USSR. Reorganization and to be continued. Class A, made of 2 leagues was announced, the former top level championship reduced to 17 teams and to be made of 16 teams from 1971. Second Division was organized, still belonging to Class A, but actrually a second level championship made of 22 teams. The former zonal championships were no longer second level, but third level. The First Level – the First Division, called Supreme Group, was easy to understand, but bellow there were complications eventually to be changed further. Curiously, very similar reorganization at the same time happened in the ice hockey championships and structure – to a point, the aim was to create more compact top leagues and increase the competitiveness and quality of the game. There will be more about the second level bellow; as for the top league the last three teams were relegated and replaced by the top two teams from the Second Division. The calendar was made with consideration for the coming World Cup, which somewhat affected performance. The championship was intriguing enough - two teams finished with same point and 'Golden Match', a final play-off, was staged to decide the champion. One match was not enough and a second match was played the next day, both scheduled in far-away city of Tashkent.
Class A - Supreme Group (First Level)
1.CSKA Moskva 32 20 5 7 46-17 45 Golden Match [RUS]Dinamo Moskva 32 19 7 6 50-22 45 Golden Match [RUS]3.Spartak Moskva 32 12 14 6 43-25 38 [RUS] 4.Dinamo Tbilisi 32 14 8 10 43-30 36 [GEO]5.Zarya Voroshilovgrad 32 10 14 8 27-25 34 [UKR]6.Torpedo Moskva 32 12 10 10 36-38 34 [RUS]7.Dinamo Kiev 32 14 5 13 36-32 33 [UKR] 8.SKA Rostov-na-Donu 32 9 15 8 28-29 33 [RUS]9.Dinamo Minsk 32 11 10 11 33-29 32 [BLR] 10.Shakhtyor Donetsk 32 11 8 13 35-50 30 [UKR] 11.Neftchi Baku 32 9 11 12 27-28 29 [AZE]12.Ararat Yerevan 32 10 9 13 31-34 29 [ARM]13.Pahtakor Tashkent 32 8 12 12 28-46 28 [UZB]14.Zenit Leningrad 32 10 7 15 30-40 27 [RUS] ---------------------------------------------------- 15.Chernomorets Odessa 32 8 10 14 25-38 26 Relegated [UKR] 16.Torpedo Kutaisi 32 6 11 15 24-42 23 Relegated [GEO]17.Spartak Orjonikidze 32 7 8 17 31-48 22 Relegated [+] [RUS] Note: Lugansk City were renamed as Voroshilovgrad. Championship Play-Off [Dec 5, Tashkent; Att: 60,000] CSKA Moskva 0-0 Dinamo Moskva Replay [Dec 6, Tashkent; Att: 40,000] CSKA Moskva 4-3 Dinamo Moskva [Vladimir Dudarenko 11, Vladimir Fedotov 71, 84, Vladimir Polikarpov 75 pen – Yevgeniy Zhukov 22, Gennadiy Yevryuzhikhin 24, Valeriy Maslov 28]Dinamo (Moscow) finished with silver medals. Perhaps the most significant about this season was that great Lev Yashin was nearing retirement: he was mere reserve in Mexico and didn't play in the decissive play-offs. The time of his talented replacement Pilguy was coming. Standing from left: V. Anichkin, V. Maslov, Yu. Avrutzky, V. Pilguy, V. Smirnov, V. Zykov, V. Utkin. Crouching: V. Kozlov, G. Evryuzhikhin, E. Zhukov, V. Eshtrekov, Yu. Semin.CSKA (Moscow) – the dramatic champions. Crouching from left: Yu. Istomin, V. Fedotov, A. Kuznetzov, V. Dudarenko, V. Starkov, V. Utkin, N. Dolgov. Standing: V. Kaplichny, V. A. Nikolaev – coach, M. Plakhetko, A. Shesternev, Yu. Pshenichnikov, A. I. Mamykin – assistant coach, B. Kopeykin, I. M. Bodnaruk – doctor, V. Polikarpov, V. Afonin.The Army team celebrated in their military uniforms the title they waited for almost 20 years – it was their 5th, but the 4th was won in 1951. In fact, CSKA didn't win a trophy since 1955, when they won their 4th Cup. So, a great moment, but... Who would had known what will follow: not only another 20 years of drought, but a terrible decline sunking the club to Second Division. Whatever praise the champions got, it was quite predictable if one took a closer look at the squad. Only 4 players were included in the national team for the 1970 World Cup – since the World Cup happened practically in the middle of the Soviet championship, one expects more players from the leading team to go to the World's finals. Dinamo (Kiev) had 5 players in Mexico and Dinamo (Tbilisi) also had 5 – perhaps that was why both teams were not title contenders this season and CSKA benefited from their weakening. Spartak (Moscow) had 4 players in Mexico, so it was weakened as well. As a whole, CSKA wasn't a great squad: the defensive line – Istomin, Shesternev, Kaplichny, Afonin – was the best line of the team . Except Istomin, all of them went to Mexico. The star in midfield was Vladimir Fedotov, often playing for the national team and having strong season, yet, he was not in World Cup national team, which questions his quality. The rest of the line was not at all national team candidates. CSKA played with only two frowards with hardly any back-up – both Boris Kopeykin and Vladimir Dudarenko were talented, but hardly first class players. Dudarenko was moody player, inconsistent, and generally not very dependable. There was nobody else – the only other striker was Vladimir Starkov, who shined in the second team, but failed to impress whenever was tried in the first. Misfortune hit CSKA the whole season – they had to use 3 goalkeepers. Yury Pshenichnikov practically missed the 1969 and half of 1970 season because of heavy injury. A national team player since 1966, he played only 15 games in 1970 (including the decissive play-offs against Dinamo Moscow for the title). He was dropped from the first team in 1971, which depressed him greatly and he disappeared for 2 months, only to come back and ask to be freed from the club. Amazingly, the very coach who dropped him from the squad asked him to play a game for the second team and see what happens. Pshenichnikov agreed, played well and was returned to first team. But he was done man and left CSKA in 1972 to join his original club Pakhtakor (Tashkent), where he played a little and quit due to injuries. Without injured Pshnichnikov the time of his back-up arrived: Leonid Shmutz, aged 22, yet with the team since 1967, was so far almost without first team appearances (and jumping ahead, for almost 10 years with CSKA, he played only 54 games), playing regularly for the second team. Now he had a chance and used it so well, he was included in the World Cup squad. He didn't play in Mexico and his only 2 national team appearances were in 1971, but his frist season as a starter was going great... until he got injured after 14 games and missed the rest. 1971 was practically the end for him – he made atrocious mistake during a game, scoring stupid own goal. He was unable to overcome mentally this moment, became shaky, lost form and never recovered, eventually disapperaing in the lower divisions. His injury in 1970 left CSKA with only one goalkeeper – untried to this moment. Vladimir Astapovsky joined CSKA in 1969, but so far had no chance to play for neither first, nor second team – Pshenichnikov and Shmutz were regulars in each formation. So, Astapovsky got his chance out of the blue and played 9 games, performing well enough. However, he was lacking experience and when Pshenichnikov got better, Astapovsky was benched again, Of the three he proved best – with time not only he established himself as regular, but became a national team player in 1975 and remained in it until 1977. Fortune-misfortune. Usually teams suffer such string of goalkeeper's injuries, but CSKA somehow survived and the three keepers played well – which may have been due to strong and stable defensive line. Yet, such changes and particularly the fate of both Pshenichnikov and Shmutz was perhaps strong indication that CSKA was not exactly a team to last and their victory was more or less incidental. In general, the Moscow domination ended already and CSKA's victory should be seen rather chancy.
.jpg)