1936 Soviet Top League


The 1936 season was the first season of the Soviet Top League. The season was split into two championships with a cup competition between them that took place in August 1936. The first part started in late May and finished by mid of July with a single match played by each participant against each other. The same format was resumed in the fall that started in September finishing before November. The main contenders for the title appeared to be the Moscow's Spartak and Dynamo.

Spring

Overview

The first championship started on May 22, 1936, with the game FC Dynamo Leningrad - FC Lokomotiv Moscow 3:1 on the Dynamo Stadium in Leningrad. The spring half finished on July 17, 1936, with two games in Moscow and Leningrad. During the season each team played another team once. The points were awarded in the following manner: three for a win, two for a draw, one for a loss, and none for no appearance. No teams were relegated to the B Group, instead it was extended to eight teams in the autumn championship.

League standings

Round by round

The following table is a historic representation of the team's position in the standings after the completion of each round.

Top scorers

;6 goals
;5 goals
;4 goals
;3 goals
'
1. FC Dynamo Moscow

Goalkeepers: Aleksandr Kvasnikov, Yevgeny Fokin.

Defenders: Lev Korchebokov, Viktor Teterin.

Midfielders: Yevgeny Yeliseyev, Aleksandr Ryomin, Aleksey Lapshin, Pavel Korotkov, Viktor Dubinin.

Forwards: Mikhail Semichastny, Vasily Smirnov, Vasily Pavlov, Sergei Ilyin, Mikhail Yakushin, Aleksey Ponomaryov, Nikolai Postavnin.
One own goal scored by Ivan Andreyev
Manager: Konstantin Kvashnin.
Transferred in during the season: Nikolay Postavnin.
2. FC Dynamo Kyiv

Goalkeepers: Mykola Trusevych, Anton Idzkovsky.

Defenders: Mykhaylo Volin, Vasyl Pravovierov, Kostyantyn Fomin.

Midfielders: Volodymyr Greber, Ivan Kuzmenko, Iosif Livshyts, Oleksiy Klymenko, Mykhaylo Pustinin.

Forwards: Konstantin Shchegotsky, Mykola Makhinya, Fedir Tyutchev, Viktor Shylovsky, Makar Honcharenko, Pavlo Komarov, Petro Parovyshnikov, Mykola Korotkykh.
Manager: Moisey Tovarovsky.
Transferred out during the season:.
3. FC Spartak Moscow

Goalkeepers: Anatoly Akimov, Ivan Ryzhov.

Defenders: Stanislav Leuta, Aleksandr Mikhaylov, Gavriil Putilin, Aleksandr Starostin, Viktor Sokolov.

Midfielders: Andrey Starostin, Sergey Artemyev, Pyotr Starostin.

Forwards: , Georgy Glazkov, Pyotr Nikiforov, Matvey Zaytsev, Nikolay Zhigalin, Leonid Rumyantsev, Vladimir Yegorov, Boris Stepanov, Nikolay Glazkov, Nikolay Starostin.
Manager: Mikhail Kozlov.
Transferred out during the season:'''.

----

Stadiums

Note: Balitsky was Narkom of NKVD, later was executed during the Great Purge.

Autumn

Overview

This tournament was exact replica of the spring championship by the format of the competition, including the nomination of points. The Georgian FC Dynamo Tbilisi was admitted to the League expanding it to eight teams. The defending champion was FC Dynamo Moscow.
It opened with two games in Leningrad and Moscow on September 5, 1936, soon after the Soviet Cup final that took place just week prior to that on August 28. The season concluded on October 30, 1936, with three games in Moscow, Leningrad, and Tbilisi. It was then when Spartak Moscow by beating CDKA at their home turf passed Dinamo Moscow in rankings to obtain the first place and with it the first national title.

League standings

Round by round

The following table is a historic representation of the team's position in the standings after the completion of each round.

Top scorers

;7 goals
  • Georgi Glazkov
;6 goals
;5 goals
;4 goals
'
1. FC Spartak Moscow

Goalkeepers: Anatoly Akimov, Ivan Ryzhov.

Defenders: Stanislav Leuta, Aleksandr Mikhaylov, Aleksandr Starostin, Viktor Sokolov.

Midfielders: Andrey Starostin, Pyotr Starostin, Sergey Artemyev.

Forwards: Georgy Glazkov, , Boris Shchibrov, Valentin Liventsev, Stepan Kustylkin, Leonid Rumyantsev, Pyotr Nikiforov, Aleksey Yeryomin, Nikolay Zhigalin, Boris Stepanov.
Manager: Mikhail Kozlov.
Transferred out during the season:.
2. FC Dynamo Moscow

Goalkeepers: Aleksandr Kvasnikov, Nikolay Sokolov, Yevgeny Fokin.

Defenders: Lev Korchebokov, Viktor Teterin.

Midfielders: Yevgeny Yeliseyev, Aleksey Lapshin, Aleksandr Ryomin, Pavel Korotkov, Gavriil Kachalin, Arkady Chernyshev.

Forwards: Sergei Ilyin, Vasily Smirnov, Mikhail Yakushin, Mikhail Semichastny, Vasily Pavlov, Aleksey Ponomaryov, Nikolay Postavnin.
Manager: Konstantin Kvashnin.
Transferred out during the season:.
3. FC Dynamo Tbilisi

Goalkeepers: Aleksandr Dorokhov.

Defenders: Shota Shavgulidze, Eduard Nikolayshvili.

Midfielders: Vladimir Dzhorbenadze, Nikolay Anikin, Mikhail Minayev, Grigoriy Gagua, Vladimir Berdzenishvili.

Forwards: Mikhail Berdzenishvili, Boris Paichadze, Nikolay Somov, Ilya Panin, Vladimir Berdzenishvili, Mikhail Aslamazov, Aleksandr Eliava.
Manager: Gyula Limbek, Grigoriy Pachuliya.
Transferred out during the season:'''.

Stadiums

OWIKI.org. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.