“An unbreakable union of free republics,
Great Russia has united forever.
Long live, the creation of the people's will,
The united, mighty Soviet Union!”
The opening verse of the Soviet Union’s Anthem may seem obsolete now, or it may seem scarily prescient given the current attempted annexation of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. The former superpower was once the immovable object in the face of the irresistible force of western-style democracy. But at the turn of the 90s the communist state collapsed leaving a political void across Eastern Europe.
On Christmas Day 1991 the Soviet flag above the Kremlin was lowered for the last time, and the following morning the Russian tricolour was raised. The Union was no more. Six weeks prior, their National Football team had qualified for Euro 92 following a 3-0 win away to Cyprus. It was therefore decided a team should be created to fill the void. Using the name “Commonwealth of Independent States” which was a regional intergovernmental organisation put in place to oversee the transition of the former soviet states to becoming independent. The team was formed on 11th January 1991 and was approved by FIFA two days later. Of the 15 former USSR states 11 chose to play under the CIS banner; Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine & Uzbekistan. Where as the three Blatic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania who had all declared their independence before the dissolution of the Soviet Union chose to remain outside of the CIS Federation. Georgia on the other hand though, who had declared independence in April 1991, chose to start their own national team, but didn’t prevent any of their players taking part if they so wished. The Georgian abstention was expected due to the country’s long held dissatisfaction with the Soviet Republic. In a 1986 fixture in Tbilisi, the home fans cheered on visitors England over the USSR team.
Bizzarly, less than two weeks after their foundation the CIS team played a symbolic friendly against the USA in Miami. Signifying the end of the Cold War. The spectacle was a hastily arranged affair with US Soccer Federation director of events, Thom Meredith quoted on the morning of the game saying: “They’ve decided to use the old flag and anthem until someone comes up with something new… I’m going out to get a Soviet flag today, and I have other people looking for the anthem.” For the anthem, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony was chosen, just as it had been used as a “filler” for the United Team of Germany at the Olympics since the 1950s.
Further fixtures followed. An away fixture in Israel had been arranged as the USSR to mark their 400th game with a symbolic match in the Holyland, which they won 2-1. Friendlies against Spain, Denmark and England were played to prepare for Euro 92 without victory. Though the team did beat German club Schalke 2-1, further foreshadowing current events, as the club dropped Gazprom as a sponsor following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In the run up to Euro 92 the team used an archaic Adidas template that had been used in the last few games as the USSR. However, for the tournament the team were issued kits based on the German manufacturer’s new “Equipment” brand. Adidas Equipment was a project to strip back the recent excesses of sportswear and bring adidas back to the founding principles of creator Adi Dassler of functional, performance driven design with simple silhouettes.
Back then the Euros consisted of two groups of four teams. CIS were unlucky enough to be drawn with World Champions Germany (playing in their first tournament after reunification), holders Netherlands and a Scotland side that finished above Switzerland, Romania and Bulgaria who would all qualify for the World Cup two years later. The tournament started well with creditable draws against Germany and Holland, but a 3-0 defeat to Scotland would prove to be CIS’s last ever game before the the Russian Football Federation was formed at the end of the year.
At the time Guardian journalist Paul Walters wrote: “The CIS may just about exist in political terms. In sporting terms, it is merely a transitional device. Its one and only – and suicidal – purpose is to bridge the chaos between the disappearance of the old Soviet sporting structure at midnight on December 31 and the independent emergence of the various republics of the old Soviet Empire.” Whilst a similar proposal was advocated for Russian footballers to continue to compete in the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers under the banner of “Football Union of Russia” the ultimate decision was made to ban Russia from all FIFA and UEFA competition indefinitely following the escalation of events in Ukraine. Could we see a CIS-like transitional team brought in when the time comes to reintroduce Russia to the global stage?
