1981 Soviet Top League

44th season of top-tier football league in Soviet Union Soviet Top League 1981 Dinamo Kiev SKA Rostov-na-Donu, Tavriya Simferopol European Cup Dinamo Kiev Cup Winners' Cup SKA Rostov-na-Donu UEFA Cup Spartak MoscowDinamo MoscowDinamo Tbilisi (23) Ramaz Shengelia (Dinamo Tb.) 306 779 1980 1982 Statistics of Soviet Top League for the 1981 season. Overview It was contested by 18 teams, and Dynamo Kyiv won the championship. League standings main WDL QR 2 DK Ukrainian SSR Dynamo Kyiv SPA RSFSR Spartak Moscow DTB Georgian SSR Dinamo Tbilisi DYN RSFSR Dynamo Moscow TOR RSFSR Torpedo Moscow CSK RSFSR CSKA Moscow SHK Ukrainian SSR Shakhtar Donetsk DNI Ukrainian SSR Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk DMI Belarusian SSR Dinamo Minsk NEF Azerbaijan SSR Neftchi Baku CHE Ukrainian SSR Chornomorets Odessa KAI Kazakh SSR Kairat Alma-Ata KUB RSFSR Kuban Krasnodar ARA Armenian SSR Ararat Yerevan ZEN RSFSR Zenit Leningrad SKA RSFSR SKA Rostov-on-Don TAV Ukrainian SSR Tavria Simferopol PAK Uzbek SSR Pakhtakor Tashkent 22 9 3 58 26 C 19 8 7 70 40 16 10 8 62 35 15 10 9 41 29 14 14 6 41 29 14 9 11 39 33 12 10 12 51 39 12 8 14 42 53 11 13 10 44 39 11 12 11 34 49 11 9 14 36 44 10 12 12 42 46 11 7 16 42 54 10 9 15 44 50 9 10 15 33 43 8 10 16 39 58 R 8 7 19 27 54 R 7 5 22 34 58 -4 4 points deducted (10 draw limit) -3 3 points deducted (10 draw limit) -2 2 points deducted (10 draw limit) -2 NEF Pakhtakor Tashkent avoided relegation as it received a three-year guarantee of no relegation after the 1979 airplane crash. green1 Qualification for European Cup first round CC blue1 Qualification for UEFA Cup first round UC UC UC yellow1 Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round CWC red1 Relegation to First League R R complete Results main FBR grey ARA CHO CSK DNI DYK DMN DYN DTB KAI KUB NEF PAK SHA SKA SPA TAV TOR ZEN Dynamo Kyiv 2–0 1–0 3–0 1–0 0–0 2–1 3–1 3–3 1–1 2–1 3–0 2–1 1–0 3–0 3–2 3–1 4–0 Spartak Moscow 1–2 3–1 1–2 3–1 3–0 1–0 3–1 1–0 4–1 2–2 3–0 4–2 3–0 1–1 1–1 6–1 5–1 Dinamo Tbilisi 3–1 3–1 0–2 0–0 2–1 1–1 4–0 1–2 1–1 1–1 2–1 2–0 3–1 3–1 3–0 5–0 3–0 Dynamo Moscow 2–1 1–1 1–1 2–1 2–1 1–1 4–1 0–0 1–0 1–0 2–1 4–2 0–0 0–2 2–0 1–0 1–2 Torpedo Moscow 0–0 2–2 2–2 0–3 1–1 3–0 0–1 1–0 3–1 3–0 1–1 1–0 2–0 1–0 2–0 1–0 1–0 CSKA Moscow 2–0 2–0 1–0 0–2 1–2 2–1 1–1 2–1 1–1 0–2 0–0 1–0 0–0 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–1 Shakhtar Donetsk 0–0 1–2 4–1 0–0 1–1 2–1 5–3 0–1 5–0 2–0 1–1 2–0 1–0 2–3 4–0 3–0 1–1 Dnipro 0–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 1–1 2–1 1–2 1–1 3–0 0–1 4–3 0–1 3–1 2–1 0–1 2–2 2–1 Dinamo Minsk 0–1 1–1 1–4 0–2 1–1 0–1 1–1 2–0 1–1 1–1 1–1 0–2 1–2 2–0 3–2 2–0 3–1 Neftçi Baku 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 1–2 2–1 1–1 4–2 0–0 2–1 3–1 2–1 0–0 1–0 2–0 1–0 3–1 Chornomorets Odessa 1–3 1–4 1–1 2–1 1–1 2–3 1–2 0–1 3–3 0–0 1–0 2–0 1–0 0–0 0–1 2–0 1–0 Kairat Alma-Ata 2–2 0–2 1–3 1–0 1–2 0–2 2–0 1–1 1–0 2–0 3–0 2–0 2–1 1–1 1–0 0–0 2–0 Kuban Krasnodar 0–2 0–2 1–1 1–1 0–0 2–1 2–1 2–2 0–4 0–0 2–0 2–1 5–1 2–2 4–0 2–1 3–0 Ararat Yerevan 1–1 1–2 1–4 1–1 3–2 1–0 0–0 3–0 0–2 6–1 2–3 1–1 4–2 2–1 4–0 2–1 3–1 Zenit Leningrad 1–3 2–0 2–2 0–0 0–1 1–3 2–1 1–0 1–1 2–0 1–2 1–1 0–0 1–1 1–0 0–2 1–2 SKA Rostov-on-Don 0–1 3–4 1–1 2–1 0–0 1–4 2–1 1–1 2–3 1–1 0–0 2–2 6–1 0–0 1–3 3–0 3–2 Tavriya Simferopol 0–0 0–2 0–3 1–0 1–1 0–1 0–3 0–1 2–2 3–0 1–0 3–3 3–1 2–1 1–0 1–1 1–0 Pakhtakor Tashkent 1–2 3–0 0–1 1–1 1–1 0–0 3–1 1–2 0–1 3–0 1–3 2–3 0–1 3–1 0–1 1–2 1–0 complete Top scorers 23 goals Ramaz Shengelia (Dinamo Tbilisi) 21 goals Yuri Gavrilov (Spartak Moscow) 19 goals Oleg Blokhin (Dynamo Kyiv) 16 goals Vladimir Kazachyonok (Zenit) 15 goals Valery Gazzaev (Dynamo Moscow) 14 goals Khoren Hovhannisyan (Ararat) Pyotr Vasilevsky (Dinamo Minsk) 13 goals Andrei Yakubik (Pakhtakor) 12 goals Viktor Grachyov (Shakhtar) Aleksandr Pogorelov (Dnipro) Medal squads (league appearances and goals listed in brackets) 1. FC Dynamo Kyiv Goalkeepers: Mykhaylo Mykhaylov (25), Yuriy Romenskyi (9). Defenders: Volodymyr Lozynskyi (34 / 2), Anatoliy Konkov (31), Sergei Baltacha (29), Anatoliy Demyanenko (29 / 2), Oleksandr Boyko (22), Oleksandr Sorokalet (10 / 1), Serhiy Zhuravlyov (5), Viktor Kaplun (5), Yuriy Makhynya (3). Midfielders: Andriy Bal (30 / 3), Leonid Buryak (29 / 9), Volodymyr Bezsonov (25 / 2), Volodymyr Veremeyev (24 / 4), Yaroslav Dumanskyi (12), Viktor Kolotov (4), Vasyl Rats (2). Forwards: Vadym Yevtushenko (31 / 8), Oleg Blokhin (29 / 19), Viktor Khlus (28 / 8), Aleksandr Khapsalis (21), Stepan Yurchyshyn (1). Manager: Valeriy Lobanovskyi. Transferred out during the season: . 2. FC Spartak Moscow Goalkeepers: Rinat Dasayev (34), Aleksei Prudnikov (1). Defenders: Vladimir Sochnov (32 / 1), Viktor Samokhin (27 / 1), Oleg Romantsev (25), Alexander Mirzoyan (22), Gennady Morozov (14), Gocha Machaidze (1). Midfielders: Sergey Shavlo (34 / 8), Fyodor Cherenkov (32 / 4), Sergei Shvetsov (25 / 5), Yevgeni Sidorov (21), Boris Pozdnyakov (14), Manuchar Machaidze (2). Forwards: Yuri Gavrilov (33 / 21), Edgar Gess (33 / 11), Aleksandr Kalashnikov (32 / 9), Sergey Rodionov (29 / 9), Vladimir Safronenko (12 / 1), Sergei Krestenenko (9), Sergei Argudyayev (2). Manager: Konstantin Beskov. Transferred out during the season: . 3. FC Dinamo Tbilisi Goalkeepers: Otar Gabelia (31), Karlo Mchedlidze (5). Defenders: Nodar Khizanishvili (30), Tengiz Sulakvelidze (29 / 4), Giorgi Tavadze (28 / 1), Aleksandre Chivadze (28 / 2), Shota Khinchagashvili (19), Tamaz Kostava (15), David Mudzhiri (13), Amiran Andguladze (9), Levan Melikia (7), Giorgi Chilaia (4). Midfielders: Vitaly Daraselia (33 / 2), Zaur Svanadze (33 / 2), Nugzar Kakilashvili (25 / 5), Gocha Dzhohadze (7 / 1), Amiran Minashvili (1). Forwards: Vladimir Gutsaev (33 / 3), Ramaz Shengelia (31 / 23), Vazha Zhvania (19 / 4), David Kipiani (18 / 8), Revaz Chelebadze (6 / 3), Grigol Tsaava (5). Manager: Nodar Akhalkatsi. Transferred out during the season: . Attendances # Football club Average 1 Dinamo Tbilisi 47,271 2 Dynamo Kyiv 37,259 3 Kuban 33,824 4 Zenit 23,871 5 Spartak Moscow 23,241 6 Shakhtar Donetsk 22,812 7 Dnipro 21,100 8 Tavriya 19,059 9 Chornomorets 17,171 10 Dinamo Minsk 16,012 11 Ararat 15,718 12 Kairat 15,553 13 Rostov-on-Don 13,829 14 Neftchi 13,535 15 Dynamo Moscow 10,804 16 Torpedo Moscow 8,176 17 PFC CSKA 7,929 18 Paxtakor 6,894 Source:Historical attendances https://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/archive/sov/avesov81.htm 2026-08-29 www.european-football-statistics.co.uk References Soviet Union - List of final tables (RSSSF) 1981. Higher League. (1981. Высшая лига.) Luhansk Our Futbol portal. 44th USSR Championship, 1981 Higher League (44-й чемпионат СССР, 1981г. Высшая лига) https://web.archive.org/web/20180501200456/http://wildstat.ru/p/2001/ch/URS_1_1981/stg/all/tour/all 2018-05-01 . Wildstat website. Category:Soviet Top League seasons 1 Soviet