1974 Soviet Top League
The 1974 Soviet Top League was the 36th season of the Soviet top tier football competitions. It also was the 4th season since the establishing of Vysshaya Liga (Soviet Top League) in place of the Soviet Class A competition.
The league's title was contested by 16 teams, and Dynamo Kyiv won the championship which was their sixth title. The last season's champions Ararat placed fifth trailing 8 points. The newly promoted Chernomorets placed third qualifying for the continental competitions for the first time.
Teams
Pre-season promotion
Teams promoted from the 1973 Soviet First League:
- Chernomorets Odessa – the champions (returning after three seasons absence)
- Nistru Kishinev – the runners-up (returning after 10 seasons absence)
Pre-season relegation
Teams relegated to the 1974 Soviet First League:
- Dinamo Minsk – the 15th place (ending their 14 seasons stay in the top-flight)
- SKA Rostov-na-Donu – the 16th place (ending their 15 seasons stay in the top-flight)
Managers
| Club | Head coach |
|---|---|
| Ararat Yerevan | Nikita Simonyan |
| Dynamo Kyiv | Valeriy Lobanovskyi |
| Dynamo Moscow | Gavriil Kachalin |
| Spartak Moscow | Nikolay Gulyayev |
| Dinamo Tbilisi | Givi Chokheli (until August) Mikhail Yakushin (from August) |
| Shakhter Donetsk | Yuriy Zakharov (until August) Vladimir Salkov (from August) |
| Zaria Voroshilovgrad | Vsevolod Blinkov (until July) Yevhen Pestov (from July) |
| Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk | Viktor Kanevsky |
| Kairat Alma-Ata | Artem Falyan |
| CSKA Moscow | Vladimir Agapov |
| Zenit Leningrad | German Zonin |
| Pakhtakor Tashkent | Vyacheslav Solovyov |
| Torpedo Moscow | Valentin Ivanov |
| Karpaty Lvov | Valentin Babukin (until September) Ernest Yust (from September) |
| Chernomorets Odessa | Akhmed Aleskerov |
| Nistru Kishenev | Viktor Korolkov |
League standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Dynamo Kyiv (C)
|
30 | 14 | 12 | 4 | 49 | 24 | +25 | 40 | Qualification for European Cup first round |
| 2 |  Spartak Moscow
|
30 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 41 | 23 | +18 | 39 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | Chornomorets Odessa
|
30 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 35 | 31 | +4 | 35 | |
| 4 | Torpedo Moscow
|
30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 35 | 28 | +7 | 33 | |
| 5 |  Ararat Yerevan
|
30 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 37 | 28 | +9 | 32 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 6 | Dynamo Moscow
|
30 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 42 | 33 | +9 | 31 | |
| 7 | Zenit Leningrad
|
30 | 8 | 15 | 7 | 36 | 41 | −5 | 31 | |
| 8 |  Pakhtakor Tashkent
|
30 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 45 | 44 | +1 | 30 | |
| 9 |  Dinamo Tbilisi
|
30 | 8 | 14 | 8 | 29 | 34 | −5 | 30 | |
| 10 | Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
|
30 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 31 | 39 | −8 | 29 | |
| 11 | Karpaty Lviv
|
30 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 33 | 33 | 0 | 28 | |
| 12 | Shakhtar Donetsk
|
30 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 31 | 35 | −4 | 28 | |
| 13 | CSKA Moscow
|
30 | 7 | 12 | 11 | 28 | 33 | −5 | 26 | |
| 14 | Zarya Voroshilovgrad
|
30 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 32 | 41 | −9 | 26 | |
| 15 |  Kairat Alma-Ata (R)
|
30 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 37 | 47 | −10 | 26 | Relegation to First League |
| 16 |  Nistru Kishinev (R)
|
30 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 32 | 59 | −27 | 16 |
Results
Top scorers
- 20 goals
- Oleg Blokhin (Dynamo Kyiv)
- 16 goals
- Anatoli Ionkin (Kairat)
- Vadim Pavlenko (Dynamo Moscow)
- 13 goals
- Vladimir Makarov (Chornomorets Odessa)
- 12 goals
- Vadim Nikonov (Torpedo Moscow)
- 11 goals
- Mikhail An (Pakhtakor)
- Anatoly Baidachny (Dynamo Moscow)
- Vladimir Onischenko (Dynamo Kyiv)
- Vitali Starukhin (Shakhtar)
- 10 goals
- Vladimir Danilyuk (Karpaty)
- Aleksandr Piskaryov (Spartak Moscow)