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CIS national football team facts for kids

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This page is about the Commonwealth of Independent States football team. For the Canadian university Canadian football team, see Canadian Interuniversity Sport Football All-Canadian Team.
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Commonwealth of Independent States
to 1992
Shirt badge/Association crest
Association Football Federation of the Soviet Union
Head coach Anatoly Byshovets
Most caps Dmitri Kharine (11)
Top scorer Sergei Kiriakov (4)
Home stadium Various
FIFA code CIS
First colours
Second colours
First international
 United States 0–1 CIS 
(Miami, United States; 25 January 1992)
Biggest win
 El Salvador 0–3 CIS 
(San Salvador, El Salvador; 29 January 1992)
Biggest defeat
 Mexico 4–0 CIS 
(Mexico City, Mexico; 8 March 1992)
European Championship
Appearances 1 (first in 1992)
Best result Group stage (1992)

The Commonwealth of Independent States national football team was a special football team that played for a short time in 1992. It was formed after the Soviet Union broke apart. This team represented the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which was a group of countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union.

The CIS team was created so that the former Soviet team could still play in the Euro 1992 tournament. They had already earned their spot in the competition. To keep this spot, the different countries agreed to play together as one team for this event.

Why the CIS Team Was Formed

Flag of the CIS (UEFA Euro 1992)
The flag used by the CIS team at Euro 1992.

The Soviet Union officially ended on December 26, 1991. Because of this, its football organization also stopped existing. To handle this, the Association of Football Federations of CIS was created on January 11, 1992. FIFA, the world football governing body, approved it two days later. The famous music piece, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, was used as their anthem.

The CIS national football team was made up of players who used to play for the USSR national team. They played in the Euro 1992 in June 1992. After the tournament, the CIS team was officially stopped. All their game results were then given to the Russia national football team, which played its first game in August 1992.

Unlike the Yugoslav national football team, which was not allowed to play in competitions at that time, FIFA and UEFA decided to let the former Soviet Union team continue. This was the first time they allowed a team made of players from many different countries to play together. The CIS national football team was coached by Anatoly Byshovets.

The team did not do very well in the 1992 European Football Championship. They finished last in their group. However, they managed to get two impressive draws against strong teams like Germany and the Netherlands. Their very last match was a 3-0 loss to Scotland.

European Championship History

The CIS team only played in one major tournament, the UEFA European Championship. Here is how they did:

UEFA European Championship record Qualification Record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Squads Pld W D L GF GA
France 1960 played as  Soviet Union played as  Soviet Union
Spain 1964
Italy 1968
Belgium 1972
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1976
Italy 1980
France 1984
West Germany 1988
Sweden 1992 Group stage 8th 3 0 2 1 1 4 Squad
Total Group stage 8th 3 0 2 1 1 4 − —

Match Results

The CIS national football team played a total of 11 matches in 1992. These included friendly games and matches in the Euro 1992 tournament.

      Win       Draw       Loss

1992 Matches

New National Football Teams

After the Soviet Union broke up, many new countries formed their own football federations. These federations then created their own national football teams. Some joined the CIS association, while others did not.

CIS Association Members

These countries joined the Association of Football Federations of CIS. Most of them later joined UEFA, the European football body, or AFC, the Asian football body.

Armenia Armenia 18 January 1992 National team U-21 team UEFA
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan March 1992 National team U-21 team UEFA
Belarus Belarus 1989 National team U-21 team UEFA
Georgia (country) Georgia 15 February 1936 National team U-21 team UEFA
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan March 1992 National team U-21 team UEFA
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan 25 February 1992 National team U-23 team AFC
Moldova Moldova 14 April 1990 National team U-21 team UEFA
Russia Russia 8 February 1992 National team U-21 team UEFA
Tajikistan Tajikistan 1936 National team U-23 team AFC
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan 1992 National team U-23 team AFC
Ukraine Ukraine 13 December 1991 National team U-21 team UEFA
Uzbekistan Uzbekistan 1946 National team U-23 team AFC

1. Kazakhstan was part of the AFC from 1994 to 2002. Then, they joined UEFA.

Other National Federations

These countries also formed their own football federations but were not part of the CIS association.

Estonia Estonia 14 December 1921 National team U-21 team UEFA
Latvia Latvia 1921 National team U-21 team UEFA
Lithuania Lithuania 9 December 1922 National team U-21 team UEFA

Euro 1992 Team Members

Here are the players who were part of the CIS squad for the UEFA Euro 1992 tournament. Head coach: Russia Anatoliy Byshovets

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Club
1 1GK Russia Dmitri Kharine (1968-08-16)16 August 1968 (aged 23) 12 Russia CSKA Moscow
2 2DF Russia Andrey Chernyshov (1968-01-07)7 January 1968 (aged 24) 23 Russia Spartak Moscow
3 2DF Georgia (country) Kakhaber Tskhadadze (1968-09-07)7 September 1968 (aged 23) 5 Russia Spartak Moscow
4 2DF Ukraine Akhrik Tsveiba (1966-09-10)10 September 1966 (aged 25) 22 Ukraine Dynamo Kyiv
5 2DF Ukraine Oleh Kuznetsov (1963-03-22)22 March 1963 (aged 29) 60 Scotland Rangers
6 3MF Russia Igor Shalimov (1969-02-02)2 February 1969 (aged 23) 23 Italy Foggia
7 3MF Ukraine Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko (1963-03-30)30 March 1963 (aged 29) 38 Scotland Rangers
8 4FW Russia Andrei Kanchelskis (1969-01-23)23 January 1969 (aged 23) 20 England Manchester United
9 3MF Belarus Sergei Aleinikov (1961-11-07)7 November 1961 (aged 30) 75 Italy Lecce
10 3MF Russia Igor Dobrovolski (1967-08-27)27 August 1967 (aged 24) 26 Switzerland Servette
11 4FW Russia Sergei Yuran (1969-06-11)11 June 1969 (aged 22) 13 Portugal Benfica
12 1GK Russia Stanislav Cherchesov (1963-09-02)2 September 1963 (aged 28) 10 Russia Spartak Moscow
13 4FW Russia Sergei Kiriakov (1970-01-01)1 January 1970 (aged 22) 8 Russia Dynamo Moscow
14 4FW Ukraine Volodymyr Lyutyi (1962-04-20)20 April 1962 (aged 30) 5 Germany MSV Duisburg
15 4FW Russia Igor Kolyvanov (1968-03-06)6 March 1968 (aged 24) 22 Italy Foggia
16 3MF Russia Dmitri Kuznetsov (1965-08-28)28 August 1965 (aged 26) 17 Spain Espanyol
17 3MF Russia Igor Korneev (1967-09-04)4 September 1967 (aged 24) 5 Spain Espanyol
18 2DF Russia Viktor Onopko (1969-10-14)14 October 1969 (aged 22) 1 Russia Spartak Moscow
19 3MF Russia Igor Lediakhov (1968-05-22)22 May 1968 (aged 24) 7 Russia Spartak Moscow
20 2DF Russia Andrei Ivanov (1967-04-06)6 April 1967 (aged 25) 3 Russia Spartak Moscow

The CIS squad included players from different regions. There were seven Russians, eight Ukrainians, one Georgian, one Belarusian, and players from other groups. The "caps" (number of games played) included games they played for the Soviet team and the CIS team. Some players, like Kakhaber Tskhadadze and Akhrik Tsveiba, also played for their own new national teams.

Most of the players from the Euro 1992 CIS squad went on to play for the Russia national football team. This team qualified for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. However, some players later chose not to play for the Russian national team. While many players were from Ukraine, only a few played for the Ukraine national football team. Many others chose to play for Russia instead.

See also

  • Unified Team at the Olympics, the Olympic counterpart
    • Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics
    • Unified Team at the 1992 Winter Olympics
  • Unified Team at the Paralympics, the Paralympic counterpart
    • Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Paralympics
    • Unified Team at the 1992 Winter Paralympics
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