The 2009

Russian First Division The Russian First League (, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division () and Russian Football National League (FNL) () is the second level of the Russian football league system. The Russian Professional Football League (PFL) used to ...

was the 18th season of Russia's second-tier

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league since the dissolution of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The season began on 28 March 2009 and ended on 4 November 2009.

Teams

The league has been reduced from 22 to 20 teams. It features eleven clubs from

2008 Russian First Division The 2008 Russian First Division was the 17th edition of Russian First Division. There were 22 teams. Teams 15 clubs placed 3–17 in 2007 Russian First Division, 2 clubs relegated from 2007 Russian Premier League and 5 zone winners from 2007 Ru ...

, two clubs relegated from

2008 Russian Premier League The 2008 Russian Premier League was the 17th edition of the Russian Football Championship, and the seventh under the current Russian Premier League name. The season started on Friday, 14 March 2008 with a match between Terek and Krylia Sovetov i ...

, five zone winners from

2008 Russian Second Division The 2008 Russian Second Division was the third strongest Division in Russian football. The Second Division is geographically divided into 5 zones. The winners of each zone are automatically promoted into the First Division. The bottom finishers o ...

and two of the third-placed clubs from 2008 Russian Second Division.

Movement between Premier League and First Division

FC Rostov FC Rostov () is a Russian professionalism in association football, professional football club based in Rostov-on-Don. The club competes in the Russian Premier League, playing their home matches at the Rostov Arena. History Soviet era (1930-199 ...

as 2008 champions and Kuban Krasnodar as runners-up have been promoted to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. They will be replaced by relegated teams Shinnik Yaroslavl and Luch-Energia Vladivostok.

Movement between First Division and Second Division

Due to the league contraction, seven instead of the regular five teams were relegated to their respective Second Division group. These teams, ranked 16th through 22nd in 2008, were Metallurg-Kuzbass Novokuznetsk,

Volga Ulyanovsk Volga Ulyanovsk may refer to * Volga Ulyanovsk Bandy Club Volga () is a bandy club from Ulyanovsk, Russia. Volga currently plays in the Russian Bandy Super League, the highest division of Russian bandy. The team was founded in 1934 and has pl ...

Torpedo Moscow Football Club Torpedo Moscow (, ''FK Torpedo Moskva''), known as Torpedo Moscow, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. The club will return to the Russian Premier League in the 2025–26 season. Their c ...

, Mashuk-KMV Pyatigorsk, Dinamo Barnaul, Dinamo Bryansk and Zvezda Irkutsk. The relegated teams were replaced by the five 2008 Second Division zone winners. These were MVD Rossii Moscow (West),

Metallurg Lipetsk FC Metallurg Lipetsk () is an association football club in Lipetsk, Russia, formed in 1957. Their home, Metallurg Stadium, is located on Pervomayskaya Street, 59, in Lipetsk. History Their best result came in 1997 when they came 2nd in the Russia ...

(Center), Volgar-Gazprom-2 Astrakhan (South), Volga Nizhny Novgorod (Ural-Povolzhye) and

FC Chita FC Chita is a Russian association football club based in Chita. The club was founded in 1984 as a result of reorganization of FC Lokomotiv Chita which was excluded from the First Division. FC Chita was immediately admitted to the Second Divis ...

(East).

Further team changes

Sportakademklub Moscow avoided relegation in 2008 by finishing 15th, but announced refusal to play in the First Division on 18 December 2008. On 15 January 2009, SKA Rostov-on-Don refused to play as well. Regulations provided that Sportakademclub and SKA should be replaced by two of the runners-up from the Second Division groups (

FC Bataysk-2007 FC Bataysk-2007 () was a Russian association football club from Bataysk, founded in 1998 and playing on the professional level since 2007 until 2010. On July 31, 2010, it dropped out from the Russian Second Division The Russian Second League (), ...

FC Torpedo Vladimir Football Club Torpedo Vladimir () is a Russian football club from Vladimir, founded in 1959. In 2011, they played in the Russian First Division after winning their zone of the Russian Second Division in 2010. The club has been called Trud (195 ...

FC Gazovik Orenburg FC Orenburg () is a Russian professionalism in association football, professional football club based in Orenburg. Founded in 1976, it will return to the Russian First League in the 2025–26 season. History It played professionally as Gazovik ...

FC Avangard Kursk FC Avangard Kursk is an association football club based in Kursk, Russia, currently playing in the third tier of Russian football. The team's colors are: home all blue, and away all white. History The club has been known under the following nam ...

FC Smena Komsomolsk-on-Amur FC Smena Komsomolsk-na-Amure () is a Russian football club from Komsomolsk-on-Amur, founded in 1935. It played in the Russian Professional Football League. It played professionally in 1946, 1957–1970, 1978–1994 and from 2002 to 2018. It reach ...

). However, since all of those teams refused promotion, the places were eventually filled by third-place finishers

FC Nizhny Novgorod FC Pari Nizhny Novgorod (), also known as FC Pari NN or simply Nizhny Novgorod is a Russian professional association football, football club from Nizhny Novgorod, founded in 2015. It made its debut in the Russian Premier League in the 2021–22 ...

and

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. They are the league's reigning champions. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Divis ...

Overview

FC MVD Rossii resigned from the league on 17 July after playing 19 matches. The team was in the 19th position with 17 points.

Managerial changes

Standings

Results

Top scorers

''Last updated: 4 November 2009; Source
PFL
''

Awards

On 25 November 2009, Professional Football League announced the award winners for the season.
* Best player: Aleksei Medvedev (FC Sibir Novosibirsk). * Best goalkeeper:

Sergei Chepchugov Sergei Andreyevich Chepchugov (; born 15 July 1985) is a Russian former professional footballer. Career He made his professional debut in the Russian Second Division in 2004 for FC Metallurg Krasnoyarsk. On 23 December 2009 PFC CSKA Moscow have ...

(FC Sibir Novosibirsk). * Best defender:

Rasim Tagirbekov Rasim Zagirbekovich Tagirbekov (; ; born 4 May 1984) is a former Russian professional footballer of Lezgin origin. Career Club Tagirbekov made his professional debut in the Russian First Division in 2003 for FC Anzhi Makhachkala. On 29 Marc ...

(FC Anzhi Makhachkala). * Best midfielder:

Nicolae Josan Nicolae Josan (born 18 September 1983) is a Moldovan former footballer. Career In March 2015, Josan signed for FC Sakhalin Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Honours * Russian First Division The Russian First League (, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russia ...

(FC Anzhi Makhachkala). * Best striker: Aleksei Medvedev. * Best manager:

Omari Tetradze Omari Mikhaylovich Tetradze (, ka, ომარ თეთრაძე, ; born 13 October 1969 as Omari Mikhaylovich Osipov) is a Georgian-Russian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Russian club Ufa. During hi ...

(FC Anzhi Makhachkala).

References

External links

PFL
{{2009 in Russian football 2 Russian First League seasons

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...