History

In 2011 the decision of changing the formula of carrying out the Commonwealth Cup was accepted. Now in tournament will take part youth (age of players 20-21 year) national teams of the UIS and Baltic countries, and also other states.

Tournament was intended as the Cup of champions of the Countries of Commonwealth of the UIS and Baltic – competitions among clubs of the countries of the former USSR.

The first draw has passed in January, 1993 and since then is spent annually, from 1993 to 2007 and in 2009-2010 – in Moscow, and in 2008 and 2011 – in St. Petersburg.

In July, 1992 at session of executive committee of Association of federations of football of the UIS, the decision of carrying out the first Cup of champions of Commonwealth was accepted. And tournament started on the next year on January, 25th, since then terms of its carrying out haven't changed. There were several offers of conducting the Cup in the summer on a natural grass, but in the summer time a calendar of clubs is saturated, therefore all remains without changes: tournament is spent annually in second half of January. The Commonwealth cup collected in one place the representatives of 15 national football federations that allowed official meetings with heads of those federations. Competitions are visited constantly by presidents of UEFA and FIFA.

First tournament has caused a great interest from fans and experts. Representatives of Ukraine didn't participate in first two tournaments, therefore the Russian champions were obvious favorites. Since 1995 when Ukraine teams nevertheless have agreed to play, tournament has got popularity which grew from year to year. Opposition of champions of Russia and Ukraine — "Dynamo" Kiev and "Spartak" Moscow became the gripping show. Matches of these two teams became the most visited on the tournament.

Organizers hope that with change of the format the Commonwealth Cup with participation of youth national teams will find again its former popularity.

Interesting facts:

* The biggest win at the tournament was 19:0 for Spartak, Moscow in 1998 when it played against Vakhsh (Tajikistan).

* Spartak, Moscow and Dynamo, Kyiv won the Commonwealth Cup three times in a row, Spartak repeating the success (1993-1995 and 1999-2001, Dynamo 1996-1998).

* The best scorer of the tournament is Vladimir Beschastnykh who played for Spartak, Moscow. He has scored 20 goals.

* One of the constant participants of the tournament was Sconto, Riga. It took part in 13 Commonwealth Cups and entered the finals three times, though never managed to win the tournament.

* A Skonto player Mikhail Zemlinsky made a record playing 46 games at the tournament.

* Valentin Ivanov was a referee for 20 matches of the Commonwealth Cup. Up to now it’s a record.