Soviet Women's Basketball Championship

The Soviet Women's Basketball Championship was the top women's basketball competition in the Soviet Union.

The championship was founded in 1937, and dominated by Dynamo Moscow in its early stages. Four years later it was interrupted due to the German invasion of the Soviet Union. After the German troops were rejected the competition was resumed in 1944, with MAI Moscow becoming a second powerhouse. In 1949 Dynamo Kyiv became the first non-Russian team to win the championship.

In 1959 Dynamo Moscow represented the Soviet Union in the inaugural edition of the European Cup. That same the year the championship was won by Latvian team Daugava Riga, which soon established itself as the championship's major powerhouse, winning every edition of the tournament in the 1960s. Daugava's hegemony loosened somewhat in the 1970s, losing the 1974 and 1978 championships to Spartak Leningrad and Spartak Moscow, but still the Latvians, led by Uljana Semjonova, won every other edition until 1984.

In the second half of the 1980s Russian teams took again the lead, with CSKA Moscow and Dynamo Novosibirsk entering the competition's palmares. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union the championship was closed after the 1991 edition, which was won by Dynamo Kyiv. A CIS Championship was played in 1992 before each republic founded its own national league.^[1]

The Soviet Championship was one of the best leagues in Europe, with several of the best teams in the continent. In addition to its hegemony in the championship Daugava Riga won a record 18 European Cups between 1960 and 1982, including 12 titles in a row. It was only in 1972 when other Soviet teams had the chance to triumph in Europe with the foundation of the Ronchetti Cup. Spartak Leningrad, Spartak Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Dynamo Novosibirsk, Daugava Riga and Dynamo Kyiv won 12 editions of the tournament.^[2]

List of champions

1937: Dynamo Moscow 1938: Dynamo Moscow 1939: Dynamo Moscow 1940: Dynamo Moscow 1944: Dynamo Moscow 1945: Dynamo Moscow 1946: MAI Moscow 1947: MAI Moscow 1948: Dynamo Moscow 1949: Dynamo Kyiv 1950: Dynamo Moscow 1951: MAI Moscow 1952: Stroitel Moscow 1953: Dynamo Moscow 1954: MAI Moscow 1955: MAI Moscow 1956: MAI Moscow 1957: Dynamo Moscow

1958: Dynamo Moscow 1959: Daugava Riga 1960: Daugava Riga 1961: Daugava Riga 1962: Daugava Riga 1963: Daugava Riga 1964: Daugava Riga 1965: Daugava Riga 1966: Daugava Riga 1967: Daugava Riga 1968: Daugava Riga 1969: Daugava Riga 1969: Daugava Riga 1970: Daugava Riga 1971: Daugava Riga 1972: Daugava Riga 1973: Daugava Riga 1974: Spartak Leningrad

1975: Daugava Riga 1976: Daugava Riga 1977: Daugava Riga 1978: Spartak Moscow 1979: Daugava Riga 1980: Daugava Riga 1981: Daugava Riga 1982: Daugava Riga 1983: Daugava Riga 1984: Daugava Riga 1985: CSKA Moscow 1986: Dynamo Novosibirsk 1987: Dynamo Novosibirsk 1988: Dynamo Novosibirsk 1989: CSKA Moscow 1990: Elektrosila Leningrad 1991: Dynamo Kyiv 1992: Dynamo Kyiv

References

1. List of champions in Womenbasket.ru
2. List of champions in FIBA Europe's website