Clubs in the Russian Premier League this season are not allowed to play more than six foreigners on the pitch. However, that rule will change for the coming 2020/21 season. In June, the football association decided to implement the so-called 8+17 rule.
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What Does The 8 + 17 Rule Mean?
That rule implies the following: clubs may have a maximum of eight foreigners in the squad. They will be able to play with those eight legionaries at the same time in the same match. However, clubs can get into serious trouble because of this 8+17 Rule.
For example, of all the participants of the current RPL, Krasnodar has the most foreigners in the squad: 13. Therefore they will have to sell five players before next season. At the moment there are only four teams who already comply with the 8+17 Rule, namely Ufa, Sochi, Krylia Sovetov Samara and Tambov.
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Eurasian Economic Union
According to R-Sport, the Ministry of Sport devised the following to accommodate the clubs: athletes from member countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will not be considered as foreign players. This includes players from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Incidentally, players from Belarus are currently not considered as foreigners too - which accounts for five players across the league, including Krasnodar captain Aleksandar Martynovich.
Moldova and Uzbekistan hold “observer status” in the EAUE, but are not in actuality members of the Union, while Georgia has guaranteed a free transit corridor for the EAEU. All three states have expressed interest in joining in the future, which could allow the seven Georgians (including Saba Kverkvelia & Jano Ananidze), four Moldovans (such as Catalin Carp & Alexandru Gatcan) and three Uzbek’s (including joint-second goalscorer Eldor Shomurodov) to no longer be naturalised too. However, as of now none of these nations are members.
The clubs have to wait a little longer to celebrate, because the Ministry of Sport and the Russian Football Association will make the final decision on 14 November.
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How Many EAEU Players Does The RPL Currently Have?
The RPL has two players from Kazakhstan, two Armenians and not one player from Kyrgyzstan this season. In total, therefore, it concerns four players, excluding the five football players from Belarus who are already being spared.
With this new ruling, Rostov will now be on the limit, and will no longer be under pressure to sell in order to accommodate the ruling. However, they are one who may be affected in the transfer market. Rostov have pioneered a Scandinavian scouting strategy, bringing in Icelandic quartet Sverrir Ingi Ingason, Ragnar Sigurdsson, Vidar Orn Kjartansson and Bjorn Sigurdarson alongside Swedish pair Anton Saletros and Denis Hadzikadunic and Norweigan playmaker Mathias Normann in recent years. As a result, they will likely have to focus their efforts more upon the EAEU or Belarus instead.
However, Rostov almost always sell their best players and replace them effectively year-on-year, so they’ll probably be able to manage just fine.
This ruling will not likely help any of the RPL elite - who are currently all well above the threshold. Teams who qualify for Europe will not find the adequate quality to compete in European competition from these nations, so will have to trim much of the chaff - such as Robert Mak and Matias Kranevitter at Zenit - and focus upon genuine quality. Neither Arsenal or Spartak reached the group stages, while none of Zenit, Loko, Krasnodar or CSKA found their way out of the groups and if they are only getting weaker the new limit could prove disastrous to the RPL’s coefficient. One interesting development would be that in the Autumn, we may see teams who qualify for the group stages field entirely differing lineups from weekend domestic games to midweek ones in Europe.
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EAEU Players Could Get Hot on Transfer Market
In practice, the intended decision of the Ministry of Sport doesn’t seem to matter much, you would think. But still: clubs from Russia will show more interest in players from countries such as Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
And that doesn’t make the competition worse, Sochi CEO Dmitry Rubashko recently said in the Russian press:
If players from neighbouring countries will not be considered as legionnaires, the league will get stronger. The clubs will invite more qualified, skilled and promising players. The more competition, the better the football will be.
The captain of the national team of Kyrgyzstan, Valery Kichin of the Belarusian side Dinamo Minsk, would also be very happy when the EAEU athletes will not be considered as legionaries, the defender told Championat:
This will benefit not only Kyrgyzstan’s football, but all football in the EAEU. We have players who are able to strengthen the RPL: Pavel Matyash, Kayrat Zhyrgalbek Uulu and Farkhat Musabekov, for example.
The transfer market will certainly change to focus more upon EAEU nations than ever previously as teams battle for bargains. Market values of these players will shoot up just as those of young, promising Russian’s did five years ago.
The biggest advantage of the rule, however, is it will - in theory - stop the stockpiling of positions among Russian players. The Sbornaya have an abundance of competent current and highly promising future goalkeepers - but struggle in midfield, forcing the naturalisation of Roman Neustadter and likely future one of former Mordovia player Damien Le Tallec.
Undoubtedly, the rule will be difficult to implement - and in reality what was needed to improve the overall quality would have been a removal of the limit in its entirety - but at least the RFU and Ministry of Sport are loosening their grip to an extent.
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