Most of those clubs were originally created as Spartak or Dynamo, supported either by local party committee (Spartak) or local KGB office (Dynamo). Thus Lithuania became represented by Zalgiris Vilnius, Latvia by Daugava Riga, Estonia by Kalev Tallinn, Byelorussia by Dinamo Minsk, Moldavia by Nistru Kishinev, Armenia by Ararat Yerevan, Azerbaijan by Neftchi Baku, Georgia by Dinamo Tbilisi, Kazakhstan by Kairat Alma-Ata, Uzbekistan by Pakhtakor Tashkent and Tajikistan by Pamir Dushanbe. A typical Top League season would feature 4-6 of these eleven, and Yerevan, Minsk and Tbilisi all managed to win the title at least once. Only Georgia, with Torpedo Kutaisi and later Guria Lanchkhuti, was ever able to have a second representative survive in the Top League in addition to their capital city club. (Turkmenistan and Kirghizia were represented in the Soviet football pyramid by Köpetdag Aşgabat and Alga Frunze respectively, but neither reached the top level.) Documentation Documentation about the league is scarce. Among well-known researchers are Aksel Vartanyan for Sport Express, Andrei Moroz and Georgiy Ibragimov for KLISF Club, Alexandru G.Paloşanu, Eugene Berkovich, Mike Dryomin, Almantas Lauzadis, and Hans Schöggl for RSSSF Archives. Another extensive databases are composed at helmsoccer.narod.ru and FC Dynamo Moscow website. Names Since its creation, the Soviet Top League's name changed a quite few times: 1936 – 1941 Group A (Группа А) Prior to World War II the championship was split into several groups usually of eight teams and named by the letters of the Cyrillic script. 1945 – 1949 The First Group of USSR (Первая группа СССР) Upon the reestablishment of the league after the war for several years it was numbered sequentially with the top league being the First. 1950 – 1962 Class "A" of USSR (Класс "А" СССР) Since 1950, the alphabetical classification of the Soviet league hierarchy has resumed. In 1960 through 1962 the league consisted of two groups with the better clubs qualified for the championship pool and less fortunate – the relegation pool. 1963 – 1969 The First Group "A" of USSR (Первая группа "А" СССР) European representation The first time the Soviet League was represented in Europe in the 1965–66 European Cup Winners' Cup by Dynamo Kyiv. In its first year the club reached the quarterfinals, eliminating on its way Coleraine and Rosenborg and winning all four matches with those clubs. The Ukrainians also knocked out reigning champions Celtic in the first round in the 1967–68