First matches of RFPL. Top RFPL scorers

Which will be held in Russia for the first time in history. In this regard, the 26th season in the top division will be compressed in time and will end 2-3 weeks earlier than usual. As a result, physical training, especially in the spring part of the championship, comes to the fore, since teams will often have to play two matches in a week, not counting the Russian Cup.

The RFPL 2017-2018 has not undergone major changes in terms of format and scoring system. The only nuance will be the opportunity to play in the Champions League qualification for the team that took third place in the table at the end of the championship. The fight in the championship will only become fiercer, because the chance to compete in one of the most prestigious tournaments in the Old World means both solid bonuses and good financial support for the club.

The top division of football will still have 16 teams playing in the upcoming season. The RFPL is scheduled to begin on July 13, 2017, and the competition will end on May 13, 2018. For the sixth season in a row, the Russian Championship is being held according to the “autumn-spring” system, which implies a long winter break. The tournament will be divided into two parts:

19 rounds will take place from July 13 to December 19, 2017;
11 rounds will be played from March 4 to May 13, 2018.

The winner of the tournament automatically enters the group stage of the Champions League; second and third places also guarantee participation in this tournament. The teams that are in fourth and fifth place according to the results of the RFPL 2017-2018 will take part in the second most prestigious club competition - the Europa League.

Teams that find themselves in the last two lines in the table (that is, 15 and 16) automatically move to the division with a lower rank - . Positions 13 to 14 give the right to fight for the right to remain in the country's football elite with the third and fourth FNL teams. There are two games (on the home field and in the opponent’s arena), the results of which determine who will play in the next season of the Premier League and who will go to travel around the small towns and villages of our vast Motherland. If during the main time of the play-off matches the winner cannot be identified, two additional halves of 15 minutes each are assigned, and then a penalty shootout.

The schedule of matches of the 13th round of the RFPL 2017-2018 is as follows:

Match start date/Moscow time	Participants	Location
	"Akhmat" - "Spartak"	Grozny, Akhmat Arena
	"Dynamo" - "SKA-Khabarovsk"	Khimki, Khimki Arena
	"Ural" - "Anzhi"	Ekaterinburg, SKB-Bank Arena
	"Krasnodar" - "CSKA"	Krasnodar, Arena "Krasnodar"
	"Ufa" - "Lokomotiv"	Ufa, "Neftyanik"
	"Rostov" - "Rubin"	Rostov-on-Don, "Olympus-2"
	“Zenit” – “Arsenal” (Tula)	St. Petersburg, "Krestovsky"
	"Amkar" - "Tosno"	Perm, "Zvezda"

The RFPL standings after 12 rounds played look like this:

League position	Team name	Number of goals scored/missed	Points scored

	"Locomotive"
	"Krasnodar"


	"Spartacus"
	"Rostov"



	Arsenal (Tula)


	"SKA-Khabarovsk"
	"Dynamo"

New clubs in the RFPL

At the end of the 2016-2017 season, a number of teams fought for the right to remain in the top division of football. Tom and Krylya Sovetov were the most unlucky, as they were relegated to the FNL from the last two places in the table. “Orenburg” and Tula “Arsenal” took part in the play-offs, but only the latter squad managed to maintain their registration in the elite. SKA-Khabarovsk knocked Orenburg out of the Premier League in a penalty shootout and will compete with the best football teams in the country in the upcoming season. In addition, the following teams joined the Russian Championship:

Dynamo (Moscow);
"Tosno" (Leningrad region).

As for SKA-Khabarovsk, the club itself probably did not expect entry into the 2017-2018 RFPL. This summer, 9 players involved in reaching the Russian Championship left the team at once. Most of them have expired contracts, which the bosses of the Far Eastern club did not renew. So far, only midfielder Savichev from Spartak-2 has been purchased to replace the departed players. So far, SKA-Khabarovsk is located dangerously close to the relegation zone, and the team cannot successfully resist skilled opponents from the Premier League with only one youth in its composition. According to experts, in order to be guaranteed to remain among the elite of Russian football, a club needs to score at least 30 points. It is still unclear how SKA-Khabarovsk will do this, but there is still time to correct the situation, and the fans are waiting for a clear game from the players.

The legendary Moscow Dynamo, after an inglorious departure from the Russian championship in the 2015-2016 season, won the FNL and returned to the elite. Despite financial difficulties, new contracts were signed with all key players. In addition, to strengthen the attack, striker Vanderson was acquired from Krasnodar. Among the significant purchases of the blue and white, we also note midfielder Sou from Kayserispor, defender Shunjic from Stuttgart, striker Panchenko, the rights to which were purchased from the capital. It is obvious that in the new RFPL draw, Yuri Kolitvintsev’s team set themselves the highest goals, but they are unlikely to be able to aim for the top three. The team is in a serious crisis, which has pushed it into the relegation zone. The situation was aggravated by the demarche of fans who refused to support the club indefinitely. In such a situation, Dynamo will have to show character, otherwise at the end of the championship they will again have to pack their bags for the second strongest division.

FC Tosno has become one of the most active newsmakers in the transfer market. The team was strengthened by several inexpensive, but quite competitive in the Premier League, players. For example, the goalkeeper line was completely updated: Gutor, Yurchenko, Oparin - now the team from the Leningrad region is not afraid of the last line. Tosno's attack will be played by forward Vukushevich, who transferred from Greuther-Fürth, and Melkadze, loaned from Spartak. The defensive line and midfield have been significantly updated: Tosno also has no problems here. The club's management, making such significant acquisitions, probably counted on at least the top ten in the standings, but the reality turned out to be harsher. The team failed to achieve its intended goal, and after 12 rounds it is in the play-off zone.

Title Contenders

Unlike, where at least six teams compete for first place, in the Premier League this number is much smaller. If not the championship, then the following teams will definitely be vying for the top spots in the 2017-2018 RFPL standings:

"CSKA" (Moscow);
"Spartak Moscow);
"Krasnodar"
Zenit (St. Petersburg).

St. Petersburg Zenit is seriously targeting the championship in the upcoming RFPL. After an unsuccessful performance in the 2016-2017 season, when the team only won third place, the club's management made drastic changes. Firstly, the Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu was fired, and he was replaced by Roberto Mancini, experienced in leading European clubs. Secondly, Zenit did not spare money on strengthening. Obviously, with such significant financial injections, the bosses of the team from the banks of the Neva are counting on both a successful performance in the Europa League and another title in the main football division of Russia.

In the off-season, the army team did not make any major acquisitions, but extended contracts with key players (Ignashevich and Fernandez). Obviously, CSKA believes that proven players are better than dubious reinforcements. However, it wouldn’t hurt to add a scoring forward to Viktor Goncharenko’s squad. The bet is on Vitinho, who, although he has improved recently, it is obvious that in important matches he is “eaten up” by tenacious defenders. As a result, we have to play with the same squad in the Russian Championship and the Champions League. This affects the play of Viktor Goncharenko’s team, which has so far secured fourth place in the standings.

The current champion of the 2016-2017 RFPL, Spartak, was systematically preparing to defend the title. Rumors about the transfer of coach Massimo Carrera have been dispelled: the Italian specialist will work at least until the end of the season. It is almost impossible to predict how Spartak will perform this season, since the club will have to play on two fronts - in the domestic championship and in the group stage of the Champions League. At the moment, neither here nor there the red and white have been able to demonstrate their full potential. In the RFPL, the club is in sixth place, and the gap from first-place Zenit has already reached 11 points.

The game of Krasnodar this season pleases the fans. Igor Shalimov's team was second for a long time, and only disappointing defeats in the last two rounds pushed the team to third place. The “Bulls” urgently need to work on their mistakes and systematically prepare for each match, especially since the club is not burdened with performances on the international stage. In the current RFPL draw, under certain circumstances, Krasnodar can aim for the top three, which will allow it to play in the Champions League for the first time in 2018-2019.

"Dark horses" of the Russian Premier League

In addition to CSKA, Spartak, Zenit, there are several teams in the RFPL that are capable of “shooting” and getting into the fight for the top three. The list of such clubs should include:

"Rostov";
"Akhmat"
"Rubin Kazan);
"Lokomotiv" (Moscow).

After last year's relatively unsuccessful performance in the Russian Championship, dramatic changes took place in Rostov. Leonid Kuchuk came to the coaching bridge, after which a thorough cleaning of the roster began. So, for example, Noboa was sold to Zenit, they did not renew the contracts with Cesar Navas, Dzhanaev, Devich. To replace them, seven new players were purchased (Makeev, Parshivlyuk, Abaev, Pesyakov) and, according to rumors, it is planned to buy 3-4 more players to strengthen them. In general, we will no longer see the old Rostov: a renewed team has appeared before the fans. Kuchuk quickly managed to establish team interactions, and Rostov ended up in seventh place with a minimal gap from the European Cup zone.

Akhmat changed its coaching staff in the off-season: Oleg Kononov was appointed to the post of helmsman, but this did not bring stability. At the start of the championship, the club suffered a protracted series of four defeats, which did not allow it to rise above fifth place. Akhmat's squad is combat-ready, so if there are no downturns in the game, the team can count on getting into the Europa League at the end of the 2017-2018 championship.

Rubin Kazan also changed their head coach in the off-season. Kurban Berdyev replaced Javier Gracia, who failed the last championship. The strengthening of the squad was insignificant - only Ozdoev, Garnet and a number of little-known football players were bought. If we look at the club's prospects in the top division, they are very vague: from the first rounds the team accustomed its fans to inconstancy. Most likely, in the current season, Rubin will remain average, and the fruits of the work of one of the best coaches in Russia will appear next season.

Unlike Rubin, Lokomotiv Moscow, thanks to its victory in the Russian Cup, will represent the country in the Europa League this season. To fight on two fronts, the “railwaymen” had too short a bench, so to strengthen them in the off-season, they extended the loan with striker Ari, returned defender Shishkin from his loan from Krasnodar and signed a full-fledged contract with midfielder Denisov. Loko has an excellent chance of getting into the top three, especially since the Miranchuk brothers, Manuel Fernandes, and Guilherme are demonstrating excellent performances. The result of the well-coordinated work of the coaching staff and players was an intermediate second place in the RFPL.

Fight for survival

In addition to SKA-Khabarosk, there are several other teams in the elite of Russian football that experts classify as outsiders of the championship. The following teams will fight for the right to remain in the RFPL 2018-2019:

"Anji"
"Tosno";
"Dynamo";
"SKA-Khabarovsk";
Arsenal (Tula).

Dynamo, Khabarovsk and Tosnets were discussed earlier, but Anzhi should be discussed separately. The team from Makhachkala did not play well at the start of the tournament, and only with the arrival of Vadim Skripchenko as coach did the players begin to show good play. Two draws with Spartak and Zenit put local fans in a positive mood, but the team still has a lot of work to do to escape the relegation zone.

Arsenal Tula, which won the right to remain in the first division in the last RFPL play-off, has changed its head coach. Miodrag Bozovic is no stranger to pulling football teams from the bottom of the standings, and it looks like in the current edition the Serbian specialist will have to show all his rescue skills again. Relying on Bozovic's coaching genius is at least dangerous: you can even end up below the play-off zone.

Interesting facts about the RFPL 2017-2018

It’s probably interesting to know a few facts about the Premier League:

the RFPL will be “rebranded” in the new draw;
the football club "Terek" (Grozny) was renamed to "Akhmat";
The league management will actively promote the RFPL brand abroad;
The RFU is seriously thinking about tightening the limit on foreign players to 5 players;
the number of clubs in the top division may be reduced to 14 (but not earlier than 2018).

Although football in Russia is represented not only by the Premier League, which is scheduled to begin on July 13, 2017, the most interesting events will take place here. This tournament is not as spectacular as, for example, the German Championship, but in it the teams sometimes demonstrate high-quality play that is worthy of the attention of fans. Don't miss the start of the competition, which promises to be exciting, uncompromising and unpredictable.

For more information about the stadiums of the teams participating in the 2016-2017 Premier League, see the following video:

Another season in the top division Russian Football Championship, which is held by the Russian Football Premier League(RFPL), began on July 15, 2017 and ended on May 13, 2018.

Premier League standings 2017/2018

	Team	AND	IN	N	P	M	ABOUT
1	Locomotive	30	18	6	6	41-21	60
2	CSKA	30	17	7	6	49-23	58
3	Spartacus	30	16	8	6	51-32	56
4	Krasnodar	30	16	6	8	46-30	54
5	Zenith	30	14	11	5	46-21	53
6	Ufa	30	11	10	9	34-30	43
7	Arsenal	30	12	6	12	35-41	42
8	Dynamo	30	10	10	10	29-30	40
9	Akhmat	30	10	9	11	30-34	39
10	Ruby	30	9	11	10	32-25	38
11	Rostov	30	9	10	11	27-28	37
12	Ural	30	8	13	9	31-32	37
13	Amkar	30	9	8	13	20-30	35
14	Anji	30	6	6	18	31-55	24
15	Tosno	30	6	6	18	23-54	24
16	SKA Khabarovsk	30	2	7	21	16-55	13

Help on the standings: AND- games, IN- winnings, N- draws, P- defeats, M- goals scored and missed, ABOUT- glasses.

Top scorers of the RFPL

Quincy Promes (Spartak) - 15 (3 from the penalty spot), Fedor Smolov (Krasnodar) - 14 (3), Jefferson Farfan (Lokomotiv) - 10 (0), Vitinho (CSKA) - 10 (2), Victor Klasson (Krasnodar) - 100).

Adults and children can play football comfortably in the “Football Time” sports arena, which has modern, world-class infrastructure.

Key dates for the 2017/2018 season

In the match for the Russian Super Cup, in which last season's champion Spartak and Russian Cup winner Lokomotiv met, the red and white won (2:1).

Zenit met with Spartak in the 4th round and won a major victory over their principal rival (5:1). The match in Moscow took place on November 27 as part of the 18th round and ended in a victory for the hosts with a score of 3:1.

The 6th round game between CSKA and the current Premier League champion ended in victory for the army club with a score of 2:1. The return match took place on the Spartak field on December 10 and ended in a victory for the hosts with a score of 3:0.

The first meeting of the army team and Zenit team within the framework of the Russian football championship took place in Moscow on October 22 and ended in a goalless draw. The return game in St. Petersburg in the 28th round also ended in a goalless draw.

Lokomotiv won the championship in the 29th round match, beating Zenit at home with a score of 1:0.

The final of the Russian Football Cup took place on May 9, 2018. Tosno beat Avangard Kursk with a score of 2:1 in the decisive match.

The 2017-2018 Russian Football Championship is eagerly awaited by millions of domestic fans. The upcoming draw is significant, since it will take place on the eve of the event, which will be held on the territory of the sovereign Russian Federation for the first time in history. The national championship games will be held according to the “autumn-spring” system, like the previous 5 seasons, but the second part of the draw will most likely be much shorter.

The start of the 2017-2018 Russian Football Championship is scheduled for July 15, 2017, and the end date is May 13, 2018. The fact is that the coach of the Russian national team, Stanislav Cherchesov, asked the general director of the RFU, Alexander Aliyev, to hold the last round of the championship no later than a month before the World Cup. This would allow football players to prepare more thoroughly for the main planetary championship. The official met the interests of the national team halfway and the end of the championship was tentatively shifted from June 13 to May 13, 2018.

Otherwise, the regulations of the Russian Football Championship have not changed: 16 teams will take part in the competition, which will play two matches among themselves (at the home stadium and at the opponent’s field). The winner of the competition automatically receives the right to play in the group stage of the most prestigious club tournament in Europe - the Champions League. The second line also guarantees participation in the Champions League without qualification. The championship bronze medalist will have to go through the play-offs from the third qualifying round. The clubs that took the final fourth and fifth places in the standings are sent to the second most prestigious club tournament in the Old World - the Europa League.

The main task for all teams taking part in the 2017-2018 Russian Championship will be to place above 15. The last two lines (that is, 15 and 16) will lead to relegation to the second strongest football division in the country - the FNL. Hardly anyone wants to travel around the villages and towns of the country, playing in the rain, heat, snow, so many clubs will strive to take at least 14th or 13th places. They provide an opportunity to fight for the right to remain in the Premier League in play-offs with squads from the FNL who took 3rd and 4th place.

The calendar for the 7th round of the Russian Football Championship is as follows:

Match name	Date and time	Location
“Tosno” – “SKA Khabarovsk”		St. Petersburg, "Petrovsky"
"Ural" - "CSKA"		Ekaterinburg, SKB-Bank Arena
"Spartak" - "Lokomotiv"		Moscow, Otkritie Arena
"Rubin" - "Anzhi"		Kazan, Kazan Arena
Amkar – Zenit		Perm, "Zvezda"
"Dynamo" - "Ufa"		Moscow, Khimki Arena
"Rostov" - "Krasnodar"		Rostov-on-Don, "Olympus-2"
“Akhmat” – “Arsenal” (Tula)		Grozny, Akhmat-Arena

Who's new?

There will be three newcomers in the 2017-2018 Russian Championship:

Dynamo (Moscow);
"Tosno" (Leningrad region);
"SKA" (Khabarovsk).

All of the listed football teams replaced Krylya Sovetov, Tom and Orenburg, which were relegated to the FNL. The last club lost in the play-offs to SKA from Khabarovsk.

As the starting rounds of the RFPL show, all newcomers will have to wage a desperate struggle for survival. Dynamo has the best chance of maintaining a place in the country's football elite. The team scored 4 points in 5 rounds, but played most of the meetings with strong opponents.

“Tosno” was able to score only three qualifying points, winning against its direct competitor for the saving 12th place – Tula “Arsenal” – with a score of 1:2. What worries the club's fans most is the low offensive performance: only 3 goals were scored in 5 rounds, and Dmitry Parfenov's team concedes at least one goal in every match. Despite this, experts note progress in the team’s actions, which inspires optimism among local fans.

SKA (Khabarovsk) looks the weakest. If not for the home victory over Anzhi (2:0), the team would have had a fat zero in the points column, as well as in the goals scored column. The labor victory in the 5th round shows that the Khabarovsk team has character, and this is already a lot on the way to maintaining a residence permit in the Premier League.

Read more about the tournament newcomers

Title Contenders

The list of contenders for the title will be incomplete without CSKA. The team, after the arrival of Viktor Goncharenko as a coach, is learning to play with three central defenders and is gradually bringing young people into the main team. The past season turned out to be a mess, but in the future, fans expect only the championship from CSKA. The main thing for the club is to find a good striker. Although Vitinho is trying, he still has to grow and grow before the glory of Wagner Love.

Thus, the Russian Football Championship 2017-2018, the schedule of which was drawn up taking into account the World Cup, will bring fans a lot of positive emotions, uncompromising battles and spectacular moments. Don't miss the start of the tournament on July 13, 2017.

For a selection of the best goals of the Russian Football Championship of the 2016-2017 season, see the following video:

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