Russian football champions. Who will win the Russian Championship? Applicants - five

MOSCOW, May 13 - R-Sport... The Russian football championship in the 2016/17 season, three rounds before its completion, was won by Spartak Moscow, which won the gold medals of the tournament for the tenth time. Silver and bronze medalists will be determined later.

Below is background information on the history and regulations of the tournament.

After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the former Soviet republics began to host independent football championships. Six Russian teams competed in the highest league of the USSR football championship in 1991 - CSKA, Spartak, Torpedo, Dynamo, Lokomotiv (all - Moscow), as well as Spartak from Vladikavkaz. That number of teams was not enough to make up the league.

In 1992 in established Russian Premier League 20 clubs competed - 11 teams from the first allied league and 3 teams from the second were added to the six major league teams. The tournament was held in two stages from March 23 to November 10. At the first, the participants were divided into two groups of ten teams. In the second, the first eight teams in the groups continued to fight for medals, and the rest - for 9-20 places. At the second stage, the teams were counted the results of the matches they played against each other in the groups of the first stage. Moscow “Spartak” became the champion.

V Russian Football Championship 1993 already 18 teams took part. According to the regulations, the tournament was held in one group in a two-round system. At the end of the season, the two last-placed teams moved to the first league, and the 14th to 16th places took part in the transition tournament along with the three winning teams from the first league zones. The teams that took the first three places in the transition tournament remained in the Major League. Spartak became the champion again.

In 1994, the number of participants in the Russian football championship was again reduced to 16 teams. The tournament was held in one group in a two-round system. At the end of the season, the two teams that took the last places (Togliatti "Lada" and "Dynamo" from Stavropol) moved to the first league, in their place came teams from the first league, which took 1st and 2nd places. Spartak became the champion for the third time in a row.

In the fourth Russian football championship As in the previous one, 16 teams took part, it was also held in two rounds. However, the scoring system was changed: now, instead of two points, they gave three for a victory, for a draw and a loss - one and zero, respectively. The number of teams leaving the league also changed, since the next year it was decided to again increase the number of participants to 18. At the end of the season, the team that took the last place (Dynamo-Gazovik, Tyumen) moved to the first league, and teams came to its place from the first league, taking 1-3rd places. The Vladikavkaz club "Spartak-Alania", of which he was a coach, became the champion of Russia.

In the fifth Russian football championship, which took place from March to November 1996, the composition of the participants was again expanded to 18 teams. The rest of the tournament format remains the same. At the end of the season, three worst teams left the league (Uralmash from Yekaterinburg, Energia-Tekstilshchik from Kamyshin, and Lada), and three first league winners were entitled to play in the top division for the next season.

As a result of 34 rounds, Moscow “Spartak” and Vladikavkaz “Alania” scored 72 points. According to the regulations, other indicators of the teams' performance were not taken into account - an additional "golden match" was envisaged. Spartak became the champion for the fourth time, having won in St. Petersburg at the Petrovsky stadium with a score of 2: 1. Andrey Tikhonov also scored goals for the Moscow team, Anatoly Kanishchev - for Alania.

In the sixth Russian football championship 18 clubs also took part, which determined the winner on a two-round system - in 34 rounds. The three worst teams (Voronezh "Fakel", Nizhny Novgorod "Lokomotiv" and "KAMAZ" from Naberezhnye Chelny) were relegated to a lower league, from where only one club came from, since the next season was again supposed to hold a championship among 16 teams. Subsequently, the number of participants in the tournament did not change anymore. Spartak became the champion of Russia.

In 1998 7th Russian Championship took place from March 28 to October 30. During the tournament, Zenit St. Petersburg was leading by five points, confidently taking first place after the first round, however, due to the departure of coach Anatoly Byshovets to the national team, they lost their game and could not even take a prize. Spartak became the champion for the sixth time. At the end of the season, Tyumen and Kaliningrad's Baltika left the Major League, and were replaced by Saturn near Moscow and Lokomotiv from Nizhny Novgorod.

Eighth Russian Football Championship was held from April 3 to November 8, 1999. The tournament was won for the seventh time by Moscow “Spartak”, having achieved 22 victories in 30 matches and suffered only two defeats. Sochi's "Pearl" and Yaroslavl's "Shinnik" were relegated to the first division.

Ninth Russian Football Championship was held from March 24 to November 12, 2000. It was attended by 16 clubs from 12 cities of Russia. At the end of the season, Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod and Uralan Elista left the Major League, followed by Torpedo-ZIL (Moscow) and Sokol (Saratov). Spartak became the champion for the eighth time.

Tenth Russian Football Championship was held from March 10 to November 4, 2001. It was attended by 16 teams from 11 cities. “Spartak” became the champion for the ninth time, the capital “Lokomotiv” won the silver, the bronze went to the Saint Petersburg “Zenith”. Voronezh Fakel and Novorossiysk Chernomorets left the elite division.

Until 2001, the Russian championship was managed by the Professional Football League (PFL); since 2002, the Russian Football Premier League (RFPL), specially created for this, has become responsible for organizing the competitions.

11th Russian Football Championship was held from March 8 to November 17, 2002. According to the tournament regulations, if two or more teams scored an equal number of points in the fight for the first place, the winner of the gold medals was determined in an additional match (tournament) on a neutral field, which was chosen by mutual agreement. At the end of 30 rounds, two Moscow teams - Lokomotiv and CSKA - had an equal number of points.

On November 21, 2002, four days after the end of the regular championship, in the "golden match" for the first place at the Dynamo stadium in Moscow, Lokomotiv defeated CSKA with a score of 1: 0 and won gold medals for the first time in its history, breaking the hegemony " Spartak "of 6 championships in a row. The only goal in the “golden match” was scored by Dmitry Loskov in the 6th minute. The Red and White won bronze medals. The Makhachkala "Anji" and the Saratov "Sokol" flew to the first division, and Kazan "Rubin" and "Chernomorets" came in their place.

12th Russian Football Championship was held from March 15 to November 1, 2003. At the end of the season, Uralan and Chernomorets left the Major League, followed by Amkar from Perm and Kuban from Krasnodar. Champion for the first time in his Russian history became the Moscow CSKA. The second place was taken by “Zenith”. Bronze medals for the first time in the history of the tournament were won by the newcomer of the Premier League - “Rubin”.

13th Russian Football Championship was held from March 12 to November 12, 2004. At the end of the season, the major league left “Kuban” and Volgograd “Rotor”, in their place came Grozny “Terek” and Tomsk “Tom”. After the 13th round, the Moscow club "Torpedo-Metallurg" changed its name to FC "Moscow". The champion was Lokomotiv, the second place was taken by CSKA, the third - Samara's Wings of the Soviets.

14th Russian Football Championship was held from March 12 to November 19, 2005. CSKA became the champion for the second time in Russian history, having issued a victory in the tournament in the 29th round. “Spartak” two seasons later returned to the top three, becoming the second. Bronze was won by Lokomotiv. Vladikavkaz “Alania” and “Terek” flew to the first division, they were replaced by “Luch-Energia” (Vladivostok) and “Spartak-Nalchik”.

15th Russian Football Championship was held from March 17 to November 26, 2006. Of the 16 teams participating in the tournament, 7 clubs represented Moscow / Moscow region, the rest of the cities were represented by only one club. At the end of the season, Torpedo Moscow (the club left the top division for the first time in its history) and Shinnik from Yaroslavl left the Major League. They were replaced by the Moscow Region “Khimki” and “Kuban”.

CSKA became the champion of Russia for the third time in the history of the club and for the second year in a row. At the same time, for the first time in the history of Russian championships, with equal points for the two best clubs, a golden match was not held: according to the regulations, CSKA was ahead of Spartak in the most victories. Bronze was won by Lokomotiv.

16th Russian Football Championship took place from March 10 to November 11, 2007. Only in the last round was the champion determined - for the first time in the history of the Russian championships, Zenit became it. The silver medalist for the third year in a row was "Spartak", the bronze was won by the champion of Russia in 2006 CSKA. At the end of the season, the Premier League left “Kuban” and “Rostov” (Rostov-on-Don). To service a number of matches of the Russian championship, foreign referees were involved.

17th Russian Football Championship took place from March 14 to November 23, 2008. The opening of the championship took place with the match "Terek" (the team from Grozny returned to the Premier League) - "Wings of the Soviets". Official football matches in Grozny began to be held almost 14 years later. Three rounds before the end of the championship, Kazan “Rubin” has issued an early championship. For the second year in a row, a non-Moscow club became the champion - for the first time in the history of the Russian championships. Shinnik and Luch-Energiya were relegated to the first division. The second place was taken by CSKA, the bronze was won by "Spartak".

18th Russian Football Championship took place from March 14 to November 29, 2009. Kazan “Rubin” became the champion for the second time. Silver won "Spartak", bronze - "Zenith". At the end of the season, Kuban and Khimki were eliminated from the Premier League.

19th Russian Football Championship took place from March 12 to November 28, 2010. FC Moskva was officially expelled from the Premier League on February 16, 2010 after a corresponding appeal from the club's management after its sponsor decided not to fund the club's performance anymore. Place FC "Moscow" was taken by Vladikavkaz "Alania" - the team that took third place in the first division of the PFL in 2009. The championship was won for the second time by Zenit. The second place was taken by CSKA, the third - by "Spartak". Alania and Novosibirsk Siberia were relegated to the first division. In January 2011, “Saturn” filed an application for voluntary withdrawal from the Premier League due to bankruptcy, and FC Krasnodar took his place in the tournament.

20th Russian Football Championship was a transitional - for the first time in history, the tournament was held according to the "spring-autumn-spring" system and officially lasted from March 12, 2011 to May 13, 2012. The championship was held in two stages. In the first, the teams played a two-round tournament of 30 rounds. On the second, they were divided into two groups: the first eight clubs at the end of the first stage played among themselves in two rounds, playing for places from 1 to 8. The other eight clubs also played in two rounds, playing for places from 9th to 16th. At the same time, the points scored by the teams at the first stage were retained.

According to the results of the first stage, the first place in standings occupied “Zenith”, ahead of CSKA by 2 points. The club from St. Petersburg eventually won the tournament and at the end of the second stage, gaining a total of 88 points in 44 rounds and winning the third champion title. Silver was won by "Spartak", bronze - by CSKA.

At the end of the season, the Premier League directly left “Tom” and “Spartak” (Nalchik). At the same time, according to the rules of the competition, the teams that took the 13th and 14th places at the end of the championship had to play play-offs with the teams of the first division, which took 4th and 3rd places, respectively. The play-off winners were entitled to play in the next Premier League championship. As a result of the play-off matches, Rostov and Volga (Nizhny Novgorod) retained their registration in the Premier League, beating Shinnik and Nizhny Novgorod, respectively.

21st Russian Football Championship took place from July 20, 2012 to May 26, 2013. It was the first to be fully organized according to the autumn-spring format. CSKA won the champion title for the fourth time, Zenit took the second place, Anzhi (Makhachkala) took the third place. Saransk “Mordovia” and “Alania” took off directly to the FNL championship, and “Rostov” and “Wings of the Soviets” retained their registration in the top division following the results of play-offs with Khabarovsk “SKA-Energy” and “Spartak” from Nalchik, respectively.

22nd Russian Football Championship took place from July 14, 2013 to May 15, 2014. In 2013, there were 19 rounds, in 2014 - 11. The season ended a month before the start of the World Cup in Brazil. In the tournament four clubs represented Moscow (Spartak, Lokomotiv, CSKA and Dynamo), two - Krasnodar (Kuban and Krasnodar). One club represented Grozny, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Makhachkala, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, St. Petersburg and Tomsk.

The title was defended by CSKA, winning the Russian championship for the fifth time. The second place was taken by Zenit, the third - by Lokomotiv. At the end of the season, for the first time during the tournament of the Russian Football Premier League, four teams left the top division - Nizhny Novgorod “Volga” and “Anji” flew into the FNL championship directly, and “Tom” and “Wings of the Soviets” lost in play-off matches to “Ufa” and "Torpedo", respectively.

23rd Russian Football Championship took place from August 1, 2014 to May 30, 2015. For the first time, four teams entered the Premier League at the end of last season. “Ufa” and Tula “Arsenal” are debutants, “Mordovia” returned after a one-year break, and Moscow “Torpedo” - after relegation in 2006.

In the third round, CSKA set a record in the Russian championship for the number of victories in a row - 13, beating its own achievement in 1998. In the eighth round, Zenit established new record in the Russian Football Premier League - 8 victories in a row at the start of the championship, beating the previous achievement of Rubin Kazan.

Two rounds before the end of the tournament, Zenit became unattainable for their pursuers, having won the Russian championship for the fourth time. The second place went to CSKA, the bronze medalist for the first time in history was Krasnodar, a club that was formed in 2008. In the FNL championship took off “Torpedo” and Tula “Arsenal”, and “Ural” and “Rostov” retained their registration in the Premier League, having outplayed “Tosno” (Leningrad Region) and “Tom”, respectively.

24th Russian Football Championship took place from July 17, 2015 to May 21, 2016 and was the fourth, which was organized according to the "autumn-spring" system. The autumn part of the championship ended on December 6, 2015, the spring part started on March 5, 2016. Having dropped out of the Premier League, Torpedo and Arsenal were replaced in the tournament by Wings of the Soviets and Anji.

CSKA became the champion in the 2015/16 season for the sixth time. Second place was taken by “Rostov”, for the first time in the history of the club, won the medals of the national championship. The third was “Zenith”. At the end of the season, three clubs took off in the FNL - Mordovia and Dynamo directly, and Kuban - following the results of play-offs with Tomyu. Anji kept their registration in the Premier League, having outplayed Volgar on aggregate. “Dynamo” for the first time in its history left the top division of the national championships.

The regulations for the Russian football championship in the 2016/17 season did not differ from the previous ones - the teams had to play 30 rounds in two rounds "each with each" (on their own field and on the opponent's field). According to the results of the tournament, the 15th and 16th teams were relegated to the Football National League (FNL). The teams that took the 13th and 14th places had to play two transitional matches (at home and away) with the participants of the FNL championship, who took fourth and third places, respectively.

Places of teams in the standings are determined by the sum of points scored in all played matches. Three points are awarded for a victory in a match, one point for a draw, and no points are awarded for a defeat.

In case of equality of points for two or more teams, the places in the standings are determined: by the greatest number of victories in all matches; based on the results of games among themselves; by the best difference between goals scored and conceded in all matches; by the largest number of goals scored in all matches; by the largest number of goals scored on foreign fields in all matches.

"Golden match" (additional tournament) to determine the winner in case of equality of points for two or more best teams in the championship was provided only in case of equality of all additional indicators.

The champion club is awarded a RFU diploma and a special challenge prize - the Russian Football Champions Cup. A special challenge prize is awarded to the winning club for one year. In return for a special challenge prize, the champion club will always receive a copy of it. The football players of the champion club are also awarded the title of the champion of Russia in football, they are awarded gold medals and diplomas of the RFU.

For the successful preparation of the team, the leaders, administrative and coaching staff of the champion club are awarded gold medals and RFU diplomas.

Clubs, whose teams took second and third places in the championship, are awarded with RFU diplomas and prizes of the Premier League. The leaders of these clubs, footballers and team specialists are awarded, respectively, silver and bronze medals and RFU diplomas. The total number of awardees in the champion club and prize-winning clubs is 40 people.

System football leagues Russia includes 3 divisions - the Premier League, the Football National League (FNL) and the Second Division, which is divided into 5 zones: "West", "Center", "South", "Ural-Volga region" and "East".

The Russian Premier League, in accordance with the regulations since the season 2011/2012, has the name “SOGAZ Russian Football Championship among the teams of the Premier League clubs. At the end of each season, 15th and 16th places go to the FNL, where they are replaced by the two strongest teams in this division. Teams that take the final 13th and 14th places play play-off matches with representatives of the FNL (3rd and 4th places), the winners get the right to play in the RFPL for the next season. Until 1997, the tournament was called - Major League, and in 1998 it was renamed the Premier Division. For a long time, the championship was held according to the "autumn-spring" system, until in 2010 the new leadership of the RFU carried out a reform and the 20th Russian Championship started in the spring of 2011, was held in four circles and was completed in the spring of 2012. Thus, since 2012, the Russian championship has been held according to the "autumn-spring" system.

The most titled club of the Russian championship is Moscow "Spartak", which in the first 10 years of the existence of the tournament - 9 times became the champion, once Spartak-Alania (Vladikavkaz) managed to do it in 1995. Moscow "Spartak" is also the leader among the points scored in the entire history of the championship and the number of Russian clubs participating in European competitions.

RFPL teams titles and awards:

Interesting facts of the Russian Premier League:

• Spartak-Alania (Vladikavkaz) is the only team that left the Premier Division after the 1995 championship.
• Brazilian Daniel Carvalho (CSKA) became the first foreign player to be named the best player of the year in the Premier League.
• The greatest number of matches among foreign players (not taking into account the neighboring countries) was played by Elver Rahimic, on his account 282 games.
• The first foreign coach to win the Russian Championship was Dick Advocaat (Zenit 2007).
• Only 4 teams took part in all the competitions of the Russian championship - Dynamo Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow, Spartak Moscow and CSKA Moscow.
• In 2014, for the first time in the history of the Premier League, 4 clubs left at once: Volga and Anji took the last two places, while Tom and Krylya Sovetov (13th and 14th places) lost their play-offs.
• The most productive round of the Russian championship was the 6th round of the 2012/13 season - 36 goals were scored in eight matches.
• The largest dry streak belongs to Lokomotiv goalkeeper Ruslan Nigmatulin, who did not concede goals for 934 minutes.
• Records for winning streaks belong to Lokomotiv and CSKA, which managed to win 12 rounds in a row.

The Russian Premier League is becoming like its English namesake. In the British Isles, four to six clubs have competed for championship gold for many years. Although no, "pretend" is too loud a word. Rather, four to six clubs are nominally contenders for the triumph.

This is not the case in other championships. In Spain and Portugal, two and a half clubs have claims to the title, one and a half in Italy and France, and only one in Germany. And we have five.

Last season, in almost all foreign top leagues, the intrigue died long before the finish line. Even in England, where Manchester City bombed all the opponents and scored as many as a hundred points. The "+19" gap between the champion and the silver medalist - and this is in the most competitive championship of the European elite!

In Russia, the name of the triumphant became known a round before the end. And it is symbolic that the champion won the gold match of the main favorite of the season -. before the starting round, few people included in the number of applicants. And we in "SE" have outlined the circle of applicants with the so-called "big three" - "Zenith", and.

So there is no longer any "big three". As in England a few years ago, the classic "Big Four" was diluted and, in Russia there are now five candidates for the title. Only we, unlike England, do not and cannot have superiority of one team over all the others.

Sergey SEMAK. Photo by Vyacheslav EVDOKIMOV, FC Zenit

In recent years, Zenit claimed the status of favorite number one - the composition, the coaching staff, and financial capabilities spoke for him. Even now, bookmakers give a cautious preference to Petersburgers, but their victory this time is not at all obvious. The blue-white-blue now have not only perestroika, but also a rethinking of philosophy - for the first time in many years, a Russian specialist, and even a young one, has come to the coaching post. And at the same time, the "alien" team is at the disposal of the team - they have selected people for the previous coach. And he himself would hardly want to acquire some of them, and many players would not have been lured to St. Petersburg by the name of Semak.

Victor GONCHARENKO. Photo by Alexander FEDOROV, "SE"

CSKA is changing too. But the army team is even easier: it is one thing when the coach suddenly breaks down from the team after half of the work done, and the other is when the players leave the club, for whose departure everyone was ready. Yes, without, it will be hard for the red and blue. But not so much that the team instantly falls into the middle of the table. We all just need to get used to the new CSKA. Another, but still CSKA.

Murad MUSAEV. Photo by FC Krasnodar

And a new era. It's also a kind of experiment - entrusting the main squad to a 34-year-old coach with experience working only with youth teams. But I want to cheer for, because young specialists are rarely trusted by teams of such a high level. And if he succeeds, then Russia will get a strong coach.

Massimo CARRERA. Photo by Daria ISAEVA, SE

“Spartak” of the five contenders looks the strongest. The same coach to whom the patron of the club expressed full credit of confidence. The same leaders - did not go anywhere, although he could. The same ambitions - “Spartak” and before last year's gold in the Premier League swung to the top of the podium, and now it is unnecessary to mention it. At the training camp, the red and white won 9 victories in 11 matches - a result that further reinforces the idea of ​​the high status of the team.

Yuri SEMIN. Photo by Daria ISAEVA, SE

“Locomotive” also did not weaken over the offseason, and even strengthened - the central midfielder is still the loudest acquisition of the Russian summer. But red and green will be harder this season. Now they are already considered, the players themselves are no longer so hungry. The Champions League will be an additional burden on the fragile neck of the railroad workers - its weight is unusual for “Loko”.

It turns out that there is no clear contender for the title. And that's great. While in Europe the difference between champions and the rest grows, competition in Russia increases. So much the better: let them watch not only the World Championship in Russia, but also the Russian Championship abroad.