Commonwealth of Independent States Cup
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The Commonwealth of Independent States Cup (Russian: Кубок чемпионов Содружества, Кубок Содружества, Кубок чемпионов содружества стран СНГ и Балтии) is a tournament for football clubs which was set up after the split of the Soviet Union. It is open to all the national champions of the successor states of the Union, i.e., the Commonwealth of Independent States member states, as well as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. In the later editions the Cup saw participation of some of the other Eastern European clubs from Serbia and Finland.
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[edit] History
The Commonwealth of Independent States Cup started in 1993 as an open tournament to champions from the USSR successor states (The Commonwealth of Independent States, and well as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).
Ukraine boycotted the first two competitions, but joined in 1995.
In 1995-2006 the Russia national under-21 football team participated in the tournament as the 16th team, but in 2007 and 2008 Serbia replaced it as the 17th nation sending a team to play in it, and became the first non-former Soviet Union nation participating in the tournament. Unlike the rest of the states, who send their latest champions to play in the tournament, Serbia has sent OFK Beograd to play in the tournament.
In its first years the tournament was highly popular on the territory of the former Soviet Union, including the most titled teams from the times of the Soviet Top League. Spartak Moscow from Russia, and Dynamo Kyiv from Ukraine has won the cup several times. After less than a decade the teams from Russia and Ukraine became hesitant to send their first squads to play on the artificial turf of the Olympic Stadium, so they sent their reserve players instead[1][2][3] or sometimes the runners-up have participated. That resulted in the decrease of the tournament's popularity in those states particularly and in the international value of the tournament overall.
In 2006 a new tournament, Channel One Cup, started and caught the attention of the Russian and Ukrainian teams, which even more decreased the popularity of the Commonwealth of Independent States Cup tournament.
A big scandal at the tournament occurred in 2006, when the Armenian champion FC Pyunik refused to play with an Azerbaijani team, PFC Neftchi. The team FC Pyunik won the Ukrainian team FC Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 in the quarter-final, when it already knew that in case of victory they will have to play against PFC Neftchi. After the match, they told the referee they wont play against an Azerbaijani team, and already in the evening left Moscow on an airplane. The Russian Football Union gave FC Shakhtar Donetsk a technical victory 3-0 so they could play in the semi-final instead of FC Pyunik, but FC Shakhtar Donetsk declined the offer stating that "...we would really want to play in the semi-final, but we don't want to get there by any other way than sport". Eventually, because no one could play against PFC Neftchi in the next round, PFC Neftchi was right away promoted to the final, where it beat the Lithuanian club FBK Kaunas 4-2.[4]
In 2007 talks began about changing the format of the cup, and uniting it with the Channel One Cup in order to bring back the interest of the Russian and Ukrainian teams[5], and in 2007 its games were even visited by representetives from FIFA[6], but nevertheless, nothing came out from those talks and efforts.
In October 2009, Bunyodkor coach Luis Felipe Scolari announced that his Uzbek side would not enter the 2010 tournament due to focusing on the Asian Champions League. [7]
[edit] Finals
[edit] All-time top scorers
| Rank | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vladimir Beschastnykh (FC Spartak Moskva) | 20 |
| 2 | Yegor Titov (FC Spartak Moskva) | 18 |
| 3 | Valeri Kechinov (Pakhtakor Tashkent & FC Spartak Moskva) | 17 |
| * | Mikhail Mikholap (FC Skonto Rīga) | 17 |
| 5 | Mikhail Kavelashvili (FC Dinamo Tbilisi & Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz) | 14 |
| * | Luis Robson (FC Spartak Moskva) | 14 |
| 7 | Andrei Tikhonov (FC Spartak Moskva) | 13 |
| 8 | Valentin Belkevich (FC Dinamo Minsk & FC Dynamo Kyiv) | 12 |
| * | Andriy Shevchenko (FC Dynamo Kyiv) | 12 |
| 10 | Gela Inalishvili (FC Dinamo Tbilisi) | 11 |
| * | Anatoliy Kanischev (Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz & FC Spartak Moskva) | 11 |
| * | Mihails Zemļinskis (FC Skonto Rīga) | 11 |
[edit] Top scorers by year
[edit] Performances by team
| Team | Titles | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
 Spartak Moscow |
6 (1993,1994,1995,1999,2000,2001) | 3 (1997,1998,2002) |
 Dynamo Kyiv |
4 (1996,1997,1998,2002) | 1 (1999) |
 Sheriff Tiraspol |
2 (2003, 2009) | |
 Dinamo Tbilisi |
1 (2004) | 1 (1995) |
 Neftchi Baku |
1 (2006) | 1 (2005) |
 Pakhtakor Tashkent |
1 (2007) | 1 (2008) |
| Lokomotiv Moscow |
1 (2005) | |
| Khazar Lenkoran |
1 (2008) | |
 Skonto Riga |
3 (2001,2003,2004) | |
 FBK Kaunas |
1 (2006) | |
 Dinamo Minsk |
1 (1993) | |
| Neftchi Fergana |
1 (1994) | |
| Alania Vladikavkaz |
1 (1996) | |
| Zimbru Chişinău |
1 (2000) | |
| FK Ventspils |
1 (2007) | |
 Aktobe |
1 (2009) |
[edit] Other teams who have reached the semi-finals
Köpetdag Aşgabat - 1994, 1997, 1998, 2001.- BATE Borisov - 2000, 2008.
- PFC CSKA Moscow - 2006, 2007.
- Ekranas Panevezys - 1993.
- Shakhtar Donetsk - 1995.
- Slavia Mozyr - 2001.
- Inter Baku - 2009.
[edit] Performances by country the clubs came from
| Team | Titles | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
| Russia |
7 | 4 |
| Ukraine |
4 | 1 |
| Azerbaijan |
2 | 1 |
| Moldova |
2 | 1 |
| Uzbekistan |
1 | 2 |
| Georgia |
1 | 1 |
| Latvia |
4 | |
| Belarus |
1 | |
| Lithuania |
1 | |
| Kazakhstan |
1 |
[edit] Records
- The biggest victory ever in the tournament took place in the 1998, when Spartak Moscow (Russia) beat Vakhsh Qurghonteppa (Tajikistan) 19-0.[8][14]
- The player holding a record of appearances in the tournament is Mikhail Zemlinsky from FC Skonto Riga who appeared 46 times in the tournament.[8]
- The record for most titles won by a player is four and it is held by Oleksandr Holovko from Dynamo Kyiv and Dmitri Khlestov from Spartak Moscow.[8]
- The biggest number for a team to win the cup in a row is three, and the teams who have done it where Spartak Moscow (Russia, twice. in 1993, 1994, 1995, and in 1999, 2000, 2001) and Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine. 1996, 1997, 1998).
[edit] References
- ^ Новости NEWSru.com :: Газзаев доволен игрой дублеров ЦСКА на Кубке Содружества
- ^ (Russian) На Кубок чемпионов содружества стран СНГ и Балтии может выйти дубль «Зенита» - Новости Санкт-Петербурга - Фонтанка.Ру
- ^ Новости NEWSru.com :: "Шахтер" все-таки приедет на Кубок Содружества
- ^ Новости NEWSru.com :: Скандал на Кубке Содружества: чемпионы Армении отказались играть с азербайджанцами
- ^ Новости NEWSru.com :: Виталий Мутко намерен реформировать Кубок Содружества
- ^ Новости NEWSru.com :: На открытие Кубка Содружества приедут Блаттер и Платини
- ^ http://www.the-afc.com/en/afc-champions-league-2009/25791-scolari-skips-cis-cup-to-focus-on-acl Scolari skips CIS Cup to focus on ACL
- ^ a b c d Commonwealth of Independent States Cup - Trivia
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 1993
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 1994
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 1995
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 1996
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 1997
- ^ a b Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 1998
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 1999
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 2000
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 2001
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 2002
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 2003
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 2004
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 2005
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 2006
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 2007
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 2008
- ^ Commonwealth of Independent States Cup 2009
