The first level of the Russian league system is the 16-club Premier League. Below are two other professional levels, namely First League and Second League, both managed by the National Football League. The First League consists of 18 clubs, and the Second League has 72 clubs split geographically into Groups 1 to 4 (representing Southern, Western, Central and Eastern parts of Russia) with varying numbers of clubs. Four clubs from the Far East are allocated to Groups 2 to 4. After each season, the top two clubs of the First League replace the bottom two clubs of the Premier League, and champions of each Second League group replace the four bottom clubs of the First League.
The Second Division is the lowest level of professional football in Russia. The next level of football is the Amateur Football League (aka Third Division), which is split into ten zones: North-West (Severo-Zapad), Golden Ring (Zolotoe Koltso), Moscow City (Gorod Moskva), Moscow Region (Podmoskovye), Center, South (Yug), Volga Region (Privolzhye), Ural and West Siberia (Ural i Zapadnaya Sibir), Siberia (Sibir), and Far East (Dalniy Vostok). Also there is a Cup competition in each zone. At the end of the season, the zonal champions and cup winners participate in the AFL Finals to determine the AFL Champions and Cup Winners. There is no automatical promotion/relegation between Second League and AFL, though the winners of each Amateur Football League zone are eligible for promotion to the Second League, provided that they have taken part in the AFL Finals. The actual promotion and relegation is subject to meeting Professional Football League requirements.
There is no promotion/relegation between the AFL and lower level either, and the composition of AFL zones can change a lot from season to season, as the AFL is basically open to new clubs. At the lower Level, there are championships of federal subjects. They are often called the Fourth Division, though these competitions are formally not part of the league system. Nevertheless, some AFL zonal football unions organize tournaments (like Champions League) for the champions of federal subjects which are the members of the respective union. Many federal subject leagues provide a much stronger competition, so clubs often prefer to stay at the 5th level rather than enter the AFL. The competitions at the 4th and 5th level have a spring-autumn format, unlike the autumn-spring professional league format.
League system[]
Level | League/Division(s) | |||||||||
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1 | Russian Premier League 16 clubs | |||||||||
2 | Russian First League 18 clubs | |||||||||
3 | Russian Second League | |||||||||
Group 1 (South) 14 clubs |
Group 2 (West) 22 clubs |
Group 3 (Center) 24 clubs |
Group 4 (East) 12 clubs | |||||||
4 | Russian Amateur Football League | |||||||||
North West 8 clubs |
Golden Ring 10 clubs |
Moscow City 10 clubs |
Moscow Region 12 clubs |
Center 11 clubs |
South 9 clubs |
Volga Region 8 clubs |
Ural and West Siberia 13 clubs |
Siberia 15 clubs |
Far East no championship | |
5 | Championships of Federal Subjects | |||||||||
Kaliningrad Region: Supreme Division (12 clubs) First Division (12 clubs) Second Division (7 clubs) Karelia Republic: 20+ clubs Komi Republic: 12 clubs Murmansk Region: 9 clubs Pskov Region: 17 clubs St. Petersburg City: Supreme League (10 clubs) First League (11 clubs) St. Petersburg Region: 10 clubs Arkhangelsk Region, Velikiy Novgorod Region: no league |
Ivanovo Region: Supreme League (10 clubs) First League (11 clubs) Second League (11 clubs) Kirov Region: 10 clubs Kostroma Region: 8 clubs Tver Region: Supreme Division (16 clubs) First Division (20 clubs) Vladimir Region: Class I (13 clubs) Class II (13 clubs) Class III (12 clubs) Vologda Region: 21 clubs Yaroslavl Region: 9 clubs |
Moscow City: Division B (13 clubs) |
Moscow Region: Division B (27 clubs) Division C (32 clubs) |
Belgorod Region: Championship (9 clubs) Premiership (21 clubs) Bryansk Region: Division 1 (16 clubs) Division 2 (13 clubs) Division 3 (31 clubs) Kaluga Region: Championship (10 clubs) Premiership Class I (15 clubs) Premiership Class II (6 clubs) Kursk Region: Championship (10 clubs) Premiership (10 clubs) Lipetsk Region: Championship (11 clubs) Premiership (11 clubs) Oryol Region: Championship (8 clubs) Countryside Premiership (11 clubs) Ryazan Region: 15 clubs Smolensk Region: Championship (8 clubs) Premiership (9 clubs) Tambov Region: Class I (8 clubs) Class II (24 clubs) Tula Region: 17 clubs Volgograd Region: 18 clubs Voronezh Region: Championship (11 clubs) Prosianoi Memorial (26 clubs) |
Adyghea Republic: 6 clubs Astrakhan Region: Supreme League (9 clubs) First League (13 clubs) Chechen Republic: Championship (11 clubs) Premiership (28 clubs) Dagestan Republic: 12 clubs Ingushetia Republic: 17 clubs Kabardino-Balkar Republic: Supreme Division (14 clubs) First Division (14 clubs) Kalmykia Republic: 10 clubs Karachay-Cherkes Republic: 6 clubs Krasnodar Territory: Supreme League (10 clubs) First League (40 clubs) North Ossetia-Alania Republic: Supreme Division (14 clubs) First Division (10 clubs) Rostov-on-Don Region: Supreme League (13 clubs) First League (36 clubs) Second League (22 clubs) Stavropol Territory: Class I (10 clubs) Class II (8 clubs) |
Chuvashia Republic: 24 clubs Mariy El Region: Supreme League (8 clubs) First League (9 clubs) Mordovia Republic: Championship (10 clubs) Mordovian Football League (18 clubs) Nizhniy Novgorod Region: 18 clubs Penza Region: Supreme League (9 clubs) First League (6 clubs) Samara Region: Championship (8 clubs) Countryside Supreme League (12 clubs) Countryside First League (11 clubs) Saratov Region: 8 clubs Tatarstan Republic: Supreme League (13 clubs) First League (13 clubs) Second League (8 clubs) Udmurt Republic: 8 clubs Ulyanovsk Region: Championship (8 clubs) Premiership (14 clubs) |
Bashkortostan Republic: Championship (10 clubs) First League (8 clubs) Second League (8 clubs) Chelyabinsk Region: 14 clubs Kurgan Region: 14 clubs Omsk Region: Class I (7 clubs) Class II (8 clubs) Orenburg Region: Class I (6 clubs) Class II (8 clubs) Perm Territory: Division 1 (11 clubs) Division 2 (15 clubs) Tyumen Region: First League (8 clubs) Second League (9 clubs) Yekaterinburg Region: Class I (11 clubs) Class II (16 clubs) Class III (14 clubs) |
Altay Territory: First League (8 clubs) Second League (24 clubs) Buryatia Republic: 9 clubs Irkutsk Region: 7 clubs Khakassia Republic: 9 clubs Kemerovo Region: 14 clubs Krasnoyask Territory: 6 clubs Novosibirsk Region: 15 clubs Tomsk Region: 7 clubs Altay Republic, Tyva Republic, Zabaykalye Territory: no league |
Jewish Autonomous Region: 3+ clubs Primorye Territory: 12 clubs Sakhalin Region: 9 clubs Sakha-Yakutia Republic: 8 clubs Amur Region, Kamchatka Territory, Khabarovsk Territory, Magadan Region: no league |
Football in Russia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Domestic leagues |
Premier League · National Football League · Professional Football League |
Domestic cups |
Russian Cup (Final) · Super Cup |
International club competitions |
Champions League · Europa League |
2016–17 2018–19 |
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Domestic leagues |
Premier League · National Football League · Professional Football League |
Domestic cups |
Russian Cup (Final) · Super Cup |
International club competitions |
Champions League · Europa League |
![]() |
Domestic leagues |
Premier League · National Football League · Professional Football League |
Domestic cups |
Russian Cup (Final) · Super Cup |
International club competitions |
Champions League · Europa League |
![]() |
Domestic leagues |
Premier League · National Football League · Professional Football League |
Domestic cups |
Russian Cup (Final) · Super Cup |
International club competitions |
Champions League · Europa League |
![]() |
Domestic leagues |
Premier League · First League · Second League |
Domestic cups |
Russian Cup (Final) · Super Cup |
![]() |
Domestic leagues |
Premier League · First League · Second League |
Domestic cups |
Russian Cup (Final) · Super Cup |
Football in Europe | |||||||||||||||
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