three players Georgiy Bikezin, Mykola Kuznetsov, and Petro Yurchenko. The All-Union coal mining society of Stakhanovite (Stakhanovets) had changed its name in July 1946 to Shakhtyor (Shakhter) and so did the Sports Society of Donbas Miners. In 1950, Viktor Fomin was named Ukrainian Footballer of the Year, despite the club finishing only 11th in the league. The first success for the team was in 1951, when it achieved third place in the USSR Championship. The most notable player of that achievement was the striker Aleksandr Ponomarev, who came to finish his football career in Donbas, the region he was born in, and was named Ukrainian Footballer of the Year for 1951. Despite the latest achievement, Shakhtar was relegated at the end of the 1952 season and as part of the re-organization of the team, former player Aleksandr Ponomarev became the head coach of the club. In 1954, Shakhtar under Ponomarev won the Class B League, thus sealing a return to the top league. Cup triumphs and establishment in the Soviet League In 1958, the players of the club received fewer yellow and red cards than any other team in the championship, for what the Sovetsky Sport newspaper awarded the club with the "Fair Play Award." In the 1960s, Shakhtar, under Oleg Oshenkov's coaching, were three-time USSR Cup finalists, winning it twice in 1961 and 1962. Among the players playing for the club then where defenders Viacheslav Aliabiev and Vladimir Salkov. The club was nicknamed "The Cup Team" due to Shakhtar's success in vying for the trophy every year. The Miners’ more notable achievements, however, occurred later from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. Despite the departure of the team's leader midfielder Anatoliy Konkov, in 1975, Shakhtar under management of former player Vladimir Salkov, earned second place in the USSR Championship and received the right to represent the Soviet Union in European competition. At the end of the season, Shakhtar received the Progress Cup for making the biggest progress from previous season in the league. They received the award again in 1977. In 1978, Shakhtar finished third in the USSR Championship. In 1979, the team finished second in the league campaign and its captain—striker Vitaliy Starukhin—became the top scorer in the USSR Championship with 26 goals scored, also being named Soviet Footballer of the Year. The club was only two points away from the first place, despite having important players leaving