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
Association football is the most popular sport in Russia, surpassing ice hockey by a wide margin. Men's football is overseen by the Russian Football Union, having the Russian Premier League as the first tier of the Russian football league sys ...
.
The
Russian Professional Football League
The Russian Second League (), formerly the Russian Professional Football League, are both the third (Division A) and fourth level (Division B) of Russian professional football.
History
In 1998–2010, it was run by the Professional Football Lea ...
(PFL) used to run the division. Since 2011, it has been managed by the
Football National League.
The league consists of 18 clubs. After each season the two top clubs are 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 ...
, and the bottom three clubs are relegated to the
Second League. Third and fourth team play in home-and-away promotion play-offs against the 13th and 14th Premier League teams. Should one or more clubs not possess the required licence to participate for the upcoming season, the teams previously relegated are kept in the league instead, in the order of last season's standings.
History
Due to the
dissolution of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
, all Russian clubs of the former
Soviet Top League
The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (), served as the top division (tier) of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The league's name was a conditional designation used for brevity since being completely owned and g ...
and
Soviet First League
The Soviet First League in football () was the second highest division of Soviet football,Evgeni Kazakov. The Soviet First Football League (Первая лига СССР по футболу)''. History of Soviet football championships. Volume 1 ...
unified into the
Russian Top Division
The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...
, which meant that the new second tier of
Russian football would remain regionalized.
On 10 June 2022, the number of teams in the league was reduced from 20 to 18 for the 2022–23 season. On the same day, the league requested
Russian Football Union
The Russian Football Union (, ''Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz'' or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it organizes Russian amateur and professional football, includi ...
to rename the league to its historical name of Russian First League. RFU officially approved the name change on 23 June 2022. On the same date the league announced that the league's title sponsor would be a
bookmaker
A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds
In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...
Melbet.
Current clubs
The following teams are competing in the
2024–25 season:
Winners and top scorers
See also
*
References
External links
Russian First League– official website
{{UEFA second leagues
2
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 ...
Professional sports leagues in Russia