2023–24 Russian Premier League

The 2023–24 Russian Premier League (known as the Mir Russian Premier League, also written as Mir Russian Premier Liga for sponsorship reasons) is the 32nd season of the premier football competition in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the 22nd under the current Russian Premier League name.

Teams

As in the previous season, 16 teams played in the 2023–24 season. After the 2022–23 season, Khimki and Torpedo Moscow were both relegated to the 2023–24 Russian First League. They were replaced by Rubin Kazan 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 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 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, 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 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. Such a team is automatically relegated and is not replaced during the season, and only one additional team (that gains the least amount of 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 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. 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 entered the day with 56 points, Zenit St. Petersburg (which won the title in 5 preceding seasons) had 54 and Krasnodar 53. Krasnodar hosted Dynamo and Zenit played Rostov 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 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

Results

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Hat-tricks

• ⁵ Player scored 5 goals

Clean sheets

Notes

• Aleksandr Selikhov and Aleksandr Maksimenko each played a half in Spartak's 1–0 win over Dynamo Moscow on 23 September 2023.
• Giorgi Sheliya and Mikhail Oparin each played a half in Akhmat's 0–0 draw with Rostov on 9 December 2023.

Awards

Monthly awards

Annual awards

Winline-Heroes of the RPL Awards

Awarded by the league.

References

External links

• Official website
• https://www.championat.com/football/_russiapl.html