Soviet Top League

The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (Russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу: Высшая лига, romanized: Vyschaya Liga), served as the top division (tier) of Soviet Union football championship from 1936 until 1991. Over the years, the league was known by several different names. Created in 1936, the tier was originally known as "Gruppa A" and was one of four tiers that comprised the All-Union football championship. Like everything in the Soviet Union, it was a state-run competition, governed by the 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 honored with the title "USSR Champion" and awarded the All-Union Committee banner. In May of 1959, the Football Federation of the Soviet Union was created, which became the main governing body of football in the Soviet Union. From its inception to its eclipse, the top tier operated in conjunction with the second tier for most of the time, allowing for participants to exchange between tiers through promotion and relegation. In 1963, a third tier was introduced. Starting from 1971, the full official name was the USSR Championship in football: Higher League. An attempt to create an independent league as an autonomously governed business entity or organization during the "perestroika" period was denied by the Federation due to the 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 the 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...