The Russian Premier League is the top division of Russian football teams. There are 16 teams in the competition. At the end of the season two teams get relegated in Russian First Division and get replaced with two top First Division teams.
Russian Premier League was organized in 2001 and succeeds the Top Division. The difference is that the Top Division was run by Professional Football League of Russia, and the creation of Premier League gave the clubs a greater degree of independence. The Top Division had existed from 1992 to 2001.
FC Lokomotiv Moscow are currently holding Russian Premier League champions title.
History of the Top Division
After the Soviet Union has broken in 1991, the former Soviet republics started to organize their independent national championships. Many of the club in the Soviet Top Division of 1991 represented Russia, but they were not enough to comprise a league. Russian Top Division of 1992 was formed from 20 Russian teams of Soviet Top Division and Soviet First Division, which were divided into two groups to reduce the total number of matches. The number of teams in the Top Division was gradually reduced to 18 in 1993 and 16 in 1994. Since then, Russian Top Division (and Premier League) consists of 16 teams, except for experiment with having two more teams in 1996 and 1997.
Spartak Moscow were the dominant force of the Top Division, having won 9 titles in 10 years. The only other team which have won the Top Division title are Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz, the champions of 1995. One of the most illustrous matches between these two teams was the title play-off in 1996, won by Spartak Moscow.
Russian Premier League 2005
In season 2005 Russian Premier League consists of the following teams:
Current league table
This is the league table after 23 rounds (September 18 2005).
| P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Badge of Lokomotiv Moscow | Lokomotiv | 23 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 36 | 13 | +23 | 48 |
| 2 | Badge of CSKA Moscow | CSKA | 23 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 36 | 14 | +22 | 43 |
| 3 | Badge of Zenit Saint Petersburg | Zenit | 23 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 40 | 19 | +21 | 43 |
| 4 | Badge of Spartak Moscow | Spartak | 23 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 39 | 22 | +17 | 42 |
| 5 | Badge of Moskva | Moskva | 23 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 26 | 14 | +12 | 40 |
| 6 | Badge of Rubin Kazan | Rubin | 23 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 29 | 23 | +6 | 38 |
| 7 | Logo of Shinnik Yaroslavl | Shinnik | 23 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 33 |
| 8 | Logo of Torpedo Moscow | Torpedo | 23 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 24 | 25 | -1 | 30 |
| 9 | Badge of Dynamo Moscow | Dynamo | 23 | 9 | 1 | 13 | 26 | 37 | -11 | 28 |
| 10 | Logo of Saturn Ramenskoe | Saturn | 23 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 20 | 18 | +2 | 28 |
| 11 | Badge of Amkar Perm | Amkar | 23 | 5 | 11 | 7 | 22 | 29 | -7 | 26 |
| 12 | Badge of Tom' Tomsk | Tom' | 23 | 4 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 26 | -11 | 21 |
| 13 | Badge of Krylya Sovetov Samara | Krylya Sovetov | 23 | 4 | 8 | 11 | 21 | 36 | -15 | 20 |
| 14 | Badge of Rostov | Rostov | 23 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 14 | 30 | -16 | 19 |
| 15 | Badge of Alania Vladikavkaz | Alania | 23 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 40 | -21 | 19 |
| 16 | Badge of Terek Grozny | Terek | 23 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 15 | 35 | -20 | 16 |
P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
Top scorers
Champions
| Season | Champions |
|---|---|
| 1992 | Spartak Moscow* |
| 1993 | Spartak Moscow* |
| 1994 | Spartak Moscow* |
| 1995 | Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz* |
| 1996 | Spartak Moscow* |
| 1997 | Spartak Moscow* |
| 1998 | Spartak Moscow* |
| 1999 | Spartak Moscow* |
| 2000 | Spartak Moscow* |
| 2001 | Spartak Moscow* |
| 2002 | Lokomotiv Moscow |
| 2003 | CSKA Moscow |
| 2004 | Lokomotiv Moscow |
| * champions of the Top Division | |