View source for Soviet Top League

{{short description|Highest football division in Soviet Union (1936 to 1991)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox football league
| name            = Soviet Top League<br />{{lang|ru|Высшая лига}}
| image           = 
| pixels          = 80
| country         = Soviet Union
| confed          = [[UEFA]]
| founded         = 22 May 1936 <small>(as Group A)</small>
| first           = 
| folded          = 1991
| divisions       = 1
| teams           = Various
| feeds           = 
| promotion       = 
| relegation      = [[Soviet First League]]
| levels          = Level 1
| domest_cup      = [[Soviet Cup|USSR Cup]]<br>[[USSR Super Cup]] {{small|(unofficial)}}
| league_cup      = [[USSR Federation Cup]]<br />(1940–1990)
| confed_cup      = {{ubl|[[UEFA Champions League|European Cup]]|[[UEFA Cup Winners' Cup]]|[[UEFA Cup]]}}
| champions       = [[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
| season          = 1991
| most_champs     = [[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]] (13)
| most_appearances = [[Oleg Blokhin]] (432)
| top_goalscorer  = [[Oleg Blokhin]] (211)
| tv              = 
| website         = 
| current         = 
}}
The '''Soviet Top League''', known after 1970 as the '''Higher League''' ({{langx|ru|Чемпионат СССР по футболу: Высшая лига|Vyschaya Liga}}),<ref>{{langx|uk|Вища ліга|Vyshcha Liga}}; {{langx|be|Вышэйшая ліга|Vysheyshaya Liga}}</ref> served as the [[Soviet Union football league system|top division (tier)]] of [[Soviet Union]] [[Association football|football]] from 1936 until 1991. The league's name was a conditional designation used for brevity since being completely owned and governed by the [[All-Union Council on Physical Culture and Sports|All-Union Committee of Physical Culture]] (an institution of the [[Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union]]). The winner of the competition was awarded the All-Union Committee banner. Created in 1936 the tier was originally known as "Gruppa A" and was one of four tiers that were part of the Soviet football championship. 

From the very start to its eclipse, the top tier ran in conjunction with the 2nd tier for most of time allowing for participants [[Promotion and relegation|exchange between tiers]]. In 1963 there was introduced a third tier. Starting from 1971 the full official name was the '''USSR Championship in football: Top League'''. An attempt to create an independent league as an autonomously governed business entity or organization during "[[perestroika]]" period was denied by the Federation due to political culture in the Soviet Union.

Although the competition is considered professional, there were no professional (or commercial) sports in the Communist state due to its political stance on that issue. The teams that played in the league were composed of players who officially, in fiscal books, were employed and paid by the state enterprises or agencies (such as SKA or Dynamo) that the teams represented. Also, players from the state agencies' teams, SKA or Dynamo, held a rank, captain, lieutenant, major etc. Also, the naming of teams was strictly controlled and had to be approved by the central government. Only after the [[death of Stalin]], teams were allowed to have names associated with their geographic location, due to the Soviet political stance on the national issue. Also, officially teams represented so called "voluntary" sports societies, which is a political [[oxymoron]] considering organization of business in the [[Soviet Union]] ([[Voluntary Sports Societies of the Soviet Union]]).

Originally the top tier was named Group A. After World War II it became known as the First Group. In 1950, after another reform of football in the Soviet Union, the First Group was replaced with Class A. By 1970, the Class A had expanded to three tiers with the top tier known as the Higher Group (Top Group) which in 1971 was renamed into the Higher League (Top League). The winner of the competition was honored with a title "USSR Champion".

After the [[World War II]], along with the competition among the first teams also there were conducted official competitions among reserve squads. It carried the name of "Tournament of the Doubles" (Turnir doublyorov). The reserve squads' competitions were running parallel to the first teams' competitions normally scheduled a day prior with relegation rule completely depended on the league standing of their respective first team.

The Top League was one of the best football leagues in Europe, ranking second among the [[UEFA]] members in the 1988–89 season. Three of its representatives reached the finals of the European club tournaments on four occasions: [[FC Dynamo Kyiv]], [[FC Dinamo Tbilisi]], and [[FC Dynamo Moscow]] (all in the [[UEFA Cup Winners' Cup|European Cup Winners' Cup]]). In the same way Russia [[Succession of states#Russia and the Soviet Union|politically succeeded]] the Soviet Union, UEFA considers the [[Russian Premier League]] to have succeeded the Soviet Top League.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20031123143520/http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/inf397.shtml Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations from the President of the Russian Federation]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bühler |first=Konrad G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ty7NAG1Jl-8C&pg=PA161 |title=State Succession and Membership in International Organizations |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |year=2001 |isbn=9789041115539 |series=Legal Aspects of International Organization Series |volume=38 |pages=158–64}}</ref>

==Overview==
{{see also|Red Sport International}}

===Introduction and popularization===
[[File:Товарищеские матчи. 24.06.1937.jpg|thumb|Poster for a Basque Country-Lokomotiv match on 24 June 1937|alt=A poster in Russian with some lines in Spanish featuring a photograph of a goalkeeper posing and in action.]]
The league was established on the initiative of head of [[Spartak (sports society)|Spartak sport society]], [[Nikolai Starostin]].<ref name=bjkeys>{{cite book | last=Keys | first=B.J. | last2=Keys | first2=A.P.U.S.I.H.B.J. | title=Globalizing Sport: National Rivalry and International Community in the 1930s | publisher=Harvard University Press | series=Harvard historical studies | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-674-02326-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j4YHOlNuhgQC&pg=PA175 | page=175}}</ref> Starostin proposed to create eight professional club teams in six Soviet cities and hold two championship tournaments per calendar year.<ref name=bjkeys/> With minor corrections, the [[Soviet Council on Physical Culture]] accepted the Starostin's proposal creating a league of "demonstration teams of master" which were sponsored by sport societies and factories.<ref name=bjkeys/> Nikolai Starostin de facto became a godfather of the Soviet championships.<ref>Vartanian, A. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20050825104512/http://www.sport-express.ru/art.shtml?72585 1936. A child of "Spartak" and Komsomol (ГОД 1936. ДЕТИЩЕ "СПАРТАКА" И КОМСОМОЛА)]''. [[Sport-Express]]. 2005</ref> Numerous mass events took place to promote the newly established competition, among which there was an introduction of football exhibition game as part of the Moscow Physical Culture Day parade, and the invitation to the [[Basque Country national football team]] which was on [[Republicans (Spanish Civil War)|the side]] supported by [[Soviet Union]] in the [[Spanish Civil War]] and others.

In 1936 the first secretary of Komsomol Kosarev came up with an idea of playing an actual football game at the [[Red Square (Moscow)|Red Square]] as part of the Physical Culture Day parade.<ref name=Edelman>{{cite book | last=Edelman | first=R. | title=Spartak Moscow: A History of the People's Team in the Workers' State | publisher=Cornell University Press | year=2012 | isbn=978-0-8014-6613-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKw1XTpiqMIC&pg=PA112 | page=112}}</ref> Stalin never attended any sports events, but the Physical Culture Day was an exclusion to the rule.<ref name=Edelman/> The 1936 Physical Culture Day parade was directed by Russian theatre director [[Valentin Pluchek]].<ref name=Edelman/> For the football game, a giant green felt carpet was sewn by Spartak athletes and laid down on the Red Square's cobblestones.<ref name=Edelman/> A night before the parade, the rug was stitched together in sections, rolled up and then stored in a vestibule of the [[GUM (department store)|GUM department store]] located at the square.<ref name=Edelman/> Following the 1936 Red Square game, it became a tradition before the [[World War II]] and part of the Physical Culture Day parade event.<ref name=Edelman/>

In the late 1930s Spartak was giving out thousands of tickets per game to members of the [[Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]].<ref name=bjkeys/> Among serious football fans was [[Lavrentiy Beria]] who proposed to have one team from each of [[union republics]] in the league.<ref name=bjkeys/> In July 1937 a conflict erupted following a successful tour to the Soviet Union of the Basque national team during which the main governing body of sports in the country, the [[All-Union Council of Physical Culture]], was accused by the party and Komsomol for failing the sports policy.<ref name=bjkeys/> Spartak's leadership and Starostin in particular were accused of corruption and implementing "bourgeoisie methods" in Soviet sport.<ref name=bjkeys/>

The most prominent clubs of the league were [[FC Dynamo Kyiv]], [[FC Spartak Moscow]], and [[FC Dynamo Moscow]]. The most popular clubs besides the above-mentioned were [[PFC CSKA Moscow]], [[FC Ararat Yerevan]], and [[FC Dinamo Tbilisi]]. Dinamo Tbilisi became famous for finishing third but never winning the title.
They won their first title in 1964.

===Development===
Until the 1960s the main title contenders in the league were the Moscow clubs of [[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak]] and [[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo]] whose dominance was disrupted for only a brief period after [[World War II]] by [[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]], nicknamed 'The team of lieutenants'. The first team that won 10 championships was Dynamo Moscow in 1963, followed by Spartak in 1979.

Eleven clubs spent over 30 seasons in the league with five of them from Moscow. Dynamo Moscow and Dynamo Kyiv were the only clubs that participated in all seasons of the league. Among other prominent Russian clubs were [[FC SKA Rostov-on-Don|SKA Rostov/Donu]] (Army team), [[FC Zenit Saint Petersburg|Zenit Leningrad]] (Zenith), and [[FC Krylia Sovetov Samara|Krylia Sovietov Kuibyshev]] (Wings of the Soviets).

Over the years the league changed, however from the 1970s its competition structure solidified with 16 participants, except from 1979 through 1985 when the number of participants was extended to 18.

One uniquely Soviet innovation around this time was the "draw limit", whereby a team would receive zero points for any draws in excess of a fixed number, first 8, then 10. This rule had consequences for both the title race and relegation while it was in place. A 1973 experiment to resolve drawn games by [[Penalty shoot-out (association football)|penalty shoot-out]] lasted only one season.

Dynamo Kyiv's success as a Ukrainian club was supplemented in the 1980s with the appearance of [[FC Dnipro|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]] led by its striker [[Oleh Protasov]] who set a new record for goals scored in a season. In 1984, [[FC Zenit Saint Petersburg|Zenit Leningrad]] became Soviet champions for the first time.

With the unravelling of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, the structure of the league also became unstable as more and more clubs lost interest in continuing to participate in the league, prompting several rounds of reorganisation. The main effect of these was to boost the numbers of Ukrainian clubs to be on par with the Russians.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, it has been suggested that the competition be re-established along the lines of the [[Commonwealth of Independent States Cup]], but due to a lack of interest on various levels the venture has never been implemented.

=== Participants ===
The uneven population of the Soviet Union meant that the participants in a typical Top League season fell into three blocs. This was particularly apparent at the lower tiers of the Soviet Football Championship such as the third tier (Vtoraya Liga), but sustained with less transparency upto the top/first tier.

* '''Russian clubs'''. Russian football was dominated by the "four-wheeled cart" of [[Moscow]] clubs: [[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak]] (Komsomol), [[Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo]] (police), [[CSKA Moscow|CSKA]] (army) and [[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo]] (auto workers). These four were often joined in the Top League by [[FC Lokomotiv Moscow|Lokomotiv]] (railroad workers), [[FC Zenit Saint Petersburg|Zenit Leningrad]] (defense industry workers), or assorted clubs from smaller cities. Please, note that although officially the [[Lokomotiv sports society]] represented "railroad workers", the Soviet Union also had an oversized number of [[railway troops]] unlike any other country in the world. Also, "the Russian clubs' bloc" was fragmented deeply into three separate conditional sub-blocs, per se, such as Muscovite clubs, Leningrad clubs, and the RSFSR clubs (or other clubs). At the [[Football at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR|Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR]], the Russian SFSR was always represented by three teams with Muscovite and Leningrad teams participating along with the "main" team, although the main (or first) team was always the Muscovite.
* '''Ukrainian clubs'''. Ukraine's capital [[Kyiv]], by contrast, was the exclusive province (or "realm") of [[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]] who became an unofficial feeder for the Soviet national team beginning in the 1960s, replacing Dynamo Moscow. Several clubs vied to be Ukraine's "second" team over the years including [[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhtar Donetsk]] (coal miners), [[FC Metalist Kharkiv|Metalist Kharkiv]] (defense industry workers - Dzerzhinets (armor)), [[FC Chornomorets Odesa|Chernomorets Odesa]] (merchant fleet workers), [[FC Zorya Luhansk|Zorya Voroshilovgrad]] (now Zorya Luhansk, defense industry workers - Dzerzhinets (armor)) and [[Dnipro Dnipropetrivsk|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]] (defense industry workers - Zenit (air defense)), the last two managing to win three titles combined. Many Ukrainian clubs also were associated with the Soviet Dynamo sports society. The Soviet football authorities tried to curb or even out the Ukrainian clubs with the other clubs from the "[[union republics]]", yet there consistently existed a "separate" (or unique) competition among the Ukrainian clubs among "teams of masters" (a Soviet euphemism for professional teams).
* '''Other republics clubs'''. Lavrentiy Beria's vision of one representative club per republic was partly realised from the 1950s onwards, as in every republic except for Russia and Ukraine, fan interest and government support became concentrated into a single club based in the republic's capital city, who became "the republic's team". Most of those clubs were originally created as Spartak or Dynamo, supported either by local party committee (Spartak) or local KGB office (Dynamo). Thus [[Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic|Lithuania]] became represented by [[Zalgiris Vilnius]], [[Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic|Latvia]] by [[FC Daugava Riga|Daugava Riga]], [[Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic|Estonia]] by [[Kalev Tallinn]], [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussia]] by [[FC Dinamo Minsk|Dinamo Minsk]], [[Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic|Moldavia]] by [[Nistru Kishinev]], [[Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic|Armenia]] by [[FC Ararat Yerevan|Ararat Yerevan]], [[Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic|Azerbaijan]] by [[Neftçi PFK|Neftchi Baku]], [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Georgia]] by [[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]], [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakhstan]] by [[Kairat Alma-Ata]], [[Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic|Uzbekistan]] by [[Pakhtakor Tashkent FK|Pakhtakor Tashkent]] and [[Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic|Tajikistan]] by [[CSKA Pamir Dushanbe|Pamir Dushanbe]]. A typical Top League season would feature 4-6 of these eleven, and Yerevan, Minsk and Tbilisi all managed to win the title at least once. Only Georgia, with [[FC Torpedo Kutaisi|Torpedo Kutaisi]] and later [[FC Guria Lanchkhuti|Guria Lanchkhuti]], was ever able to have a second representative survive in the Top League in addition to their capital city club. ([[Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic|Turkmenistan]] and [[Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic|Kirghizia]] were represented in the Soviet football pyramid by [[FK Köpetdag Aşgabat|Köpetdag Aşgabat]] and [[Alga Frunze]] respectively, but neither reached the top level.)

===Documentation===
Documentation about the league is scarce. Among well-known researchers are [[Aksel Vartanyan]] for [[Sport Express]], Andrei Moroz and Georgiy Ibragimov for [http://www.klisf.info/ KLISF Club], Alexandru G.Paloşanu, [http://www.goliathdk.com/ Eugene Berkovich], Mike Dryomin, Almantas Lauzadis, and Hans Schöggl for [https://www.rsssf.org/nersssf.html RSSSF Archives]. Another extensive databases are composed at [http://helmsoccer.narod.ru/Europa/Euro_Liges/USSR_Russia/Index.html helmsoccer.narod.ru] and [http://www.fc-dynamo.ru/champ/ FC Dynamo Moscow website].

==Names==
Since its creation, the Soviet Top League's name changed a quite few times:

;1936 – 1941 Group A (Группа А)
Prior to [[World War II]] the championship was split into several groups usually of eight teams and named by the letters of the [[Cyrillic script]].
;1945 – 1949 The First Group of USSR (Первая группа СССР)
Upon the reestablishment of the league after the war for several years it was numbered sequentially with the top league being the First.
;1950 – 1962 Class "A" of USSR (Класс "А" СССР)
Since 1950, the alphabetical classification of the Soviet league hierarchy has resumed. In 1960 through 1962 the league consisted of two groups with the better clubs qualified for the championship pool and less fortunate – the relegation pool.
;1963 – 1969 The First Group "A" of USSR (Первая группа "А" СССР)

==European representation==
The first time the Soviet League was represented in Europe in the [[1965–66 European Cup Winners' Cup]] by [[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]. In its first year the club reached the quarterfinals, eliminating on its way [[Coleraine F.C.|Coleraine]] and [[Rosenborg BK|Rosenborg]] and winning all four matches with those clubs. The Ukrainians also knocked out reigning champions [[Celtic F.C.|Celtic]] in the first round in the [[1967–68 European Cup]]. In the 1968–69 season the Soviet clubs withdrew from continental competitions after the [[Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia]]. From 1974 (except for the 1982–83 season) to 1984 the league was among the best 10 national competitions in the UEFA rankings (based on continental competitions performance) reaching the 4th place in 1976 and 1977.  From 1985 the Soviet Top League was among the best four in Europe, until the [[collapse of the Soviet Union]] in 1991.

In 1987 and 1988 the Soviet Top League was the second best league in Europe, however by the end of the Soviet Union the results of its representatives worsened as top players could now leave and play for foreign leagues in the West. The very last coefficient position that the Soviet League placed was No. 9 in 1992. The 1992/93 season all the results of the Soviet League were transferred to the [[Russian Premier League]]. Throughout its history the representatives of the league on four occasions made to the finals of the three primary European competitions being victorious in three. Once a Soviet club was able to win the [[UEFA Super Cup]].

==Football championship among city teams (1923–1935)==
Before establishment of professional competitions among clubs, in the Soviet Union existed another competition that was conducted among collective teams of various cities or republics.
{|class="sortable plainrowheaders wikitable"
|-
!Season!!Champion!!Runner-Up!!3rd Position!!Top Goalscorer
|-
|1923
|Moscow
|Southern Railways (Kharkiv)
|Kolomna / Irkutsk
|
|-
|1924
|Kharkiv
|Petrograd
|Transcaucasian SFSR
|
|-
|colspan=5 align=center|no competitions in 1925–27
|-
|1928
|Moscow
|Ukrainian SSR
|Belarusian SSR
|
|-
|colspan=5 align=center|no competitions in 1929–30
|-
|1931
|Russian SFSR
|Transcaucasian SFSR
|Ukrainian SSR
|
|-
|1932
|Moscow
|Leningrad
|Kharkiv / Donbass
|[[Vasily Pavlovich Smirnov|Vasily Smirnov]]<br />(Moscow, 4 goals)
|-
|colspan=5 align=center|no competitions in 1933–34
|-
|1935
|Moscow
|Leningrad
|Kharkiv
|[[Mikhail Yakushin]]<br />(Moscow, 6 goals)
|}

==Champions and top goalscorers==
{{main article|List of Soviet and Russian football champions}}
:'''''Bold''' text in the "Champion" column denotes that the club also won the [[Soviet Cup]] during the same season. The italicized text in the table indicates the other cup champions that made it the Soviet top-3.''

===Group A===
{|class="sortable plainrowheaders wikitable"
|-
!Season!!Champion!!Runner-Up!!3rd Position!!Top Goalscorer
|-
|[[1936 Soviet Top League|1936 (spring)]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[Mikhail Semichastny]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]], 6 goals)
|-
|[[1936 Soviet Top League|1936 (autumn)]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[Georgy Glazkov]]<br />([[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]], 7 goals)
|-
|[[1937 Soviet Top League|1937]]
|'''[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]''' (2)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]
|[[Boris Paichadze]]<br />([[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]], 8 goals)<br />[[Leonid Rumyantsev]]<br />([[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]], 8 goals)<br />[[Vasily Pavlovich Smirnov|Vasily Smirnov]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]], 8 goals)
|-
|[[1938 Soviet Top League|1938]]
|'''[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]''' (2)
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|[[FC Serp i Molot Moscow|Metallurg Moscow]]
|[[Makar Honcharenko]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]], 19 goals)
|-
|[[1939 Soviet Top League|1939]]
|'''[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]''' (3)
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|[[Grigory Fedotov]]<br />([[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]], 21 goals)
|-
|[[1940 Soviet Top League|1940]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] (3)
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[Grigory Fedotov]]<br />([[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]], 21 goals)<br />[[Sergei Solovyov (footballer)|Sergei Solovyov]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]], 21 goals)
|-
|[[1941 Soviet Top League|1941]]
|colspan="4"|''Cancelled on 24 June due to [[World War II]]'' (Dynamo Moscow had the best record at that time)
|-
|1942–44
|colspan="4"|''Cancelled due to World War II''
|}

;Performance by club
{|class="sortable plainrowheaders wikitable"
|-

!Club
!Winners
!Runners-Up
!3rd Position
!Years Won
|-
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|align=center|3
|align=center|1
|align=center|2
|align=left|1936a, 1938, 1939
|-
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|align=center|3
|align=center|1
|align=center|
|align=left|1936s, 1937, 1940
|-
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|align=center|
|align=center|2
|align=center|1
|align=left|
|-
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|align=center|
|align=center|1
|align=center|1
|align=left|
|-
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]
|align=center|
|align=center|1
|align=center|1
|align=left|
|-
|[[FC Serp i Molot Moscow|Metallurg Moscow]]
|align=center|
|align=center|
|align=center|1
|align=left|
|}

===First group===
{|class="sortable plainrowheaders wikitable"
|-
!Season!!Champion!!Runner-Up!!3rd Position!!Top Goalscorer
|-
|[[1945 Soviet Top League|1945]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] (4)
|''[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]''
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|[[Vsevolod Bobrov]]<br />([[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]], 24 goals)
|-
|[[1946 Soviet Top League|1946]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[Aleksandr Ponomaryov]]<br />([[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]], 18 goals)
|-
|[[1947 Soviet Top League|1947]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]] (2)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[Vsevolod Bobrov]]<br />([[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]], 14 goals)<br>[[Valentin Nikolayev (footballer)|Valentin Nikolayev]]<br />([[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]], 14 goals)<br />[[Sergei Solovyov (footballer)|Sergei Solovyov]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]], 14 goals)
|-
|[[1948 Soviet Top League|1948]]
|'''[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]''' (3)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[Sergei Solovyov (footballer)|Sergei Solovyov]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]], 25 goals)
|-
|[[1949 Soviet Top League|1949]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] (5)
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[Nikita Simonyan]]<br />([[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]], 26 goals)
|}

;Performance by club
{|class="sortable plainrowheaders wikitable"
|-

!Club
!Winners
!Runners-Up
!3rd Position
!Years Won
|-
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|align=center|3
|align=center|2
|align=center|
|align=left|1946, 1947, 1948
|-
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|align=center|2
|align=center|3
|align=center|
|align=left|1945, 1949
|-
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|align=center|
|align=center|
|align=center|2
|align=left|
|-
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|align=center|
|align=center|
|align=center|2
|align=left|
|-
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|align=center|
|align=center|
|align=center|1
|align=left|
|}

===Class A===
{|class="sortable plainrowheaders wikitable"
|-
!Season!!Champion!!Runner-up!!3rd position!!Top goalscorer
|-
|[[1950 Soviet Top League|1950]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]] (4)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[Nikita Simonyan]]<br />([[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]], 34 goals)
|-
|[[1951 Soviet Top League|1951]]
|'''[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]''' (5)
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhtar Stalino]]
||[[Avtandil Gogoberidze]]<br />([[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]], 16 goals)
|-
|[[1952 Soviet Top League|1952]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (4)
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[Andrey Zazroyev]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]], 11 goals)
|-
|[[1953 Soviet Top League|1953]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (5)
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|[[Nikita Simonyan]]<br />([[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]], 14 goals)
|-
|[[1954 Soviet Top League|1954]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] (6)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Dinamo Minsk|Spartak Minsk]]
|[[Anatoli Ilyin]]<br />([[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]], 11 goals)<br>[[Vladimir Ilyin (footballer, born 1928)|Vladimir Ilyin]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]], 11 goals)<br>[[Antonin Sochnev]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Saint Petersburg|Trudovye Reservy Leningrad]], 11 goals)
|-
|[[1955 Soviet Top League|1955]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] (7)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|''[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]''
|[[Eduard Streltsov]]<br />([[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]], 15 goals)
|-
|[[1956 Soviet Top League|1956]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (6)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|[[Vasily Buzunov]]<br />([[ODO Sverdlovsk]], 17 goals)
|-
|[[1957 Soviet Top League|1957]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] (8)
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[Vasily Buzunov]]<br />([[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]], 16 goals)
|-
|[[1958 Soviet Top League|1958]]
|'''[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]''' (7)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|[[Anatoli Ilyin]]<br />([[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]], 19 goals)
|-
|[[1959 Soviet Top League|1959]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] (9)
|[[FC Lokomotiv Moscow|Lokomotiv Moscow]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[Zaur Kaloyev]]<br />([[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]], 16 goals)
|-
|[[1960 Soviet Top League|1960]]
|'''[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]'''
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[Zaur Kaloyev]]<br />([[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]], 20 goals)<br>[[Gennady Gusarov]]<br />([[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]], 20 goals)
|-
|[[1961 Soviet Top League|1961]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[Gennady Gusarov]]<br />([[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]], 22 goals)
|-
|[[1962 Soviet Top League|1962]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (8)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[Mikhail Mustygin]]<br />([[FC Dinamo Minsk|Belarus Minsk]], 17 goals)
|}

;Performance by club
{|class="sortable plainrowheaders wikitable"
|-

!Club
!Winners
!Runners-Up
!3rd Position
!Years Won
|-
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|align=center|5
|align=center|2
|align=center|2
|align=left|1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1962
|-
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|align=center|4
|align=center|4
|align=center|2
|align=left|1954, 1955, 1957, 1959
|-
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|align=center|2
|align=center|
|align=center|3
|align=left|1950, 1951
|-
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|align=center|1
|align=center|2
|align=center|1
|align=left|1960
|-
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]
|align=center|1
|align=center|2
|align=center|
|align=left|1961
|-
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|align=center|
|align=center|2
|align=center|3
|align=left|
|-
|[[FC Lokomotiv Moscow|Lokomotiv Moscow]]
|align=center|
|align=center|1
|align=center|
|align=left|
|-
|[[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhtar Stalino]]
|align=center|
|align=center|
|align=center|1
|align=left|
|-
|[[FC Dinamo Minsk|Spartak Minsk]]
|align=center|
|align=center|
|align=center|1
|align=left|
|}

===Class A (1st Group)===
{|class="sortable plainrowheaders wikitable"
|-
!Season!!Champion!!Runner-Up!!3rd Position!!Top Goalscorer
|-
|[[1963 Soviet Top League|1963]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] (10)
|''[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]''
|[[FC Dinamo Minsk|Dinamo Minsk]]
|[[Oleg Kopayev]]<br />([[FC SKA Rostov-on-Don|SKA Rostov-on-Don]], 27 goals)
|-
|[[1964 Soviet Top League|1964]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|[[Vladimir Fedotov]]<br />([[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]], 16 goals)
|-
|[[1965 Soviet Top League|1965]]
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]] (2)
|''[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]''
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|[[Oleg Kopayev]]<br />([[FC SKA Rostov-on-Don|SKA Rostov-on-Don]], 18 goals)
|-
|[[1966 Soviet Top League|1966]]
|'''[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]''' (2)
|[[FC SKA Rostov-on-Don|SKA Rostov-on-Don]]
|[[Neftçi PFK|Neftyanik Baku]]
|[[Ilya Datunashvili]]<br />([[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]], 20 goals)
|-
|[[1967 Soviet Top League|1967]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]] (3)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[Mikhail Mustygin]]<br />([[FC Dinamo Minsk|Dinamo Minsk]], 19 goals)
|-
|[[1968 Soviet Top League|1968]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]] (4)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|[[Georgi Gavasheli]]<br />([[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]], 22 goals)<br>[[Berador Abduraimov]]<br />([[Pakhtakor Tashkent FK|Pakhtakor Tashkent]], 22 goals)
|-
|[[1969 Soviet Top League|1969]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (9)
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[Nikolai Osyanin]]<br />([[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]], 16 goals)<br>[[Vladimir Proskurin]]<br />([[FC SKA Rostov-on-Don|SKA Rostov-on-Don]], 16 goals)<br>[[Dzhemal Kherhadze]]<br />([[FC Torpedo Kutaisi|Torpedo Kutaisi]], 16 goals)
|}

===Class A (Top Group)===
{|class="sortable plainrowheaders wikitable"
|-
!Season!!Champion!!Runner-Up!!3rd Position!!Top Goalscorer
|-
|[[1970 Soviet Top League|1970]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]] (6)
|''[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]''
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[Givi Nodia]]<br />([[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]], 17 goals)
|}

===Top League===
{|class="sortable plainrowheaders wikitable"
|-
!Season!!Champion!!Runner-Up!!3rd Position!!Top Goalscorer
|-
|[[1971 Soviet Top League|1971]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]] (5)
|[[FC Ararat Yerevan|Ararat Yerevan]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[Eduard Malofeyev]]<br />([[FC Dinamo Minsk|Dinamo Minsk]], 16 goals)
|-
|[[1972 Soviet Top League|1972]]
|[[FC Zorya Luhansk|Zorya Voroshilovgrad]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[Oleg Blokhin]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]], 14 goals)
|-
|[[1973 Soviet Top League|1973]]
|'''[[FC Ararat Yerevan|Ararat Yerevan]]'''
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[Oleg Blokhin]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]], 18 goals)
|-
|[[1974 Soviet Top League|1974]]
|'''[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]''' (6)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Chornomorets Odesa|Chornomorets Odesa]]
|[[Oleg Blokhin]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]], 20 goals)
|-
|[[1975 Soviet Top League|1975]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]] (7)
|[[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhtar Donetsk]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[Oleg Blokhin]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]], 18 goals)
|-
|[[1976 Soviet Top League|1976 (spring)]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] (11)
|[[FC Ararat Yerevan|Ararat Yerevan]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[Arkady Andreasyan]]<br />([[FC Ararat Yerevan|Ararat Yerevan]], 8 goals)
|-
|[[1976 Soviet Top League|1976 (autumn)]]
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]] (3)
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]
|''[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]''
|[[Aleksandr Markin (footballer)|Aleksandr Markin]]<br />([[FC Zenit Saint Petersburg|Zenit Leningrad]], 13 goals)
|-
|[[1977 Soviet Top League|1977]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]] (8)
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|[[Oleg Blokhin]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]], 17 goals)
|-
|[[1978 Soviet Top League|1978]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]] (2)
|''[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]''
|[[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhtar Donetsk]]
|[[Georgi Yartsev]]<br />([[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]], 19 goals)
|-
|[[1979 Soviet Top League|1979]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (10)
|[[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhtar Donetsk]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]
|[[Vitali Starukhin]]<br />([[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhtar Donetsk]], 26 goals)
|-
|[[1980 Soviet Top League|1980]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]] (9)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Zenit Saint Petersburg|Zenit Leningrad]]
|[[Sergey Andreyev]]<br />([[FC SKA Rostov-on-Don|SKA Rostov-on-Don]], 20 goals)
|-
|[[1981 Soviet Top League|1981]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]] (10)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[Ramaz Shengelia]]<br />([[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]], 23 goals)
|-
|[[1982 Soviet Top League|1982]]
|[[FC Dinamo Minsk|Dinamo Minsk]]
|''[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]''
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[Andrei Yakubik]]<br />([[Pakhtakor Tashkent FK|Pakhtakor Tashkent]], 23 goals)
|-
|[[1983 Soviet Top League|1983]]
|[[FC Dnipro|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Dinamo Minsk|Dinamo Minsk]]
|[[Yuri Gavrilov (footballer, born 1953)|Yuri Gavrilov]]<br />([[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]], 18 goals)
|-
|[[1984 Soviet Top League|1984]]
|[[FC Zenit Saint Petersburg|Zenit Leningrad]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Dnipro|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]]
|[[Sergey Andreyev]]<br />([[FC SKA Rostov-on-Don|SKA Rostov-on-Don]], 20 goals)
|-
|[[1985 Soviet Top League|1985]]
|'''[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]''' (11)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Dnipro|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]]
|[[Oleg Protasov]]<br />([[FC Dnipro|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]], 35 goals)
|-
|[[1986 Soviet Top League|1986]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]] (12)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[Aleksandr Borodyuk]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]], 21 goals)
|-
|[[1987 Soviet Top League|1987]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (11)
|[[FC Dnipro|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]]
|[[FK Žalgiris|Žalgiris Vilnius]]
|[[Oleg Protasov]]<br />([[FC Dnipro|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]], 18 goals)
|-
|[[1988 Soviet Top League|1988]]
|[[FC Dnipro|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]] (2)
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|[[Yevhen Shakhov (footballer born 1962)|Yevhen Shakhov]]<br />([[FC Dnipro|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]], 16 goals)<br>[[Aleksandr Borodyuk]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]], 16 goals)
|-
|[[1989 Soviet Top League|1989]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (12)
|[[FC Dnipro|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]]
|''[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]''
|[[Sergey Rodionov]]<br />([[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]], 16 goals)
|-
|[[1990 Soviet Top League|1990]]
|'''[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]''' (13)
|''[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]''
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|[[Oleg Protasov]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]], 12 goals)<br>[[Valeri Shmarov (footballer)|Valery Shmarov]]<br />([[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]], 12 goals)
|-
|[[1991 Soviet Top League|1991]]
|'''[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]''' (7)
|''[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]''
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|[[Igor Kolyvanov]]<br />([[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]], 18 goals)
|}

==Overall statistics==

===Performance by club's first teams===
{|class="sortable plainrowheaders wikitable"
|-
!Club
!Winners
!Runners-up
!Third places
!Years won
|-
|{{flag icon|Ukrainian SSR}} [[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]] 
|align=center|13
|align=center|11
|align=center|3
|align=left|1961, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1990
|-
|{{flag icon|Russian SFSR}} [[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] 
|align=center|12
|align=center|12
|align=center|9
|align=left|1936 (a), 1938, 1939, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1962, 1969, 1979, 1987, 1989
|-
|{{flag icon|Russian SFSR}} [[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] 
|align=center|11
|align=center|11
|align=center|5
|align=left|1936 (s), 1937, 1940, 1945, 1949, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1963, 1976 (s)
|-
|{{flag icon|Russian SFSR}} [[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]] 
|align=center|7
|align=center|4
|align=center|6
|align=left|1946, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1970, 1991
|-
|{{flag icon|Russian SFSR}} [[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]] 
|align=center|3
|align=center|3
|align=center|6
|align=left|1960, 1965, 1976 (a)
|-
|{{flag icon|Georgian SSR}} [[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]] 
|align=center|2
|align=center|5
|align=center|13
|align=left|1964, 1978
|-
|{{flag icon|Ukrainian SSR}} [[FC Dnipro|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]] 
|align=center|2
|align=center|2
|align=center|2
|align=left|1983, 1988
|-
|{{flag icon|Armenian SSR}} [[FC Ararat Yerevan|Ararat Yerevan]] 
|align=center|1
|align=center|2
|align=center|–
|align=left|1973
|-
|{{flag icon|Byelorussian SSR}} [[FC Dinamo Minsk|Dinamo Minsk]] 
|align=center|1
|align=center|–
|align=center|3
|align=left|1982
|-
|{{flag icon|Russian SFSR}} [[FC Zenit Saint Petersburg|Zenit Leningrad]] 
|align=center|1
|align=center|–
|align=center|1
|align=left|1984
|-
|{{flag icon|Ukrainian SSR}} [[FC Zorya Luhansk|Zorya Voroshilovgrad]] 
|align=center|1
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=left|1972
|-
|{{flag icon|Ukrainian SSR}} [[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhtar Donetsk]] 
|align=center|–
|align=center|2
|align=center|2
|align=left|–
|-
|{{flag icon|Russian SFSR}} [[FC Lokomotiv Moscow|Lokomotiv Moscow]] 
|align=center|–
|align=center|1
|align=center|–
|align=left|–
|-
|{{flag icon|Russian SFSR}} [[FC SKA Rostov-on-Don|SKA Rostov-on-Don]] 
|align=center|–
|align=center|1
|align=center|–
|align=left|–
|-
|{{flag icon|Russian SFSR}} [[FC Serp i Molot Moscow|Serp i Molot Moscow]] 
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|1
|align=left|–
|-
|{{flag icon|Azerbaijan SSR}} [[Neftçi PFK|Neftchi Baku]]
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|1
|align=left|
|-
|{{flag icon|Ukrainian SSR}} [[FC Chornomorets Odesa|Chornomorets Odesa]] 
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|1
|align=left|–
|-
|{{flag icon|Lithuanian SSR}} [[FK Žalgiris|Žalgiris Vilnius]] 
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|1
|align=left|–
|-
!Total
!54
!54
!54
!
|}

===Performance by republic===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%; text-align: left;"
|-
! Republic
! Winners
! Runners-up
! Third places
! Appearances
! Number of<br>representing clubs
! Winning clubs
|-
| {{flagu|Russian SFSR}}
|align=center|34
|align=center|32
|align=center|28
|align=center|416
|align=center|31
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (12)<br> [[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] (11)<br> [[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]] (7)<br> [[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]] (3)<br> [[FC Zenit Saint Petersburg|Zenit Leningrad]] (1)
|-
| {{flagu|Ukrainian SSR}}
|align=center|16
|align=center|15
|align=center|8
|align=center|191
|align=center|15
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]] (13)<br>[[FC Dnipro|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]] (2)<br>[[FC Zorya Luhansk|Zorya Voroshilovgrad]] (1)
|-
| {{flagu|Georgian SSR}}
|align=center|2
|align=center|5
|align=center|13
|align=center|68
|align=center|5
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]] (2)
|-
| {{flagu|Armenian SSR}}
|align=center|1
|align=center|2
|align=center|–
|align=center|33
|align=center|1
|[[FC Ararat Yerevan|Ararat Yerevan]] (1)
|-
| {{flagu|Byelorussian SSR}}
|align=center|1
|align=center|–
|align=center|3
|align=center|39
|align=center|1
|[[FC Dinamo Minsk|Dinamo Minsk]] (1)
|-
| {{flagu|Azerbaijan SSR}}
|align=center|– 
|align=center|–
|align=center|1
|align=center|29
|align=center|3
|
|-
| {{flagu|Lithuanian SSR}}
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|1
|align=center|11
|align=center|1
|
|-
| {{flagu|Kazakh SSR}}
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|24
|align=center|1
|
|-
| {{flagu|Uzbek SSR}}
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|22
|align=center|1
|
|-
| {{flagu|Moldavian SSR}}
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|7
|align=center|1
|
|-
| {{flagu|Latvian SSR}}
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|7
|align=center|1
|
|-
| {{flagu|Tajik SSR}}
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|3
|align=center|1
|
|-
| {{flagu|Estonian SSR}}
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|–
|align=center|2
|align=center|1
|
|-
!Total
!54
!54
!54
!
!
!
|}

The republics that were never represented at the top level were the [[Turkmen SSR]] and the [[Kyrgyz SSR]]. Also, in Soviet football Russian SFSR teams were technically represented by three different entities with Moscow and Leningrad as the Union federal cities teams considered separately from the rest of Russian teams.

===All-time table===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Team!!Republic!!Seasons!!First<br />season!!Last<br />season!!Played!!Won!!Drawn!!Lost!!Goals<br />for!!Goals<br />against!!Points<sup>1</sup>!!1st!!2nd!!3rd
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]||Russia||53||1936||1991||1453||722||385||346||2483||1467||1821||12||12||9
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]]||Ukraine||54||1936||1991||1483||681||456||346||2306||1566||1810||13||11||3
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]||Russia||54||1936||1991||1485||707||404||374||2435||1457||1805||11||11||5
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]||Georgia||51||1936||1989||1424||621||406||397||2176||1677||1642||2||5||13
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]||Russia||51||1938||1991||1455||601||433||421||2059||1656||1613||3||3||6
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]<ref>Includes appearances as ''CDKA Moscow'', ''CDSA Moscow'', and ''CSK MO Moscow'', see [http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=183898169318307257293215467846 club history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225171213/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=183898169318307257293215467846 |date=25 December 2007 }} at KLISF</ref>||Russia||48||1936||1991||1326||585||363||378||2030||1451||1524||7||4||6
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Zenit Saint Petersburg|Zenit Leningrad]]<ref>Includes appearances as ''Stalinets Leningrad'', see [http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=625603749262508838439582704173 club history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225171258/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=625603749262508838439582704173 |date=25 December 2007 }} at KLISF</ref>||Russia||49||1938||1989||1402||464||411||527||1725||1914||1328||1||-||1
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhter Donetsk]]<ref>Includes appearances as ''Stakhanovets Stalino'', see [http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=723172788472116952541763682364 club history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927003820/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=723172788472116952541763682364 |date=27 September 2011 }} at KLISF</ref>||Ukraine||44||1938||1991||1288||434||379||475||1522||1641||1241||-||2||2
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Dinamo Minsk|Dinamo Minsk]] ([[FC Dinamo Minsk|Spartak Minsk]])||Belarus||33||1945||1991||1053||342||319||392||1162||1297||989||1||-||3
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Ararat Yerevan|Ararat Yerevan]]<ref>Includes appearances as ''Dynamo Yerevan'' and ''Spartak Yerevan'', see [http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=914320875991241289177131428686 club history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225171324/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=914320875991241289177131428686 |date=25 December 2007 }} at KLISF</ref>||Armenia||33||1949||1991||1026||352||280||394||1150||1306||972||1||2||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Lokomotiv Moscow|Lokomotiv Moscow]]||Russia||38||1936||1991||1001||303||289||409||1218||1431||888||-||1||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[Neftçi PFK|Neftchi Baku]]<ref>Includes appearances as ''Neftyanik Baku'', see [https://web.archive.org/web/20071225171244/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=562764465655344433792626573735 club history] at KLISF</ref>||Azerbaijan||27||1949||1988||884||253||270||361||907||1141||771||-||-||1
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Chornomorets Odesa|Chernomorets Odesa]]||Ukraine||24||1965||1991||738||244||217||277||777||884||699||-||-||1
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Kairat|Kairat Almata]]||Kazakhstan||24||1960||1988||780||226||234||320||742||983||678||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[Pakhtakor Tashkent FK|Pakhtakor Tashkent]]||Uzbekistan||22||1960||1991||722||212||211||299||805||1035||629||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC SKA Rostov-on-Don|SKA Rostov-on-Don]]<ref>Includes appearance as ''SKVO Rostov-on-Don'', see [http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=221797868021320064695406045940 club history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225171218/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=221797868021320064695406045940 |date=25 December 2007 }} at KLISF</ref>||Russia||21||1959||1985||680||218||194||268||843||911||620||-||1||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Dnipro|Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk]]||Ukraine||19||1972||1991||554||227||154||173||729||634||604||2||2||2
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Krylia Sovetov Samara|Krylya Sovetov Kuybyshev]]<ref>Includes appearance as ''Zenit Kuybyshev'', see [http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=179728211317887368554281557185 club history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225171207/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=179728211317887368554281557185 |date=25 December 2007 }} at KLISF</ref>||Russia||26||1946||1979||715||185||209||321||675||996||579||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Metalist Kharkiv|Metallist Kharkiv]]<ref>Includes appearances as ''Avangard Kharkiv'', see [http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=633393686663134503911925380747 club history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927004112/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=633393686663134503911925380747 |date=27 September 2011 }} at KLISF</ref>||Ukraine||14||1960||1991||438||133||124||181||413||530||390||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Zorya Luhansk|Zorya Voroshilovgrad]]||Ukraine||14||1967||1979||412||125||135||152||416||469||377||1||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Dynamo Saint Petersburg|Dynamo Leningrad]]||Russia||17||1936||1963||397||135||102||160||589||649||372||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Torpedo Kutaisi|Torpedo Kutaisi]]||Georgia||13||1962||1986||439||104||129||206||395||655||335||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FK Žalgiris|Žalgiris Vilnius]]<ref>Includes appearances as ''Spartak Vilnius'', see [http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=815141869781303484663120468796 club history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225171318/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=815141869781303484663120468796 |date=25 December 2007 }} at KLISF</ref>||Lithuania||11||1953||1989||330||107||93||130||349||463||305||-||-||1
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Rotor Volgograd|Rotor Volgograd]]<ref>Includes appearances as ''Traktor Stalingrad'' and ''Torpedo Stalingrad'', see [http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=687703130668694122035748442516 club history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225171309/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=687703130668694122035748442516 |date=25 December 2007 }} at KLISF</ref>||Russia||11||1938||1990||293||91||66||136||352||488||248||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Zimbru Chișinău|Nistru Chişinău]]<ref>Includes appearances as ''Burevestnik Kishinev'' and ''Moldova Kishinev'', see [http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=278017313526865798118073419266 club history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225171234/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=278017313526865798118073419266 |date=25 December 2007 }} at KLISF</ref>||Moldova||11||1956||1983||312||69||84||159||312||534||222||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Karpaty Lviv|Karpaty Lviv]]||Ukraine||9||1971||1980||244||68||85||91||250||301||218||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[VVS Moscow]]||Russia||6||1947||1952||161||58||32||71||235||270||148||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Daugava Riga|Daugava Riga]]||Latvia||7||1949||1962||203||51||48||104||198||311||150||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Krylya Sovetov Moscow|Krylya Sovetov Moscow]]||Russia||6||1938||1948||143||32||39||72||145||259||103||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Serp i Molot Moscow|Metallurg Moscow]]||Russia||4||1937||1940||91||40||17||34||173||170||97||-||-||1
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Metalist Kharkiv|Lokomotiv Kharkiv]]||Ukraine||4||1949||1954||34||23||57||47||112||176||91||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Kuban Krasnodar|Kuban Krasnodar]]||Russia||3||1980||1982||102||29||26||47||111||145||84||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[Admiralteyets Leningrad]]||Russia||3||1958||1961||84||26||17||41||122||149||69||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[CSKA Pamir Dushanbe|Pamir Dushanbe]]||Tajikistan||3||1989||1991||84||21||27||36||74||104||69||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Elektrosila Leningrad|Elektrik Leningrad]]<ref>Includes appearances as ''Krasnaya Zarya Leningrad'', see [https://web.archive.org/web/20071225171222/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=254935805241948141355555244448 club history] at KLISF</ref>||Russia||5||1936||1939||80||22||18||40||112||163||62||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Fakel Voronezh|Fakel Voronezh]]<ref>Includes appearance as ''Trud Voronezh'', see [http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=602163983860162091040378396217 club history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225171253/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=602163983860162091040378396217 |date=25 December 2007 }} at KLISF</ref>||Russia||2||1961||1985||66||20||17||29||63||83||57||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Dynamo Saint Petersburg|Trudovye Rezervy Leningrad]]||Russia||3||1954||1956||68||16||23||29||82||113||55||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod|Volga Gorky]]<ref>Includes appearances as ''Torpedo Gorky'', see [http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=446526381336187678029272307277 club history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225171239/http://www.klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=comm&lang=en&id=446526381336187678029272307277 |date=25 December 2007 }} at KLISF</ref>||Russia||3||1951||1964||85||14||27||44||58||143||55||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Spartaki Tbilisi|Spartak Tbilisi]]||Georgia||2||1950||1951||64||21||11||32||82||109||53||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Spartak Vladikavkaz|Spartak Vladikavkaz]]||Russia||2||1970||1991||62||16||16||30||64||89||48||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Dynamo Odesa|Dinamo Odesa]]||Ukraine||2||1938||1939||51||16||13||22||64||102||45||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[SC Odesa|SKA Odesa]]||Ukraine||2||1965||1966||68||4||19||45||38||121||27||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia|Metallurg Zaporizhya]]||Ukraine||1||1991||1991||30||9||7||14||27||38||25||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[VMS Moscow]]||Russia||1||1951||1951||28||7||9||12||30||50||23||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[SC Tavriya Simferopol|Tavriya Simferopol]]||Ukraine||1||1981||1981||34||8||7||19||27||54||23||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Silmash Kharkiv|Selmash Kharkiv]]||Ukraine||1||1938||1938||25||8||6||11||34||45||22||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Ural Yekaterinburg|Uralmash Sverdlovsk]]||Russia||1||1969||1969||34||7||8||19||19||39||22||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[Stalinets Moscow]]||Russia||1||1938||1938||25||8||5||12||36||44||21||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Lokomotyv Kyiv|Lokomotyv Kyiv]]||Ukraine||1||1938||1938||25||8||5||12||43||64||21||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Shinnik Yaroslavl|Shinnik Yaroslavl]]||Russia||1||1964||1964||32||6||9||17||20||48||21||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[Dynamo Rostov-on-Don]]||Russia||1||1938||1938||25||7||6||12||39||43||20||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[Stroitel Baku|Temp Baku]]||Azerbaijan||1||1938||1938||25||6||8||11||33||40||20||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Spartak Leningrad|Spartak Leningrad]]||Russia||1||1938||1938||25||6||8||11||30||39||20||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[JK Tallinna Kalev|Kalev Tallinn]]||Estonia||2||1960||1961||58||3||14||41||46||146||20||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[Kapaz PFK|Dynamo Kirovabad]]||Azerbaijan||1||1968||1968||38||5||9||24||25||59||19||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Guria Lanchkhuti|Guria Lanchkhuti]]||Georgia||1||1987||1987||30||5||8||17||18||38||18||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Spartak Kharkiv|Spartak Kharkiv]]||Ukraine||1||1938||1938||25||5||7||13||43||63||17||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[Zenit (Bolshevik) Leningrad]]||Russia||1||1938||1938||25||7||3||15||35||57||17||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[ODO Sverdlovsk]]||Russia||1||1956||1956||22||6||4||12||31||45||16||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[Pishchevik Moscow]]||Russia||1||1938||1938||25||5||6||14||25||53||16||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC Locomotive Tbilisi|Lokomotivi Tbilisi]]||Georgia||1||1938||1938||25||5||5||15||44||62||15||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[FC MVO Moscow|Kalinin city team]]||Russia||1||1952||1952||13||5||4||4||19||19||14||-||-||-
|- style="text-align:right;"
|align="left"|[[Burevestnik (sports society)|Burevestnik Moscow]]||Russia||1||1938||1938||25||4||4||17||28||87||12||-||-||-
|}
<sup>1</sup>Two points for a win. In 1973, a point for a draw was awarded only to a team that won the subsequent penalty shootout. In 1978–1988, the number of draws for which points were awarded was limited.

==Best coaches==
<!--Multiple championship titles-->
{| style="margin:auto;"  class="wikitable"
|+
!rowspan=2 |Place
!rowspan=2 |Name
!colspan=3|Medals
!rowspan=2 |Champion clubs
|-
| style="background:gold;"| '''gold'''
| style="background:silver;"| '''silver'''
| bgcolor=tan| '''bronze'''
|-
| 1
| [[Valeriy Lobanovsky]]
| 7
| 4
| 2
| [[Dynamo Kyiv]]
|-
| 2
| [[Mikhail Yakushin]]
| 6
| 6
| 1
| [[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]]
|-
| 3
| [[Boris Arkadiev]]
| 6
| 2
| 2
| [[CSKA Moscow]] (5), [[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] (1)
|-
| 4
| [[Victor Maslov|Viktor Maslov]]
| 4
| 4
| -
| [[Dynamo Kyiv]] (3), [[Torpedo Moscow]] (1)
|-
| 5
| [[Nikita Simonyan]]
| 3
| 2
| 2
| [[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (2), [[Ararat Yerevan]] (1)
|- Gulyayev (footballer)
| 6
| [[Konstantin Beskov]]
| 2
| 7
| 2
| [[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|-
| 7
| [[Aleksandr Sevidov]]
| 2
| 2
| 2
| [[Dynamo Kyiv]] (1), [[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] (1)
|-
| rowspan="2"|8-9
| [[Nikolay Gulyayev (footballer)|Nikolay Gulyayev]]
| 2
| 2
| 1
| [[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|-
| [[Konstantin Kvashnin]]
| 2
| 2
| 1
| [[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (1), [[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dynamo Moscow]] (1)
|-
| rowspan="2"|10-11
| [[Vasily Sokolov (footballer)|Vasily Sokolov]]
| 2
| 1
| -
| [[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|-
| [[Pavel Sadyrin]]
| 2
| 1
| -
| [[Zenit Leningrad]] (1), [[CSKA Moscow]] (1)
|}

'''''Notes:'''''
* Clubs are shown those with which the listed coaches made the top-3, i.e. Beskov won two Top league titles and all with Spartak, but he also managed Dynamo with which he was a league runner-up.

== Awards and prizes ==

Starting since 1958 beside medals of the regular Soviet championship, participants were awarded number of prizes (~ 18 regular prizes) that were established by various sports and public organizations, editorial offices of newspapers and magazines.
{{legend|lightgreen|a prize that had different name and created by someone else}}
{{legend|grey|a prize that was superseded by another}}
{{legend|lightgrey|brief-lasting awards, less than 5 seasons}}
{| class="wikitable"
!width="300" |Prize
!width="400" |Creator
!width="100" |Years
|-
|[[Soviet Footballer of the Year|The best footballer of the Year]]||"Futbol" weekly||1964—1991
|-
|The best goalie of the Year||"Ogonyok" magazine||1960—1991
|-
|The best topscorer||"Trud" newspaper||1958—1991
|-
|The Knight of the Attack||"Sovetskiy voin" magazine||1984—1991
|-bgcolor=lightgrey
|Loyalty to the club||"Prapor kommunizma" Kyiv newspaper||1986—1989
|-bgcolor=grey
|The best debutant of the season||"Smena" magazine||1964—1975
|-bgcolor=lightgreen
|The best newcomer||"Sportivnye igry" magazine||1986—1991
|-bgcolor=lightgrey
|To the attack setter||"Stroitelnaya gazeta"||1988—1989
|-
|With both squads||[[Football Federation of the Soviet Union|Football Federation (Section) of the USSR]]||1958—1991
|-
|Commemorative Prize of Grigoriy Fedotov||CSKA||1958—1991
|-bgcolor=grey
|For the fair play||"Sovetskiy sport" newspaper||1958—1969
|-bgcolor=lightgreen
|Fair Play||"Chelovek i zakon" magazine||1974—1991
|-
|The big score||"Futbol" weekly||1961—1991
|-
|For the will to victory||"Sovetskaya Rossiya" newspaper||1962—1991
|-
|For the best difference in goals||"Start" Ukrainian magazine||1966—1991
|-
|The challenging guest||"Komsomolskoye znamya" Kyiv newspaper||1966—1991
|-
|[[Upset (competition)|The trouble for the elites]]{{efn|Fear-striker to the famed (favourites)}}||"Sportivnaya Moskva" weekly||1976—1991
|-
|Honor to the flag||Alma-Ata newspaper "Leninskaya smena"||1969—1978
|-
|[[Progress Cup|Cup of the progress]]||Kyiv "Rabochaya gazeta"||1971—1991
|-
|Together with a team||Presidium of the Football Federation of sport societies trade unions||1978—1990
|-
|The First height||Newspaper "Sotsialisticheskaya industriya"||1983—1991
|-bgcolor=lightgrey
|For nobility and courage||Leningrad magazine "Avrora"||1987—1989
|-
|For the most beautiful goal of the season||Newspaper "Moskovskiy komsomolets" <br> television program "Futbolnoye obozreniye"||1964—1991
|}

==Soviet football championship among reserves==
{|class="sortable plainrowheaders wikitable"
|-
!Season!!Champion!!Runner-Up!!3rd Position!!Top Goalscorer
|-
|1945
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]] (1)
|?
|?
|
|-
|1946
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (1)
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]
|
|-
|1947
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]] (1)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]]
|
|-
|1948
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]] (2)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC VVS Moscow|VVS Moscow]]
|
|-
|1949
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]] (1)
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|
|-
|1950
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CDKA Moscow]] (3)
|[[FC VVS Moscow|VVS Moscow]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|
|-
|1951
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CDKA Moscow]] (4)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]
|[[FC VVS Moscow|VVS Moscow]]
|
|-
|1952
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]] (2)
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]]
|[[FC Krylia Sovetov Samara|Krylia Sovetov Kuibyshev]]
|
|-
|1953
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (2)
|[[FC Lokomotiv Moscow|Lokomotiv Moscow]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]]
|
|-
|1954
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (3)
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CDSA Moscow]]
|[[FC Lokomotiv Moscow|Lokomotiv Moscow]]
|
|-
|1955
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (4)
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CDSA Moscow]]
|
|-
|1956
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (5)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]
|[[FC Lokomotiv Moscow|Lokomotiv Moscow]]
|
|-
|1957
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]] (3)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSK MO Moscow]]
|
|-
|1958
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (6)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]
|[[FC Zenit Leningrad|Zenit Leningrad]]
|
|-
|1959
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]] (1)
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSK MO Moscow]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|
|-
|1960
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]] (5)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]]
|
|-
|1961
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (7)
|[[FC SKA Rostov|SKA Rostov-na-Donu]]
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]]
|
|-
|1962
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (8)
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]
|
|-
|1963
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]] (2)
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|
|-
|1964
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]] (1)
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|
|-
|1965
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]] (3)
|[[FC Lokomotiv Moscow|Lokomotiv Moscow]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|
|-
|1966
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]] (4)
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[Neftçi PFK|Neftchi Baku]]
|
|-
|1967
|[[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhter Donetsk]] (1)
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]
|
|-
|1968
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]] (5)
|[[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhter Donetsk]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]
|
|-
|1969
|[[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhter Donetsk]] (2)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|
|-
|1970
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]] (4)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|
|-
|1971
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]] (5)
|[[FC SKA Rostov|SKA Rostov-na-Donu]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|
|-
|1972
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]] (6)
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|[[FC Karpaty Lviv|Karpaty Lviv]]
|
|-
|1973
|[[FC Ararat Erevan|FC Ararat Yerevan]] (1)
|[[FC Kairat Almaty|Kairat Alma-Ata]]
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|
|-
|1974
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]] (7)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]
|[[FC Chornomorets Odesa|Chernomorets Odesa]]
|
|-
|1975
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]] (2)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]]
|
|-
|1976
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]] (8)
|[[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhter Donetsk]]
|[[FC Karpaty Lviv|Karpaty Lviv]]
|
|-
|1977
|[[Dinamo Kyiv]] (9)
|[[FC Shakhtar Donetsk|Shakhter Donetsk]]
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|
|-
|1978
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]] (2)
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]]
|
|-
|1979
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]] (6)
|[[Neftçi PFK|Neftchi Baku]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]]
|
|-
|1980
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]] (10)
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|
|-
|1981
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]] (11)
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|[[FC Zenit Leningrad|Zenit Leningrad]]
|
|-
|1982
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]] (12)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Dinamo Minsk|Dinamo Minsk]]
|
|-
|1983
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]] (13)
|[[PFC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]]
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]]
|
|-
|1984
|[[FC Dnipro|Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk]] (1)
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]]
|[[FC Dinamo Tbilisi|Dinamo Tbilisi]]
|
|-
|1985
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]] (14)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Torpedo Moscow|Torpedo Moscow]]
|
|-
|1986
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]] (9)
|[[FC Dnipro|Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk]]
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]]
|
|-
|1987
|[[FC Dnipro|Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk]] (2)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Zalgiris Vilnius|Zalgiris Vilnius]]
|
|-
|1988
|[[FC Dynamo Moscow|Dinamo Moscow]] (7)
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|
|-
|1989
|[[FC Dinamo Minsk|Dinamo Minsk]] (1)
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|[[FC Dnipro|Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk]]
|
|-
|1990
|[[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dinamo Kyiv]] (15)
|[[FC Dnipro|Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|
|-
|1991
|[[FC Dnipro|Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk]] (3)
|[[FC Dinamo Minsk|Dinamo Minsk]]
|[[FC Spartak Moscow|Spartak Moscow]]
|
|-
|}

==Footnotes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[https://www.rsssf.org/tablesu/ussrhist.html USSR (Soviet Union) – Final Tables], rsssf.com. Retrieved 9 June 2006.
*[http://sovfootball.ru/ Russian Portal about Soviet Football], sovfootball.ru.
*[http://helmsoccer.narod.ru/Europa/Euro_Liges/USSR_Russia/Index.html USSR&Russian soccers tables]
*[http://www.fc-dynamo.ru/soccer/ An extensive database of game protocols and statistics] {{in lang|ru}}
* [http://ussrfootballteam.fmbb.ru/ Media Biblioteca of the Soviets Football]
* [http://vk.com/ussrfootball Media Biblioteca of the Soviets Football in VK]

{{Soviet Top League Seasons}}
{{Football in the Soviet Union}}
{{UEFA leagues}}
{{Top sport leagues in the Soviet Union}}

[[Category:Soviet Top League| ]]
[[Category:Defunct top-level football leagues in Europe|Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Football leagues in the Soviet Union|1]]
[[Category:1936 establishments in the Soviet Union|Top League]]
[[Category:1991 disestablishments in the Soviet Union]]