1991 Soviet First League
# 1991 Soviet First League

Soviet First League 1991 was the last season of the Soviet First League. With the collapse of the Soviet Union the football structure was reformed. All of its participants have entered the Top Divisions of the republics of their origin, except of Dinamo Sukhumi that because of the 1992-93 War in Abkhazia was dissolved.

Due to the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, a process of dissolution of the Soviet Union accelerated as well as a process of decommunization in former union republics. Number of cities changed their names returning to their original names.

## Teams

### Promoted teams

* FC Uralmash Sverdlovsk – Winner of the 1990 Soviet Second League, Zone Center (returning after an absence of 10 seasons)
* FC Bukovina Chernovtsy – Winner of the 1990 Soviet Second League, Zone West (debut)
* FC Neftianik Fergona – Winner of the 1990 Soviet Second League, Zone East (debut)
* FC Novbakhor Namangan – Runner-up of the 1990 Soviet Second League, Zone East (debut)
* FC Textilshchik Kamyshin – Runner-up of the 1990 Soviet Second League, Zone Center (debut)
* FC Daugava Riga – Runner-up of the 1990 Soviet Second League, Zone West (debut)

### Relegated teams

* Rotor Volgograd – (Returning after 2 seasons)

### Renamed teams

* Prior to the start of the season Tiras Tiraspol was renamed to Tiligul Tiraspol.
* Prior to the start of the season Nistru Kishenev was renamed to Zimbrul Kishinev.

### Replaced or withdrawn teams

With fall of the Soviet Union, the promoted FC Daugava Riga was dissolved and replaced with FC Pardaugava Riga that was based on the junior squad of the Latvia national U-21 football team and took part in the 1990 Baltic League placing only 15th out 17 teams.

## League standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Rotor Volgograd (C) | 42 | 24 | 11 | 7 | 79 | 44 | +35 | 59 | Promoted to the 1992 Soviet Top League |
| 2 | Tiligul Tiraspol | 42 | 22 | 10 | 10 | 64 | 45 | +19 | 54 | Promoted to the 1992 Soviet Top League |
| 3 | Uralmash Yekaterinburg/Sverdlovsk | 42 | 21 | 9 | 12 | 68 | 40 | +28 | 51 | Promoted to the 1992 Soviet Top League |
| 4 | Rostselmash Rostov-on-Don | 42 | 20 | 10 | 12 | 47 | 39 | +8 | 50 | Promoted to the 1992 Soviet Top League |
| 5 | Bukovyna Chernivtsi | 42 | 20 | 8 | 14 | 56 | 49 | +7 | 48 | Withdrew |
| 6 | Tavriya Simferopol | 42 | 19 | 10 | 13 | 64 | 56 | +8 | 48 | Withdrew |
| 7 | Neftiannik Fergona | 42 | 21 | 5 | 16 | 54 | 56 | −2 | 47 | Promoted to the 1992 Soviet Top League |
| 8 | Lokomotiv Nizhniy Novgorod | 42 | 17 | 13 | 12 | 46 | 35 | +11 | 47 | Promoted to the 1992 Soviet Top League |
| 9 | Novbahor | 42 | 19 | 7 | 16 | 60 | 53 | +7 | 45 | Promoted to the 1992 Soviet Top League |
| 10 | Dinamo Sukhumi | 42 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 50 | 50 | 0 | 43 | Promoted to the 1992 Soviet Top League |
| 11 | Textilschik Kamyshin | 42 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 56 | 52 | +4 | 43 | |
| 12 | Shinnik Yaroslavl | 42 | 17 | 7 | 18 | 57 | 59 | −2 | 41 | |
| 13 | Fakel Voronezh | 42 | 17 | 7 | 18 | 45 | 50 | −5 | 41 | |
| 14 | Kairat Almaty | 42 | 17 | 6 | 19 | 58 | 52 | +6 | 40 | Promoted to the 1992 Soviet Top League |
| 15 | Neftchi Baku | 42 | 17 | 5 | 20 | 60 | 58 | +2 | 39 | Promoted to the 1992 Soviet Top League |
| 16 | Dinamo Stavropol | 42 | 14 | 11 | 17 | 50 | 54 | −4 | 39 | |
| 17 | Kotayk Abovyan | 42 | 15 | 7 | 20 | 30 | 48 | −18 | 37 | Withdrew |
| 18 | Zenit St. Petersburg/Leningrad | 42 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 44 | 50 | −6 | 36 | Promoted to the 1992 Soviet Top League |
| 19 | Zimbru Chisinau | 42 | 11 | 13 | 18 | 36 | 49 | −13 | 35 | |
| 20 | Geolog Tyumen | 42 | 11 | 13 | 18 | 32 | 47 | −15 | 35 | |
| 21 | Kuban Krasnodar | 42 | 8 | 10 | 24 | 40 | 68 | −28 | 26 | |
| 22 | Pardaugava Riga | 42 | 7 | 6 | 29 | 31 | 73 | −42 | 20 | Withdrew |

Notes:

* On 6 September 1991, the city of Leningrad was renamed into Saint Petersburg
* On 4 September 1991, the city of Sverdlovsk was renamed into Yekaterinburg

## Number of teams by union republic

| Rank | Union republic | Number of teams | Club(s) |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | RSFSR | 11 | Dinamo Stavropol, Fakel Voronezh, Geolog Tyumen, Kuban Krasnodar, Lokomotiv Nizhniy Novgorod, Rostselmash Rostov-na-Donu, Rotor Volgograd, Shinnik Yaroslavl, Tekstilschik Kamyshin, Uralmash Yekaterinburg, Zenit Saint Petersburg |
| 2 | Moldavian SSR | 2 | Tiligul Tiraspol, Zimbru Kishenev |
| 2 | Ukrainian SSR | 2 | Bukovina Chernovtsy, Tavriya Simferopol |
| 2 | Uzbek SSR | 2 | Navbahor Namangan, Neftiannik Fergana |
| 5 | Armenian SSR | 1 | Kotaik Abovian |
| 5 | Azerbaijan SSR | 1 | Neftchi Baku |
| 5 | Georgian SSR / ( Abkhazia) | 1 | Dinamo Sukhumi |
| 5 | Kazakh SSR | 1 | Kairat Alma-Ata |
| 5 | Latvian SSR | 1 | Pardaugava Riga |

## Top scorers

| # | Player | Club | Goals | Games |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Serhiy Husyev | «Tiligul Tiraspol» | 25 | 36 |
| 2 | Serhiy Shevchenko | «Tavriya Simferopol» | 21 | 40 |
| 3 | Valeri Shushlyakov | «Uralmash Yekaterinburg» | 20 | 38 |
| 4 | Vladislav Lemish | «Kuban Krasnodar» | 20 | 42 |
| 5 | Rustam Zabirov | «Navbahor Namangan» | 19 | 35 |
| 6 | Yuri Kalitvintsev | «Rotor Volgograd» | 18 | 37 |
| 7 | Aleksandr Tikhonov | «Rostselmash Rostov» | 17 | 40 |
| 8 | Yunis Hüseynov | «Neftchi Baku» | 16 | 34 |
| 9 | Vəli Qasımov | «Neftchi Baku» | 16 | 38 |
| 10 | Rustem Shaymukhametov | «Textilshchik Kamyshin» | 15 | 38 |
| 11 | Yuriy Hudymenko | «Rotor Volgograd» | 15 | 39 |

## Managers

| Club | Head coach |
| - | - |
| FC Rotor Volgograd | Leonid Koltun |
| SC Tiligul Tiraspol | Vladimir Veber |
| FC Uralmash SverdlovskFC Uralmash Yekaterinburg | Korney Shperling (until July)Nikolai Agafonov (from July) |
| FC Rostselmash Rostov-na-Donu | Enver Yulgushov |
| FC Bukovina Chernovtsy | Yukhym Shkolnykov |
| SC Tavriya Simferopol | Anatoliy Zayaev |
| FC Neftiannik Fergona | Yuriy Sarkisyan |
| FC Lokomotiv Nizhniy Novgorod | Valeri Ovchinnikov |
| FC Navbakhor Namangan | Igor Volchok |
| FC Dinamo Sukhumi | Oleg Dolmatov |
| FC Tekstilshchik Kamyshin | Sergei Pavlov |
| FC Shinnik Yaroslavl | Stanislav Vorotilin |
| FC Fakel Voronezh | Sergei Savchenkov (until June)Fyodor Novikov (from July) |
| FC Kairat Alma-Ata | Boris Stukalov |
| FC Neftchi Baku | Ruslan Abdullaev (until April)Kazbek Tuaev (from May) |
| FC Dinamo Stavropol | Viktor Nosov (until July)Vladimir Kitin (from July, interim) |
| FC Kotayk Abovyan | Arkady Andreasyan |
| FC Zenit Saint Petersburg | Yury Morozov |
| FC Zimbru Kishinev | Ion Caras |
| FC Geolog Tyumen | Rudolf AtamalyanSerhiy Morozov (from July) |
| FC Kuban Krasnodar | Vladimir Brazhnikov (until July)Yuri Marushkin (from July) |
| FK Pārdaugava Riga | Jānis Skredelis |
