Global InformationRussian Premier League information
 | |
| Organising body | Russian Football Union (RFU) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1992 (as Top League) 2001 (as Premier League) |
| Country |  Russia |
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Number of teams | 16 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | First League |
| Domestic cup(s) | Russian Cup Russian Super Cup |
| Current champions | Zenit Saint Petersburg (9th title) (2022–23) |
| Most championships | Spartak Moscow (10 titles) |
| TV partners | List of broadcasters |
| Website | premierliga |
| Current: 2023–24 Russian Premier League | |
The Russian Premier League (RPL; Russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga,[1] is the top division professional association football league in Russia.[2] It was established at the end of 2001 as the Russian Football Premier League (RFPL; Russian: Российская футбольная премьер-лига; РФПЛ) and was rebranded with its current name in 2018.[3] From 1992 through 2001, the top level of the Russian football league system was the Russian Football Championship (Russian: Чемпионат России по футболу, Chempionat Rossii po Futbolu).[4]
There are 16 teams in the competition. As of the 2021/22 season, the league had two Champions League qualifying spots for the league winners and league runners-up, and two spots in the UEFA Conference League were allocated to the third- and fourth-placed teams.[5] However, those have all been suspended due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, along with the national team's participation in international competitions.[6] The last two teams are relegated to the Russian First League at the end of the season, while the 13th and 14th placed teams compete against the National League's 4th and 3rd teams respectively in a two-legged playoff.[7]
The Russian Premier League succeeded the Top Division including history and records. The Top Division was run by the Professional Football League of Russia. Since July 2022, the league is currently called Mir Russian Premier League (Russian: Мир Российская премьер-лига), also written as Mir Russian Premier Liga (after the Mir payment system), for sponsorship reasons.[8]
Since the introduction of the Russian Premier League in 2002, Zenit Saint Petersburg (9 times), CSKA Moscow (6 times), Lokomotiv Moscow (3 times), Rubin Kazan (2 times) and Spartak Moscow (1 time) have won the title. Zenit Saint Petersburg are the current champions winning the competition since 2018–19 until 2022–23 consecutively.
- ^ "Russian Premier Liga (@premierliga_en)". Twitter. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023.
- ^ "Russia - League". uefa.com. Archived from the original on 11 December 2014.
- ^ "RFPL". Russian Football Premier-League. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014.
- ^ "About Russian Football Championship". Russian Football Premier-League. Archived from the original on 7 June 2017.
- ^ "European competitions in 2021/22: where will RPL teams be?". Russian Premier Liga. 19 February 2021. Archived from the original on 19 February 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ "FIFA and UEFA suspend Russia from international football and clubs from European competition". theathletic.com. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
- ^ "About the Russian Premier Liga". eng.premierliga.ru. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ "Национальная платёжная система "Мир" стала титульным партнёром РПЛ". premierliga.ru. Retrieved 11 July 2022.