About

This is a blog dedicated to Russian football. We write about Russian national teams as well as about Russian football clubs and home competitions.

Football is the number one sport in Russia. Football in Russia is governed by the Russian Football Union, “the RFS”.

Russian domestic league system includes the following leagues:
Russian Premier League;
First Division;
Second Division;
Amateur Football League.

Russian Premier League was founded in 2001 on the basis of Russian Top Division. While Top Division in various years included 20 and 18 clubs, Russian Premier League consists of just 16 clubs. Lokomotiv (Moscow) was the first Russian Premier League winner. Each year two clubs are relegated and join First Division. Russian Premier League is governed by the clubs, whose representatives form an executive body.

First Division and Second Division are governed by the Professional Football League, “the PFL”.

First Division gained its current name in 1998, before that it was called First League. First Division includes 20 teams since 2009. Each year two best clubs are promoted into the Premier League.

Second Division is divided into 5 zones: West, Centre, South, Urals-Volga region and East. Each year the number of teams may range. For example in season 2009 West and South zones include 19 clubs, while East zone includes just 10 clubs. The winner of each zone is promoted into the First Division.

Amateur Football League is run by the Russian Football Union, the competitions are run in 79 regions of Russia (out of 83).

Current Cup competitions include the Russian Cup, the Russian Super Cap, the PFL Cup.

The Russian national football team represents Russia on an international level. There are also a number of age-specific national teams.

Women’s football is gradually increasing in female players and spectators.

Russian national women’s football team is quite competitive on international level, though it has never won a major tournament.

Russian women’s football championship includes just 7 teams in the Top Division and 8 teams in the First Division.