Premier League or First Division. Scheduled for 16 teams, started with 14, actually played and finished with 13. Because of this, relegation was readjusted: no team was directly going down, the last in the table was going to promotion/relegation playoff against the 4th in the Second Division. Under the circumstances at that time, looked like that Dinamo (Kiev) would have no rival, but it was not exactly like expected – new force came up from behind. In view of future disintegration of USSR and changes in the make of the league let see to which republics belonged the current members: Russia had 5 teams, Ukraine – also 5, Armenia, Belarus, and Tadjikistan had 1 teams each – in time, 8 teams of this league will be out.
Rotor (Volgograd, Russia) finished last and in the last minute too with 14 points. They still had a chance to remain in the top league, but eventually lost the playoff against Lokomotiv (Moscow) and were relegated.
Dinamo (Minsk, Belarus) barely escaped relegation – 12th with 15 points. Not a trace of the team which won the Soviet title less than a decade ago. Top row from left: Aleksandr Chernukho – masseur, Pavel Rodnenok, Fedor Sikorsky, Sergey Shiroky, Erik Yakhimovich, Yury Vergeychik, Sergey Pavlyuchuk, Sergey Gomonov, Sergey Gotzmanov. Middle row: Vassily Dmitrakov – doctor, Aleksandr Taykov, Alli Alchagirov, Evgeny Kashentzev, Evgeny Kuznetzov – assistant coach, Mikhail Tzeytin – assistant coach, Ivan Shtchekin – assistant coach, Leonid Garay – team chief, Eduard Malofeev – coach, Mikhail Vergeenko – assistant coach, Mikhail Markhel, Andrey Shalimo, Andrey Zygmantovich, Aleksandr Gorbylev – assistant coach, Leonid Vassilevsky – administrator. Front row: Yury Kurbyko, Yury Antonovich, Vladimir Demidov, Aleksandr Metlitzky, Sergey Gerassimetz, Sergey Rassikin, Viktor Sokol, Igor Gurinovich, Genady Lessun, Andrey Satzunkevich.
Metallist (Kharkov, Ukraine) – 11th with 18 points. Sitting from left: A. Kanishtev, V. Suslo, R. Kolokolov, V. Simakovich, I. Kutepov, V. Dudka, V. Yalovsky, I. Panchishin, S. Ralyuchenko. Middle row: A. Zhitnik, M. Shamrilo, V. Udovenko, L. Tkachenko, A. Dovby, V. Plekhov, S. Ozeryan. Top row: D. Khomukha, O. Derevinsky, A. Ivanov, A. Baranov, V. Aristov, I. Yakubovsky, A. Essipov, V. Shtcherbak, Yu. Tarassov.
Pamir (Dushanbe, Tadjikistan) – the debutantes did fairly well: 10th with 18 points.
Chernomoretz (Odessa, Ukraine) – 9th with 19 points.
Shakhter (Donetzk, Ukraine) – 8th with 22 points. Bottom row from left: S. Yashchenko, I. Petrov, V. Grachev, V. Zeyberlinsh, V. Goshkoderya. Middle row: A. Sopko, V. Elinskas, E. Dragunov, V. Onopko. Top row: I. Leonov, A. Kanchelskis, V. Mazur, I. Stolovitzky, A. Kobozev.
Ararat (Erevan, Armenia) – 7th with 23 points.
Dnepr (Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine) – 6th with 28 points.
Spartak (Moscow, Russia) – 5th with 29 points. Standing from left: A. Hadzhi, V. Derbupov, O. Imrekov, S. Cherchessov, A. Ivanov, O. Ivanov, S. Bazulev, V. Kulkov, B. Pozdnyakov, G. Belenkon. Crouching: V. Shmarov, A. Mostovoy, I. Shalimov, V. Karpin, D. Gradilenko, D. Popov.
Torpedo (Moscow, Russia) – 4th with 30 points.
Dinamo (Moscow) – 3rd with 31 points. A very suspect photo and most likely wrongly dated – certainly Valery Gazzaev did not coach them this season, but Second Division champions Spartak (Vladikavkaz).
CSKA (Moscow, Russia) – 2nd with 31 points. The pleasant surprise of the season – CSKA was in big decline for a very long time, spending time in the Second Division during the 1980s and when coming back to the top league, unable to stay there. Now they were just promoted once again from Second Division and suddenly went to the top – and is it happened, were going to remain at the top in the future. Bottom row from left: D. Gradilenko, P. Yanushevsky, M. Eryomin, Yu. Shishkin, P. Massalitin, S. Dmitriev. Middle row: V. Murashko – team chief, I. Possokh – coach-masseur, D. Bystrov, S. Krutov, D. Kuznetzov, P. Sadyrin – coach, S. Fokin, D. Galyamin, D. Kardivar – administrator, A. Kuznetzov – assistant coach, B. Kopeykin – assistant coach. Top row: S. Kolotovkin, O. Malyukov, V. Broshin, I. Korneev, M. Kolesnikov, V. Tatarchuk, V. Shashenok – doctor.
And familiar champion: Dinamo (Kiev). After 14 wins, 6 ties, and 4 losses they had 34 points – 3 points more than CSKA – and once again took the Soviet title to Ukraine. Sitting from left: Ivan Yaremchuk, Anatoly Puzach – head coach, Vassily Ratz, Sergey Yuran, Andrey Annenkov, Vladimir Veremeev – team cheaf, Sergey Kovaletz. Middle row: Pavel Shvydky – masseur, Aleksandr Pikuzo – administrator, Genady Litovchenko, Pavel Yakovenko, Viktor Kolotov – coach, Akhrik Tzveiba, Anatoly Demyanenko, Yury Moroz, Vladimir Malyuta – doctor, Viktor Berkovsky – doctor. Top row: Valery Evlantiev – masseur, Andrey Aleksannenkov, Sergey Shmatovalenko, Viktor Chanov, Oleg Salenko, Aleksandr Zhidkov, Sergey Zaetz, Boris Derkach, Aleksandr Chubanov – administrator.
Well… kind of champion squad. Changes were happening so rapidly and they affected even a ‘grand’ club like Dinamo – this photo represents more 1991 than 1990, most likely taken near the end of the year, when the championship was already mere statistics. Already coach Valery Lobanovsky was gone and so were key players, some actually went away in mid-season when the European market was active. Others were going to leave very soon. True, Dinamo had the best players to sell and thus to get more cash than other Soviet club, which in turn gave them free hand to hire top talent not only from Ukraine, as it mainly was for years, but from the whole USSR – that was assurance they will keep their strength with one caveat: everybody was going abroad at this time and what was left was not exactly top talent. And not everybody was capable of handling the new reality: Boris Derkach, for instance, went to play in Bulgaria, then turned to crime and finally to complete obscurity and self-destruction. But the future was hard to predict and the present was… great. 13th title, a record, but also a dangerous number. Who was able to see that will be the last Soviet title for Dinamo (Kiev)? And who would have tell that this will be the eternal record of Soviet football? The fatal and ominous number 13 remains and could be changed only if USSR is restored.