The history of the USSR championships began on April 4, 1933.

On that day the first matches among the national teams of the five cities were held at the Palace of Metalworkers in Dnepropetrovsk.

These competitions, as well as the next three similar championships, were officially called the All-Union Volleyball Holidays.

The USSR championships among club teams representing various voluntary sports societies and departments were held since 1938.

In the 1991/92 season the USSR Volleyball Federation organized the CIS Open Championship, a number of its participants in 1992 played in parallel the first Russian Championship.