Soviet Footballer of the Year

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The award Soviet Footballer of the Year was awarded to the best footballer of the Soviet Union from 1964 until 1991. The poll was conducted among journalists by the weekly sport newspaper Football (Football-Hockey). [1] Each journalist named his own top three player every year. Each place carried a point weight such as 1st place was worth 3 pts., 2nd - 2, and 3rd - 1.[ citation needed ]

Contents

The idea for the award appeared right after Lev Yashin has received Ballon d'Or award in 1963.[ citation needed ] The honours were awarded along with several other prizes and awards at the end of the competition season. For goalkeepers being not limited from the Soviet Footballer of the Year, also were awarded separate honours the "Best Goalkeeper of the Year". The best goal-scorer of the Soviet Top League was awarded with the "Best Topscorer of the Year".[ citation needed ] Before becoming an official award before 1964, in 1950s Moskovskij Komsomolets and Komsomolskaya Pravda were conducting own polls to honour the best footballer of the country.[ citation needed ]

List of winners

YearPlacePlayerClubPointsNotes
19641st Valery Voronin Torpedo Moscow
186
2nd Valentin Ivanov Torpedo Moscow
85
3rd Slava Metreveli Dinamo Tbilisi
80
19651st Valery Voronin Torpedo Moscow
?
Only the winners were announced; it was later established that
Streltsov finished 2nd.
2nd Eduard Streltsov Torpedo Moscow
?
19661st Andriy Biba Dynamo Kyiv
94
Yashin and Shesternev obtained an equal number points,
but Yashin was ranked higher for having more 1st place votes.
2nd Lev Yashin Dynamo Moscow
75
3rd Albert Shesternev CSKA Moscow
75
19671st Eduard Streltsov Torpedo Moscow
155
2nd Murtaz Khurtsilava Dinamo Tbilisi
84
3rd Anatoliy Byshovets Dynamo Kyiv
31
19681st Eduard Streltsov Torpedo Moscow
206
2nd Murtaz Khurtsilava Dinamo Tbilisi
107
3rd Albert Shesternev CSKA Moscow
41
19691st Vladimir Muntyan Dynamo Kyiv
223
2nd Anzor Kavazashvili Spartak Moscow
170
3rd Albert Shesternev CSKA Moscow
76
19701st Albert Shesternyov CSKA Moscow
298
2nd Vladimir Fedotov CSKA Moscow
159
3rd Viktor Bannikov Dynamo Kyiv
73
19711st Evhen Rudakov Dynamo Kyiv
298
2nd Viktor Kolotov Dynamo Kyiv
200
3rd Eduard Markarov Ararat Yerevan
61
19721st Yevgeny Lovchev Spartak Moscow
188
2nd Evhen Rudakov Dynamo Kyiv
156
3rd Murtaz Khurtsilava Dinamo Tbilisi
140
19731st Oleg Blokhin Dynamo Kyiv
207
2nd Arkady Andriasyan Ararat Yerevan
156
3rd Vladimir Pilguy Dynamo Moscow
82
19741st Oleg Blokhin Dynamo Kyiv
236
2nd Vladimir Veremeev Dynamo Kyiv
62
3rd Aleksandr Prokhorov Spartak Moscow
60
19751st Oleg Blokhin Dynamo Kyiv
362
2nd Vladimir Veremeev Dynamo Kyiv
108
3rd Yevgeni Lovchev Spartak Moscow
99
19761st Vladimir Astapovskiy CSKA Moscow
256
2nd David Kipiani Dinamo Tbilisi
136
3rd Oleg Blokhin Dynamo Kyiv
116
19771st David Kipiani Dinamo Tbilisi
323
2nd Oleg Blokhin Dynamo Kyiv
198
3rd Yuriy Dehteryov Shakhter Donetsk
171
19781st Ramaz Shengelia Dinamo Tbilisi
235
2nd Oleg Blokhin Dynamo Kyiv
156
3rd Georgi Yartsev Spartak Moscow
135
19791st Vitali Starukhin Shakhter Donetsk
248
2nd Vagiz Khidiyatullin Spartak Moscow
175
3rd Yuri Gavrilov Spartak Moscow
172
19801st Aleksandr Chivadze Dinamo Tbilisi
259
2nd Oleg Blokhin Dynamo Kyiv
187
3rd Vagiz Khidiyatullin Spartak Moscow
103
19811st Ramaz Shengelia Dinamo Tbilisi
360
2nd Oleg Blokhin Dynamo Kyiv
217
3rd Leonid Buryak Dynamo Kyiv
112
19821st Rinat Dasaev Spartak Moscow
400
2nd Anatoliy Demyanenko Dynamo Kyiv
120
3rd Andrei Yakubik Pakhtakor Tashkent
117
19831st Fyodor Cherenkov Spartak Moscow
442
2nd Rinat Dasaev Spartak Moscow
181
3rd Aleksandr Chivadze Dinamo Tbilisi
91
19841st Hennadiy Litovchenko Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
397
2nd Mikhail Biryukov FC Zenit Leningrad
222
3rd Yuri Gavrilov Spartak Moscow
75
19851st Anatoliy Demyanenko Dynamo Kyiv
409
2nd Oleg Protasov Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
393
3rd Fyodor Cherenkov Spartak Moscow
306
19861st Aleksandr Zavarov Dynamo Kyiv
357
In 1986 Igor Belanov won the Ballon D’Or
but could not become the best player in USSR.
2nd Igor Belanov Dynamo Kyiv
313
3rd Oleg Blokhin Dynamo Kyiv
81
19871st Oleg Protasov Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
256
2nd Alexei Mikhailichenko Dynamo Kyiv
144
3rd Rinat Dasaev Spartak Moscow
120
19881st Alexei Mikhailichenko Dynamo Kyiv
482
2nd Rinat Dasaev Spartak Moscow
109
3rd Fyodor Cherenkov Spartak Moscow
81
19891st Fyodor Cherenkov Spartak Moscow
345
2nd Stanislav Cherchesov Spartak Moscow
172
3rd Vladimir Bessonov Dynamo Kyiv
164
19901st Igor Dobrovolski Dynamo Moscow
259
2nd Sergei Yuran Dynamo Kyiv
115
3rd Aleksandr Mostovoi Spartak Moscow
68
19911st Igor Kolyvanov Dynamo Moscow
229
2nd Aleksandr Mostovoi Spartak Moscow
153
3rd Igor Korneev CSKA Moscow
148

Most wins by club

ClubWinnersWinning years
Dynamo Kyiv
9
1966, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1985, 1986, 1988
Dynamo Tbilisi
4
1977, 1978, 1980, 1981
Spartak Moscow
4
1972, 1982, 1983, 1989
Torpedo Moscow
4
1964, 1965, 1967, 1968
CSKA Moscow
2
1970, 1976
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
2
1984, 1987
FC Dynamo Moscow
2
1990, 1991
Shakhter Donetsk
1
1979

Most wins by player

NameWinsWinning years
Oleg Blokhin
3
1973, 1974, 1975
Fyodor Cherenkov
2
1983, 1989
Ramaz Shengelia
2
1978, 1981
Eduard Streltsov
2
1967, 1968
Valery Voronin
2
1964, 1965

See also

After the Soviet Union dissolved most of the new independent countries created their own awards to the best footballer of the year. A few countries including Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania had been awarding their own awards even before the collapse of Soviet Union.

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References

  1. "Statistics from RSSSF".