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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)
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
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