1937 Soviet Top League

The 1937 Soviet Top League was the third season of the top-tier all-Union league competitions (Gruppa A). The league competition started a week after conculusion of the 1937 Soviet Cup.

Group A

Season	1937
Dates	July 23 – October 30
Champions	Dynamo Moscow 2nd All-Union league title
Relegated	none (reorganization)
Matches played	72
Goals scored	224 (3.11 per match)
Top goalscorer	Vasili Smirnov Leonid Rumyantsev Boris Paichadze 8 goals
Biggest home win	Metallurg 5–0 CDKA (August 12)
Biggest away win	Spartak 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 scoring	Krasnaya Zarya 2–6 Dynamo K. (August 28) Dynamo Tb. 5–3 Dynamo K. (October 10)
← 1936 Fall 1938 →

Before the start of the season, two sports societies Dynamo and Spartak were awarded the order of Lenin on resolution of the USSR Central Executive Committee of 22 July 1937.

Format

This year it was decided to have both season halves combined. 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. 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.

Team changes from last season

Promoted from 1936 (fall) Gruppa B	Relegated from 1936 (fall) Gruppa A
Serp i Molot Moscow (1st)	CDKA Moscow (8th)

• Name change: Serp i Molot → Metallurg

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 as Serp i Molot Moscow. At the end of the season no teams were relegated as the group was planned to be extended for the next season.

Standings

Pos	Republic	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Promotion or qualification
1	Russian SFSR	Dynamo Moscow (C)	16	8	6	2	37	20	1.850	38	Champions of the Soviet Union
2	Russian SFSR	Spartak Moscow	16	8	5	3	24	16	1.500	37	Runners-up prize recipients
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.
(C) Champions

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:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
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	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 (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

• Soviet Union - List of final tables (RSSSF)