The 2023–24 Russian Second League Division A was the 32nd season of Russia's third-tier football league since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The season began on 16 July 2023 and ended on 16 June 2024.

Overview

Before the season, the

Russian Second League The Russian Second League (), formerly the Russian Professional Football League, are both the third (Division A) and fourth level (Division B) of Russian professional Association football, football. History In 1998–2010, it was run by the :ru: ...

was reorganized and split into two tiers - third-tier Russian Second League Division A and fourth-tier Russian Second League Division B. Division A consists of two groups of 10 teams each. The Gold Group initially included: * 4 teams relegated from the

2022–23 Russian First League The 2022–23 Russian First League was the 31st season of Russia's second-tier football league since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The season began on 16 July 2022, and will have a 3 month winter break between game weeks 20 and 21 (November ...

(

FC Veles Moscow FC Veles Moscow () is a Russian association football, football team based in Moscow. "Veles" was founded in 2016 based on the Savelovskaya football school and entered amateur competitions. The club is private, funded by the founders. The title spo ...

FC Ufa FC Ufa (, ) is a Football in Russia, Russian football club based in Ufa that plays in the Russian First League. History During the summer of 2010, Rustem Khamitov, the second President of the Bashkortostan, Republic of Bashkortostan, began consi ...

, FC Krasnodar-2 and

FC Volga Ulyanovsk FC Volga Ulyanovsk () is a professional association football club based in Ulyanovsk, Russia. It will return to the second-tier Russian First League for the 2025–26 season. Their reserve team FC Volga-d Ulyanovsk used to play professionally as ...

) * 4 teams that came in 2nd place in their zones of the 2022–23 Russian Second League ( FC Chayka Peschanokopskoye, FC Murom,

FC Dynamo Bryansk FC Dynamo-Bryansk is a Russian football club based in Bryansk. The team colours are (Home) all blue. (Away) all white with blue shorts. History The club was founded in 1931 by GPU officer Filaret Adamovich. The team initially consisted of playe ...

and

FC Irtysh Omsk FC Irtysh Omsk () is a Russian football club based in Omsk, Russia. It plays in the third-tier Russian Second League. History Their best result in the 1992 season was 2nd in the Eastern Group of the Russian First Division. It was relegated to t ...

) * 2 best 3rd-placed 2022–23 Second League teams ( FC Rotor Volgograd and

FC Spartak Kostroma FC Spartak Kostroma () is a Russian association football club from Kostroma, founded in 1959. History The highest level it achieved in its history was second-highest Soviet First League, where it played in 1981 and 1982. In the past, the club w ...

); The Silver Group included: * 2 worst 3rd-placed 2022–23 teams ( FC Rodina-2 Moscow and

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

) * 7 4th- and 5th-placed 2022–23 teams (

FC Avangard Kursk FC Avangard Kursk is an association football club based in Kursk, Russia, currently playing in the third tier of Russian football. The team's colors are: home all blue, and away all white. History The club has been known under the following nam ...

, FC Chelyabinsk, FC Chertanovo Moscow,

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FC Novosibirsk FC Sibir Novosibirsk () is a Russian professional association football club based in Novosibirsk, playing at the Spartak Stadium. The club was established by the initiative of the Government of Novosibirsk Oblast in 2019. History The club wa ...

FC Salyut Belgorod FC Salyut Belgorod is a Russian association football club based in Belgorod. They play in the fourth-tier Russian Second League Division B. History Naming history The club was founded in 1960 and has been known as: * ''Tsementnik'' (Cement Work ...

FC Tekstilshchik Ivanovo FC Tekstilshchik Ivanovo () is a Russian association football club based in the city of Ivanovo, playing in the third-tier Russian Second League. It enjoyed Soviet Union football league system, Soviet and Football in Russia#League system, Russi ...

). FC Kuban-Holding Pavlovskaya (which came in 5th place in Group 1 in 2022–23 and was thus eligible for the Silver Group) chose to enter Second League Division B instead. FC Biolog-Novokubansk, which came in 6th place in Group 1, made the same decision. The vacant Silver Group spot was taken by

FC Metallurg Lipetsk FC Metallurg Lipetsk () is an association football club in Lipetsk, Russia, formed in 1957. Their home, Metallurg Stadium, is located on Pervomayskaya Street, 59, in Lipetsk. History Their best result came in 1997 when they came 2nd in the Russi ...

which came in 6th place in their group in 2022–23. In the first part of the season (summer/autumn 2023), each team in the Gold and Silver groups played each other team in the same group twice, home-and-away, for 18 games in total for each team. For the second part of the season (spring/summer 2024), groups were re-constituted. The Gold Group now includes top 6 first-stage Gold Group teams and top 4 first-stage Silver Group teams. Silver Group includes bottom 4 first-stage Gold Group teams, 5th and 6th-placed first-stage Silver Group teams and four winners of the Division B groups (

FC Mashuk-KMV Pyatigorsk FC Mashuk-KMV Pyatigorsk () is a Russian football club based in Pyatigorsk. The club plays in the third-tier Russian Second League. History The history of Mashuk-KMV dates back to the 1920s and the team named Dynamo. The team was known under dif ...

, FC Khimik Dzerzhinsk,

FC Kaluga FC Kaluga () is an association football club from Kaluga, Russia, founded in 2009. The club is playing in the third-tier Russian Second League Division A. The team appeared after uniting two football Clubs from Kaluga: FC MiK Kaluga and FC Loko ...

and FC Torpedo Miass). Bottom 4 first-stage Silver Group teams were relegated to Division B for 2024. The teams in re-constituted groups will play each other twice more for 18 more games. Top 2 Gold Group teams at the end of the season will be promoted to the

Russian First League The Russian First League (, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division () and Russian Football National League (FNL) () is the second level of the Football in Russia#League system, Russian football league system. The Russian Professio ...

for the 2024–25 season. The 3rd-placed second-stage Gold Group team played in promotion play-offs (two games, home-and-away). Their potential opponents were: # The 1st-placed first-stage Gold Group team ( FC Krasnodar-2), unless Krasnodar-2 finished in the Top 2 or in the bottom 4 in the second stage (Krasnodar-2 finished in the bottom 4 in the second stage); otherwise # The 2nd-placed first-stage Gold Group team (

), unless Ufa finished in the Top 2 or in the bottom 4 in the second stage (Ufa finished 1st in the second stage); otherwise # The 3rd-placed first-stage Gold Group team ( FC Rotor Volgograd), unless Rotor Volgograd finished in the Top 2 or in the bottom 4 in the second stage. The winner of those play-offs was also promoted to the

. If none of the top-3 first-stage Gold Group teams qualified for the promotion play-offs under the conditions described above, the play-offs would not be held and the 3rd-place second-stage Gold Group team would be promoted to the

automatically. The bottom four teams in the Gold Group at the end of the season were moved to Silver Group for the 2024–25 season, and the top four teams in the Silver Group were moved to Gold Group. The rotation between Division A and Division B will be happening in the winter going forward, as Division B switched to spring-to-autumn, March-to-November cycle for their seasons. For example, in November 2024, bottom 2 teams of Division A Silver Group standings at the time would be relegated to 2025 Division B directly, 7th and 8th-placed teams in Division A Silver Group will play in relegation play-offs against the bottom two teams of the 2023–24 Division A Silver Group season, with 2 losers of the playoffs also relegated to Division B. Winners of the 2024 Division B groups will be promoted to Division A Silver Group at that time. Therefore, there was no relegation from Division A or promotion to it immediately at the end of the 2023–24 season.

First stage

Gold Group

Top goalscorers

Silver Group

Top goalscorers

Second stage

Gold Group

Top goalscorers

Silver Group

Top goalscorers

Promotion play-offs

First leg

Second leg

''Rotor Volgograd won 4–2 on aggregate and was promoted to the First League, Novosibirsk remained in the Second League Division A Gold Group.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russian Second League Division A 2023-24 2023-24 3 Rus