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
1991 Soviet Union referendum People's Deputies of the USSR in accordance with the law on the referendum of the USSR" On January 16, 1991 the Supreme Council USSR decided that to: An official referendum had been held in Estonia on 3 March 1991 on whether to re-establish the Estonian republic that had been occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. The result was 77.8% in favour of re-establishing the Estonian republic. Latvia also held an official referendum on 3 March 1991, when the overwhelming majority voted to re-establish the independent Latvian republic. Consequently, in these republics pro-Soviet front-organisations organised voluntary referendums without official sanction.