1937 Soviet Top League

Group A
Season1937
ChampionsFC Dynamo Moscow
Matches played72
Goals scored224 (3.11 per match)
Top goalscorerVasili Smirnov
Leonid Rumyantsev
Boris Paichadze
8 goals
Biggest home winMetallurg 5–0 CDKA (August 12)
Biggest away winSpartak 0–4 Metallurg (August 28)
Krasnaya Zarya 2–6 Dynamo K. (August 28)
Dynamo Tb. 0–4 Dynamo M. (September 18)
CDKA 1–5 Dynamo M. (October 24)
Highest scoringKrasnaya Zarya 2–6 Dynamo K. (August 28)
Dynamo Tb. 5–3 Dynamo K. (October 10)
1938 →

The 1937 Soviet Top League was the third season of the Soviet Top League.

Format

This year it was decided to have both season halves combined. After playing two games in the Group B it was decided to return CDKA Moscow back to the Group A. The Group A was extended once again to nine teams with a new team FC Metallurg Moscow joining the group that won the 1936 Group B fall championship. At the end of the season no teams were relegated as the group was planned to be extended for the next season. The season started in the summer after the cup competition that preceded it and was also won by Dynamo Moscow.

The defending champion for this edition was FC Spartak Moscow. The season started somewhat late on July 23, 1937, with the game in Kyiv where the League newcomer Metallurg surprisingly defeated the local Dynamo 2:0. The conclusion of the season came on October 30, 1937, with the games in Tbilisi and Moscow's Sokolniki.[1] That game on CSKA Stadium became a culminating as the Army team hold the defending champions to a draw that left Spartak without their title. Interesting is the fact that less than a week prior to that Dynamo Moscow was able to defeat CDKA 5:1 setting them three points ahead of Spartak.

Standings

Pos Republic Team Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts
1  Russian SFSR Dynamo Moscow 16 8 6 2 37 20 1.850 38
2  Russian SFSR Spartak Moscow 16 8 5 3 24 16 1.500 37
3  Ukrainian SSR Dynamo Kiev 16 7 6 3 33 24 1.375 36
4  Georgian SSR Dynamo Tbilisi 16 7 4 5 30 24 1.250 34
5  Russian SFSR Metallurg Moscow 16 7 2 7 26 21 1.238 32
6  Russian SFSR Lokomotiv Moscow 16 5 5 6 18 20 0.900 31
7  Russian SFSR Dynamo Leningrad 16 2 9 5 21 25 0.840 29
8  Russian SFSR Krasnaya Zarya Leningrad 16 4 4 8 17 31 0.548 28
9  Russian SFSR CDKA Moscow 16 3 1 12 18 43 0.419 23
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: Points awarded were 3 for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a loss and none for a no appearance. In case of tie on points, there was used goal ratio for tiebreaker for any places beside the first and the last, for which was decided to conduct additional game.[2]

Results

Home \ Away CDK DYK DLE DYN DTB KZL LOK MTM SPA
CDKA Moscow 2–4 0–3 1–5 2–5 5–1 0–2 0–3 2–2
Dynamo Kiev 1–0 1–1 2–2 2–2 4–1 1–1 0–2 1–1
Dynamo Leningrad 2–3 0–1 3–3 0–2 2–2 0–0 1–1 0–0
Dynamo Moscow 3–1 2–1 2–2 3–3 1–1 1–2 2–1 0–1
Dynamo Tbilisi 1–0 5–3 1–3 0–4 3–0 0–0 4–0 1–0
Krasnaya Zarya Leningrad 3–0 2–6 0–0 0–3 1–1 0–1 3–1 0–2
Lokomotiv Moscow 1–2 2–2 1–0 2–3 3–2 0–2 0–0 1–2
Metallurg Moscow 5–0 0–2 5–1 0–3 1–0 0–1 2–1 1–3
Spartak Moscow 2–0 1–2 3–3 0–0 2–0 2–0 3–1 0–4
Source:[citation needed]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank Player Club Goals[3]
1 Boris Paichadze Dynamo Tbilisi 8
Leonid Rumyantsev Spartak Moscow
Vasily Pavlovich Smirnov Dynamo Moscow
4 Pavel Komarov Dynamo Kyiv 7
Mikhail Semichastny Dynamo Moscow
6 Gayk Andriasov Lokomotiv Moscow 6
Aleksei Ponomaryov Dynamo Moscow
Mikhail Yakushin Dynamo Moscow
Nikolai Yartsev Krasnaya Zarya Leningrad
10 Pyotr Bykov Dynamo Leningrad 5
Grigory Fedotov Metallurg Moscow
Mikhail Kireyev CSKA Moscow
Ivan Kuzmenko Dynamo Kyiv
Vadim Potapov Metallurg Moscow
Ivan Smirnov [ru] Krasnaya Zarya Leningrad

Medal squads

(league appearances and goals listed in brackets)

1. FC Dynamo Moscow

Goalkeepers: Yevgeny Fokin (15 / -19), Aleksandr Kvasnikov (1 / -1).
Defenders: Lev Korchebokov (13), Viktor Teterin (9), Aleksandr Myshlyayev (7).
Midfielders: Yevgeny Yeliseyev (16), Arkady Chernyshev (15 / 1), Aleksey Lapshin (12), Gavriil Kachalin (11), Pavel Korotkov (5), Aleksandr Ryomin (1).
Forwards: Mikhail Yakushin (16 / 6), Sergei Ilyin (16 / 4), Vasily Smirnov (14 / 8), Aleksey Ponomaryov (13 /6), Mikhail Semichastny (11 / 7), Nikolay Belousov (3 / 1), Ivan Shcherbakov (2 / 2), Georgy Dyomin (1).

One own goal(s) scored by Mikhail Denisov (FC Dynamo Leningrad), Iosif Lifshyts (FC Dynamo Kyiv)

Manager: Viktor Dubinin.

Transferred out during the season: .

2. FC Spartak Moscow

Goalkeepers: Anatoly Akimov (13 / -10), Ivan Ryzhov (3 / -6).
Defenders: Viktor Sokolov (15), Stanislav Leuta (10), Aleksandr Starostin (7), Sergey Plonsky (2).
Midfielders: Andrey Starostin (16 / 2), Sergey Artemyev (13), Pyotr Starostin (8), Nikolai Palyska (8), Grigory Tuchkov (8).
Forwards: Leonid Rumyantsev (16 / 8), Vladimir Stepanov [ru] (15 / 4), Nikolay Zhigalin (15 / 3), Boris Stepanov (12 / 2), Georgy Glazkov (7 / 2), Viktor Semyonov (7), Aleksandr Kasimov (6 / 1), Nikolay Gulyayev (3), Nikolay Tarasov (2 / 1), Sergey Udaleyev (1 / 1).

Manager: Konstantin Kvashnin.

Transferred out during the season: .

3. FC Dynamo Kyiv

Goalkeepers: Anton Idzkovsky (13 / -20), Mykola Trusevych (3 / -4).
Defenders: Mykola Makhynya (16 / 3), Oleksiy Klymenko (15), Vasyl Pravovierov (10), Georgiy Timofeyev (1).
Midfielders: Ivan Kuzmenko (16 / 5), Volodymyr Greber (16 / 3), Iosif Livshyts (14 / 1).
Forwards: Pavlo Komarov (16 / 7), Petro Layko (15 / 4), Makar Honcharenko (14 / 3), Kostiantyn Kalach (10), Konstantin Shchegotsky (9 / 3), Viktor Shylovsky (9 / 3), Mykola Korotkykh (9 / 1), Fedir Tyutchev (2).

Manager: Moisey Tovarovsky.

Transferred out during the season: .


 Group A 1937 winners 
FC Dynamo Moscow
Second title

References

  1. ^ 1937 season calendar
  2. ^ 1937 ГОД. ТАБЛИЦЫ. КАЛЕНДАРИ. СОСТАВЫ КОМАНД. Luhansk Our Football (football.lg.ua).
  3. ^ "Soviet Union 1937". RSSSF. Retrieved 2 May 2020.