Soviet Union National Football Team (non-existent since 1992)

The Soviet Union 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 CIS national football team (and ultimately, the Russia national football team) as its successor team allocating its former records to them; nevertheless, a large percentage of the team's former players came from outside the Russian SFSR, mainly from the Ukrainian SSR, and following the break up of the Soviet Union, some such as 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 twice, in 1974 and 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 five 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.




Competitive record

FIFA World Cup record
1930 - Did not enter
1934 - Did not enter
1938 - Did not enter
1950 - Did not enter
1954 - Did not enter
1958 - Quarter-finals
1962 - Quarter-finals
1966 - Fourth Place
1970 - Quarter-finals
1974 - Disqualified
1978 - Did not qualify
1982 - Round 2
1986 - Round 2
1990 - Round 1
1994 - Succeeded by Russia

UEFA 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 - succeeded by CIS

Olympic medal record
Men’s Football
Gold - 1956 Melbourne Team
Bronze - 1972 Munich Team
Bronze - 1976 Montreal Team
Bronze - 1980 Moscow Team
Gold - 1988 Seoul Team