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Russian Premier League
Russian Premier League
Country Flag of Russia Russia
Confederation UEFA
Founded 2001
Number of teams 16
Relegation to Russian National Football League
Level on pyramid 1
Domestic cup(s) Russian Cup
Russian Super Cup
UEFA cup(s) None
Current champions Zenit Saint Petersburg (9th title) (2022–23)
Most successful club Spartak Moscow (10 titles)
TV List of broadcasters
Website Official website
Football current event 2023–24

The Russian Football Premier League is the top division professional association football league in Russia. The competition is administered by the Russian Football Premier League. There are 16 teams in the competition. The league currently has two Champions League places, however, from the 2017–18 season, the league will have three Champions League qualifying spots given to the top three teams at the end of the season and the two Europa League spots will be allocated to the fourth and fifth placed teams. The cup winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa League without play-offs.

The last two teams are relegated to the Russian National Football League at the end of the season. The Russian Premier League was established in 2001 and succeeded the Top Division. The Top Division was run by the Professional Football League of Russia. Creation of the Premier League is considered to give the clubs a greater degree of independence. The league is currently called Rosgosstrakh Russian Football Championship for sponsorship reasons.

CSKA Moscow are the current Russian Premier League champions.

History[]

After the break-up of the USSR, 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 USSR 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 in the first season. 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 seasons.

Spartak Moscow was the dominant force in the Top Division, winning nine of the first ten titles. Alania Vladikavkaz was the only team which managed to break Spartak's first ten years of dominance, winning the Top Division title in 1995.

Since 2002 there has been 4 different winners with the teams being Lokomotiv Moscow twice, CSKA Moscow three times, Rubin Kazan twice and Zenit St. Petersburg.

Current clubs (2021–22)[]

The following teams are competing in the 2021–22 season:

Team Home city Stadium Capacity
Akhmat Grozny Grozny Akhmat-Arena 30,597
Arsenal Tula Tula Arsenal Stadium 20,048
CSKA Moscow Moscow VEB Arena 30,457
Dynamo Moscow Moscow VTB Arena 26,700
Khimki Khimki, Moscow Region Arena Khimki 18,636
Krasnodar Krasnodar Krasnodar Stadium 34,291
Krylia Sovetov Samara Solidarnost Arena 44,918
Lokomotiv Moscow Moscow RZD Arena 27,320
Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod Stadium 44,899
Rostov Rostov-on-Don Rostov Arena 45,000
Rubin Kazan Kazan Kazan Arena 45,093
Sochi Sochi Fisht Olympic Stadium 44,287
Spartak Moscow Moscow Otkrytiye Arena 44,307
Ufa Ufa Neftyanik Stadium 15,132
FC Ural Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg Central Stadium 35,696
Zenit Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg Krestovsky Stadium 67,800

External links[]

Russian Premier League 2023-24

Akhmat Grozny · Baltika Kaliningrad · CSKA Moscow · Dynamo Moscow · Fakel Voronezh · Krasnodar · Krylia Sovetov Samara · Lokomotiv Moscow · Orenburg · Pari NN · Rostov · Rubin Kazan · Sochi · Spartak Moscow · Ural Yekaterinburg · Zenit Saint Petersburg

Russian Premier League seasons

2011–12 · 2012–13 · 2013–14 · 2014–15 · 2015–16 · 2016–17 · 2017–18 · 2018–19 · 2019–20 · 2020–21 · 2021–22 · 2022–23 · 2023–24 ·

Top level football leagues of Europe (UEFA)

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Football in Russia
League competitions The RFU Cup competitions
Premier League Russia (U-21) Russian Cup
First League Players Russian Super Cup
Second League Clubs
Amateur League Stadiums
Amateur League Leagues
Russian Football Union
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