The 2014–15 Russian Premier League was the 23rd season of the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

championship since the dissolution of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and the 13th under the current

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

name. The season began on August 1, 2014, when Rubin Kazan opened its season at home against Spartak Moscow. The season ended on May 29, 2015. Zenit won the championship, on 17 May, 2 rounds before the season ended.

Teams

After the 2013–14 season,

FC Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб «Анжи́» Махачкала́, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Found ...

and

FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pak ...

were relegated to the 2014–15 Russian National Football League. Anzhi's relegation was confirmed on 11 May 2014 after losing 0–1 to

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Division, the second highest division of the Ru ...

, a result that came one year after the club finished third in the previous season, and thus returns to FNL after five seasons.

has been relegated after playing in the

for three seasons, during its first stint in Russia's top division. They have been replaced by two clubs which directly qualified from the 2013–14 Russian National Football League. FC Mordovia Saransk returned to the Premier League at its first attempt as FNL champions in the 2013–14 season, after being relegated from the Premier League in the season before. And 2013-14 FNL runner-up FC Arsenal Tula, which make their debut in Premier League for 2014–15 season, to play in top division of any level for the first time in its 68-year history. On 18 and 22 May 2014, FC Tom Tomsk and

FC Krylia Sovetov Samara PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara (russian: Профессиональный футбольный клуб «Крылья Советов» Самара) is a football club from Russia based in Samara. It returned to the Russian Premier League for the 2 ...

also played their relegation playoff matches against

FC Ufa FC Ufa (russian: ФК «Уфа», ba, Өфө, Öfö) is a Russian football club based in Ufa that will play in the second-tier Russian First League in the 2022–23 season. History During the summer of 2010, Rustem Khamitov, the second Presid ...

and

FC Torpedo Moscow Football Club Torpedo Moscow (russian: link=no, ФК "Торпедо" Москва, ''FK Torpedo Moskva''), known as Torpedo Moscow, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow that was founded in 1924 and retur ...

respectively. The 2012-13 season FNL runner-up which has been directly promoted to Premier League season before, FC Tom Tomsk lost their relegation playoffs from FC Ufa (4th 2013-14 FNL) with 4–6 on aggregate. Ufa's qualification to the Premier League was all the more impressive considering that the club was founded at the end of 2010 and played its 2011–12 season in the second division.

were also relegated to play in FNL in 2014–15 season, after they lose from

(3rd 2013-14 FNL) with 0–2 on aggregate, and the

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

-based club will return to Premier League for the first time since the 2006 season. FC Krylia Sovetov Samara, as one of founding members of Russia's first division since breakup of the Soviet Union, will be playing outside top division for the first time since 1991.

Stadiums

Personnel and sponsorship

Managerial changes

Last updated: 2 June 2015

Tournament format and regulations

Basic

The 16 teams played a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each one of the other teams twice, once at home and once away. Thus, a total of 240 matches was played, with 30 matches played by each team.

Promotion and relegation

The teams that finish 15th and 16th will be relegated to the RNFL, while the top 2 in that league will be promoted to the Premier League for the 2015–16 season. The 13th and 14th Premier League teams will play the 4th and 3rd FNL teams respectively in two playoff games with the winners securing Premier League spots for the 2015–16 season.

League table

Relegation play-offs

First leg

----

Second leg

'' Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast won 1–0 on aggregate score and remained in the 2015–16 Russian Premier League.'' ---- '' Rostov won 5–1 on aggregate score and remained in the 2015–16 Russian Premier League.''

Results

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 10, but then postponed and played between days 25 and 26, it will be added to the standings for day 25.

Season events

Arsenal–CSKA game

On 16 March 2015, the league decided that the game between FC Arsenal Tula and

PFC CSKA Moscow Professional Football Club CSKA (russian: link=yes, Профессиональный футбольный клуб – ЦСКА, derived from the historical name 'Центральный спортивный клуб армии', English: ...

on 21 March 2015 can not be played at

Arsenal Stadium Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, London, which was the home of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. It was popularly known as "Highbury" due to its location and was given the affectionate nicknam ...

due to unacceptable pitch condition. The backup stadium registered by Arsenal with the league for such occasions is

MSA Lokomotiv Sapsan Arena (russian: «Сапсан Арена») is a football stadium situated in Moscow, Russia. It hosts Kazanka Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow's farm club, and Lokomotiv Moscow's youth team. It seats 10,000 people. History The stadium was ...

in Moscow, where the game was moved, in effect making Arsenal visitors at their own home game. In protest, Arsenal manager

Dmitri Alenichev Dmitri Anatolyevich Alenichev (russian: Дмитрий Анатольевич Аленичев; born 20 October 1972) is a Russian football coach, former player and politician. Club career Despite being a Spartak Moscow fan, Alenichev debuted ...

decided to field the reserves squad for this game. Most of the players from the reserves teams are registered to play in league games, therefore the league could not reverse such a decision. 9 of the 11 Arsenal starters in the game (except for Sergei Kotov and

Leonid Boyev Leonid Olegovich Boyev (russian: Леонид Олегович Боев; born 19 January 1986) is a Russian former professional footballer. Club career He made his debut in the Russian Premier League in 2007 for FC Kuban Krasnodar FC Kuba ...

) made their Premier League debut in the game. Kotov and Boyev had played in the Premier League for 185 combined minutes before this game. It was also a first game since 21 July 2012 in which one of the teams (in this case, Arsenal) did not play a single foreign player. CSKA won the game 4–1.

Season statistics

Scoring

* First goal of the season:

Artem Dzyuba Artem (or Artyom) Sergeyevich Dzyuba (russian: Артём Сергеевич Дзюба, ; born 22 August 1988) is a Russian professional football player who plays as a striker for the Russia national football team. He began his career with Sp ...

for Spartak Moscow against Rubin Kazan (''1 August 2014'')

Top goalscorers

Last updated: 30 May 2015

Hat-tricks

Round One Scoring Record

In the first round of matches, the 16 clubs (10 of which scored) combined for 34 goals to open the Russian Premier League, a new record that was elapsed even prior to Terek Grozny's home match against Amkar Perm on August 4. Ten of those goals came in Dinamo Moskva's 7-3 victory over FC Rostov.

Zenit Saint Petersburg winning record

Zenit started the competition with 8 victories in a row, beating the previous record set by

FC Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

in 2008 with 7.

Awards

Top 33

On 24 June 2015,

Russian Football Union The Russian Football Union (russian: Российский Футбольный Союз, ''Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz'' or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it org ...

named its list of 33 top players:

;Goalkeepers # Igor Akinfeev (CSKA) # Yuri Lodygin (Zenit) # Sergey Ryzhikov (Rubin) ;Right backs # Mário Fernandes (CSKA) # Igor Smolnikov (Zenit) #

Vitali Kaleshin Vitali Igorevich Kaleshin (russian: Виталий Игоревич Калешин; born 3 October 1980) is a former Russian footballer. Career On 20 February 2009 FC Rubin Kazan have signed right back/right winger, on loan until December 200 ...

(Krasnodar) ;Right-centre backs # Ezequiel Garay (Zenit) # Vasili Berezutski (CSKA) #

Vedran Ćorluka Vedran Ćorluka (; born 5 February 1986) is a Croatian football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He is an assistant to Zlatko Dalić in the Croatia national team. Ćorluka graduated from the Dinamo Zagreb Youth Academy, ...

(Lokomotiv) ;Left-centre backs #

Nicolas Lombaerts Nicolas Robert Christian Lombaerts (born 20 March 1985) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back and current assistant manager of K.A.A. Gent. Career Club Brugge Lombaerts joined Club Brugge at young age where he w ...

(Zenit) # Andreas Granqvist (Krasnodar) # Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA) ;Left backs # Domenico Criscito (Zenit) #

Dmitri Kombarov Dmitri Vladimirovich Kombarov ( rus, Дми́трий Влади́мирович Комба́ров, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ kɐmˈbarəf; born 22 January 1987) is a Russian football coach and a former player who played as a ...

(Spartak) # Elmir Nabiullin (Rubin) ;Defensive midfielders # Bibras Natcho (CSKA) #

Javi García Francisco Javier "Javi" García Fernández (; born 8 February 1987) is a Spanish former professional footballer who is an assistant manager for Benfica. A defensive midfielder by nature, he could also appear as a central defender. He started ...

(Zenit) # Odil Ahmedov (Krasnodar) ;Right wingers #

Oleg Shatov Oleg Aleksandrovich Shatov (russian: Олег Александрович Шатов; born 29 July 1990) is a Russian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Ural Yekaterinburg. Earlier in his career, he mostly played as ...

(Zenit) # Quincy Promes (Spartak) #

Zoran Tošić Zoran Tošić ( sr-Cyrl, Зоран Тошић, ; born 28 April 1987) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Greek Super League club Lamia. He has built a reputation as a free-kick specialist and a tricky dribbler. Toši ...

(CSKA) ;Central midfielders # Roman Eremenko (CSKA) # Mathieu Valbuena (Dynamo) #

Roman Shirokov Roman Nikolayevich Shirokov (russian: Роман Николаевич Широ́ков ; born 6 July 1981) is a Russian international football official and a former player. As a player, he was described as "a deep-lying midfielder with an aptitu ...

(Krasnodar) ;Left wingers # Danny (Zenit) #

Pavel Mamayev Pavel Konstantinovich Mamayev (russian: Павел Константинович Мамаев; born 17 September 1988) is a Russian former footballer who played as midfielder. He primarily played as a right midfielder or central midfielder. At ...

(Krasnodar) # Alan Dzagoev (CSKA) ;Right forwards #

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...

(Zenit) #

Igor Portnyagin Igor Igorevich Portnyagin (russian: Игорь Игоревич Портнягин; born 7 January 1989) is a Russian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Club career He made his debut for the senior squad of FC Rubin Kazan o ...

(Rubin) # Ahmed Musa (CSKA) ;Left forwards # Ari (Krasnodar) #

Salomón Rondón José Salomón Rondón Giménez (; born 16 September 1989) is a Venezuelan professional footballer who plays as a striker for the Venezuela national team, and is currently a free agent. After starting out at Aragua, he went on to spend most o ...

(Zenit) #

Fyodor Smolov Fyodor Mikhaylovich Smolov ( rus, link=yes, Фёдор Миха́йлович Смо́лов, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ˈsmoləf; born 9 February 1990) is a Russian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Dynamo Moscow an ...

(Ural)

References

External links

*
2014–15 Russian Premier League at Soccerway
{{DEFAULTSORT:2014-15 Russian Premier League Russian Premier League seasons 1 Russian Premier League, Rus