Russian Premier League
| Countries | Russia |
|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Number of teams | 16 |
| Relegation to | Russian First Division |
| Level on pyramid | Level 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) | Russian Cup |
| International cup(s) | Champions League UEFA Cup Intertoto Cup |
| Current champions | Rubin Kazan (2008) |
| Most successful club | FC Spartak Moscow (9 titles)* |
| Website | http://www.rfpl.org |
 2008 season
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The Russian Premier League (also known as Rosgosstrakh Championship of Russia or Российская футбольная премьер-лига in rusian) is the top division of Russian football. There are 16 teams in the competition. At the end of the season two teams are relegated to the Russian First Division and replaced with the two top First Division teams.
The Russian Premier League was organized in 2001 and succeeded the Top Division, the difference being that the Top Division was run by the Professional Football League of Russia, and the creation of the Premier League gave the clubs a greater degree of independence.
FC Rubin Kazan are the current Russian Premier League champions.
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History
After the break-up of the Soviet Union, starting in 1992, each former Soviet republic organized an independent national championship. In Russia, the 6 Russian teams who had played in the Soviet Top League in 1991 (CSKA Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Torpedo Moscow, Dinamo Moscow, Spartak Vladikavkaz, and Lokomotiv Moscow) were supplemented with 14 teams from lower divisions to organize a 20-team Russian Top Division. The Top Division was further divided into two groups to reduce the total number of matches. The number of teams in the Top Division was gradually reduced to 18 in 1993 and 16 in 1994. Since then, the Russian Top Division (and subsequently the Premier League) has consisted of 16 teams, except for a short-lived experiment with having two more teams in 1996 and 1997.
Spartak Moscow was the dominant force in the Top Division, winning 9 of the first 10 titles. Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz was the only team which managed to break Spartak's dominance, winning the Top Division title in 1995.
Lokomotiv Moscow won the title twice, and CSKA Moscow three times.
In 2007, Zenit Saint Petersburg climbed to the top. Zenit won the title for the first time. They had also won a Soviet title in 1984.
Competition
Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 30 matches. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. If teams are level on points, the tie-breakers are the number of wins, then the goal difference, followed by several others. If the teams are tied for the first position, the tie-breakers are the number of wins, then head-to-head results. If the teams tied for the first place cannot be separated by these tie-breakers, a championship play-off is ordered.
As of 2008, the champions qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage, as well as the runners-up. The third-placed team qualifies for the Champions League 2nd qualifying round. The fourth- and fifth-placed teams qualify for the newly named UEFA Europa League. The bottom two teams are relegated to the First Division.
Unlike other European football leagues, the league typically runs in summer, from March to November, to avoid playing games under the cold and snowy weather in winter.
2008 clubs
In the 2008 season, the following teams competed in the Russian Premier League:
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Champions and top scorers
| Season | Champion | Runner-up | 3rd position | Top scorer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992* | Spartak Moscow | Spartak Vladikavkaz | Dynamo Moscow |  Veli Kasumov (Dynamo, 16 goals) |
| 1993* | Spartak Moscow (2) | Rotor Volgograd | Dynamo Moscow |  Victor Panchenko (KamAZ, 21 goals) |
| 1994* | Spartak Moscow (3) | Dynamo Moscow | Lokomotiv Moscow | Igor Simutenkov (Dynamo, 21 goals) |
| 1995* | Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz | Lokomotiv Moscow | Spartak Moscow | Oleg Veretennikov (Rotor, 25 goals) |
| 1996* | Spartak Moscow (4) | Alania Vladikavkaz | Rotor Volgograd | Aleksandr Maslov (Rostselmash, 23 goals) |
| 1997* | Spartak Moscow (5) | Rotor Volgograd | Dynamo Moscow | Oleg Veretennikov (Rotor, 22 goals) |
| 1998** | Spartak Moscow (6) | CSKA Moscow | Lokomotiv Moscow | Oleg Veretennikov (Rotor, 22 goals) |
| 1999** | Spartak Moscow (7) | Lokomotiv Moscow | CSKA Moscow |  Georgi Demetradze (Alania, 21 goals) |
| 2000** | Spartak Moscow (8) | Lokomotiv Moscow | Torpedo Moscow | Dmitri Loskov (Lokomotiv, 15 goals) |
| 2001** | Spartak Moscow (9) | Lokomotiv Moscow | Zenit Saint Petersburg | Dmitri Vyazmikin (Torpedo, 18 goals) |
| 2002 | Lokomotiv Moscow | CSKA Moscow | Spartak Moscow | Rolan Gusev (CSKA, 15 goals) Dmitri Kirichenko (CSKA, 15 goals) |
| 2003 | CSKA Moscow | Zenit Saint Petersburg | Rubin Kazan | Dmitri Loskov (Lokomotiv, 14 goals) |
| 2004 | Lokomotiv Moscow (2) | CSKA Moscow | Krylya Sovetov Samara | Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Zenit, 18 goals) |
| 2005 | CSKA Moscow (2) | Spartak Moscow | Lokomotiv Moscow | Dmitri Kirichenko (Moskva, 14 goals) |
| 2006 | CSKA Moscow (3) | Spartak Moscow | Lokomotiv Moscow | Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak Moscow, 18 goals) |
| 2007 | Zenit Saint Petersburg | Spartak Moscow | CSKA Moscow | Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak Moscow, 14 goals) Roman Adamov (Moskva, 14 goals) |
| 2008 | Rubin Kazan | CSKA Moscow | Dynamo Moscow |  Vágner Love (CSKA Moscow, 20 goals) |
| * The league was named Top League ** The league was named Top Division |
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UEFA Ranking
National League Ranking at the beginning of the 2008 season
- 3.
Serie A - 4.
Ligue 1 - 5.
Fußball-Bundesliga - 6. Russian Premier League
- 7.
Liga I - 8.
Portuguese Liga - 9.
Eredivisie
(see UEFA coefficients full list for more information)
All-time table
- As of end of 2008 season
| Rank | Club1 | Seasons | Most recent season |
Played2 | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals | Points3 | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spartak Moscow | 17 | 519 | 298 | 132 | 89 | 1019-519 | 1026 | 9 | 3 | 2 | |
| 2 | Lokomotiv Moscow | 17 | 519 | 265 | 143 | 111 | 792-467 | 938 | 2 | 4 | 4 | |
| 3 | CSKA Moscow | 17 | 519 | 256 | 128 | 135 | 814-514 | 896 | 3 | 4 | 2 | |
| 4 | Dynamo Moscow | 17 | 518 | 218 | 150 | 150 | 745-593 | 804 | - | 1 | 4 | |
| 5 | Torpedo Moscow | 15 | 2006 | 462 | 182 | 131 | 149 | 597-553 | 677 | - | - | 1 |
| 6 | Zenit Saint Petersburg | 14 | 428 | 183 | 123 | 122 | 606-467 | 672 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 7 | Krylya Sovetov Samara | 17 | 522 | 176 | 140 | 206 | 589-668 | 668 | - | - | 1 | |
| 8 | Alania Vladikavkaz | 14 | 2005 | 429 | 168 | 93 | 168 | 579-569 | 597 | 1 | 2 | - |
| 9 | Rotor Volgograd | 13 | 2004 | 402 | 151 | 109 | 142 | 562-506 | 562 | - | 2 | 1 |
| 10 | Rostov | 15 | 458 | 122 | 139 | 197 | 484-645 | 505 | - | - | - | |
| 11 | Saturn Moscow Oblast | 10 | 300 | 99 | 105 | 96 | 331-300 | 402 | - | - | - | |
| 12 | Shinnik Yaroslavl | 10 | 2008 | 304 | 85 | 86 | 133 | 294-403 | 341 | - | - | - |
| 13 | Moscow | 8 | 240 | 79 | 74 | 87 | 256-283 | 311 | - | - | - | |
| 14 | Chernomorets Novorossiysk | 8 | 2003 | 248 | 74 | 65 | 109 | 274-357 | 287 | - | - | - |
| 15 | Rubin Kazan | 6 | 180 | 77 | 47 | 56 | 239-193 | 278 | 1 | - | 1 | |
| 16 | Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod | 8 | 2000 | 248 | 68 | 63 | 117 | 233-356 | 267 | - | - | - |
| 17 | Zhemchuzhina Sochi | 7 | 1999 | 222 | 61 | 57 | 104 | 263-390 | 240 | - | - | - |
| 18 | Uralmash Yekaterinburg | 5 | 1996 | 158 | 57 | 33 | 68 | 215-241 | 204 | - | - | - |
| 19 | Energia-Tekstilshchik Kamyshin | 5 | 1996 | 158 | 53 | 43 | 62 | 172-177 | 202 | - | - | - |
| 20 | Amkar Perm | 5 | 150 | 45 | 55 | 50 | 136-164 | 190 | - | - | - | |
| 21 | KAMAZ-Chally Naberezhnye Chelny | 5 | 1997 | 162 | 51 | 32 | 79 | 198-253 | 1794 | - | - | - |
| 22 | Uralan Elista | 5 | 2003 | 150 | 36 | 39 | 75 | 138-225 | 147 | - | - | - |
| 23 | Tom Tomsk | 4 | 120 | 35 | 37 | 48 | 123-140 | 142 | - | - | - | |
| 24 | Luch-Energia Vladivostok | 4 | 2008 | 124 | 34 | 32 | 58 | 116-187 | 134 | - | - | - |
| 25 | Baltika Kaliningrad | 3 | 1998 | 98 | 30 | 37 | 31 | 114-111 | 127 | - | - | - |
| 26 | Fakel Voronezh | 4 | 2001 | 124 | 31 | 29 | 64 | 101-175 | 122 | - | - | - |
| 27 | Anzhi Makhachkala | 3 | 2002 | 90 | 27 | 28 | 35 | 94-108 | 109 | - | - | - |
| 28 | Spartak Nalchik | 3 | 90 | 27 | 25 | 38 | 92-109 | 106 | - | - | - | |
| 29 | Dynamo Stavropol | 3 | 1994 | 94 | 27 | 23 | 44 | 94-125 | 104 | - | - | - |
| 30 | Tyumen | 5 | 1998 | 154 | 25 | 26 | 103 | 116-326 | 101 | - | - | - |
| 31 | Kuban Krasnodar | 3 | 90 | 17 | 30 | 43 | 77-133 | 81 | - | - | - | |
| 32 | Okean Nakhodka | 2 | 1993 | 64 | 22 | 14 | 28 | 65-83 | 80 | - | - | - |
| 33 | Asmaral Moscow | 2 | 1993 | 60 | 19 | 11 | 30 | 74-102 | 68 | - | - | - |
| 34 | Sokol Saratov | 2 | 2002 | 60 | 17 | 13 | 30 | 55-87 | 64 | - | - | - |
| 35 | Khimki | 2 | 60 | 15 | 19 | 26 | 66-87 | 64 | - | - | - | |
| 36 | Terek Grozny | 2 | 60 | 14 | 13 | 33 | 48-92 | 495 | - | - | - | |
| 37 | Lada Togliatti | 2 | 1996 | 64 | 10 | 16 | 38 | 42-105 | 46 | - | - | - |
- For clubs that have been renamed, their name at the time of their most recent season in the Premier League is given. The current members are listed in bold.
- Includes championship play-offs.
- For the purposes of this table, each win is worth 3 points. The three-points system was adopted in 1995.
- KAMAZ-Chally were deducted 6 points in 1997.
- Terek were deducted 6 points in 2005.
Players with most appearances
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All-time top scorers
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Champions (Players)
See also
External links
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