The 2012–13 Russian Premier League (also written as SOGAZ RFPL for sponsorship reasons) was the 21st season of the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

championship since the dissolution of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and 11th under the current

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

name. It began on 21 July 2012 and ended on 26 May 2013, with a winter break between the weekends around 13 December 2012 and 10 March 2013. 16 teams from 12 cities compete in the season, with Zenit St. Petersburg as defending champions. For the first time since

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, no

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

n clubs take part. This was the first season in Russian football history to be played on the basis of the autumn/spring calendar, rather than the spring/autumn schedule traditionally used in Russia due to climate conditions. A total of sixteen teams participate in the league, the best fourteen sides of the 2011–12 season and two promoted clubs from the 2011–12 National Football League.

Teams

The following teams are mathematically confirmed to compete in the 2012–13 season: *

Alania Vladikavkaz FC Alania Vladikavkaz (, ) is a Russian association football, football team from Vladikavkaz. Founded in 1921, the club played in the Soviet Top League during the communist era, and won its first and only league title in the 1995 Russian Top Leag ...

(promoted from the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

) *

Amkar Perm FC Amkar Perm ( ) is a professional football club. Originally founded in 1994, it is based in the city of Perm. It was a participant in second-tier football from 1995 and in the Russian Premier League from 2004 to 2018, after which it was dissol ...

* Anzhi Makhachkala *

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. They are the league's reigning champions. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Divis ...

* Krylia Sovetov Samara * Kuban Krasnodar *

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...

* Mordovia Saransk (promoted from the

) *

FC Rostov FC Rostov () is a Russian professionalism in association football, professional football club based in Rostov-on-Don. The club competes in the Russian Premier League, playing their home matches at the Rostov Arena. History Soviet era (1930-199 ...

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–2 ...

* Spartak Moscow * Terek Grozny * Volga Nizhny Novgorod * Zenit St. Petersburg Tom Tomsk and Spartak Nalchik were relegated at the end of the 2011–12 season after finishing the season in the bottom two places. Both teams returned to the First Division after respectively seven and six seasons in top level. The relegated teams were replaced by 2011–12 First Division champions Mordovia Saransk and runners-up

. Former Russian champions Alania made their immediate return to the Premier League, while Mordovia are playing their first season at the highest football level of Russia.

Personnel and sponsorship

# On the back of number.

Managerial changes

Last updated: 26 May 2013

Tournament format and regulations

Basics

The 16 teams played a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each one of the other teams twice, once at home and once away. Thus, a total of 240 matches was played, with 30 matches played by each team.

Promotion and relegation

The teams that finish 15th and 16th will be relegated to the FNL, while the top two FNL teams will be promoted to the Premier League for the 2013/14 season. The 13th and 14th Premier League teams will play the 4th and 3rd FNL teams respectively in two playoff games with the winner securing a Premier League spot for 2013/14 (see paragraph 4.5.1 in the league regulations).

Junior teams

According to long-standing practice, a tournament of junior teams will be held in parallel with the championship. The age limit for junior teams' players for this season is yet to be decided. Each club will be allowed to field no more than 3 field players and 1 goalkeeper older than the age limit.

Foreign players

As of 4 July, a team will be allowed to have 7 foreign (non-Russian nationals) players on the pitch at the same time, unlike the previous season when the limit was 6 foreigners per team. The new rule will run until 2017.

Season events

Dynamo – Zenit game

On 17 November 2012, the game in which

was hosting Zenit St. Petersburg at Arena Khimki was abandoned at the 37th minute with Dynamo leading 1–0 through a free kick goal by

Vladimir Granat Vladimir Vasilyevich Granat ( rus, Владимир Васильевич Гранат, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪdʑ ɡrɐˈnat; born 22 May 1987) is a Russian professional association football, football coach and a former centre-ba ...

when a

firecracker A firecracker (cracker, noise maker, banger) is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment; any visual effect is incidental to ...

thrown from the stands hit Dynamo goalkeeper Anton Shunin. Shunin was taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with the chemical burns of his corneas and eyelids,

conjunctivitis Conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye or Madras eye, is inflammation of the conjunctiva, the thin, clear layer that covers the white surface of the eye and the inner eyelid. It makes the eye appear pink or reddish. Pain, burning, scratchiness ...

, and

otitis Otitis is a general term for inflammation in ear or ear infection, inner ear infection, middle ear infection of the ear, in both humans and other animals. When infection is present, it may be viral or bacterial. When inflammation is present due t ...

of his right ear with partial loss of hearing. Dynamo insisted that the game should be awarded to them. Zenit's general director Mikhail Mitrofanov suggested that Zenit might drop out of the Russian league altogether if the game is awarded to Dynamo. According to the police, the main suspect is a female fan who was arrested after the game. The criminal investigation was opened on the charge of hooliganism. On 22 November,

Russian Football Union The Russian Football Union (, ''Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz'' or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it organizes Russian amateur and professional football, includi ...

's Control-Disciplinary Committee awarded the game to Dynamo with a score of 3–0 and fined both clubs. Dynamo had to play their next home game (against Rubin Kazan) behind closed doors and Zenit had to play their next 2 home games (against CSKA Moscow and Anzhi Makhachkala) behind closed doors as well. Yellow cards received by Bruno Alves and

Roman Shirokov Roman Nikolayevich Shirokov ( ; born 6 July 1981) is a Russian international football official and a former player. He is the general director of Leon Saturn Ramenskoye. As a player, he played as a midfielder. Club career Early career Before ...

before the game was abandoned still count for disciplinary purposes. Shunin did not play in the remaining 3 games of 2012. Zenit only gained 2 points in their behind closed doors games, Dynamo won their behind closed doors game. Zenit filed an appeal for that decision with the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

, which heard their case on 9 May 2013. The appeal was denied on 14 May 2013.

League table

Results

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Hat-tricks

Relegation play-offs

First leg

----

Second leg

----

Awards

Monthly awards

Top 33

On 11 June 2013

named its list of 33 top players:

Annual awards

Russian Manager of the Season

CSKA Moscow manager Leonid Slutsky, received the Russian Manager of the Season.

Russian Player of the Season

The Russian Player of the Season was awarded to Igor Akinfeev.

Russian Referee of the Season

The Russian Referee of the Season was awarded to Aleksandr Egorov.

Attendances

Top 15 attendances (single match)

Source:

Russian Premier League attendances (average)

Source: Last updated: 26 May 2013

Medal squads

''(league appearances and goals listed in brackets)''

References

2012–13 Russian Premier League Table
(Indonesia language)

External links

*
2012–13 Russian Premier League at Soccerway

RFPL 2012/2013 at globalsportsarchive.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:2012-13 Russian Premier League

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...