1940 Soviet First League

The 1940 Soviet football championship in Gruppa B (Russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу в группе «Б») was fifth season of the (second tier) professional football competitions in the Soviet Union. It was also the second season after revival of the second tier competitions and the last season before the Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union with the ongoing World War II.

Soviet First League
Season1940
ChampionsKrasnaya Zaria Leningrad
Promoted
1939
1945

The season started on 2 May 1940 (following the International Workers' Day) with matches in Ukraine and the Caucasus republics. The season ended on 27 October 1940 in Kiev.

Teams

edit

The league was reduced almost in half from 23 to 14 teams. The competitions were conducted in double round robin format where each team is playing with every other twice, at home and away.

Relegated

edit

Two teams were relegated from the 1939 Gruppa A

edit

Renamed

edit
  • FC Krasnaya Zaria Leningrad was previously known as FC Elektrik Leningrad
  • FC Stroitel Baku was previously known as FC Temp Baku

League Standings

edit
Pos Republic Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1   Russian SFSR Krasnaya Zaria Leningrad[a] (C, P) 26 15 5 6 54 36 +18 35
2   Russian SFSR Spartak Leningrad (P) 26 13 8 5 46 29 +17 34
3   Azerbaijan SSR Stroitel Baku 26 12 7 7 39 29 +10 31
4   Ukrainian SSR Dinamo Kharkov 26 12 5 9 44 37 +7 29
5   Ukrainian SSR Pischevik Odessa (P) 26 12 4 10 49 40 +9 28
6   Byelorussian SSR Dinamo Minsk (P) 26 10 6 10 42 41 +1 26
7   Ukrainian SSR Lokomotiv Kiev 26 11 4 11 33 34 −1 26
8   Ukrainian SSR Sudostroitel Nikolayev 26 9 8 9 25 31 −6 26
9   Russian SFSR Torpedo Gorkiy 26 8 9 9 44 47 −3 25
10   Russian SFSR Burevestnik Moscow 26 10 5 11 28 31 −3 25
11   Russian SFSR Avangard Leningrad[a] 26 12 1 13 40 51 −11 25
12   Russian SFSR Pischevik Moscow 26 7 6 13 31 40 −9 20
13   Ukrainian SSR Selmash Kharkov 26 6 5 15 41 53 −12 17
14   Armenian SSR Spartak Yerevan 26 4 9 13 25 42 −17 17
Source: [citation needed]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Krasnaya Zaria Leningrad and Avangard Leningrad were merged with Zenit Leningrad (Gruppa A) for the next season.

Top scorers

edit
Rank Scorer Team Goals
(Pen.)
1 Ivan Borisevich Pischevik Odessa 15
2 Boris Chuchelov Krasnaya Zaria Leningrad 14
Aleksandr Korotkov Torpedo Gorkiy 14
4 Vasiliy Gusarov Dinamo Kharkov 13
Leonid Oryekhov Pischevik Odessa 13
6 Pavel Bogatyryov Spartak Leningrad 11
Vasiliy Panfilov Dinamo Minsk 11
Aram Stepanov Dynamo Kyiv 11
9 Artur Chalikyan Spartak Yerevan 10
Sergei Chernykh Spartak Leningrad 10
Aleksei Salakov Torpedo Gorkiy 10
Aleksandr Sevidov Pischevik Moscow 10
Ivan Talanov Avangard Leningrad 10
Pavel Vinkovatov Selmash Kharkov 10

Number of teams by republics

edit
Number Union republics Team(s)
6   Russian SFSR FC Krasnaya Zaria Leningrad, FC Spartak Leningrad, FC Burevestnik Moscow, FC Avangard Leningrad, FC Pischevik Moscow
FC Torpedo Gorky
5   Ukrainian SSR FC Dinamo Kharkov, FC Pischevik Odessa, FC Lokomotiv Kiev, FC Sudostroitel Nikolaev, FC Selmash Kharkov
1   Azerbaijan SSR Stroitel Baku
1   Belarusian SSR FC Dinamo Minsk
1   Armenian SSR FC Spartak Yerevan

See also

edit
edit