About Russian Premier League
The Russian Premier League, 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 established at the end of 2001 as the Russian Football Premier League and was rebranded with its current name in 2018. From 1992 through 2001, the top level of the Russian league system was the Russian Football Championship.
League Rules
There are 16 teams in the competition. As of the 2021/22 season, the league had two Champions League qualifying spots for the league winners and league runners-up, and two spots in the UEFA Conference League were allocated to the third- and fourth-placed teams. However, those have all been suspended due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, along with the national team's participation in international competitions. The last two teams are relegated to the Russian First League at the end of the season, while the 13th and 14th placed teams compete against the National League's 4th and 3rd teams respectively in a two-legged playoff.
The Russian Premier League succeeded the Top Division including history and records. The Top Division was run by the Professional Football League of Russia. Since July 2022, the league is currently called Mir Russian Premier League (Russian: Мир Российская премьер-лига), also written as Mir Russian Premier Liga (after the Mir payment system), for sponsorship reasons.
Famous Clubs
Since the introduction of the Russian Premier League in 2002, Zenit Saint Petersburg and Spartak Moscow (10 times each), CSKA Moscow (6 times), Lokomotiv Moscow (3 times), Rubin Kazan (2 times) and Krasnodar (1 time) have won the title. Krasnodar are the current champions, winning the competition in 2024–25.
