SOVIET SOCCER AND OUTSTANDING SOCCER TEAMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A005800610007-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 8, 2008
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: January 24, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2008/07/08: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005800610007-7
INFORMATION REPORT
SUBJECT Soviet Soccer and Outstanding
Soccer Teams
This material contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States within the mean-
ing of the Espionage Iwws, Title 18, U.S.O. Sea. 793
and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in
any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited
by law.
REPORT
DATE DISTR. 24 January 1955
NO. OF PAGES 5
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
1. Soccer, or football, is the national sport of the USSR, and the one in which 25X1
there is a genuine popular interest. There are several teams In earth city or
town, and each village, factory, school, or military unit has its own team.
The' is keen government support in the development of ssoccer as the. national
gcmej it costs little to maintain this sport, and soccer {.s a collective game
with none of the individual competition of tennis or fencing. Soccer draws
probably the largest sporting crowds of any sport played in the Soviet Union.
2. Soccer was introduced in the USSR before the Revolution, and is the same game
as western Europe's association football. The first Russian clubs had been
organized well before 1917 and, despite the game's foreign origin, the Soviet
Government permitted it to survive because of its mass appeal. Soccer in the
USSR began to be developed on a fairly large scale in the mid-.1930x, when a
Spanish Basque team and a Turkish team were invited to compete with Soviet
teams. The Government soon learned that there was a good profit to be real-
ized from soccer gate receipts, and a 10-to 15-ruble admission is charged
even at present.
3. It was in the mid-1930s that the Spartak Club's team was quite popular. The
two Starostin brothers were the team's mainstays, and are known now as the
"fathers of Soviet football". Later, the Starostiny were arrested for alleged
anti-State political activities and financial corruption, together with a
larger group of athletes headed by a high-diving champion named Zhigalov (fnu).
The latter, according to files of the NKVD, had tried, along with some other ,
swimmers, a scheme to escape the USSR. All were tried, convicted, and sentenced
to ten years of hard labor, which they served in eastern Siberia and the Kolyma
region.
SECRET
i ]( ARMY ][ NAVY I 7[ AIR l= F91 A[c
(NOTE, WeebMEfen d1MrlbuNen Indlesled by "I"f Field dIMrlbvIsn by "#".) A
Approved For Release 2008/07/08: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005800610007-7
 Approved For Release 2008/07/08: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005800610007-7
SECRET 25X1
4. After Zhigalov had served most of his term, he was released; he returned to
Moscow and later married Blokhina (fnu), a well--known woman swimming champion.
Soviet swimming team. v Zhigalov was not permitted to accompany her as the Soviet
Government feared he would skip to the West at the first opportunity. This
policy extended to "many other Soviet athletes", notwithstanding their brilliant
sports records at home. Athletes from the minority areas, especially the Baltic
states, drew, in particular, the suspicion of the NGBts chief of counterintelligence
directorate. Athletes who are permitted to go abroad are put through the same
rigorous screening process applied to all official and semi-official delegations
proceeding outside the USSR.
5. After the arrest of the o ar Staroetin brothers and t e r banishment to the
east.
By special rmiss on granted Col, en. og ze
Starostiny trained the local Dynamo ((1G341VD) Club's soccer team.. After their
work day, the brothers were marched back to a prisoner camp in the outskirts of
Khabarovsk. According to thA remarks of the commandant of all penal camps in
Khabarovsk and its environs, 11VD Col. Akerman or Taimmerman, "You do not have
to go all the way to Moscow to see the best actors, symphonic or jazz musicians,
or soccer players-we have them all right here. And it does not cost us a
single ruble to see them perform I"
6. The pre-World War II era of Soviet soccer saw the sport undergo growi.ng?-pains.
The Soviets had met their first foreign teams and realized that the Soviet skill
did not match that of the Europe. ani. This was one of the prices paid for the
then general policy of the Government to isolate the peoples of the USSR from
foreign "contamination".
7. To a certain degree, this policy has undergone marked changes since the end of
World War II, for two reasons: the level of proficiency of the top Soviet sports
teams had +.o be increased, and good sport could be used as an effective propa-
ganda weapon to publicize universally the virtues of Soviet Comma niam. It took
a long time for the old isolationist policy to wear off, however, and the bogeys
of possible defection by Soviet stht.etes and their exposure to the realities of
the free world haunted the Party Central Committee and tho security (-)rgarA under
its control until the and of 194011 It was not until the early 195G8 that
the Soviets realized that they stood to 'gai.n considerable prestige by a meti;o.d cal
preparation for the 1952 Olympics.
8. The result of this policy of sports isolation, even after World War II, was that
the Soviet teams lost most of their matches abroad. There were very few wins:
the Dynamo soccer team defeated the British Arsenal team in London In 19.1.1, and
several games were won from Scandinavian teams later. In 1948, the All-Union
TsDSA team was sent to Czechoelovald.a,where it encountered such good opposition
that small town teams were living the Soviets severe trouncings.
9. In keeping with Soviet official policy, no word was reported in the Soviet press
of a single defeat of the TsDSA. ginee only victories are reported, the reading
public was lacking news on the TsDSA eleven for days at a time. The Committee
of Physical Culture and Sport considered this a sports fiasco, something which
could undermine Soviet prestige ^'-road. After the team's return from their tour,
its managers and captain were hauled before a Central Committee commission,
reprimanded severely, and warned that a repetition in the future of such poor
results would mean a "sad end" for the team's coach, Arkadev (fnu), and for the
ipolitruk of the team. Needless to say, the fact that the team was reprimanded
was not published in the press.
10. it is interesting to note that it has been seldom that the
Soviet Government has invited a?foreign team to play in the USSR. The reason
for this is that the defeat of a Soviet sports team on its home soil would have
an adverse effect on Soviet public opinion, which has been constantly nurtured
Approved For Release 2008/07/08: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005800610007-7
 Approved For Release 2008/07/08: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005800610007-7
SECRET 25X1
-3-
on the myth of Soviet athletic invincibility. Protoco: has forced, however, the
reciprocal invitation, to the Soviet Union of some foreign teams. Oddly enough,
the British Arsenal teen was not invited for a return match until 1954. "Courtesy
does not rule at all", and the political nature of Soviet sports is again evident.
The British fight well have come determined to de imate their conquerors, and
succeed. LAreemall lost the 1954 match to Dynes
11. The Soviets have shown .e l3.ttie more courage in'inviting teams from the "people to
democracies" to visit the tSS>Et. In 1948or 19419, the top-rank Hungarian Vashash
soccer team was invited to come to Moscow, "after a careful study of the problem
by the Committee-of Physical Culture and Sport". The Vashash was scheduled to
ple" "a typical amateur soccer telmt of factory wovrkere", the Torpedo team of the
ZIS automobile plant. The Utter was,, firs : sai dity, a -:mo]leotion of AU-Union
soooer champions headed by the ?$Me i onpta Gr?iain..(fnu) .
12.
the Soviet team loot the first; asatoh to=..tbe,Hungarians, despite a
25X1
desperate rally by the Soviets to win tovUd the d of the game. This was the
first postwar gams s4th 4 fafri~a team on hotl- soil played before an overflow
crowd at the Dynimc Stadium. The Soviets, plgsrs md fans alike, were puzzled
by the tactics and techniques employed by the Hungarians. The spectators were
particularly impressed by the gentlemanly courtesy and the friendebi,p of the
visitors, as oontrarted tvithhe boorish field manners of the Soviet players.
At one point, after a Icarian had accidentally shoved a Soviet player, the
Hungarian apologized and extended his hand in friendship. The Soviet failed to
shake hands with him. after the game,
25X1
the crowd was mlattering, about the theretofore unbeaten oviet teams "Oh!
, that was not the Torpedo teats, a i wae just an All-Union teem
assembled for the purpo .
25X1
13. According to Olga Romanova, wife 0t the evious Chairman of the Committee of
Physic-%l Culture and Sport Col. Gen. Apolonov, the 25X1
new chairman, "turned so pals" ap wtdad the I garians march to victory
that he could not bring himself to remain until the end of the match and the
Torpedo defeat. Upset, ha spent the next few days in bed with a severe case of
diarrhea, brought about by the fear that he would be reprimanded and relieved
of his post for the defeat of the T..rppedo team, "certainly not an unoonnon
affliction among Soviet bureaucrats"., New steps were taken immediately to offset
the loss and regain Soviet prestige.
14. Another team, also made up of A]3-Vaion -soccer stars, was hastily assembled and
given the name of the Dynamo team. These`reinforoements net the Vashash a few
days later and the Hungarians' wiare defeated. during the 25X1
second game the V Ashash "played terrible socce , and. for some reason.-their
leading player was missing in the line-up. The Soviet prose was sure, this time,
to praise the Dynamo club "for their outstanding athletic achievement". A full-
length sports motion picture was made of this, match, titlod,?"Vashash-Dynamo",
and released for public viewing shortly afterward. No mention was made of the 25X1
earlier defeat of the Torpedo team.
was the participation of Soviet
soccer os. 25X1
the USSR sent a cad their All-IInion number one team,
TsDSA, strongly reinforced by pla its borrowed for the. occasion from other leading
Soviet soccer teams. In the match with the Tugoeiav team, the Soviets lost to 25X1
the Yugoslavs. While the victory must have been hailed with ceremony in Yugoslavia
such was not so in Sbviet'cira3eet soccer team was recalled to Moscow imanediately,
despite other invitations to play foreign teams.
16. The team management was called in audience before a Central Comm>i.ttee oommnission and
came out of the experience with good reason td have qualme about the future; the
players who had made up the TeDWA team abroad disappeared for a while from the
field of competition. Instead, in the place of any T5DSA team at all, a new soccer
team, belonging to the Moscow Military District 'eppearAd, composed entirely of
Approved For Release 2008/07/08: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005800610007-7
 Approved For Release 2008/07/08: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005800610007-7
PLpaors Nr M6 Set bum involved in um dsbaa]s at do
t6r11t. '' " at at the m o had bow
be- tar 8. t.t asot
.
17. T
s -,A~-- - that tbw
---~*~ i that wave p $7* $ erosive tba best
+sti t mMK s .; of athlstos.
18. Ths last taltt sal half of the tools acn win is an aossptod
in am s the %ABAn is i aplibl t
poaoo
Is to PEW* "Al mom& die 46- aa4 %N+ is
b..a a..... a~- _ tA, a 1O, an sl ld
M.
w. n ha
i
ABA 4
Im 64
a~
4K WAM
*0 alr~ ~- r y~t?
AMA Onft....Ak
22. Tin Amw larmfiki :IM _ee 1M, kamp
la~,lA,arlt y
"R^7.-.. for w.~w~. ha :i M X11
tiili + lis tsars in Iifowt.
lws1. s sport, at t6.
I aim
to that 166 ,
" P iUt a
sor.n w+- r at *out" lips, hams ailit
Approved For Release 2008/07/08: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005800610007-7
Us axiaa witb-
t is
sub area
la the
LI#m1 tole
19. Ttda t M f
u tom re~IC WIS DP M ts Mubs and is mWe smobwe of the
Affairs and ftabs, $saa*ity (ns~w 1~~e a" of the 3asat
spur Nis tin III, the
h" slUba !~ the is tM gs
hoille whit ? seoe+eharot iI: ft"M 600,000 .d o" . !ha local
e1 bU. 6W scow tsar and the
1i~,- iso
"a load" nDiAthe 9bsD Club
b- Lt. Ir lshtr:n, ter 'a
Chi Ddsr h tat3 lost his post of t it the control
at tM ftm*tm 300161W tin por3,od at Nti-
20. tspa teas el b0- Dsputy )!miter of $tats asouity
1 ehis! of the - l~base?c :1T 8 at am ibr.
Ohio! COuatsrim Dii+ostoWat..
Of the Via= tmtil at lowt 2 $.
ospahls ot!'iasr air #tato asoari fr, A w
t" uo Ubmaol IIPIMM
ti
sawlmtad frm a the irlastse i.
LO them vo- =a Am mmma 4. u.. :
ta.W w..,....I
0s6rt or safari p? ia,aot, eat
aw iaatrsstod to toll uim: that
sm?~ at ,tact amt the ert at
a talsot-
? or
atio
wwr
M-M
publioitr in
the Irmaao club.
two ftn,-uwobs
gas tir-~-a
 Approved For Release 2008/07/08: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005800610007-7
SECRET 25X1
-5-
and Grinin, for example, held the rank of either captain or major when source
last saw them play in early 1950. The players draw military salaries, but have
vi
t
ll
r
ua
y no military duties to perform. The top-ranking stars among the e
"
i
l"
s c
a
diers receive bonus pay, as do the champions of other clubs. 25X1
an Army colons was officially
TaDQ A
_ _ _
nachM J ni k of th
unt
e
Spartak
23. This sports union represents the non-military and non-security offices of the 25X1
Soviet Government, and the G.overnasnt-owned industries, commercial enterprises,
and trades unions. The Spartak group is known collectively as the "traders"
(tor oytsy) because, materially speaking, the Spartak is relatively well offs its
officials have access to sources of sports equipment and food. Because Spartak
has always been forced to overcome its manpower recruitment limitations, Spartak
has become more adept than either Dynamo or TsDSA in the buying and selling of
players. The principal lure to new players offered by Spartak is, therefore, good
pay. Even then, purchases of players are often one-way deals, especially if the
young athlete is draftable for government service by either the Ministry of Defense
(and therefore TaDBA) or the security services (and therefore Dynamo).
Tornado
24. The Torpedo soccer team is the outstanding of the various sports teams sponsored
by the ZIS automobile works, the largest automobile manufacturing concern in the
USSR. The plant's director, Ivan Likhaohev until 1950, was a eoooer fan, so he
proceeded to build up a soccer team by whatever means were at his disposal-.largely
through the purchase of players with funds not originally budgeted for physical
culture or sports. Nominally, the players are all employees of the ZIS factory.
But the top-rank players spend no time at their purported work because their full
time is devoted to the practice or playing of soccer, and other sports.
25. In early 1950 Likhaohev was dismissed from his post as the result of a scandal
centered around alleged administrative sabotage at the plant, including the
embezzlement of official funds. The quality of the Torpedo soccer team thereupon
dropped noticeably. There might well have been considerable substance to the
charges against Likhachev. He had been "crazy" about soccer and reportedly had,
on frequent occasions, bribed players on to victory with promises of automobiles'
in return for goals scored. The Torpedo Club is not known well outside the area
of soccer.
Krvlva Sovetoy (W nQa of tha Soviets
26. This sports club is maintained and sponsored, the Ministry
It has fairly by try of Aviation Indu,~~ry.
good soccer, ice hockey, and basketball teams. It is a "very rich
organization" because of the funds allotted to the aircraft industry.
M
27. The former teams of the Pleat have been probably integrated by now into the ministry
of Defense's TeDSA organization.
SECRET
Approved For Release 2008/07/08: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005800610007-7