The Commonwealth of Independent States national football team (, ''Sbornaya SNG po futbolu'') was a transitional national team of the Football Federation of the Soviet Union in 1992. It was accepted that the team would represent the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...

that was formed as a loose union of former union republics of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

after the nation's dissolution. 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.

Situation

As the

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 Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

'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.Іменем України. Як народжувалася наша збірна
sportarena.com. 29 April 2017 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 The Russia national football team () represents Russia in men's international football. It is controlled by the Russian Football Union (, ), the governing body for football in Russia. Russia's home ground is the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and ...

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 for the first time in their history. UEFA was offered an additional qualifying tournament among former members of the Soviet Union, 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 Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the

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, before being beaten 3–0 by

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in what turned out to be their last match. In addition to their three matches at Euro 1992, the team played six friendlies: two against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and one each against

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

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, and against

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in Moscow, the team's only match in front of a home crowd. The CIS also played an unofficial match against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, a 4–0 loss. Following the Euros, the CIS team was dissolved. Their final record was three wins, five draws, and three defeats, including the unofficial loss to Mexico.

European Championship record

International results

1992

''Source'':

Post-Soviet national federations

National federation members of the CIS association

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

National federations outside the CIS association

UEFA Euro 1992 squad

The following squad was brought to the 1992 UEFA European Football Championship hosted by Sweden: Head coach: Anatoliy Byshovets 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. 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 Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

qualified for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the

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. Oleg Salenko and Andrei Ivanov, who also signed the letter, eventually withdrew their signatures. Tsveiba and Chernyshov were later called to the

. 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.

Notes

References

External links

USSR national football team
{{Navboxes, , title=Finalists, list1= {{UEFA Euro 1992 finalists 1992 establishments in Russia 1992 disestablishments in Russia Former national association football teams in Europe Sport in the Commonwealth of Independent States CIS National sports teams established in 1992