The 1937 Soviet Cup was an association football cup competition of the Soviet Union.
The defending champions and the main team of the People's Commissariat of Railways Lokomotiv Moscow was defeated in semifinals by the main team of the Soviet security forces (NKVD) Dynamo Moscow. Domination of the Dynamo sports society was noticeable with five of its teams were able to reach quarterfinals. The competition was carried out during times known today as the Great Purge.
Participating teams
Enter in First Round 29 teams of masters 95 other teams CDKA Dinamo Dinamo Dinamo Krasnaya Zaria Lokomotiv Spartak Dinamo
Stalinets Dinamo Torpedo Selmash Metallurg Stalinets Temp Spartak
Dinamo Dinamo Spartak Dinamo Lokomotiv Dinamo Ugolschiki
Dinamo Lokomotiv Stal Traktor Traktor Stal DKA (+) Dinamo Lokomotiv (+) Neftianik (+) Stroiteli Dinamo Dinamo Temp (+) Dinamo Traktor (+)
Zolotoprofsoyuz (+) Lokomotiv Spartak (+) Zavod imeni Petrovskogo Metallurg (+) Krylia Sovetov (+) Torpedo Spartak (+) Dinamo (+) Krylia Sovetov (+)
Dinamo (+) Spartak Torpedo (+) Zenit Lokomotiv Stalinets (+) Zdorovye (+) Spartak Dinamo (+) Snaiper (+)
Dzerzhinets Stroitel (+) Avangard (+) Zavod imeni Stalina (+) Dinamo (+) Stroitel (+) Spartak Zenit (+) Dinamo Dinamo (+)
DKA (+) GOLIFK (+) Izhorsky Zavod (Avangard) (+) Kirovsky Zavod (Avangard) (+) Zavod imeni Ordzhonikidze (+) Zavod imeni Stalina (+) Dinamo Selmash (+) Metallurg (+) Dinamo Spartak (+) Burevestnik Dinamo-2 Energiya KIM (+) Krasnaya Roza (+) Krasnoye Znamia (+) Krasny Konditer (+) Krylia Sovetov Lokomotiv-2
Pravda Spartak-2 (+) Sudostroitel Krasnoye Znamia Industrialny Institut (+) Dinamo (+) Spartak (+) Dinamo (+) Krasnoye Znamia Monolit (+)
Burevestnik Spartak (+) Krylia Sovetov (+) Dinamo (+) Spartak (+) Lokomotiv (+) Sudostroitel Lokomotiv (+) DKA BVO Sudostroitel (+)
Dinamo (+) Metallurg (+) Metallurg (+) Zenit (+) Spartak (+) Lokomotiv (+) Dinamo Dzerzhinets (+) Avangard (+) Lokomotiv (+)
Lokomotiv (+) Krasnoye Znamia Dinamo (+) Stroitel (+) Krylia Sovetov Source: [] Notes Dzerzhinets Bezhitsa and Spartak Yerevan (+) were given bye to the second round. (+) indicates teams that debuted in the competition. Former team of masters Dinamo Piatigorsk was not included in the competition. Also, the competition missed seven more teams that for the 1937 season were granted status of teams of masters: Spartak Kalinin, Dinamo Tashkent, Dinamo Sverdlovsk, Dinamo Alma-Ata, Sudostroitel Vladivostok, DKA Omsk, Lokomotiv Krasnoyarsk.
Organizational changes
Some 125 teams from more than six dozen cities entered the competition. In regard to numbers among the cities dominated Muscovite teams, while among the sports societies - "Dynamo". The tournament was organized much better, and there was more order. If in the 1936 Soviet Cup about a dozen and a half teams and judges did not show up to the matches, in the 1937 there was not a single no-show.
A step forward was made in the coverage of the cup tournament. On the eve of the start, "Krasny Sport" published information about the average age and experience of the participants and the holders of the "2nd class GTO" badges, the performances of the team captains, an article by Mikhail Romm, a forecast by the chairman of the All-Union Collegium of Judges Vladimir Ryabokon.
The Soviet and Russian football journalist and sport historian Aksel Vartanyan in his the Aksel Vartanyan annals indicated that Dinamo Tbilisi team of masters were considered the favorites of the tournament considering the newspaper articles of that period.
Competition schedule First round [May 23] Lokomotiv Vologda 1-10 CDKA Moskva SPARTAK Kiev 7-3 Monolit Orekhovo-Zuyevo [May 24] Izhorsky Zavod (Avangard) Leningrad 3-3 Spartak Minsk Avangard Votkinsk 0-8 DINAMO Kazan DINAMO Batumi 2-0 Stroiteli Baku DINAMO Gorkiy 5-1 SelMash Lyubertsy Dinamo Ivanovo 0-4 SPARTAK-2 Moskva DINAMO Kiev 3-0 DKA BVO Smolensk [Pavel Komarov 1, Nikolai Makhinya 85, Konstantin Shchegodskiy 88] DINAMO Kirov 2-1 Krylya Sovetov Gorkiy [V.Vedernikov, Tatarintsev – A.Tabakov] DINAMO Krasnoyarsk 4-2 Krylya Sovetov Irkutsk [K.Litvinov 5, P.Leonov 30, 33, V.Sokolov 40 - ?] Dinamo Kungur 1-8 DINAMO Leningrad Dinamo Kursk 2-6 STALINETS Moskva [aet] Dinamo Lyubertsy 1-3 TORPEDO Gorkiy [? - Leonid Yefimov, Viktor Drozdov, Nikolai Dunayev] Dinamo Minsk 1-4 DINAMO Moskva [Viktor Lakhonin 56 – Mikhail Semichastny 43, Sergei Ilyin 80, 88 pen, Alexei Ponomaryov 83] DINAMO Odessa 7-0 Krasnoye Znamya Orekhovo-Zuyevo [Leonid Orekhov 10, Mikhail Malkhasov 20, Ivan Borisevich 40, Yuzef Sositskiy 50, Vladimir Tokar 60, ?, ?] DINAMO Stalinabad 2-1 Spartak Tashkent [K.Pogorelov, P.Babich - ?] Dinamo Voronezh 0-1 SPARTAK Kharkov [asdet] [Anatoliy Lesnoi 133] DKA Leningrad 2-1 Krasnoye Znamya Moskva DZERZHINETS Voroshilovgrad 4-2 Krasnaya Zarya Leningrad [Nikolai Lakotosh-2, Vladimir Movchan, ? - Pyotr Grigoryev, ?] GOLIFK Leningrad 7-2 Metallurg Elektrostal Industrialny Institut Novocherkassk 1-3 DINAMO Kharkov [Semyonov 69 pen – Vasiliy Makarov 10, ?, ?] KRASNOYE ZNAMYA Noginsk 4-1 Krasny Konditer Moskva KRYLYA SOVETOV Moskva 3-0 Lokomotiv Kiev Krylya Sovetov Rybinsk 1-9 SPARTAK Ivanovo LOKOMOTIV Dnepropetrovsk 7-2 KIM Moskva LOKOMOTIV Kharkov 3-1 Kirovsky Zavod (Avangard) Leningrad LOKOMOTIV Serpukhov 2-1 Krylya Sovetov Zaporozhye Lokomotiv Slavyansk-na-Kubani 0-6 DINAMO Rostov-na-Donu LOKOMOTIV Tbilisi 4-1 Dinamo Baku Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 1-5 KRASNOYE ZNAMYA Yegoryevsk [M.Serdyukov 25 - ?] Lokomotiv Yasinovataya 0-6 DINAMO Dnepropetrovsk METALLURG Magnitogorsk 3-1 Dinamo Chelyabinsk Metallurg Stalingrad 2-3 TORPEDO Moskva [aet] [Sergei Protsenko 15, ? - ?] NEFTYANIK Baku 1-0 Dinamo Yerevan SELMASH Kharkov 1-0 Lokomotiv-2 Moskva [aet] [Fyodor Morgunov 94] SNIPER Kirov 2-0 Zenit Izhevsk [S.Kosaryov 25, ?] SPARTAK Novosibirsk 2-0 Metallurg Stalinsk Spartak Saratov 3-5 SPARTAK Kuibyshev [aet] [Ryazanov, Gusev, Serebryakov - ?] Stal Konstantinovka 2-5 METALLURG Moskva [? – Grigoriy Fedotov 12, Pavel Kudryavtsev 17, Nikolai Kononenko 57, ?...] Stalinets Leningrad 1-2 AVANGARD Kramatorsk [Konstantin Sazonov 75 – G.Korostynskiy 28, I.Korostylyov 72] STROITEL Krivoi Rog w/o Krasnaya Roza Moskva Stroitel Yerevan 1-6 TEMP Baku Sudostroitel Nikolayev 0-4 LOKOMOTIV Moskva [Viktor Novikov 50, Gaik Andriasov 55, Nikolai Ilyin 60, ?] Sudostroitel Sevastopol 0-1 ZDOROVYE Kharkov [Poluyanov 40] Sudostroitel Sormovo 0-3 SPARTAK Moskva [Stepan Kustylkin 10, 20, Viktor Semyonov ?] Temp Cheboksary 1-9 DINAMO-2 Moskva [Bespalov 59 – Nikolai Postavnin 16, 31, Savostyanov 22, 40, 65, Ukhmylov 43, Morozov 54, Mysin 71, Fursov 82 pen] TORPEDO Izhevsk 2-1 Spartak Gorkiy Traktor Chelyabinsk 2-3 DINAMO Omsk [aet] TRAKTOR Kharkov 1-0 Burevestnik Moskva TRAKTOR Stalingrad 9-1 Dinamo Saratov ZENIT Kuibyshev 2-0 Spartak Ryazan [I.Kuznetsov 45, A.Chuprunov 65] Zenit Taganrog 1-9 DINAMO Tbilisi [Bagnenko – Mikhail Berdzenishvili, Boris Paichadze, ?...] Zavod imeni Ordzhonikidze Leningrad 3-1 Dzerzhinets Kolomna Zavod imeni Stalina Kramatorsk 1-6 SPARTAK Dnepropetrovsk Zavod imeni Stalina Leningrad 2-5 STALINETS Kharkov ZOLOTOPROFSOYUZ Chita 3-2 Stroitel Komsomolsk-na-Amure [V.Antonov-2, V.Volkov-pen – M.Fedyushkin-2] [May 25] LOKOMOTIV Baku 4-0 DKA Ashkhabad Stakhanovets Stalino 1-2 SPARTAK Leningrad [Vasiliy Sidorov 33 - ?] [May 26] DINAMO Bolshevo 2-1 Burevestnik Rostov-na-Donu Dinamo Irkutsk 0-2 DINAMO Novosibirsk [May 27] Stal Dnepropetrovsk 0-2 ENERGIYA Moskva Zavod imeni Petrovskogo Dnepropetrovsk 0-1 PRAVDA Moskva
First round replays [May 26] Izhorsky Zavod (Avangard) Leningrad 1-3 SPARTAK Minsk
Second round [May 29] SPARTAK Leningrad 5-0 Pravda Moskva [May 30] Avangard Kramatorsk 0-0 SelMash Kharkov CDKA Moskva 5-0 Torpedo Izhevsk [Mikhail Kireyev 9, 19, 37, Nikolai Isayev 23 pen, ?] Dinamo Batumi 0-1 NEFTYANIK Baku Dinamo Krasnoyarsk 2-3 SPARTAK Novosibirsk [V.Sokolov, P.Leonov – N.Volkov, Fomin, ?] DINAMO Odessa 3-1 Zdorovye Kharkov [aet] [Mikhail Malkhasov 4, Leonid Orekhov 100 pen, 110 pen – G.Kulishov 80] Dinamo Omsk 1-5 DINAMO Kazan DINAMO Rostov-na-Donu 8-1 Energiya Moskva Dzerzhinets Bezhitsa 4-6 SPARTAK Dnepropetrovsk [aet] DZERZHINETS Voroshilovgrad 2-1 Traktor Kharkov [Movchan 20, Nosko 25 pen – Alexandr Moskalyov ?] KRASNOYE ZNAMYA Noginsk 3-0 Spartak Minsk [Glazkov 15, 35, Vasiliy Zharkov 65] Krasnoye Znamya Yegoryevsk 0-3 DINAMO Moskva [Vasiliy Smirnov 21, Alexei Ponomaryov 33, Mikhail Yakushin 68] LOKOMOTIV Dnepropetrovsk 3-2 Metallurg Moskva [Gotselyuk 10 pen, 70, Seryogin 81 – Kuzin 33, Selin 55] Lokomotiv Kharkov 1-6 LOKOMOTIV Moskva [Mikhailichenko 6 – Mikhail Zhukov 40, 85, Pyotr Terenkov ?, ?...] Lokomotiv Serpukhov 1-5 DINAMO-2 Moskva [Kryukov 73 – Savostyanov 10, Ukhmylov 25, Morozov 41, Shcherbov 64 – Lapshin 82] LOKOMOTIV Tbilisi 3-1 Temp Baku Metallurg Magnitogorsk 0-5 DINAMO Leningrad [Pyotr Dementyev 12, Pyotr Bykov 27, Nikolai Svetlov 38, Viktor Fyodorov 85 pen, ?] Sniper Kirov 0-8 GOLIFK Leningrad Spartak Ivanovo 1-2 DINAMO Gorkiy SPARTAK Kharkov 4-1 DKA Leningrad [Anatoliy Lesnoi, Alexei Serov, Naum Knyazhevskiy, Ivan Serov – F.Ivanov] SPARTAK Kiev w/o Dinamo Dnepropetrovsk Spartak Kuibyshev 1-4 TORPEDO Moskva [A.Semyonov 55 – Viktor Semyonov 12, ?..] Stalinets Kharkov 1-5 KRYLYA SOVETOV Moskva STALINETS Moskva 2-1 Spartak-2 Moskva [Sergei Ivanov 20, ? 55 – Nikolai Zhigalin 81] Stroitel Krivoi Rog 0-3 DINAMO Kharkov TORPEDO Gorkiy 4-0 Zenit Kuibyshev [Nikolai Dunayev 15, 25, 35, Viktor Drozdov ?] ZiO Leningrad 1-8 DINAMO Kiev [? – Konstantin Shchegodskiy 10, 20, Makar Goncharenko 15, 35, 75, Ivan Kuzmenko 20, ?..] [May 31] Dinamo Kirov 2-4 DINAMO Bolshevo DINAMO Tbilisi 4-1 Spartak Yerevan [Mikhail Berdzenishvili 40, Boris Paichadze 60, Tengiz Gavasheli 70, Nikolai Somov 80 – Paruir Aroyan 30] SPARTAK Moskva 3-2 Traktor Stalingrad [asdet] [Viktor Semyonov 50, Vladimir Stepanov 85, Georgiy Glazkov 127 – Alexandr Ponomaryov 22, Georgiy Shlyapin 58] ZolotoProfSoyuz Chita 0-1 DINAMO Novosibirsk [G.Smurov] [Jun 3] LOKOMOTIV Baku 5-2 Dinamo Stalinabad
Second round replays [Jun 1] AVANGARD Kramatorsk 1-0 SelMash Kharkov [G.Korotinskiy]
Third round [Jun 5] CDKA Moskva 2-1 Dinamo-2 Moskva [Konstantin Malinin 72 pen] KRYLYA SOVETOV Moskva 3-0 Dzerzhinets Voroshilovgrad [?, ?, Fyodor Karasyov 74] [Jun 6] Dinamo Gorkiy 0-5 DINAMO Kiev [Viktor Shilovskiy 13, 60, 86, Konstantin Shchegodskiy 20, S.Kozinets (DG) 29 og] Dinamo Kharkov 0-2 LOKOMOTIV Moskva [? 46, Vasiliy Serdyukov 60] DINAMO Moskva 5-2 Torpedo Gorkiy [Mikhail Semichastny 14, Vasiliy Smirnov 30 pen, Alexei Ponomaryov 44, Sergei Ilyin 45, 66 – Leonid Yefimov 6, 61] DINAMO Tbilisi 3-0 Neftyanik Baku [Mikhail Aslamazov 4, Mikhail Berdzenishvili 10 pen, Boris Paichadze 68] Spartak Dnepropetrovsk 0-1 DINAMO Rostov-na-Donu [Sergei Dombazov 50] SPARTAK Kharkov 3-2 Lokomotiv Dnepropetrovsk [aet] [Alexei Serov 83, 85, Voronkov (L) 102 og – Vasiliy Gotsalyuk 25, 30] SPARTAK Kiev 3-0 Avangard Kramatorsk Spartak Leningrad 0-3 DINAMO Odessa [Ivan Borisevich 22, Leonid Orekhov 42 pen, ?] [Jun 7] GOLIFK Leningrad 2-1 Stalinets Moskva [aet] Spartak Moskva 1-1 Krasnoye Znamya Noginsk [Viktor Semyonov 80 – Ye.Glazkov 50] TORPEDO Moskva 2-1 Dinamo Bolshevo [Viktor Listikov 23 pen, Konstantin Ryazantsev 51 – Viktor Osminkin 46] [Jun 8] Dinamo Leningrad 0-1 SPARTAK Novosibirsk [Dunayev 80] LOKOMOTIV Tbilisi 3-1 Lokomotiv Baku [Jun 11] DINAMO Kazan 6-0 Dinamo Novosibirsk
Third round replays [Jun 9]