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.

The idea for the award appeared right after Lev Yashin has received Ballon d'Or award in 1963. 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". 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.

List of winners

YearPlacePlayerClubPointsNotes
1964 1stValery VoroninTorpedo Moscow
186
2ndValentin IvanovTorpedo Moscow
85
3rdSlava MetreveliDinamo Tbilisi
80
1965 1stValery VoroninTorpedo Moscow
?
Only the winners were announced; it was later established that
Streltsov finished 2nd.
2ndEduard StreltsovTorpedo Moscow
?
1966 1stAndriy BibaDynamo Kyiv
94
Yashin and Shesternev obtained an equal number points,
but Yashin was ranked higher for having more 1st place votes.
2ndLev YashinDynamo Moscow
75
3rdAlbert ShesternevCSKA Moscow
75
1967 1stEduard StreltsovTorpedo Moscow
155
2ndMurtaz KhurtsilavaDinamo Tbilisi
84
3rdAnatoliy ByshovetsDynamo Kyiv
31
1968 1stEduard StreltsovTorpedo Moscow
206
2ndMurtaz KhurtsilavaDinamo Tbilisi
107
3rdAlbert ShesternevCSKA Moscow
41
1969 1stVladimir MuntyanDynamo Kyiv
223
2ndAnzor KavazashviliSpartak Moscow
170
3rdAlbert ShesternevCSKA Moscow
76
1970 1stAlbert ShesternyovCSKA Moscow
298
2ndVladimir FedotovCSKA Moscow
159
3rdViktor BannikovDynamo Kyiv
73
1971 1stEvhen RudakovDynamo Kyiv
298
2ndViktor KolotovDynamo Kyiv
200
3rdEduard MarkarovArarat Yerevan
61
1972 1stYevgeny LovchevSpartak Moscow
188
2ndEvhen RudakovDynamo Kyiv
156
3rdMurtaz KhurtsilavaDinamo Tbilisi
140
1973 1stOleg BlokhinDynamo Kyiv
207
2ndArkady AndriasyanArarat Yerevan
156
3rdVladimir PilguyDynamo Moscow
82
1974 1stOleg BlokhinDynamo Kyiv
236
2ndVladimir VeremeevDynamo Kyiv
62
3rdAleksandr ProkhorovSpartak Moscow
60
1975 1stOleg BlokhinDynamo Kyiv
362
2ndVladimir VeremeevDynamo Kyiv
108
3rdYevgeni LovchevSpartak Moscow
99
1976 1stVladimir AstapovskiyCSKA Moscow
256
2ndDavid KipianiDinamo Tbilisi
136
3rdOleg BlokhinDynamo Kyiv
116
1977 1stDavid KipianiDinamo Tbilisi
323
2ndOleg BlokhinDynamo Kyiv
198
3rdYuriy DehteryovShakhter Donetsk
171
1978 1stRamaz ShengeliaDinamo Tbilisi
235
2ndOleg BlokhinDynamo Kyiv
156
3rdGeorgi YartsevSpartak Moscow
135
1979 1stVitali StarukhinShakhter Donetsk
248
2ndVagiz KhidiyatullinSpartak Moscow
175
3rdYuri GavrilovSpartak Moscow
172
1980 1stAleksandr ChivadzeDinamo Tbilisi
259
2ndOleg BlokhinDynamo Kyiv
187
3rdVagiz KhidiyatullinSpartak Moscow
103
1981 1stRamaz ShengeliaDinamo Tbilisi
360
2ndOleg BlokhinDynamo Kyiv
217
3rdLeonid BuryakDynamo Kyiv
112
1982 1stRinat DasaevSpartak Moscow
400
2ndAnatoliy DemyanenkoDynamo Kyiv
120
3rdAndrei YakubikPakhtakor Tashkent
117
1983 1stFyodor CherenkovSpartak Moscow
442
2ndRinat DasaevSpartak Moscow
181
3rdAleksandr ChivadzeDinamo Tbilisi
91
1984 1stHennadiy LitovchenkoDnipro Dnipropetrovsk
397
2ndMikhail BiryukovFC Zenit Leningrad
222
3rdYuri GavrilovSpartak Moscow
75
1985 1stAnatoliy DemyanenkoDynamo Kyiv
409
2ndOleg ProtasovDnipro Dnipropetrovsk
393
3rdFyodor CherenkovSpartak Moscow
306
1986 1stAleksandr ZavarovDynamo Kyiv
357
In 1986 Igor Belanov won the Ballon D’Or
but could not become the best player in USSR.
2ndIgor BelanovDynamo Kyiv
313
3rdOleg BlokhinDynamo Kyiv
81
1987 1stOleg ProtasovDnipro Dnipropetrovsk
256
2ndAlexei MikhailichenkoDynamo Kyiv
144
3rdRinat DasaevSpartak Moscow
120
1988 1stAlexei MikhailichenkoDynamo Kyiv
482
2ndRinat DasaevSpartak Moscow
109
3rdFyodor CherenkovSpartak Moscow
81
1989 1stFyodor CherenkovSpartak Moscow
345
2ndStanislav CherchesovSpartak Moscow
172
3rdVladimir BessonovDynamo Kyiv
164
1990 1stIgor DobrovolskiDynamo Moscow
259
2ndSergei YuranDynamo Kyiv
115
3rdAleksandr MostovoiSpartak Moscow
68
1991 1stIgor KolyvanovDynamo Moscow
229
2ndAleksandr MostovoiSpartak Moscow
153
3rdIgor KorneevCSKA Moscow
148

Most wins by club

Club Winners Winning 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

Name Wins Winning 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.

References

  1. "Statistics from RSSSF".
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