The Russian Cup () is a

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 ...

competition held annually by the

Football Union of Russia 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 or ...

for professional and some amateur (only after a special permission and licensing by

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 ...

)

football club A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all ...

s. The winner of the competition ordinarily got a spot in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

group stage. However, all Russian clubs, as well as the national team, have been barred from European competition due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Participants

All clubs from the

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 ...

, First Division and

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

as well as amateur clubs compete for the Russian Cup.

Competition system

The competition is held under knockout format. Second Division teams start from 1/512, 1/256, or 1/128 final stage, depending on the number of teams in the corresponding Second Division zone. First Division teams enter the tournament at 1/32 final stage, and Premier League teams at 1/16 final stage. All ties are one-legged. The final tie is played as a single match; traditionally, it had been held in

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 ...

, but since 2009 has moved around the country. First round matches are usually played in April, with the final being played the following year in May, so each Russian Cup competition lasts for more than a year.

Finals

The Russian Cup has been played since 1992. The finals have produced the following results:

Performance by club

Trivia

To date,

Terek Grozny Republican Football Club Akhmat ( ce, футболан клуб Ахмат Соьлжа-ГӀала; russian: Республиканский футбольный клуб Ахмат Грозный), commonly known as Akhmat Grozny, is a Russian ...

is the only club which has won the Russian Cup while playing in the

Russian Football National League The Russian First League (russian: Первая лига, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division (russian: Первый дивизион) and Russian Football National League (FNL) (russian: Первенство Футбольн� ...

, the second league of Russian football.

Notes

References

External links

*
Russian Cup on the website of the Russian Football Union
*

RSSSF.com
Russian Cup summary
- Soccerway {{DEFAULTSORT:Russian Cup (Football)

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cl ...

National association football cups Professional sports leagues in Russia