CIS national football team

The Commonwealth of Independent States national football team (Russian: Сборная СНГ по футболу, Sbornaya SNG po futbolu) was a transitional national team of the Football Federation of the Soviet Union (non-existing country) in 1992. It was accepted that the team would represent the Commonwealth of Independent States that was formed as a loose union of former union republics.

Commonwealth of Independent States
1992
Shirt badge/Association crest
AssociationFootball Federation of the Soviet Union
Head coachAnatoly Byshovets
Most capsDmitri Kharine (11)[a]
Top scorerSergei Kiriakov (4)
Home stadiumVarious
FIFA codeCIS
First colours
Second colours
First international
 United States 0–1 CIS 
(Miami, United States; 25 January 1992)
Last international
 Scotland 3–0 CIS 
(Norrköping, Sweden; 18 June 1992)
Biggest win
 El Salvador 0–3 CIS 
(San Salvador, El Salvador; 29 January 1992)
Biggest defeat
 Mexico 4–0 CIS 
(Mexico City, Mexico; 8 March 1992)
European Championship
Appearances1 (first in 1992)
Best resultGroup stage (1992)

The CIS team was created to allow the Soviet national team further participation as it had already booked a spot in Euro 1992 through the 1990–91 qualification tournament. The only way to preserve the spot for the post-Soviet team was to take part in the competition as a unified team.

With the end of Euro 1992, the Russia national team was recognized as the only successor of the CIS team.

Situation

Flag used by the CIS team at Euro 1992.

As the Soviet Union formally ceased to exist on 26 December 1991, so did all its organizations including the football federation. The Association of Football Federations of CIS was formed on 11 January 1992 and was approved by FIFA two days later. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 was adopted as its anthem. Along with the Association, national federations of its members started to form and apply for international recognition.[1]

The CIS national football team was formed based on the USSR national football team which completed its participation in the Euro 1992 in June 1992. The CIS national football team was disbanded soon thereafter, and all its results were transferred to the Russia national football team that played its first game in August 1992.

Unlike the Yugoslav national football team which was barred from competitions during that time and replaced with the team of Denmark, FIFA and UEFA chose to preserve the former Soviet Union team and admitted to their rank a transnational team[1] for the first time in their history. UEFA was offered an additional qualifying tournament among former members of the Soviet Union,[1] but chose not only to ignore the offer and not to impose any sanctions against the non-existent political entity discriminating in the way against other former members of the Soviet Union, but also allowed the transnational entity to the European finals over national.

The CIS national football team was coached by Anatoly Byshovets. The team failed to achieve success in the 1992 European Football Championship, finishing last in the group, but achieved two notable draws with Germany and the Netherlands, before being beaten 3–0 by Scotland in what turned out to be their last match.

European Championship record

UEFA European Championship recordQualification Record
YearRoundPositionPldWDLGFGASquadsPldWDLGFGA
1960played as  Soviet Unionplayed as  Soviet Union
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992Group stage8th302114Squad
TotalGroup stage8th302114

International results

  Win  Draw  Loss

1992

v  CIS
25 January 1992 Friendly United States  0–1  CIS Miami, United States
ReportTsveiba 67'Stadium: Joe Robbie Stadium
Attendance: 30,866
Referee: Raúl Domínguez (United States)
v  CIS
29 January 1992 Friendly El Salvador  0–3  CIS San Salvador, El Salvador
Stadium: Estadio Cuscatlán
Attendance: 10,000
v  CIS
2 February 1992 Friendly United States  2–1  CIS Pontiac, Michigan
Wynalda 4'
Balboa 75' (pen.)
ReportSergeyev 27'Stadium: Pontiac Silverdome
Attendance: 35,248
Referee: Jack D'Aquila (United States)
v  Germany
12 june 1992 Euro 1992  CIS 1–1  Germany Norrköping, Sweden
20:15Dobrovolski 64'[1]Häßler 90'Stadium: Nya Parken
Attendance: 17,410
Referee: Gérard Biguet (France)
v  CIS
15 june 1992 Euro 1992  Netherlands 0-0  CIS Gothenburg, Sweden
20:15[2]Stadium: Ullevi
Attendance: 34,440
Referee: Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark)
v  CIS
18 june 1992 Euro 1992  Scotland 3-0  CIS Norrköping, Sweden
20:15McStay 4'
McClair 16'
McAllister 84'
[3]Stadium: Nya Parken
Attendance: 14,660
Referee: Kurt Röthlisberger (Switzerland)

Post-Soviet national federations

National federation members of the CIS association

Armenia18 January 1992National teamU-21 teamUEFA
AzerbaijanMarch 1992National teamU-21 teamUEFA
Belarus1989National teamU-21 teamUEFA
Georgia15 February 1936National teamU-21 teamUEFA
KazakhstanMarch 1992National teamU-21 teamUEFA[1]
Kyrgyzstan25 February 1992National teamU-23 teamAFC
Moldova14 April 1990National teamU-21 teamUEFA
Russia8 February 1992National teamU-21 teamUEFA
Tajikistan1936National teamU-23 teamAFC
Turkmenistan1992National teamU-23 teamAFC
Ukraine13 December 1991National teamU-21 teamUEFA
Uzbekistan1946National teamU-23 teamAFC

1. ^ Kazakhstan were affiliated with the AFC from 1994 until 2002, when they joined UEFA.

National federations outside the CIS association

Estonia14 December 1921National teamU-21 teamUEFA
Latvia1921National teamU-21 teamUEFA
Lithuania9 December 1922National teamU-21 teamUEFA

UEFA Euro 1992 squad

Head coach: Anatoliy Byshovets

No.Pos.PlayerDate of birth (age)CapsClub
11GK Dmitri Kharine (1968-08-16)16 August 1968 (aged 23)12 CSKA Moscow
22DF Andrey Chernyshov (1968-01-07)7 January 1968 (aged 24)23 Spartak Moscow
32DF Kakhaber Tskhadadze (1968-09-07)7 September 1968 (aged 23)5 Spartak Moscow
42DF Akhrik Tsveiba[A] (1966-09-10)10 September 1966 (aged 25)22 Dynamo Kyiv
52DF Oleh Kuznetsov (1963-03-22)22 March 1963 (aged 29)60 Rangers
63MF Igor Shalimov (1969-02-02)2 February 1969 (aged 23)23 Foggia
73MF Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko (1963-03-30)30 March 1963 (aged 29)38 Rangers
84FW Andrei Kanchelskis (1969-01-23)23 January 1969 (aged 23)20 Manchester United
93MF Sergei Aleinikov (1961-11-07)7 November 1961 (aged 30)75 Lecce
103MF Igor Dobrovolski (1967-08-27)27 August 1967 (aged 24)26 Servette
114FW Sergei Yuran (1969-06-11)11 June 1969 (aged 22)13 Benfica
121GK Stanislav Cherchesov (1963-09-02)2 September 1963 (aged 28)10 Spartak Moscow
134FW Sergei Kiriakov (1970-01-01)1 January 1970 (aged 22)8 Dynamo Moscow
144FW Volodymyr Lyutyi (1962-04-20)20 April 1962 (aged 30)5 MSV Duisburg
154FW Igor Kolyvanov (1968-03-06)6 March 1968 (aged 24)22 Foggia
163MF Dmitri Kuznetsov (1965-08-28)28 August 1965 (aged 26)17 Espanyol
173MF Igor Korneev (1967-09-04)4 September 1967 (aged 24)5 Espanyol
182DF Viktor Onopko (1969-10-14)14 October 1969 (aged 22)1 Spartak Moscow
193MF Igor Lediakhov (1968-05-22)22 May 1968 (aged 24)7 Spartak Moscow
202DF Andrei Ivanov (1967-04-06)6 April 1967 (aged 25)3 Spartak Moscow

In total, the CIS squad contained seven Russians, eight Ukrainians (one born in Germany), a Georgian, a Belarusian, an Abkhazian, a Circassian, and an Ossetian. [citation needed] Caps included games played for the Soviet team as well as the CIS. Some players simultaneously played for other national teams such as Kakhaber Tskhadadze (Georgia) and Akhrik Tsveiba (Ukraine).

Russia qualified for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States with the bulk of the Euro 1992 CIS squad but due to the incident with the Letter of fourteeners in November 1993, Igor Shalimov, Igor Dobrovolsky, Igor Kolyvanov, Sergei Kiriakov, Vasili Kulkov, and Andrei Kanchelskis were excluded from the national team.[citation needed] Oleg Salenko and Andrei Ivanov, who also signed the letter, eventually withdrew their signatures.[citation needed] Tsveiba and Chernyshov were later called to the Russia national football team.

Some players resumed their international careers with their respective individual nations; however, many preferred to play for Russia. Although almost one third of the team were from Ukraine, only two Ukrainian players ever played for the Ukraine national football team, while another four chose to play for the Russian national team.[citation needed]

See also

Notes

References