Russian Women's Football Championship


The Russian Women's Football Championship, also known as the Top Division and the Women's Football League, is the highest professional women's football league in Russia.
The Top Division was founded in 1992. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, there had been a women's league, but it only played two seasons, 1990 and 1991.

Format

For the 2010 season the seven teams play each other four times, two times away and two games at home. In previous years the team played each other only twice. As Russia is in the top 8 leagues of Europe by UEFA Coefficient the top two teams qualify for the UEFA Women's Champions League and the last team gets relegated to the Women’s 1.Division. The 2011–12 season was the first to last over the winter month. Eight teams contest the season and play each other four times for a total of 28 matches.
The tie-breaking rules after the season are in descending order: points, number of wins, then in matches between tied teams: points, wins, goal difference, goals scored, away goals scored, after that in all matches: goal difference, goals scored, away goal scored,better fair-play record and finally the tie is broken by drawing of a lot. One exception is, if there is a tie of points involving the first place, thus the tie-breaking would determine the champion. In this case, there is an additional match, or in case of at least a three way tie a tournament to be played.
In the 2012–13 season a championship and relegation round was played after the regular season. After 14 matches each, the top four and bottom four teams played each other twice more. The winner of the championship round is the champion.
In 2013 the league returned to the spring-autumn format. No championship group was played then. In 2014 a championship group followed the regular season. Points of both stages are added together.

Teams in the 2020 season

TeamLocationGround
Chertanovo MoscowMoscowArena Chertanovo
WFC KrasnodarKrasnodarKrasnodar Academy Stadium
CSKA MoscowMoscowNovye Khimki Stadium
Zenit Saint PetersburgSaint PetersburgSmena Stadium
Ryazan-VDVRyazanCentral'nyj Sportivn'yj Kompleks
Lokomotiv MoscowMoscowSapsan Arena
Zvezda-2005 PermPermZvezda Stadium
Yenisey KrasnoyarskKrasnoyarskFutbol-arena Enisey

Champions and top scorers

The champions so far are:
YearChampionRunner-upThird placeTop scorer
1992Interros MoscowCSK VVS SamaraSKIF Malakhovka Larisa Savina
1993CSK VVS SamaraRus MoscowSKIF Malakhovka Larisa Savina
1994CSK VVS SamaraEnergiya VoronezhKaluzhanka Nadezhda Bosikova
1995Energiya VoronezhCSK VVS SamaraSibiryachka Krasnoyarsk Nadezhda Bosikova
1996CSK VVS SamaraEnergiya VoronezhLada Togliatti Nadezhda Bosikova
1997Energiya VoronezhCSK VVS SamaraRyazan-VDV Nadezhda Bosikova
1998Energiya VoronezhCSK VVS SamaraRyazan-VDV Nadezhda Bosikova
1999Ryazan-VDVEnergiya VoronezhCSK VVS Samara
2000Ryazan-VDVEnergiya VoronezhCSK VVS Samara Nadezhda Bosikova
Olga Letyushova
2001CSK VVS SamaraEnergiya VoronezhRyazan-VDV Olga Letyushova
2002Energiya VoronezhLada TogliattiRyazan-VDV Natalia Barbashina
2003Energiya VoronezhLada TogliattiCSK VVS Samara Natalia Barbashina
2004Lada TogliattiRossiyankaEnergiya Voronezh Olga Letyushova
2005RossiyankaLada TogliattiNadezhda Noginsk Olga Letyushova
2006RossiyankaSpartak MoscowNadezhda Noginsk Olga Letyushova
2007Zvezda PermRossiyankaNadezhda Noginsk Olga Letyushova
2008Zvezda PermRossiyankaSKA Rostov Emueje Ogbiagbevha
2009Zvezda PermRossiyankaEnergiya Voronezh Daryna Apanaschenko
Olesya Kurochkina
2010RossiyankaEnergiya VoronezhZvezda Perm Emueje Ogbiagbevha
2011–12RossiyankaZorky KrasnogorskEnergiya Voronezh Emueje Ogbiagbevha
2012–13Zorky KrasnogorskRossiyankaRyazan-VDV Olesya Kurochkina
2013Ryazan-VDVZvezda PermZorky Krasnogorsk Elena Danilova
2014Zvezda PermZorky KrasnogorskRyazan-VDV Daryna Apanaschenko
2015Zvezda PermRossiyankaZorky Krasnogorsk Daryna Apanaschenko
2016RossiyankaZvezda PermRyazan-VDV Margarita Chernomyrdina
Nadezhda Karpova
2017Zvezda PermRyazan-VDVChertanovo Moscow Elena Danilova
2018Ryazan-VDVChertanovo MoscowZvezda Perm Elena Danilova
2019CSKA MoscowLokomotivKubanochka Nelli Korovkina

Performance by club