In 1990, before the team set the goal – to get into the "buffer" league (intermediate between the first and second), for which it was necessary to take place not less than the second. After a magnificent season, Kazan scored equal points with Togliatti "Lada" and gave her a second line due to a smaller number of victories. The following season, "Rubin" make up for all the previous failures. During the Championship from Moscow came a striker Sergei Surov, who together with Vladimir Gavrilov and 20-year-old Oleg Nechaev for three scored 44 goals, making the most formidable line of attack in the zone. Most of all got "EVM" from Ruzayevka, which Kazan scored seven unanswered goals (the biggest victory of the "Rubin" in the championships of the USSR). As a result, the first round Rubin passed without a single defeat. Unbeaten run was interrupted only in the 32 round, but by the time Kazan was unequivocal leader of the tournament. To finish of the championship in 1991, Rubin came first, finishing with dignity "Soviet" phase of its history.