The Russian Premier Liga was established at the end of 2001 and was re-branded with its current name in 2018. The division is comprised of sixteen teams and has three Champions League qualifying spots given to the top three teams at the end of the season with fourth and fifth placed teams gaining entry into the Europa League. The last two teams are relegated to the Russian National Football League (Second Tier) at the end of the season with the thirteenth/fourteenth teams put into a play off with the third/fourth placed teams in the RNFL for potential promotion or relegation.
Lokomotiv Moscow were the first champions of the Russian Premier League in 2002 and won it again in 2004 and 2018. Other clubs to win the title are CSKA Moscow (6), Zenit St. Petersburg (5), Lokomotiv Moscow (3), Rubin Kazan (2) and Spartak Moscow (1). Zenit Saint Petersburg are the current champions and are currently nine points clear so are on course to retain the title.
Here we introduce, in no apparent order, the current top level teams and their history -
FC AKHMAT GROZNY
The club was founded in 1946 It was founded in 1946, as "Dynamo". It has changed its name in 1948 to "Neftyanik", in 1958 to "Terek" and then in 2017 to "Akhmat Grozny". The club is named after Akhmat Kadyrov who was a key figure in the Chechen Wars when he switched sides and offered his service to the Russian government. He later became the President of the Chechen Republic in 2003 - In May 2004 he died as a result of bomb blast during a parade at the Dinamo football stadium. Due to the war the club was disbanded for a number of years during the 1990s.
They now play home games at Akmat Arena in Gozny, the Capital City of Chechnya, which was opened in 2011. Their best season came in 03/04 when they won the Russian Cup 1-0 versus PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara with Andrei Fedkov scoring the winning goal on 90+2 minutes. In 2004 they won the Russian First Division (Second Tier) to achieve promotion to the top division.
Ruud Gullit was briefly manager in 2011 and they are currently managed by Igor Shalimov who played for most of his career in Italy for Inter Milan, Udinese, Bologna and Napoli. He was a USSR and Russian International player and since 2001 has managed a number of different Russian clubs.
They played in the 04/05 UEFA Cup beating Polish side Lech Poznan before losing to Swiss side Basel.
The club are currently bottom of the table with four wins from twenty-two games played. With five points currently separating tenth to sixteenth place there is still everything to play for.
Since the winter break, the club played a number of friendly matches in Turkey, they have played three league games drawing 1-1 with Rostov before defeats against Lokomotiv and Dynamo Moscow.
ZENIT ST PETERSBURG
Formed in either 1925 or 1914 according to some sources. The first officially recorded game of football was played in the City formerly known as Petrograd and Leningrad.
In 1897 an unofficial game was held on Vasilievsky Island between the local English team "Ostrov" and the local Russian team "Petrograd" which the English team won 6–0.
Zenit won the 1984 Soviet League and the Soviet Cup in 1944. Things really took off in 2005 when Gazprom took a controlling stake in the club investing a huge amount of money in the playing squad and building a new stadium.
They have since been champions in 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2019 and have been managed by Dirk Advocaat, Luciano Spalletti, Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Mancini amongst others.
They won the 2008 UEFA Cup Final winning 2-0 against Rangers with Igor Denisov and Konstantin Zyryanov getting the goals.
FC ARSENAL TULA
Tula is located just under 120 miles south of Moscow and has a population of around 500,000 people. The club were orginally formed in 1946 and spent it's years in the Soviet lower leagues and in 2005 the club didn't receive a licence to play in the higher leagues due to financial difficulties and were eventually liquidated in 2006 with a club called "FC Oruzheynik Tula" formed and playing in the Amateur Leagues. The present day club were formed in 2011 and rapidly rose through the leagues with three successive promotions culminating in promotion to the top division for the 2014/15 season where they were relegated - they were promoted once again in 15/16 and have remained in the top division ever since. Their sixth place in 18/19 qualified them for Europe for the first time in their history - they lost to Azerbajani side Neftci PFK in the second qualfying round of the Europa League.
Their head coach is currently Igor Cherevchenko who is best known for his playing career with Lokomotiv Moscow in the 1990s. He also managed the club and won the 2015 Russian Cup with them.
The club have three Zambian players on their books including brother's Evans and Kings Kangwa who are full International players for their county. Lameck Banda, 19, is a midfielder and signed from Zesco United in 2019 - He has played for Zambia u23s.
Their current top scorer is Yevgeni Lutsenko who joined from Dynamo Moscow in 2019 - He has 9 league goals so far this season.
CSKA MOSCOW
One of the most famous names in Russian football - CSKA were formed in 1911 and are the oldest club in the country. They are also the first Russian club to win a European competition when in 2005 they defeat Sporting CP in the UEFA Cup final.
They have won the old Soviet Championship seven times, the Soviet cup five times, the Russian cup seven times and the Russian Premier League six times. The club are currently ranked 32nd on UEFA's co-efficient ranking system. CSKA failed to progress in this season's Europa League finishing bottom of Group H with just one win in their six games at Espanyol on the final match day of the group system where the Spanish side had already qualified.
Igor Akinfeev, 33, is a club legend having spent his entire professional career with the club. The goalkeeper has played over 400 games for CSKA and over 100 games for the Russian International side. The club has two Icelandic Internationals playing - Midfielder Arnór Sigurðsson (aged 20) and Defender Hörður Björgvin Magnússon (aged 27) are regular starters. Magnússon will be known to English football fans from his time with Bristol City from 2016 to 2018.
FC DYNAMO MOSCOW
Dynamo were last title winner's of the Soviet League in 1976 and the Russian Cup in 1995. They were relegated to the second tier for 2016/17 and won the RNFL on the first possible occasion - they have since finished eighth and twelfth with their current league position being sixth. Their historical rivals are Spartak Moscow
FC KRASNADOR
The club were only formed in 2008 by Sergey Galistky who is a Russian billionaire and founder of Magnit which is Russia's biggest food reatailer. They rose from the third tier of Russian football to the top division by 2011 where they have finished 9th, 10th, 5th, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 4th and 3rd last season. They are currently in third position in the table.
They famously knocked out Porto in this season's Champion's League qualifying rounds before Olympiacos won 1-6 on aggregate in the play-off round. They then finished 3rd in the Group C of the Europa League missing out on an advance to the knock out phase.
Their squad contains a number of nationalities with Jón Fjóluson (Iceland), Alyaksandr Martynovich (Belarussian), Uroš Spajić (Serbian), Cristian Ramirez (Ecuadorian), Rémy Cabella (French midfielder who played for Newcastle United in 14/15 with his only goal coming in an away game at Hull City), Wanderson and Kaio (Both Brazilian), Kristoffer Olsson and Marcus Berg (Swedish), Tony Vilenha (Dutch) and Portuguese midfielder Manuel Fernandes who spent time on loan with Portsmouth in 2006 and Everton in 2007 and 2008.
PFC KRYLIA SOVETOV SAMARA
They spent 1994 to 2014 in the top division but have since yo-yo'ed between the Premier League and the RNFL - They finished 2nd in the second tier in the 17/18 season for promotion back to the top division. They won the RNFL in 2015 and were runner's up in the Russian Cup in 1953, 1964 and 2004. The club play their home games at the 44, 918 capacity Samara Arena which was built for the 2018 World Cup.
LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW
Founded in 1922 they are another famous name in Russian football having won the Premier League on three occasions and the cup on no less than ten occasions.
They famously reached the semi-finals of the Cup Winner's Cup 97/98 defeating FC Belshina Bobruisk, Kocaelispor and AEK Athens before losing to VFB Stuttgart. They again reached the semi-final stage in 98/99 where they lost on away goals to Lazio. They have also played in the Champion's League and Europa League on many occasions with their last season in Europe being 2017/18. They are currently 2nd in the table nine points behind Zenit St Petersburg.
FC ORENBURG
Formed in 1976 the club were promoted the top division for the first time in their history in 2016. It was relegated back in the first season losing the promotion play-off on penalty kicks - It was promoted back to the top division after winning the RNFL IN 2017/18. The club have a small stadium with a capacity of 7,500 people.
FC ROSTOV
The club were formed in 1930 and play in the Rostov Arena which has a capacity of 45,0000 and is another stadium built for the 2018 World Cup. Rostov's best season was in 15/16 when they were runner's up to CSKA Moscow by a gap of just two points. This qualified them for the 16/17 Champion's League where they finished third in Group D and dropped down into the Europa League where they were beaten by Manchester United in the last sixteen.
Another club to have Icelandic players on their books with striker's Björn Bergmann Sigurðarson (known for his time with Wolves between 2012-2016 currently on loan APOEL) and Viðar Örn Kjartansson (currently on loan to Turkish side Yeni Malatyaspor) registered. Former Fulham player Ragnar Sigurðsson was also with the club this season but recently left for Copenhagen.
FC RUBIN KAZAN
Founded in 1958 they won the Russian Championship in 2008 and 2009 along with the Cup in 2012. In 2003 there were great changes at the club with many foreign players joining including South African MacBeth Sibaya and Uruguayan Andrés Scotti.
In October 2018 the club was banned by UEFA for one year from participating in European competition for violations under the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations. The club did not qualify for 2019–20 season of the Champions League or Europa League. If they qualify for the 2020–21 season, the ban will apply then. If they don't qualify which is looking likely (they are 14th) then the ban will expire.
They have recently signed centre-forward Shahrom Tagoymurodovich Samiev from FC Istikol of Tajikistan - the 19 year old is a full Tajikistan International. Also Darko Jevtić has signed from Polish side Lech Poznan.
SPARTAK MOSCOW
Founded in 1922 so they are coming up to their centenary year. They are one of Russia's most successful clubs having won the old Soviet twelve times and the Russian top division ten times as well as ten Soviet cups and three Russian Cups.
They have reached the semi-final of all three of the European cups - In 1992 Marseille eliminated them in the European Cup SF and in 1993 they lost to Antwerp in the Cup Winner's Cup SF. In 1998 they lost to Inter Milan in the UEFA Cup SF.
Jordan Larsson, 22, plays for Spartak and is the son of Henrik
FC TAMBOV
A very new team having been formed in 2013. The Wolves were promoted to the top division in 2019 for the first time in their history. They are currently playing their games 184 miles away from their home city which is the home of "FC Mordovia Saransk".
FC UFA
A new club having been formed in 2010 after a club called "FC Bashinformsvyaz-Dynamo Ufa" played in the Russian Second Division for two seasons. FC Ufa started in the third division and have been members of the top division since 2014 with their top placing being 6th in 17/18 which qualified them for the 2018/19 Europa League where they were knocked out by Rangers in the play-off.
Oston Rustam o'g'li Urunov, 19, has recently joined the club from PFC Lokomotiv Tashkent of Uzbekistan.
Ufa is the Capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan which has a population of over 1,000,000 people. The club play in the Neftyanik Stadium which holds 15,132 people.
PFC SOCHI
The club were only founded in 2018 after the team known as "FC Dynamo Saint Petersburg" moved to Sochi which is just under a 1,500 mile journey.
The club play their home matches at the Fisht Stadium which was constructed for the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. It was also used for the 2018 World Cup. 2019/20 is their first season in the top division.
Valdimir Fedotov is the new manager of the first team having been in charge since early December.
Giannelli Imbula, 27, has recently joined the club from Championship side Stoke City. He had been on loan at Toulouse, Rayo Vallecano and Lecce.
FC URAL YEKATERINBURG
The furthest club East in the division - An away trip to Zenit St Petersburg is roughly a 2,730 mile mile round trip and in different time zones! It's the equivalent journey of going from Land's End to John O' Groats just over 3 times. Since promotion to the top league is 2013 they have finished 11th, 13th, 8th, 11th, 12th and 10th - they were runner's up in the Russian Cup in both 2017 and 2019.
Romanian International Eric Bicfalvi has been top scorer for the club in the last two seasons. Former Ukranian International player Dmytro Perfenov is currently manager.
RUSSIAN CUP 2019/20
The semi-finals of the Russian Cup will be as follows:
Zenit St Petersburg v Spartak Moscow
Khimki v FC Shinnik Yaroslavl or Ural
Khimki and FC Shinnik both play in the second tier of the Russian game.
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