Soviet Union Olympic football team

The Soviet Union Olympic football team was the national football team of the Soviet Union from 1952 to 1990. The team participated in all of the qualification football tournaments for Summer Olympics (except for 1980 when it qualified as hosts). Until 1992, when age restrictions were officially introduced, the Soviet Union used the first team both in qualification tournaments and finals except for 1960 and 1964 when the second national team was used for the qualification tournaments (the first team succeeded it in the finals in those years).

Soviet Union Olympic team

Nickname(s)	The Olympic Assembled (Olimpiyskaya sbornaya) (Олимпийская сборная)
Association	Football Federation of the Soviet Union
Most caps	Igor Dobrovolski, Yevgeni Kuznetsov, Alexei Mikhailichenko, Dmitri Kharine, Volodymyr Troshkin (14)
Top scorer	Igor Dobrovolski (8)
FIFA code	URS
First colours Second colours
First international
Bulgaria 1–1 Soviet Union  (Moscow, USSR; 27 June 1959)
Biggest win
Soviet Union 8–0 Cuba  (Moscow, USSR; 24 July 1980)
Biggest defeat
East Germany 4–1 Soviet Union  (Warsaw, Poland; 28 June 1964)
Summer Olympic Games
Appearances	6 (first in 1952)
Best result	Gold Medal, 1956, 1988

Olympic medal record
Men’s Football
	1980 Moscow	Team
	1988 Seoul	Team

History

Officially the Olympic national team was founded in 1959 after the FIFA adopted its decision in 1958 prohibiting players who played in the World Cup finals from participation in the Olympics. The Soviet Union did not participate in the World Cup until 1958 (see 1958 World Cup (qualifications)); instead, it used its first team (base team) to compete at the Olympics (since 1952) as it deemed that tournament more important. The USSR continued to use its best players in the Olympics after 1958 despite the FIFA ruling, with the branding "Olympic team" being rather formal, with all the players being part of the national team and competing both at the World Cup and Olympics.

1960 Olympics

3rd Group

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Bulgaria	4	2	1	1	4	3	+1	5
Soviet Union	4	1	2	1	3	2	+1	4
Romania	4	1	1	2	2	4	-2	3

Games

29 June 1959

?:?

Soviet Union	1 – 1	Bulgaria
Korolenkov  68'	Report	Milanov  26'

Lenin Central Stadium, Moscow

Attendance: 102,000

Referee: Bengt Lundell (Sweden)

---

19 July 1959

?:?

Soviet Union	2 – 0	Romania
Urin  10' Metreveli  61'	Report

Lenin Central Stadium, Moscow

Attendance: 102,000

Referee: Erio Pattiniemi (Finland)

---

Roster

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club
	GK	Boris Razinsky	12 July 1933 (aged 26)	4	CSK MO Moscow
	DF	Dmitriy Bagrich	26 March 1936 (aged 23)	4	CSK MO Moscow
	DF	Anatoliy Soldatov	11 July 1931 (aged 28)	3	Spartak Moscow
	DF	Mikhail Yermolayev	4 November 1935 (aged 24)	3	CSK MO Moscow
	DF	Nikolai Linyaev	17 July 1933 (aged 26)	3	CSK MO Moscow
	DF	Anatoly Krutikov	21 September 1933 (aged 26)	1	Spartak Moscow
	DF	Ivan Morgunov	1 January 1929 (aged 30)	1	Lokomotiv Moscow
	MF	Stanislav Zavidnov	14 October 1934 (aged 25)	3	Zenit Leningrad
	MF	Yury Kovalyov	6 February 1934 (aged 25)	3	Lokomotiv Moscow
	MF	Boris Batanov	15 July 1934 (aged 25)	2	Zenit Leningrad
	MF	Valery Korolenkov	17 March 1939 (aged 20)	2	Dynamo Moscow
	MF	Aleksandr Sokolov	26 February 1930 (aged 29)	1	Dynamo Moscow
	MF	Shota Yamanidze	15 March 1937 (aged 22)	1	Dinamo Tbilisi
	FW	Slava Metreveli	30 March 1936 (aged 23)	4	Torpedo Moscow
	FW	Zaur Kaloyev	24 March 1931 (aged 28)	3	Dinamo Tbilisi
	FW	Valeri Urin	10 August 1934 (aged 25)	2	Dynamo Moscow
	FW	Avtandil Gogoberidze	3 August 1922 (aged 37)	1	Dinamo Tbilisi
	FW	Igor Zaitsev	21 April 1934 (aged 25)	1	Lokomotiv Moscow
	FW	Viktor Voroshilov	15 August 1926 (aged 33)	1	Lokomotiv Moscow
	FW	Viktor Sokolov	28 September 1936 (aged 23)	1	Lokomotiv Moscow

Notes:

• Age on 12 December 1959.

Olympic Record

[1]

Host Nation(s) - Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1952	Round 1	3	1	1	1	8	9
1956	Champion	5	4	1	0	9	2
1960	Did not qualify
1964
1968
1972	3rd place	7	5	2	0	17	6
1976	3rd place	5	4	0	1	10	4
1980	3rd place	6	5	0	1	19	3
1984	Boycotted
1988	Champion	6	5	1	0	14	6
1992	Did not qualify (the first age-restricted tournament)
Total	6/20	32	24	5	3	77	30

Venues

Venue	City		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	Points per game
Central Lenin Stadium	Moscow	1959-1984	13	9	2	2	27	8	2.23
Central Dynamo Stadium	Moscow	1956-1991	9	7	2	0	24	1	2.56
Lokomotiv Stadium	Simferopol	1988-1991	3	2	1	0	5	1	2.33
Central Stadium	Kiev	1963	1	1	0	0	7	0	3
Druzhba Stadium	Lvov	1971	1	1	0	0	4	0	3
Hrazdan Stadium	Yerevan	1971	1	1	0	0	5	1	3
Central Lokomotiv Stadium	Moscow	1990	1	0	1	0	2	2	1
Totals		1956-1991	29	21	6	2	74	13	2.38

Soviet managers

The list does not include games of the senior team such as participation at the Olympic tournaments finals (1952-1980).

Manager	Nation	Years	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	Win %	Qualifying cycle	Final tour
Boris Arkadiev		1959	4	1	2	1	3	2	25	1960
Vyacheslav Solovyov		1963-1964	5	2	2	1	14	6	40	1964
Aleksandr Ponomarev		1971	5	4	1	0	14	1	80	1972
Konstantin Beskov		1975	6	5	1	0	14	2	83.33	1976
Konstantin Beskov		1980	6	5	0	1	19	3	83.33		1980
Vladimir Salkov		1983	2	1	1	0	5	2	50	1984
Eduard Malofeyev		1983-1984	4	2	1	1	4	2	50	1984	1984*
Anatoly Byshovets		1986-1988	14	11	3	0	26	8	78.57	1988	1988
Boris Ignatyev		1990-1991	6	2	3	1	6	4	33.33	1992

Notes:

• The USSR Olympic team withdrew from the football tournament at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
• Since 1991 UEFA qualifies a national under-21 football team to the Olympics.

See also

• Football in the Soviet Union
• Soviet Union national football team
• Soviet Union national under-21 football team
• Soviet Union national under-19 football team

References

1. Olympic tournaments

External links

• URSS national football team website