Football in Russia Football in Russia Association football is the most popular sport in Russia, beating ice hockey by a huge margin. When the USSR broke up into 15 different countries, the once renowned sports structure of the union collapsed. Football was the second most popular sport in the Soviet Union. While the national teams and the clubs used to be linked to state institutions or mass organizations, in 1991 some of them became private enterprises. Just like in many other spheres of business, corrupt and sometimes bloody division of power began. Furthermore, many teams of the erstwhile Soviet Top League, which was
Spartakiad of Peoples of the USSR Spartakiad of Peoples of the USSR Spartakiad of Peoples of the USSR (, Spartakiada narodov SSSR) were mass multi-event competitions in the Soviet Union in 1956–1991, descendants of the 1928 All-Union Spartakiad that took place in Moscow. The competitions were conducted between constituent republics of the Soviet Union, while the Russian side was represented by three teams and included separate teams from Leningrad and Moscow. The competitions also were organized as winter and summer. There were 10 summer Spartakiads and 7 winter Spartakiads. In 1952 the Soviet Union decided to join the Olympic movement, and international Spartakiads ceased. However the