Start Date: 15th July
Honours (16/17): Spartak Moscow (League champions), Lokomotiv Moscow (Russian Cup winners)
Teams qualified for European football (16/17): Spartak Moscow, CSKA Moscow (both UCL), Zenit St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Lokomotiv Moscow (all UEL)
Domestic football returns to Russia with an air of optimism given we’re going into a home World Cup year with an additional Champions League qualification spot to fight for through the Russian Premier League. In truth however, club and international football is far from skyrocketing; Sbornaya crashed out early in the Confederations Cup last month, while it’s difficult to make a case for all but one RPL team actually coming into this season on a high after a broadly middling campaign last term.
The clear winners in this regard were champions Spartak Moscow. Clinching the title for the first time since 2001, few gave them a hope at the start of the season when Dmitri Alenichev was swiftly fired in August, following an early exit in Europa League qualification. His replacement Massimo Carrera stepped up from being Alenichev’s assistant remarkably well, his credentials soared within a year, to a stage where he's widely tipped for bigger and better things away from Russia, a rapid rise indeed over a fledgling coaching career.
Guided by their player of the season candidates; Fernando and Denis Glushakov in centre midfield and Dutch maestro Quincy Promes in attack, Spartak ruthlessly ran away with the title, a clear 7 points ahead of the chasing pack. Crucially they harnessed consistency, and in those times where they stumbled (heavy defeats to Krylya and Rostov either side of the winter break) they resisted a sustained slump to return to winning form the week after. Such consistency was rarely shared by their title chasing colleagues, however with European commitments now to contend with, a busier Autumn schedule is now Spartak’s trail to navigate past.
The transfer window has been relatively quiet for the champions, which indeed was what they wanted. They might not have engineered any notable transfers in, but for the time being their star man Quincy Promes stays. With one and a half months left of the transfer window, and competitive football ahead of him to boost his profile, it may become a struggle for them to keep hold of their gem however, whose mere presence in a Spartak shirt is essential in their title retention hopes.
A stark change is felt at Zenit St. Petersburg as they go into their second successive season with a brand new high profile coach, with lofty ambitions fuelled by an array of personnel changes. After a briefly positive campaign (especially in Europe), a dire run-in to last season cost Mircea Lucecsu his job, as Zenit slumped to another year outside the Champions League places. A performance their owners and key Champions League sponsors Gazprom will be reluctant to see occur for a third successive campaign this term.
With Financial Fair Play seemingly offering little deterrent, in have come the big names; former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini is the new face in the dugout; while he’s quickly added to his squad with Leandro Paredes from Roma, Sebastian Driussi from River Plate, and the tried and tested Rostov contingent of Christian Noboa, Aleksandr Erokhin and Dmitry Poloz. The potential, as it was last year is clearly there, but striking the right balance between talent and a strong unit will be the deciding factor, all this in new surroundings, after Zenit moved to their new home - the Krestovsky at the end of last season.
Already well accustomed to their new World Cup stadia home however are CSKA Moscow, who themselves go into this campaign with a different feel about them, despite another off-season of inaction in the transfer market. This will be the first full season where Leonid Slutsky won’t be rocking in the dugout, and while the former Russia boss is in mid-preparations with Hull City in England, his presence is still keenly felt back at the VEB Arena. Emerging from his shadow, Viktor Goncharenko has put in some decent foundations since stepping in over the winter break, and while they missed out on the title to their bitter rivals Spartak, the fact they’ve clinched Champions League football (albeit the preliminaries at this stage) will satisfy the hierarchy in the short term.
It’s hard to look past the big three for the title, but with a lucrative chance at edging third spot and going into the Champions League offers up more to play for for those in and around the top half of the table. Krasnodar, who’ve regularly been touted as the side to break the stranglehold of Russia’s first two cities, were pretty middling last term, and nearly took one step backwards, if it wasn’t for their final day victory over Tom Tomsk to clinch Europa League football.
This season was always likely to be a year of transition, but with top marksman Fyodor Smolov stalling on a move away from the Bulls (something aided by a pre-season injury), Krasnodar may in the end keep their main man. Their support cast has arguably improved, swapping one Wanderson for another; their legendary 31 year old winger has moved on to join newly promoted Dinamo Moscow, while his namesake, a player nine years his junior has joined from Red Bull Salzburg.
A case can be made for Lokomotiv Moscow, in being the next side from the capital to compete, after clinching a European spot with their Russian Cup victory last year. With key attacking cogs Aleksei Miranchuk and Ari reaffirming their immediate futures with the club, they will look to improve on their lowly 8th placed finish from last term. As will the newly branded Akhmat Grozny (formerly Terek), representing the club’s former president and leading Chechen politician Akhmad Kadyrov. With the name change comes renewed force to cement their name at the top end of Russian football and qualify for the Europa League, a position they’ve fallen narrowly short of achieving over the last few seasons.
It’s been from mid-table over the last two seasons where the real progression has been made. As with Spartak’s renaissance in form last term to snatch the domestic title, Rubin Kazan go into a successive season with a great deal of hype. Last term it surrounded big money signings, who ultimately fluffed on the pitch, this time it’s about adding experience, with some old faces set to return to Kazan. There were occasional high points in performance last year, but generally the likes of Alex Song, Maksim Lestienne and the returning Yann M’Vila rarely lived up to their initially high billing.
This term sees the return of legendary Turkman coach Kurban Berdyev, back with the club where he clinched successive titles in 2008 and 2009. He brings with him predictably his latest set of Berdyevites; Fyodor Kudryashov and Vladimir Granat have already joined from his former club Rostov, while Iranian striker Sardar Azmoun looks likely to link up with his mentor for the third time, at the club he unceremoniously ditched this time last year. If they can gel a systematic formula that has proven to be successful in the past under Berdyev, and the best out of those underachieving big names, Rubin are more than an outside bet of qualifying for Europe.
Berdyev’s previous employers Rostov couldn’t be in a more dissimilar position. Two years in which they narrowly missed out on the RPL title and hosted Bayern Munich and Manchester United at the Olimp-2 in European competition, could roll into a much more trying period ahead for Leonid Kuchuk and co. Of the starting XI that beat Bayern back in November, only two remain, a difficult scenario for any club, let alone Rostov who were struggling in mid-table for much of the last term anyway; a relegation dogfight might be the upcoming course instead.
From that perspective the first indications are that the regulars will again fight for safety in the Russian top flight. Both Ural Ekaterinburg and Anzhi Makhachkala narrowly missed out on the relegation playoffs last term, but showed in parts (Ural reaching the Russian Cup final, and Anzhi comfortably competing in the top half before the winter break) that they had quality, if onlt in small bursts; proving that nothing can be taken for granted going into the new season.
Of the promoted teams; the RPL welcomes Dinamo Moscow back at Russa’s top table at the first given opportunity, following their relegation in 2016, after they wiped the board with the rest of the FNL. Serial goal machine Kirill Panchenko has signed on a permanent basis after his successful season on loan from city rivals CSKA, while the addition of Wanderson from Krasnodar aids in their squad transition.
Similar potential isn’t expected from the other duo, both making their debut at this level. Tosno, a start up from 2013 are a club used to shifting their home ground, and will again be moving - into the recently departed Petrovsky (formerly of Zenit), while SKA Khabarovsk provide RPL clubs with a dreaded 5,000+ mile journey East, something Roberto Mancini will immediately experience first hand in this coming weekend..
Ones to Watch:
Fyodor Chalov (CSKA Moscow) - Broke through late in the season after an impressive developmental start with CSKA’s youth side in the Autumn, Chalov at 19 years old, could become the Army Men’s leading marksman this term, with little consistency or quality to aid him in attack. In a World Cup year, this season feels about right for the youngster to make an impact both domestically and in Europe, with the end prize of a national call up a realistic opportunity to aim for.
Aleksandr Kokorin (Zenit) - A year on from his indiscretions in a nightclub following Russia’s demise at Euro 2016, Kokorin is back in the Sbornaya setup, but continually fails to live up to the high expectations even at club level. New boss Roberto Mancini has requested 35 goals from Kokorin and his strike partner Artem Dzyuba in the forthcoming season, a target the support striker needs to keep tabs with if he’s set to feature for Russia next summer.
Sardar Azmoun (Rubin Kazan) - For a second year in a row, we’re left in confusion at where the young Iranian striker will end up, but the good money is on a return to Kazan, where he’s been training for a number of weeks. This does however look to be Azmoun’s last year in Russia, after following diligently his mentor Kurban Berdyev between Rubin and Rostov for the last few seasons. On his day, as he proved in Europe last term he’s one of the RPL’s top marksman, and with a greater exposure to game time this year in Rubin’s chase for Europe, he could well force a marquee move post-Russia 2018.
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