| Organiser(s) | Football Federation of the USSR |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1936; 89 years ago (1936) |
| Abolished | 1992 |
| Region | Soviet Union |
| Teams | 80 (1991–92) |
| Qualifier for | European Cup Winners' Cup(from 1965) |
| Last champions | Spartak Moscow (10th title) |
| Most championships | Spartak Moscow (10 titles) |
TheSoviet Cup, orUSSR Cup (Russian:Кубок СССР),[nb 1] was the premierfootball cup competition in theSoviet Union conducted by theFootball Federation of the Soviet Union. The1991–92 season of the tournament was known as Soviet/CIS Cup (Russian:Кубок СССР—СНГ). As aknockout tournament it was conducted parallel to the All-Union league competitions in double round-robin format.
The winner of the competition was awarded a qualification to theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup, unless it already qualified for theEuropean Cup, in turn passed the qualification to the finalist. In case if a team would win theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup and not win its national league cup titles the next year, it qualified to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup along with the new cup holder. The first participation in theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup took place in1965–66 whenDynamo Kyiv qualified for the European competition for winning the 1964 Soviet Cup.
On initiative ofKomsomolskaya Pravda newspaper starting from 1977, the Soviet Cup winner was invited to contest theSoviet Top League winner in a single match competition known as theSeason's Cup which served as the Soviet Super Cup but was not considered official.
Format of competitions was constantly changing.
The very first edition of the competition in 1936 was asingle-elimination tournament (more precisely sudden-death tournament) throughout all rounds. It was played during the season's summer intermission of the 1936 split season. The tournament consisted of seven rounds starting with the Round of 128.
The first changes took place in the1938 Soviet Cup when there was introduced a preliminary (qualification) stage as the number of participants grew. The competition still was asingle-elimination tournament with only more added rounds (up to 9). The Soviet Cup also featured the1938 Cup of the Ukrainian SSR. All teams of masters (All-Union league teams) started from the final stage. The competition rounds were in-mixed within the league's playing calendar for the first time. The final stage contained 6 rounds.
In 1939 the competition was expanded as number of participants grew over 6 times. Starting from 1939 the preliminary stage was expanded and included republican football cup for each union republic, winners of which would qualify for the Soviet Cup finals.
In 1940 the competition was split. The league teams (Groups A and B) were scheduled to play for the All-Union Sports Committee Cup, while non-league teams (republican level) were competing in a separate bracket, winner of which would play the All-Union Sports Committee Cup holder. However, due to scheduling issues the All-Union Sports Committee Cup was postponed and never took place.
Involvement of the republican cup winners was suspended after theWorld War II and reintroduced in 1949. Those winners continued to qualify for the Soviet Cup until 1955 and starting from 1957 they were rerouted to theSoviet Amateur Cup. There is a legend that during that period the competition was nicknamed as the "Cup of Millions".
Until 1984 the Soviet Cup corresponded to the calendar of the whole Soviet football "spring"-"fall", however after that it changed to "fall"-"spring" calendar which synchronized it with the most of Europe.
In 1959-1960 the competition was conducted for two years. From 1965 to 1968 seasons were overlapping each other.
Until 1957, in the tournament participated "teams of physical culture"[1] (Soviet "newspeak" (phraseology) for non-professional, amateur teams). After 1957 teams of physical culture competed in a separate competition known as theSoviet Amateur Cup.[nb 2] Since then, the tournament was restricted to professional clubs (teams of masters) of the All-Union competition (tiers 1 through 3).
In 1979 to 1982 there was a group stage better teams of which would continue in a traditional single-game elimination format.[1]
The1992 Soviet Cup Final took place after thefall of the Soviet Union in the independent Russia.[2][1][3][4][5]
All tournaments final were played in a single game in Moscow, but until introduction of penalty kicks in early 1970s as a tiebreaker some finals that ended in tie were replayed. Introduction of thepenalty shoot-out was adopted for tiebreaker took place in 1972 after such procedure was adopted byFIFA in 1970.
Until 1955 the tournament finals were played atCentral Stadium "Dynamo", after being transferred to Central Stadium of Lenin (todayLuzhniki Stadium).[citation needed]
The cup itself is an artistically crafted crystal vase in a silver frame. The cup is crowned with a bronze figurine of a football player with a ball. The names of the teams that won the cup are engraved on the lid and base.
The trophy's height is 57 cm (22 in), weight is 6 kg (13 lb). In 1992, after Spartak Moscow won the last USSR Cup, the trophy was given to the club forever.
The cup itself was bought in an ordinary Moscow thrift store.[6] The first chairman of the All-Union Football Section, Aleksei Sokolov, took a liking to the small pitcher, which it was decided to make a transferable trophy.[6][7] Few people knew about theDavis Cup in the Soviet Union at that time, and accusations of plagiarism could not follow by definition.
Together with the All-Union Council on Physical Culture and Sport inspector Morar, Aleksei Sokolov created a sketch of the future prize.[8] The jewelers attached silver legs to the base and built a lid with a small hole on top. There they mounted a figurine of a football player, donated by Raspevin, a great fan of this game. The crystal chest of the trophy was decorated with thecoat of arms of the USSR.
All finals were played in theSoviet Union capital,Moscow. In 1936 to 1955 it wasCentral Dynamo Stadium, while since 1957 it wasLuzhniki Stadium which was known then as Lenin Central Stadium. There were also exceptions such as the venue of the final in 1977 and 1987/88 was Dynamo, while in 1978 it was the only time whenTorpedo Stadium hosted the final match. The last final match in 1992 at Luzhniki was played following thedissolution of the Soviet Union.
While Spartak Moscow is the absolute leader in total number of trophies won, Dinamo Kiev won the most Soviet Cup in those finals played inLuzhniki Stadium. Also, Luzhniki were even favorable to the Western Ukrainian team of Karpaty.
Notes:
Until 1959-1960 season, the competition was dominated by Muscovite clubs, particularly Spartak and CSKA. Unlike the round-robin competitions, Dinamo Kiev was not as successful yet managed to get as close as possible to Spartak surpassing all other clubs out of Moscow and other Soviet cities. The first non-Moscow team that won the trophy wasZenit Leningrad which won it in the first post war season of 1944. It became the single achievement for the team out of the "northern capital". In 1961 and 1962, the competition was won back-to-back by Shakhter Donetsk which became a unique achievement. In 1969, Karpaty Lvov won the competition while playing in the second tier (Pervaya Liga) by beating SKA Rostov-na-Donu in Moscow. In 1970s teams from the Caucasus region (Dinamo Tbilisi and Ararat Yerevan) have shown good performance winning 4 trophies with 2 for each.
The only other than Moscow or Leningrad teams from Russian SFSR that won the Soviet Cup was SKA Rostov-na-Donu in 1981. Twice reached the finals but did not manage to win it were Krylya Sovetov Kuibyshev, Dinamo Minsk, Zaria Voroshilovgrad.
| Republic | Winners | Runners-up | Semi-finals | Winning clubs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Russian SFSR | 31 | 32 | 59 | Spartak Moscow (10),Dinamo Moscow (6),Torpedo Moscow (6),CSKA Moscow (5),Lokomotiv Moscow (2),Zenit Leningrad (1),SKA Rostov-na-Donu (1) |
 Ukrainian SSR | 16 | 8 | 24 | Dinamo Kiev (9),Shakhter Donetsk (4),Metallist Kharkov (1),Karpaty Lvov (1),Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk (1) |
 Georgian SSR | 2 | 6 | 7 | Dinamo Tbilisi (2) |
 Armenian SSR | 2 | 2 | 2 | Ararat Yerevan (2) |
 Byelorussian SSR | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
 Uzbek SSR | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Azerbaijan SSR | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
 Kazakh SSR | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Lithuanian SSR | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Tajik SSR | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Total | 51 | 51 | 102 |
| Place | Name | Medals | Champion clubs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| gold | silver | |||
| 1 | Viktor Maslov | 6 | 3 | Torpedo Moscow (3),Dynamo Kyiv (2),Ararat Yerevan (1) |
| 2 | Valeriy Lobanovsky | 6 | - | Dynamo Kyiv |
| 3 | Boris Arkadiev | 4 | 1 | CDKA Moscow (3),Lokomotiv Moscow (1) |
| Nikita Simonyan | 4 | 1 | Spartak Moscow (3),Ararat Yerevan (1) | |
| 5 | Oleg Oshenkov | 3 | 1 | Shakhtar Donetsk (2),Dynamo Kyiv (1) |
| 6 | Valentin Ivanov | 2 | 5 | Torpedo Moscow |
| 7 | Aleksandr Sevidov | 2 | 2 | Dynamo Moscow |
| 8-11 | Nodar Akhalkatsi | 2 | 1 | Dinamo Tbilisi |
| Konstantin Beskov | 2 | 1 | Dynamo Moscow | |
| Konstantin Kvashnin | 2 | 1 | Spartak Moscow,Torpedo Moscow | |
| Viktor Nosov | 2 | 1 | Shakhtar Donetsk | |
Another coachAlbert Vollrat won two cups in 1946 and 1947.
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