USSR national football team

The USSR national football team was the national football team of the Soviet Union. It ceased to exist on the break up of the Union. FIFA considers the Russia national football team as its successor team(see ^*) allocating its former records to them; nevertheless, a large percentage of the team's former players came from outside Russian SFSR, mainly from Ukrainian SSR, and following the break up of the Soviet Union, some such as Oleg Salenko and Andrei Kanchelskis from the former Ukrainian SSR continued to serve in the new Russia national football team.

The Soviet Union failed to qualify for the World Cup only once, in 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 USSR qualified for seven 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 also won the gold medal in the 1956 and 1988 Summer Olympics, the inaugural World Youth Championship in 1977, and the Under-16 World Championship in 1987.

Famous players

National teams of the former Soviet republics

	National team	U-21 team	UEFA
National team	U-21 team	UEFA
National team	U-21 team	UEFA
National team	U-21 team	UEFA
National team	U-21 team	UEFA
National team	U-21 team	UEFA (AFC:1992-2002)
National team	U-21 team	AFC
National team	U-21 team	UEFA
National team	U-21 team	UEFA
National team	U-21 team	UEFA
National team	U-21 team	UEFA
National team	U-21 team	AFC
National team	U-21 team	AFC
National team	U-21 team	UEFA
National team	U-21 team	AFC

World Cup record

Year	Round	Position	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Scorers	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1930	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1934	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1938	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1950	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1954	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1958	Quarter-finals	7th	4	1	1	2	4	6	Simonyan, A. Ivanov, Ilyin, V. Ivanov	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1962	Quarter-finals	6th	4	2	1	1	9	7	V. Ivanov (4), Ponedelnik (2), Chislenko (2), Mamykin,	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1966	Fourth place	4th	6	4	0	2	10	6	Porkuyan (4), Malofeev (2), Chislenko (2), Banishevskiy, Mamykin, Metreveli	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1970	Quarter-finals	5th	4	2	1	1	6	2	Byshovets (4), Asatiani, Khmelnitsky	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1974	DisqualifiedRefused to play the return leg of a play-off in Chile in the aftermath of that country's 1973 military coup	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1978	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1982	Round 2	7th	5	2	2	1	7	4	Bal, Gavrilov, Blokhin, Baltacha, Chivadze, Shengelia, Oganesian	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1986	Round 2	10th	4	2	1	1	12	5	Belanov (4), Yaremchuk (2), Yakovenko, Aleinikov, Rodionov, Rats, Blokhin, Zavarov	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1990	Round 1	17th	3	1	0	2	4	4	Protasov, Zygmantovich, Zavarov, Dobrovolski	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1994	Represented by Russia	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	Total	Best: Semi-finals	Best: 4th	30	14	6	10	52	34	Top scorer: V. Ivanov (5)

European Championship record

1960 - Champions
1964 - Runners-up (lost to Spain)
1968 - Fourth place (lost to Italy in semifinals (note: on coin toss), lost to England in 3rd place match)
1972 - Runners-up (lost to West Germany)
1976 - Did not qualify - Quarterfinals (lost to Czechoslovakia)
1980 - Did not qualify
1984 - Did not qualify
1988 - Runners-up (lost to Netherlands)
1992 - Round 1 (as CIS)

Notes

External links

Former national football teams | Football in the Soviet Union