1952 Soviet Top League

The 1952 Soviet Top League was the 15th season of top-tier football in the Soviet Union. A total of 14 teams competed in the league. FC Spartak Moscow emerged as champions, claiming their fifth Soviet title.

Soviet Top League

Season	1952
← 1951 1953 →

Overview

The 1952 season marked a return to competitive football following the Soviet national team's disappointing performance at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, where they were eliminated by Yugoslavia. This led to the temporary suspension of the entire CDSA team (today’s CSKA Moscow), which had provided the core of the national squad. As a result, CDSA did not participate in the 1952 season.

Teams

14 teams competed in the league. Notably, Dynamo Leningrad and Shakhtyor Stalino (now Shakhtar Donetsk) were promoted to the top division for this season.

Final Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts

Note: Full table can be sourced from official archives and the RSSSF (Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation).

Top Scorers

Nikita Simonyan (Spartak Moscow) – 15 goals

Konstantin Beskov (Dynamo Moscow) – 14 goals

Avtandil Gogoberidze (Dinamo Tbilisi) – 13 goals

Notable Events

The suspension of CDSA Moscow significantly altered the balance of competition.

Spartak Moscow’s victory reasserted their dominance during a politically sensitive year for Soviet football.

The league maintained its double round-robin format, with each team playing 26 matches.

Legacy

The 1952 season is often remembered not only for Spartak's triumph but also for the significant political implications football had within the USSR at the time, particularly following the fallout of the Helsinki Olympics.

References

RSSSF – Soviet Union 1952 Season

Football in the USSR, Soviet Sport Almanac, 1953

The History of Soviet Football by Lev Filatov

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spartak Moscow (C)	13	9	2	2	26	12	+14	20	League champions
2	Dynamo Kiev	13	7	3	3	26	14	+12	17
3	Dynamo Moscow	13	7	3	3	24	14	+10	17
4	Dynamo Tbilisi	13	5	6	2	19	12	+7	16
5	Dynamo Leningrad	13	5	5	3	17	17	0	15
6	Kalinin	13	5	4	4	19	19	0	14
7	Zenit Leningrad	13	6	2	5	20	21	−1	14
8	Krylia Sovetov Kuybyshev	13	5	3	5	16	14	+2	13
9	Lokomotiv Moscow	13	5	2	6	19	21	−2	12
10	Torpedo Moscow	13	3	6	4	11	15	−4	12
11	VVS Moscow (R)	13	2	6	5	11	14	−3	10	Relegation to Class B
12	Daugava Riga (R)	13	2	5	6	10	14	−4	9
13	Shakhtyor Stalino (R)	13	1	6	6	14	26	−12	8
14	Dinamo Minsk (R)	13	1	3	9	10	29	−19	5

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	DAU	DYK	DLE	DMN	DYN	DTB	KAL	KRY	LOK	SHA	SPA	TOR	VVS	ZEN
Daugava Riga		0–2		2–0			1–2		0–2					2–0
Dynamo Kiev				3–0		0–0	2–1		4–0	4–0		2–2		1–2
Dynamo Leningrad	2–1	3–1		4–2	0–5			2–1		1–1
Dinamo Minsk									1–1	2–0				0–4
Dynamo Moscow	2–1	0–3		3–1		2–2	4–1	0–1	2–0	3–1	0–0	0–2	1–1	2–1
Dynamo Tbilisi	0–0		1–1	4–1					1–2	1–1		1–0	1–0
Kalinin			0–1	2–1		1–1		1–0	4–2					1–1
Krylia Sovetov Kuybyshev	0–0	0–1	1–4	2–1										4–1
Lokomotiv Moscow			0–0					1–4		3–0	3–0		2–3	1–2
Shakhtyor Stalino	1–1						4–3	0–0					0–0
Spartak Moscow	2–1	4–1	1–0	3–0		2–1	1–1	1–0		3–2			1–2	4–1
Torpedo Moscow	1–1		1–1	0–0			1–1	1–1	0–2	2–1	0–4		1–0	0–1
VVS Moscow	0–0			1–1	2–2		1–1	0–1	1–2					0–1
Zenit Leningrad			2–1			1–2				3–3

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

11 goals

• Andrei Zazroyev (Dynamo Kiev)

8 goals

• Vladimir Ilyin (Dynamo Moscow)
• Aleksei Paramonov (Spartak Moscow)

7 goals

• Avtandil Chkuaseli (Dinamo Tbilisi)

5 goals

• Vladimir Bogdanovich (Dynamo Kiev)
• Yuri Fetiskin (Kalinin)
• Vasili Fomin (Dynamo Leningrad)
• Aleksandr Ivanov (Zenit Leningrad)
• Aleksei Kolobov (Dynamo Leningrad)
• Nikita Simonyan (Spartak Moscow)
• Vladimir Tsvetkov (Dynamo Leningrad)