The 2024–25 Russian Second League Division A is the 33rd season of Russia's third-tier football league since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The season began on 21 July 2024 and will end in June 2025.

Overview

Before the 2023–24 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: * 3 teams relegated from the 2023–24 Russian First League ( FC Leningradets Leningrad Oblast,

FC Volgar Astrakhan Volgar FC () is an association football club based in Astrakhan, Russia. They play in the Russian Second League Division A (third tier). History The club has been known under following names: *''Pishchevik'' (food industry worker) (1925−1958) * ...

and

FC Kuban Krasnodar FC Kuban () was a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar, which now only plays on a regional level. The team began playing in the Russian Premier League in 2011, having for won the Russian First Division a year prior. By then, ...

) * 3 teams from the Top 6 of the 2023–24 Second stage Gold Group that were not 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 ...

(including FC Novosibirsk, who were renamed to FC Sibir Novosibirsk) * Top 4 teams from the 2023–24 Second stage Silver Group The Silver Group included: * Bottom 4 teams from the 2023–24 Second stage Gold Group. * Bottom 6 teams from the 2023–24 Second stage Silver Group. In the first part of the season (summer/autumn 2024), 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 2025), groups were re-constituted. Top 6 teams of the First stage Gold Group and top 4 teams of the First stage Silver Group qualified for the Second stage Gold Group. Bottom 4 teams of the First stage Gold Group were moved to the Second stage Silver Group. Bottom 2 teams of the First stage Silver Group were automatically relegated to the 2025 Division B. Four winners of the 2024 Division B zones (

FC Forte Taganrog FC Forte Taganrog () was a Russian 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 ''foo ...

, FC Dynamo-2 Moscow,

FC Dynamo Vladivostok FC Dynamo Vladivostok () is a Russian football team from Vladivostok. They play their home games at the 10,200-capacity Dynamo Stadium. Club history Dynamo played on the amateur level for most of its history, with the exception of second-tier 1 ...

and FC Dynamo Kirov) were promoted to the Second stage Silver Group. Teams that finish 7th and 8th in the First stage Silver Group would qualify for the relegation play-offs (two games, home-and-away) against the teams that finished 9th and 10th in the Second stage Silver Group of the 2023–24 Russian Second League Division A ( FC Torpedo Miass and

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 ...

). If Torpedo Miass and Dynamo Bryansk finished in 5th and 6th place in the First stage Silver Group, the 5th-placed team would play the 8th-placed team and the 6th-placed team would play the 7th-placed team in the relegation play-offs. If only one team out of Torpedo/Dynamo finished in 5th or 6th place, that team would play in relegation play-offs against the 7th-placed team, and the 8th-placed team would be relegated automatically. If neither Torpedo Miass nor Dynamo Bryansk finished in 5th or 6th place, the relegation play-offs would not be held, and the 7th and 8th-placed teams would be relegated automatically. The losers of the relegation play-offs would be relegated to the 2025 Division B, the winners would be included in the Second stage Silver Group. Torpedo Miass secured a top-4 finish and a direct relegation for the 8th-placed team with 3 games left to play. Dynamo Bryansk finished 5th and faced 7th-placed

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 ...

in the relegation play-offs. The teams in re-constituted groups played each other twice more for 18 more games. Top 2 Gold Group teams at the end of the season will be promoted to the

for the 2025–26 season. The 3rd-placed Second stage Gold Group team qualifies to play in promotion play-offs (two games, home-and-away) against one of top-3 First stage Gold Group teams, conditional on the performance of those top-3 teams in the second stage. The 2nd-placed First stage Gold Group team,

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 ...

, secured a top 2 finish in the second stage on 28 May 2025 and was not a potential play-off candidate anymore. The 1st-placed First stage Gold Group team, FC Chelyabinsk, secured a position from 3rd to 6th place on 8 June 2025. If they finished in 3rd place, they would be promoted automatically. If they finished below the 3rd place, they would be the second participant of the promotion play-offs. The winner of those play-offs would also be promoted to the

. On the last match day on 14 June 2025, Chelyabinsk was playing

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 ...

, which never applied for the 2025–26 Russian First League license. In case of Chelyabinsk victory, they would have secured 3rd place and an automatic promotion. In case of a draw, the 3rd place would be taken by

or FC Leningradets Leningrad Oblast, both of which did apply for the license and would play Chelyabinsk in the play-offs in this scenario. In case of Mashuk-KMV victory, Mashuk-KMV would have secured the 3rd place, but Chelyabinsk were likely to receive an automatic promotion in this case, as Mashuk-KMV would not be eligible for the play-offs due to the lack of license. After Mashuk-KMV scored a go-ahead goal to make the score 2–1 in their favour in the 79th minute, Chelyabinsk started time wasting despite being behind, as the loss was preferable to a draw to them. The game ended with Mashuk-KMV's 2–1 victory. The promotion decision will be confirmed 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 ...

. The bottom four teams in the Gold Group at the end of the season would be moved to Silver Group for the 2025–26 season, and the top four teams in the Silver Group would be moved to Gold Group. The bottom two teams in the Silver Group would qualify for the 2025–26 relegation play-offs. 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. There will no relegation from Division A or promotion to it immediately at the end of the 2024–25 season.

First stage

Gold Group

Top goalscorers

Silver Group

Top goalscorers

Relegation play-offs

The draw for the host team for the first leg was held on 14 November 2024.

First leg

Second leg

''Irtysh Omsk won 2–0 on aggregate and remained in Division A Silver Group, Dynamo Bryansk was relegated to Second League Division B.''

Second stage

Gold Group

Top goalscorers

Silver Group

Top goalscorers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russian Second League Division A 2024-25 2023-24 3 Rus