The match was the 51st Soviet Cup Final and it was contested by FC Spartak Moscow and PFC CSKA Moscow. The Soviet Cup winner Spartak qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup first round for the Russian Federation. Spartak played their 15th Cup Final winning on 10 occasions including this one. CSKA came to the final as the defending champions and it was their eighth Cup Final and for the third time they were defeated at this stage.
All sixteen Soviet Top League clubs did not have to go through qualification to get into the competition, so Spartak and CSKA both qualified for the competition automatically.
Previously these two teams met each other in the early editions of the competition on several occasions. However this was their first time and the last that they met in the finals of the Soviet Cup.