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
Federation of bandy and field hockey USSR in late 1991, the federation was replaced by the All Russian Bandy Federation in early 1992. For field hockey, the Russian Field Hockey Federation was created in its place. The following former states of the Soviet Union now have their own bandy federations: Russia (founded in 1992), Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan Bandy Federation, 1993), Belarus (Belarusian Bandy Federation, 1999), Estonia (Estonian Bandy Association, 2002), Kyrgyzstan (Bandy Federation of Kyrgyzstan, 2004), Latvia (Latvia's Bandy Federation, 2006), Ukraine (Ukrainian Bandy and Rink bandy Federation, 2007), and Lithuania (Lithuanian Bandy Association, 2008). Federation of bandy and field hockey USSR Federation of bandy and field hockey