| Countries | Russia |
|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Number of teams | 16 |
| Levels on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | National League Championship |
| Domestic cup(s) | Russian Cup |
| International cup(s) | Champions League Europa League |
| Current champions | Zenit St. Petersburg (2010 season) |
| Most championships | Spartak Moscow (9 titles)* |
| Website | http://www.rfpl.org |
2011–12 Russian Premier League* Incl. Rus. Top League and Rus. Top Division titles |
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The Russian Premier League (Russian: Российская футбольная премьер-лига), currently called SOGAZ Russian Football Championship (Russian: СОГАЗ — Чемпионат России по футболу) due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of Russian football. There are 16 teams in the competition. The league has three Champions League qualifying places given to teams who finish in the top three at the end of the season and two Europa League places to teams who finish fourth and fifth. Relegation to the National League Championship are given to teams who finish bottom and second-bottom at the end of the season. The Russian Premier League was established 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.
The Russian league has improved considerably of as late, and the Russian Premier League is now ranked 7th by UEFA.
FC Zenit Saint Petersburg are the current Russian Premier League champions.
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After the break-up of the Soviet Union, starting in 1992, each former Soviet republic organized an independent national championship. In Russia, the six Russian teams who had played in the Soviet Top League in 1991 (CSKA Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Torpedo Moscow, Dynamo 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 nine of the first ten 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 St. Petersburg climbed to the top, winning the title for the first time in their history in Russian professional football; they had also won a Soviet title in 1984. 2008 brought the pinnacle of the rise of Rubin Kazan, a club entirely new to the Russian top flight, as it had never even competed in the Soviet Top League.
Teams in the Russian Premier League 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 other factors. 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 2010, the champions and the runners-up qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage. The third-placed team qualifies for the Champions League second qualifying round. The fourth- and fifth-placed teams qualify for the UEFA Europa League. The bottom two teams are relegated to the First Division (renamed the National League Championship starting in 2011).
Unlike most other European football leagues, the league traditionally ran in summer, from March to November, to avoid playing games under the cold and snowy weather in winter. This will be altered ahead of the 2012/13 season, with the league planning to run the season from autumn to spring. The transitional season of the competition began in early 2011 and will continue until summer of 2012. After the 16 Premier League teams have played each other twice over the course of the year 2011, they will be split into two groups of eight, and the teams will play other teams in their groups two more times for a total of 44 games (30 in 2011 and 14 in 2012). Those two groups will be contested in spring 2012, with the top eight clubs playing for the title and European places. The other sides will vie to avoid relegation: the bottom two will go down while the next two play off against the sides third and fourth in the National League Championship, with the two losers being demoted (or denied promotion).[1]
The Youth championship (Russian: Молодежное первенство), also known as Youth teams championship (Russian: Первенство молодёжных команд), Reserve team tournament (Russian: Турнир среди дублирующих составов) or Reserves tournament (Russian: Турнир дублёров), full name Youth football championship of Russia among teams of clubs of the Premier League (Russian: Молодёжное Первенство России по футболу среди команд клубов Премьер-Лиги), is a league that runs in parallel to the Russian Premier League and includes the youth or reserve teams of the Russian Premier League teams. The number of players a team can have on the pitch at a time that are over 21 years of age or without a Russian citizenship is limited. 16 teams participate in the league. Matches are commonly played a day before the match of the senior teams of the respective teams. All of the Russian Premier League teams are obliged to have a youth team that would participate in the Youth championship. The teams that are promoted from the National League Championship and do not have a youth team must create one. The teams in the league are not relegated based on their final league position, but on the league position of their respective clubs' senior teams.
It has to be noted however that some Premier League clubs have three teams. Apart from the senior team and the team that plays in the Youth championship a team might have another senior team that plays in a lower division of Russian football and serves as the farm team for the main team. Some examples include Lokomotiv-2, and Rubin-2, playing in the Russian Second Division. Also of note is that for example Lokomotiv-2 has a youth team of its own, participating in the Amateur Football League, giving Lokomotiv a total of 4 teams in the Russian football league.
The following teams are confirmed to compete in the 2011–12 season:
| Club | Winners | Runners-Up | Years Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spartak Moscow |
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1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 |
| CSKA Moscow |
|
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2003, 2005, 2006 |
| Lokomotiv Moscow |
|
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2002, 2004 |
| Zenit St. Petersburg |
|
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2007, 2010 |
| Rubin Kazan |
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2008, 2009 | |
| Alania Vladikavkaz |
|
|
1995 |
| Rotor Volgograd |
|
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| Dynamo Moscow |
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National League Ranking at the ending of the 2010 season
(see UEFA coefficients full list for more information)
| Rank | Club1 | Seasons | Spells | Most recent season |
Played2 | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals | Points3 | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spartak Moscow | 20 | 1 | 611 | 344 | 155 | 112 | 1174-620 | 1187 | 9 | 4 | 2 | |
| 2 | Lokomotiv Moscow | 20 | 1 | 611 | 308 | 169 | 134 | 919-560 | 1093 | 2 | 4 | 4 | |
| 3 | CSKA Moscow | 20 | 1 | 611 | 306 | 151 | 154 | 973-599 | 1069 | 3 | 5 | 2 | |
| 4 | Dynamo Moscow | 20 | 1 | 610 | 256 | 176 | 178 | 867-694 | 944 | - | 1 | 4 | |
| 5 | Zenit Saint Petersburg | 17 | 2 | 520 | 236 | 151 | 133 | 776-541 | 859 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| 6 | Krylya Sovetov Samara | 20 | 1 | 614 | 200 | 166 | 248 | 671-793 | 766 | - | - | 1 | |
| 7 | Torpedo Moscow | 15 | 1 | 2006 | 462 | 182 | 131 | 149 | 597-553 | 677 | - | - | 1 |
| 8 | Alania Vladikavkaz | 15 | 2 | 2010 | 459 | 175 | 102 | 182 | 604-610 | 627 | 1 | 2 | - |
| 9 | FC Rostov | 18 | 3 | 550 | 148 | 163 | 239 | 574-775 | 607 | - | - | - | |
| 10 | Rotor Volgograd | 13 | 1 | 2004 | 402 | 151 | 109 | 142 | 562-506 | 562 | - | 2 | 1 |
| 11 | Saturn Moscow Oblast | 12 | 1 | 2010 | 360 | 120 | 121 | 119 | 396-378 | 481 | - | - | - |
| 12 | Rubin Kazan | 9 | 1 | 272 | 126 | 76 | 70 | 382-258 | 454 | 2 | - | 2 | |
| 13 | FC Moscow | 9 | 1 | 2009 | 270 | 92 | 83 | 95 | 295-311 | 359 | - | - | - |
| 14 | Shinnik Yaroslavl | 10 | 4 | 2008 | 304 | 85 | 86 | 133 | 294-403 | 341 | - | - | - |
| 15 | Chernomorets Novorossiysk | 8 | 2 | 2003 | 248 | 74 | 65 | 109 | 274-357 | 287 | - | - | - |
| 16 | Amkar Perm | 8 | 1 | 242 | 68 | 80 | 94 | 210-277 | 284 | - | - | - | |
| 17 | Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod | 8 | 2 | 2000 | 248 | 68 | 63 | 117 | 233-356 | 267 | - | - | - |
| 18 | Tom Tomsk | 7 | 1 | 212 | 60 | 61 | 91 | 209-283 | 241 | - | - | - | |
| 19 | Zhemchuzhina Sochi | 7 | 1 | 1999 | 222 | 61 | 57 | 104 | 263-390 | 240 | - | - | - |
| 20 | Spartak Nalchik | 6 | 1 | 182 | 53 | 53 | 76 | 196-222 | 212 | - | - | - | |
| 21 | Uralmash Yekaterinburg | 5 | 1 | 1996 | 158 | 57 | 33 | 68 | 215-241 | 204 | - | - | - |
| 22 | Energia-Tekstilshchik Kamyshin | 5 | 1 | 1996 | 158 | 53 | 43 | 62 | 172-177 | 202 | - | - | - |
| 23 | Anzhi Makhachkala | 5 | 2 | 152 | 50 | 44 | 58 | 163-180 | 194 | - | - | - | |
| 24 | KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny | 5 | 1 | 1997 | 162 | 51 | 32 | 79 | 198-253 | 1794 | - | - | - |
| 25 | Kuban Krasnodar | 5 | 4 | 152 | 37 | 48 | 67 | 140-214 | 159 | - | - | - | |
| 26 | Terek Grozny | 5 | 2 | 152 | 39 | 36 | 77 | 138-222 | 1475 | - | - | - | |
| 27 | Uralan Elista | 5 | 2 | 2003 | 150 | 36 | 39 | 75 | 138-225 | 147 | - | - | - |
| 28 | Luch-Energia Vladivostok | 4 | 2 | 2008 | 124 | 34 | 32 | 58 | 116-187 | 134 | - | - | - |
| 29 | Baltika Kaliningrad | 3 | 1 | 1998 | 98 | 30 | 37 | 31 | 114-111 | 127 | - | - | - |
| 30 | Fakel Voronezh | 4 | 3 | 2001 | 124 | 31 | 29 | 64 | 101-175 | 122 | - | - | - |
| 31 | Dynamo Stavropol | 3 | 1 | 1994 | 94 | 27 | 23 | 44 | 94-125 | 104 | - | - | - |
| 32 | FC Tyumen | 5 | 3 | 1998 | 154 | 25 | 26 | 103 | 116-326 | 101 | - | - | - |
| 33 | Okean Nakhodka | 2 | 1 | 1993 | 64 | 22 | 14 | 28 | 65-83 | 80 | - | - | - |
| 34 | FC Khimki | 3 | 1 | 2009 | 90 | 17 | 23 | 50 | 86-151 | 74 | - | - | - |
| 35 | Asmaral Moscow | 2 | 1 | 1993 | 60 | 19 | 11 | 30 | 74-102 | 68 | - | - | - |
| 36 | Sokol Saratov | 2 | 1 | 2002 | 60 | 17 | 13 | 30 | 55-87 | 64 | - | - | - |
| 37 | Lada Togliatti | 2 | 2 | 1996 | 64 | 10 | 16 | 38 | 42-105 | 46 | - | - | - |
| 38 | FC Krasnodar | 1 | 1 | 32 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 41-45 | 42 | - | - | - | |
| 39 | Volga Nizhny Novgorod | 1 | 1 | 32 | 8 | 4 | 20 | 25-43 | 28 | - | - | - | |
| 40 | Sibir Novosibirsk | 1 | 1 | 2010 | 30 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 34-58 | 20 | - | - | - |
Players with most appearances
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All-time top scorers
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Media coverageRussian network NTV Plus owns exclusive broadcasting rights for the league. In Russia, some matches are shown on generally accessible Channel One and Russia 2 channels as well. In Italy, the league is broadcast by Sky Sport. In the Czech Republic, selected games are broadcast by Nova Sport. Sport Klub is the main broadcaster in several Eastern European countries. In Australia, the Russian Premier League is broadcast by Setanta Sports, Setanta broadcasts it in Canada as well. In July 2009, ESPN announced that they will be screening up to two live games a week on their new channel set up in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.[2] ESPN Brasil also broadcast the Russian league in Brazil and in Germany the Premjer Liga is broadcasted by the digital sports channel, sportdigital. See also
References
External links
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