The 2023–24 Russian Premier League (known as the
Mir
''Mir'' (, ; ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russia, Russian Federation. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to ...
Russian Premier League, also written as Mir Russian Premier Liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 32nd season of the premier
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 ...
competition in Russia since the
dissolution of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
and the 22nd 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.
Teams
As in the previous season, 16 teams played in the 2023–24 season. After the
2022–23 season,
Khimki
Khimki (, ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located approximately northwest from central Moscow, and is part of the Moscow metropolitan area.
History Origins and formation
Khimki was initially a railway station that had existed sin ...
and
Torpedo Moscow
Football Club Torpedo Moscow (, ''FK Torpedo Moskva''), known as Torpedo Moscow, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. The club will return to the Russian Premier League in the 2025–26 season. Their c ...
were both relegated to the
2023–24 Russian First League. They were replaced by
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 ...
and
Baltika Kaliningrad.
Venues
Personnel and kits
Managerial changes
Tournament format and regulations
The 16 teams play a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each one of the other teams twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 240 matches with each team playing 30.
The season started on 21 July. The last games before the winter break were played on 10 December; the spring part of the season began on 1 March and the last games will be played on 25 May.
Promotion and relegation
For the purpose of determining First League positions for the following season, the teams that do not pass 2024–25 RPL licensing or drop out of 2024–25 season for any other reason, or the second teams of RPL clubs, or the teams that finished lower than 6th place in First League standings will not be considered. For example, if the teams that finished 1st, 3rd and 4th in the First League standings failed licensing, the team that finished 2nd would be considered the 1st-placed team, the team that finished 5th will be considered the 2nd-placed team, and the team that finished 6th will be considered the 3rd-placed team. There would be no designated 4th-placed team in this scenario.
The teams that finish 15th and 16th will be relegated to the 2024–25 First League, while the top two in that league will be promoted to the Premier League for the 2024–25 season.
The 13th and 14th Premier League teams will play the 4th and 3rd 2023–24 First League teams respectively in two (home-and-away) playoff games, with
penalty shootout
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
in effect if necessary. The winners will secure Premier League spots for the 2024–25 season. If both of the teams that finish RPL in 13th and 14th place fail licensing for the 2024–25 season or drop out for any other reason, play-offs will not be held, and the 3rd and 4th First League teams will be promoted automatically. If one of the teams that place 13th and 14th in the Premier League fails licensing for 2024–25 season or drops out for other reasons, 3rd First League team will be promoted automatically and the 13th or 14th-placed team that passes licensing will play 4th First League team in playoffs, with the winners securing the Premier League spot. If only one First League team is eligible for the play-offs (as in the example scenario above), that team will play the 14th-placed RPL team in playoffs, with the winners securing the Premier League spot, and the 13th RPL team will remain in the league. If none of the First League teams are eligible for the play-offs, they will not be held and 13th and 14th-placed RPL teams will remain in the league. If any of the teams are unable to participate in the season after the play-offs have been concluded, or there are not enough teams that pass licensing to follow the above procedures, the replacement will be chosen by the
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 ...
in consultation with RPL and FNL.
Russian Football Union announced their initial 2024–25 licensing decision on 17 May 2024, with two games left to play in the Premier League and the First League. All the 2023–24 Premier League teams, and four out of the top 5 First League teams (
Khimki
Khimki (, ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located approximately northwest from central Moscow, and is part of the Moscow metropolitan area.
History Origins and formation
Khimki was initially a railway station that had existed sin ...
,
Dynamo Makhachkala,
Akron Tolyatti and
Rodina Moscow) were issued the license. 4th-placed First League club
Arsenal Tula was denied the license.
Shinnik Yaroslavl, which could finish in the Top 5 First League position, did not apply for the license. The final decision would be released on 23 May 2024, Arsenal could file an appeal for the denial before then.
On 20 May 2024, Dynamo Makhachkala and Khimki secured the top two spots in the First League and the direct promotion.
On 22 May 2024, Russian Football Union held a draw which determined that the first leg of the relegation play-offs will be hosted by the RPL teams. The games will be played on 29 May 2024 and 1 June 2024. In case
Baltika Kaliningrad qualified for the play-offs, the games in Baltika's match-up would be played on 6 June 2024 and 9 June 2024, as Baltika qualified for the
2023–24 Russian Cup
The 2023–24 Russian Cup is the 32nd season of the Russian football knockout tournament since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The competition started on 25 July 2023 and will conclude on 2 June 2024.
The winner of the cup would normally ga ...
superfinal, to be played on 2 June 2024.
On 23 May 2024, RFU announced that Arsenal's appeal was successful and they will be issued a conditional RPL license and participate in the play-offs.
Exclusion from the league
Any team can be excluded from the Premier League during the season for the following reasons: a) using counterfeit documents or providing inaccurate information to the league; b) not arriving to the game on more than one occasion; c)
match fixing
In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...
. Such a team is automatically relegated and is not replaced during the season, and only one additional team (that gains the fewest points at the end of the season) is directly relegated. If the excluded team had played fewer than 15 games at the time of exclusion, all its results would be annulled and would not count for the standings. If the excluded team had played at least 15 games at the time of exclusion, all their remaining opponents would be awarded a victory without effect on their goal difference.
Season events
Issues related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 22 May 2023,
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
extended their ruling that allowed foreign players in Russia to unilaterally suspend their contracts with their clubs and sign with a club outside of Russia until 30 June 2024. However, this option was only available to the players whose contract was already suspended under these regulations at the end of the 2022–23 season. The players who joined a Russian club after these regulations were originally introduced in March 2022, or players who played in Russia in the 2022–23 season (including those who originally suspended their contract in the 2021–22 season and then returned), were not able to use this condition in the 2023–24 season.
;Players who suspended their contracts
Last match day
For the first time since the
2015–16 season, the champion was determined on the last match day on 25 May 2024, with all the games played simultaneously with common kick-off time of 16:30
Moscow Time
Moscow Time (MSK; ) is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia, and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second-westernmost of the eleven time zones of Russia, after the non-continguous Kaliningrad enclave. It h ...
. It was also the first time since the
2013–14 season when three teams still had the chance to become champions on the last match day.
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 ...
entered the day with 56 points,
Zenit St. Petersburg (which won the title in 5 preceding seasons) had 54 and
Krasnodar
Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...
53. Krasnodar hosted Dynamo and Zenit played
Rostov
Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...
at home. Head-to-head results are the first tiebreaker in case the teams are tied on points, Dynamo had head-to-head advantage over Zenit and Krasnodar would have had advantage over Dynamo in case Krasnodar beat them. Therefore, Dynamo would have won the title if they beat Krasnodar or draw, Zenit would have won the title if they beat Rostov and Krasnodar beat Dynamo, and Krasnodar would have won it if they beat Dynamo and Zenit did not beat Rostov.
A goal by Krasnodar's
Jhon Córdoba in the 32nd minute was called off for offside after a
VAR review and both games were scoreless at half-time (if those results stood, Dynamo would have won the title). Córdoba put Krasnodar ahead in the 52nd minute, as Rostov's
Ronaldo scored in the 54th minute to put Zenit down 0–1 (Krasnodar would have won the title with those results). Zenit's
Gustavo Mantuan equalized in the 65th minute from a penalty kick awarded for handball after another VAR review (those results still would have favoured Krasnodar). Zenit's goal by
Mateo Cassierra in the 72nd minute was called off for offside. Two shots by Dynamo's
Luis Chávez and
Roberto Fernández in the 80th and 82nd minute respectively hit Krasnodar's goalpost. Zenit's late substitute
Artur
Artur is a cognate to the common male given name Arthur meaning "bear-like", or “of honour”. It is believed to possibly be descended from the Roman surname Artorius or the Celtic bear-goddess Artio or more probably from the Celtic word '' ...
put Zenit ahead 2–1 in the 85th minute with a long kick after a mistake by Rostov's goalkeeper
Sergei Pesyakov, establishing the final score and earning Zenit their sixth consecutive title, as Krasnodar game ended with the 1–0 score.
League table
Relegation play-offs
The draw to determine the hosts in each leg was held on 22 May 2024.
The kick-off times were set on 26 May 2024. The referees were assigned on 28 May 2024.
First leg
----
Second leg
''Akron Tolyatti won 3–2 on aggregate and was promoted to the Russian Premier League, Ural Yekaterinburg was relegated to the First League.''
----
''Pari Nizhny Novgorod won 3–2 on aggregate and retained their Russian Premier League spot, Arsenal Tula remained in the First League.''
Results
Season statistics
Top goalscorers
Hat-tricks
*
Clean sheets
;Notes
*
*
Awards
Monthly awards
Annual awards
Winline-Heroes of the RPL Awards
Awarded by the league.
Attendances
FC Zenit
Football Club Zenit (, ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, according to some Russian sources), the club p ...
drew the highest average home attendance in the 2023-24 edition of the Russian Premier League.
References
External links
*
*https://www.championat.com/football/_russiapl.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:2023-2024 Russian Premier League
Russian Premier League seasons
1
Russian Premier League, Rus
Sports events affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine