’Around the Match Day’ is a new feature on RussianFootballNews.com. We will take a look at all the major and minor stories surrounding the match day and give you an overview you do not get elsewhere.
The past week was very interesting for followers of Russian football. Before the second to last round of the Russian Premier League kicked off, Kuban Krasnodar and Lokomotiv Moscow faced each other in the cup final. Lokomotiv drew the longest straw and secured their first title since 2007, as well as a spot in the Europa League for next season. The defeat was more than Kuban’s board could accept, and they sacked Coach Leonid Kuchuk after. Kuchuk, who took over after the popular Viktor Goncharenko in the autumn, was brought in to create more discipline within the squad, but the Belarusian has been far from a sucess.
While Spartak Moscow’s first team is in a deep crisis and President Leonid Fedun recently announced his resignation, the club’s second team is a well-oiled machine. Yevgeni Bushmanov’s boys secured their victory in the Russian Second Division West with an impressive 3-0 victory against Zenit-2 on Petrovsky Stadium in St. Petersburg, a place where the first team has only won twice since 2007. The victory means that Spartak-2 will be competing in Russia’s second tier, the FNL, next year. Zenit’s fans did not take the defeat well, and after the game a group of 10 fans attacked two journalists sitting in the press box.
Luckily for Zenit they had other things to celebrate. Monday the 25th of May St. Petersburg celebrated the club’s 90th birthday. In honor of the anniversary local landmarks like the Dvortsovy Bridge, the façade of the old St. Petersburg Stock Exchange, the Bryantsev Youth Theatre and the globe on the Zinger House were all illuminated with the club’s blue, white and sky blue colors. And this was not even all of it, since Zenit’s fans had planned something even more spectacular.
In the bottom of the league Torpedo Moscow’s players went on strike and refused to train until the club paid their wages. Torpedo currently owes its players and staff around €1.2 million, and this was understandably more than the players could accept. Despite the strike Torpedo still managed to beat Ural last Saturday, which means they can still survive with a victory on the last day of the Premier League.
What else happened?
- Rubin Kazan coach Rinat Bilyaletdinov signed a contract, which means he will stay with Rubin for two more years.
- UEFA has approved the formation of an independent football league in Crimea.
- Russia’s sports minister Vitaly Mutko states that the World Cup in Russia has nothing to do with FIFA president Sepp Blatters arrest.
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