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
Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1991 intention to return then for refund in other banknotes. The reform included provision for the 50- and 100-ruble banknotes of 1961 standard to be redeemable for exchange in "limited" quantities per person or family through workplace-organized exchange locations to smaller-denomination banknotes or to new-issue (1991) bills of 50 and 100 rubles denomination. The exchange was a subject to significant limitations: However, actual exchange was also limited by the amount of cash available to exchange locations. Withdrawal at the "Savings Bank of the USSR" - the only consumer bank in USSR was also limited to no more than 500 rubles per