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Soviet national football team

Soviet Union
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) Red Army
Association Football Federation of the Soviet Union
Most caps Oleg Blokhin (112)
Top scorer Oleg Blokhin (42)
Home stadium Central Lenin Stadium (after 1956)
Dynamo Stadium (before 1956)
Vorovsky Stadium (before 1928)
FIFA code URS
Elo ranking
Highest 1
First international
 Soviet Union 3–0 Turkey 
(Moscow, Soviet Union; 16 November 1924)
Last international

 Cyprus 0–3 Soviet Union 
(Larnaca, Cyprus; 13 November 1991)
Biggest win
 Soviet Union 11–1 India 
(Moscow, Soviet Union; 16 September 1955)
 Finland 0–10 Soviet Union 
(Helsinki, Finland; 15 August 1957)
Biggest defeat
 England 5–0 Soviet Union 
(London, England; 22 October 1958)
World Cup
Appearances 7 (first in 1958)
Best result Fourth place, 1966
European Championship
Appearances 6 (first in 1960)
Best result Champions, 1960
Olympic medal record
Men’s Football
Gold medal – first place 1956 Melbourne Team
Gold medal – first place 1988 Seoul Team
Bronze medal – third place 1972 Munich Team
Bronze medal – third place 1976 Montreal Team
Bronze medal – third place 1980 Moscow Team

The Soviet Union national football team (Russian: сбо́рная Сове́тского Сою́за по футбо́лу, sbornaya Sovyetskogo Soyuza po futbolu) was the national football team of the Soviet Union.

After the breakup of the Union the team was transformed into the CIS national football team (a formality name for a team of the non-existing country of Soviet Union). FIFA considers the CIS national football team (and ultimately, the Russia national football team) as the Soviet successor team allocating its former records to them; nevertheless, a large percentage of the team's former players came from outside the Russian SFSR, mainly from the Ukrainian SSR, and following the breakup of the Soviet Union, some such as Andrei Kanchelskis from the former Ukrainian SSR, continued to play in the new Russia national football team.

The Soviet Union failed to qualify for the World Cup only twice, in 1974 and 1978, and attended seven finals tournaments in total. Their best finish was fourth in 1966, when they lost to West Germany in the semifinals, 2–1. The Soviet Union qualified for five European Championships, winning the inaugural competition in 1960 when they beat Yugoslavia in the final, 2–1. They finished second three times (1964, 1972, 1988), and fourth once (1968), when, having drawn with Italy in the semi-final, they were sent to the third place playoff match by the loss of a coin toss. The Soviet Union national team also participated in number of Olympic tournaments earning the gold medal in the 1956 and 1988. The Soviet team continued to field its national team players in Olympic tournaments despite the prohibition of FIFA in 1958 to field any national team players in Olympics. (Actually there was a prohibition to field professional players. Soviet Union soccer players were never professionals). However, in 1960 and in 1964 the Soviets were fielding its second national team.


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Wikipedia

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