFC Pyunik refused to play theAzerbaijani team,Neftçi PFK due to the lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries' governments at that time due to theNagorno-Karabakh conflict.FC Pyunik defeatedUkrainian teamFC Shakhtar Donetsk 3–1 in the quarter-final, earning a place in the semi-final againstNeftçi. However, FC Pyunik announced that they would no play against anAzerbaijani team, and flew home fromMoscow the same evening. TheRussian Football Union gaveFC Shakhtar Donetsk a technical victory 3–0 so they could play in the semi-final instead ofFC Pyunik, butFC Shakhtar Donetsk declined the offer stating that "...we would really want to play in the semi-final, but we don't want to get there by any other way than sport". Eventually,Neftçi PFK were given a bye to the final, where they defeated theLithuanian clubFBK Kaunas 4–2.[8]
In 2007 talks began about changing the format of the cup, and uniting it with theChannel One Cup in order to bring back the interest of theRussian andUkrainian teams,[9] and in 2007 its games were even visited by representatives fromFIFA,[10] but nevertheless, nothing came out from those talks and efforts.
In October 2009,Bunyodkor coachLuis Felipe Scolari announced that his Uzbek side would not enter the 2010 tournament due to focusing on theAsian Champions League.[11]
| Season | Winner | Score | Runner-up | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 |  Russia | 4 – 2 |  Moldova | SCC Peterburgsky, Saint Petersburg |
| 2015 |  South Africa | 2 – 1 |  Finland | SCC Peterburgsky, Saint Petersburg |
| 2014 |  Ukraine | 4 – 0 | Russia | SCC Peterburgsky, Saint Petersburg |
| 2013 | Russia | 4 – 2 | Ukraine | SCC Peterburgsky, Saint Petersburg |
| 2012 | Russia | 2 – 0 |  Belarus | SCC Peterburgsky, Saint Petersburg |
| Rank | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vladimir Beschastnykh (FC Spartak Moskva) | 20 |
| 2 | Yegor Titov (FC Spartak Moskva) | 18 |
| 3 | Valeri Kechinov (Pakhtakor Tashkent &FC Spartak Moskva) | 17 |
| * | Mikhail Mikholap (FC Skonto Rīga) | 17 |
| 5 | Mikhail Kavelashvili (FC Dinamo Tbilisi &Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz) | 14 |
| * | Luis Robson (FC Spartak Moskva) | 14 |
| 7 | Andrei Tikhonov (FC Spartak Moskva) | 13 |
| 8 | Valentin Belkevich (FC Dinamo Minsk &FC Dynamo Kyiv) | 12 |
| * | Andriy Shevchenko (FC Dynamo Kyiv) | 12 |
| 10 | Gela Inalishvili (FC Dinamo Tbilisi) | 11 |
| * | Anatoliy Kanischev (Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz &FC Spartak Moskva) | 11 |
| * | Mihails Zemļinskis (FC Skonto Rīga) | 11 |
| Team | Titles | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
| Spartak Moscow | 6 (1993,1994,1995,1999,2000,2001) | 3 (1997,1998,2002) |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 4 (1996,1997,1998,2002) | 1 (1999) |
| Russia | 3 (2012,2013,2016) | 1 (2014) |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | 2 (2003,2009) | |
| Ukraine | 1 (2014) | 1 (2013) |
| Dinamo Tbilisi | 1 (2004) | 1 (1995) |
 Neftçi | 1 (2006) | 1 (2005) |
 Pakhtakor Tashkent | 1 (2007) | 1 (2008) |
| South Africa | 1 (2015) | |
| Lokomotiv Moscow | 1 (2005) | |
| Khazar Lenkoran | 1 (2008) | |
| Rubin Kazan | 1 (2010) | |
| Inter Baku | 1 (2011) | |
| Skonto Riga | 3 (2001,2003,2004) | |
 Aktobe | 2 (2009,2010) | |
 FBK Kaunas | 1 (2006) | |
| Belarus Minsk | 1 (1993) | |
| Neftchi Fergana | 1 (1994) | |
| Alania Vladikavkaz | 1 (1996) | |
| Zimbru Chişinău | 1 (2000) | |
| FK Ventspils | 1 (2007) | |
| Shakhtyor Soligorsk | 1 (2011) | |
| Belarus | 1 (2012) | |
| Finland | 1 (2015) | |
| Moldova | 1 (2016) |
| Country | Titles | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
| Russia | 11 | 5 |
| Ukraine | 5 | 2 |
| Azerbaijan | 3 | 1 |
| Moldova | 2 | 2 |
| Uzbekistan | 1 | 2 |
| Georgia | 1 | 1 |
| South Africa | 1 | |
| Latvia | 4 | |
| Belarus | 3 | |
| Kazakhstan | 2 | |
| Lithuania | 1 | |
| Finland | 1 |
| "Participants" (11) |
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