Soviet Class B


The Soviet Football Championship, Class B was the second, third and for a season fourth highest division of Soviet football, below the Soviet Class A and then the Soviet Class A Second Group.

Historical background

Creation

The league was formed in 1950 as the second tier of football competitions in the Soviet Union in place of the Second Group of the Soviet football championship. Before the start of the 1950 season, there was an idea to include representatives of all 15 union republics. On behalf of the Soviet Council of Ministers, the chairman of the Committee of Physical Culture and Sports Arkadiy Apollonov presented to Mikhail Suslov the season's draft which included 27 teams representing 15 union republics. "The team from the Karelo-Finnish SSR due to lack of trained personnel was not included in participation of the Soviet Union championship", explained Arkadiy Apollonov.
Suslov sent the presentation to Kalashnikov and Sushkov to learn more about the issue. Those two came up with an alternative draft which they presented Georgy Malenkov rather than Suslov.

Further development

In 1960 Class B was split by republican principle and there existed Class B of the Russian SFSR, Class B of Ukraine, Class B of Union republics, Class B of Kazakhstan, Class B of Central Asia. With the expansion of Soviet Class A in 1963, the Soviet Class B was downgraded to the third tier and in 1970 even further to the fourth tier. Before 1971 it was abolished.

Winners

Second tier

Third tier

Fourth tier