Russian Premier League


The Russian Premier League is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 as the Russian Football Premier League and was rebranded with its current name in 2018. From 1992 through 2001, the top level of the Russian football league system was the Russian Football Championship. There are 16 teams in the competition. The league has 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 last two teams are relegated to the Russian National Football League at the end of the season.
The Russian Premier League succeeded the Top Division including history and records. 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 Tinkoff Russian Premier League for sponsorship reasons.
Since the introduction of the Russian Premier League in 2002, CSKA Moscow, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Lokomotiv Moscow, Rubin Kazan and Spartak Moscow have won the title. Zenit Saint Petersburg are the current Russian Premier League champions.

History

After the dissolution 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 were supplemented with 14 teams from lower divisions to form 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 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 have won the title three times, and CSKA Moscow six 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 rise of Rubin Kazan, a club entirely new to the Russian top flight, as it had never competed in the Soviet Top League.
In preparation for the 2018–19 season, it was decided to hold a rebranding in which a new logo was presented.

Competition

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 Third qualifying round. The fourth- and fifth-place teams qualify for the UEFA Europa League. The bottom two teams are relegated to the First Division.
Unlike most other European football leagues, the league traditionally ran in summer, from March to November, to avoid playing games in the cold and snowy weather in winter. This was 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 continued until summer of 2012. After the 16 Premier League teams played each other twice over the course of the 2011 calendar year, they were split into two groups of eight, and the teams played other teams in their groups two more times for a total of 44 games. Those two groups were contested in spring 2012, with the top eight clubs playing for the title and European places. The other sides vied to avoid relegation: the bottom two went down while the next two played off against the sides third and fourth in the National Football League, with the two losers being relegated. Under the current autumn-spring calendar, the league takes a three-month winter break from mid-December until mid-March.

Youth championship

The :ru:Молодёжное первенство России по футболу|Youth championship, also known as Youth teams championship, Reserve team tournament or :ru:Турнир дублёров РФПЛ|Reserves tournament, full name Youth football championship of Russia among teams of clubs of the Premier League, 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 Football League 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 Spartak-2 and Zenit-2, playing in the Russian Football National League.

Reserves tournament">:ru:Турнир дублёров РФПЛ">Reserves tournament champions (2001–2007)

Russia are currently sixth in the UEFA coefficient rankings. The best Russian teams in Europe as of November 2018:
No.TeamPts
17FC Zenit Saint Petersburg68.000
31PFC CSKA Moscow46.000
44FC Krasnodar29.500
52FC Lokomotiv Moscow26.500
82FC Spartak Moscow16.000
84FC Dynamo Moscow16.000
98FC Rostov13.500
119FC Ufa9.676
120FC Rubin Kazan9.676

Current clubs

The following teams are competing in the 2019–20 season:

Name changes

SeasonChampionRunner-upThird placeTop scorer
1992Spartak MoscowSpartak VladikavkazDynamo Moscow Vali Gasimov
Yuri Matveyev
1993Spartak Moscow Rotor VolgogradDynamo Moscow Victor Panchenko
1994Spartak Moscow Dynamo MoscowLokomotiv Moscow Igor Simutenkov
1995Spartak-Alania VladikavkazLokomotiv MoscowSpartak Moscow Oleg Veretennikov
1996Spartak Moscow Alania Vladikavkaz Rotor Volgograd Aleksandr Maslov
1997Spartak Moscow Rotor Volgograd Dynamo Moscow Oleg Veretennikov
1998Spartak Moscow CSKA MoscowLokomotiv Moscow Oleg Veretennikov
1999Spartak Moscow Lokomotiv Moscow CSKA Moscow Georgi Demetradze
2000Spartak Moscow Lokomotiv Moscow Torpedo Moscow Dmitri Loskov
2001Spartak Moscow Lokomotiv Moscow Zenit Saint Petersburg Dmitri Vyazmikin
2002Lokomotiv MoscowCSKA Moscow Spartak Moscow Rolan Gusev
Dmitri Kirichenko
2003CSKA MoscowZenit Saint PetersburgRubin Kazan Dmitri Loskov
2004Lokomotiv Moscow CSKA Moscow Krylia Sovetov Samara Aleksandr Kerzhakov
2005CSKA Moscow Spartak MoscowLokomotiv Moscow Dmitri Kirichenko
2006CSKA Moscow Spartak Moscow Lokomotiv Moscow Roman Pavlyuchenko
2007Zenit Saint PetersburgSpartak Moscow CSKA Moscow Roman Pavlyuchenko
Roman Adamov
2008Rubin KazanCSKA Moscow Dynamo Moscow Vágner Love
2009Rubin Kazan Spartak Moscow Zenit Saint Petersburg Welliton
2010Zenit Saint Petersburg CSKA Moscow Rubin Kazan Welliton
2011–12Zenit Saint Petersburg Spartak Moscow CSKA Moscow Seydou Doumbia
2012–13CSKA Moscow Zenit Saint Petersburg Anzhi Makhachkala Yura Movsisyan
Wánderson
2013–14CSKA Moscow Zenit Saint Petersburg Lokomotiv Moscow Seydou Doumbia
2014–15Zenit Saint Petersburg CSKA Moscow Krasnodar Hulk
2015–16CSKA Moscow RostovZenit Saint Petersburg Fyodor Smolov
2016–17Spartak Moscow CSKA Moscow Zenit Saint Petersburg Fyodor Smolov
2017–18Lokomotiv Moscow CSKA Moscow Spartak Moscow Quincy Promes
2018–19Zenit Saint Petersburg Lokomotiv Moscow Krasnodar Fyodor Chalov
2019–20Zenit Saint Petersburg Lokomotiv Moscow Krasnodar Sardar Azmoun
Artem Dzyuba

Performance by club

UEFA ranking

UEFA League Ranking at the end of the 2018–19 season:
  1. Spanish La Liga
  2. English Premier League
  3. Italian Serie A
  4. German Bundesliga
  5. French Ligue 1
  6. Russian Premier League
  7. Portuguese Primeira Liga
  8. Belgian Pro League
  9. Ukrainian Premier League
  10. Süper Lig

    All-time table

RankClub1SeasonsSpellsMost
recent
season		Played2WonDrawnLostGoalsPoints3GoldSilverBronzeNotes
1Spartak Moscow2718034281851601424-81615251053
2CSKA Moscow2718034061801871148-7311456683
3Lokomotiv Moscow2718033752181801131-7181403345
4Zenit Saint Petersburg2427123341921561085-6801247434
5Dynamo Moscow2627723072122231053-8651173-14
6Krylya Sovetov Samara253746233207306793–971906--1
7Rostov253742207206299758–959864-1-
8Rubin Kazan161464184122128570–4347122-2
9Torpedo Moscow1622014–15492188142162625–598706--1
10Spartak Vladikavkaz1632012–13489179109201630–66364612-Disbanded and reestablished 2014
11Rotor Volgograd1312004402151109142562–506562-21
12Amkar Perm1412017–18434114131159368–478508---Disbanded 2018
13Saturn Moscow Oblast1212010360120121119396–378481---
14Akhmat Grozny12234410277135322–404422 4---
15Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast1123089358127337–421374---
16Krasnodar81224885452295–213372--1
17Anzhi Makhachkala1133148683115299–353365--1
18Moscow912009270928395295–311359---Disbanded 2010
19Shinnik Yaroslavl10420083048586133294–403341---
21Tom Tomsk922016–172847577132259–395302---
22Chernomorets Novorossiysk8220032487465109274–357287---
24Zhemchuzhina Sochi7119992226157104263–390240---Disbanded 2003 and 2013, reestablished 2007
25Spartak Nalchik612011–12194545783207–239219---
26Energia-Tekstilshchik Kamyshin511996158534362172–177202---
27KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny511997162513279198–253179 5---
28Uralan Elista522003150363975138–225147---Disbanded 2005, reestablished 2014
29Ufa419025263973–108144---
30Luch-Energia Vladivostok422008124343258116–187134---
31Baltika Kaliningrad31199898303731114–111127---
32Fakel Voronezh432001124312964101–175122---
33Dynamo Stavropol3119949427234494–125104---Disbanded 2014, re-established 2015
34Tyumen5319981542526103116–326101---
35Arsenal Tula326014113538–8695---
36Volga Nizhny Novgorod312013–1410425166387–17191---Disbanded 2016
37Mordovia Saransk322015–169020224882–15082---
38Okean Nakhodka2119936422142865–8380---Disbanded 2015, reestablished 2018
39Khimki3120099017235086–15174---
40Asmaral Moscow2119936019113074–10268---Disbanded 1999
41Sokol Saratov2120026017133055–8764---
42Lada Togliatti2219966410163842–10546---
43Orenburg2230791425–3630---
44Tosno112017–1830661823–5424---Disbanded 2018
46SKA-Khabarovsk112017–1830272116–5513---
47Yenisey Krasnoyarsk1100000---

Competing in RPL
Competing in FNL
Competing in PFL
Competing in amateur leagues
Defunct

;Notes
  1. For clubs that have been renamed, their name at the time of their most recent season in the Russian League is given. The current members are listed in bold.
  2. Includes championship play-offs, does not include relegation play-offs.
  3. For the purposes of this table, each win is worth 3 points. The three-point system was adopted in 1995.
  4. Terek were deducted 6 points in 2005.
  5. KAMAZ-Chally were deducted 6 points in 1997.

    Player records

Most appearances

RankPlayerApps
1 Sergei Ignashevich489
2 Sergei Semak456
3 Dmitri Loskov453
4 Igor Semshov433
5 Igor Akinfeev407
6 Vasili Berezutski402
7 Ruslan Adzhindzhal397
8 Valery Yesipov390
9 Dmitri Kirichenko377
10 Igor Lebedenko371

Most goals

RankPlayerGoalsAppsAvg/Game
1 Oleg Veretennikov1432740.52
2 Aleksandr Kerzhakov1393400.41
3 Dmitri Kirichenko1293770.34
4 Dmitri Loskov1204530.26
5 Roman Pavlyuchenko1043090.34
5 Artem Dzyuba1043130.33
7 Sergei Semak1024560.22
8 Andrey Tikhonov983460.28
9 Igor Semshov984330.23
10 Yegor Titov883360.26
10 Valery Yesipov883900.23

Champions (players)

2018-2022

Russia and CIS

Worldwide (excluding Russia, CIS, and China)

All 240 matches are aired live globally on YouTube with a required subscription. There will be two membership levels for the viewers outside Russia. The first level includes two matches with English commentary each matchday and will cost a monthly fee of $2.99. The second level, for $4.99 a month, gives subscribers access to all eight matches in Russian and two matches with English commentary as well. In 2018–19 season, YouTube broadcast four live matches per week for free.

Balkans

Selected matches also available live on Sport Klub in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia

China

All matches is aired live on Tencent QQ

Hong Kong

All matches is aired live on I-Cable through 2020-21