The new, almost often sold-put Rostov Arena embodies a club reborn | Sport-Express Up until late November, Rostov had spent the whole season in the top five positions of the RPL - enough to qualify for European football in 2019/20. Despite a disappointing 1-0 loss to Krylia Sovetov dropping the Selmashi down to their lowest position of the season (7th), their success has been both refreshing and highly commendable. Success is no stranger to the small team from the south. Under Kurban … [Read more...]
2018/19 RPL Mid-Term Report - Part Three
January 15, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Russian Football News With the long winter break now having arrived and Russian football set for a three-month hibernation, it is now time to look at the season so far and how it has transpired for each RPL member club. This mid-term report will look at the pre-season expectations for each club based on their squad and summer signings, cross-referencing with last season’s performance and reputation. Then deducing whether or not each club is achieving its pre-season goals so far this … [Read more...]
The Russian-English Premier Liga & English Football National League
January 8, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Russian fans often scorn the RPL clubs when they complain about having to play midweeks. Invariably, they cite the English Premier League as an example: "Look, they've been playing midweeks all the time since time immemorial, and they are no worse for wear." Yes, they have and they are, but there's a nuance. This season, the furthest north-south travel in the English Premier League is 471 km long (flying distance between Newcastle and Bournemouth; all further distances are given as flying), … [Read more...]
2018/19 RPL Mid-Term Report - Part Two
January 2, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Russian Football News With the long winter break now having arrived and Russian football set for a three-month hibernation, it is now time to look at the season so far and how it has transpired for each RPL member club. This mid-term report will look at the pre-season expectations for each club based on their squad and summer signings, cross-referencing with last season’s performance and reputation. Then deducing whether or not each club is achieving its pre-season goals so far this … [Read more...]
2018/19 RPL Mid-Term Report - Part One
December 20, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Russian Football News With the long winter break now having arrived and Russian football set for a three-month hibernation, it is now time to look at the season so far and how it has transpired for each RPL member club. This mid-term report will look at the pre-season expectations for each club based on their squad and summer signings, cross-referencing with last season’s performance and reputation. Then deducing whether or not each club is achieving its pre-season goals so far this … [Read more...]
Analysing Dinamo Moscow’s Involvement in Football Leaks
December 7, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Football Leaks | IEC The latest set of revelations in the FootballLeaks campaign conducted by the EIC Network involve several Russian clubs. The leaks show that the owners of four RPL clubs, namely Dinamo Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow, Rubin Kazan and Zenit St. Petersburg pumped millions of euros into the clubs between 2012 and 2015 in various seemingly illegitimate ways. It was also revealed that in certain cases, UEFA let the clubs off with either a lenient fine or no punishment altogether. … [Read more...]
The Evolution Of Artem Dzyuba
December 5, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Artem Dzyuba is a footballer who for much of his career divided opinion and often found himself stuck in controversy. After struggling for a long time to prove himself, he heroically rose to the task on the world's biggest stage. In a fantastical turnaround he is now the nation’s sweetheart and Russia’s captain. Little Dzyuba: Spartak's Problem Child Insects, In Sects Dzyuba Dictionary: Sectarians - Dzyuba has on numerous occasions alleged to the presence of subdivisions (sects) … [Read more...]
Analysing the Potential Emirates-Anzhi Sponsorship Deal
December 3, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Anzhi Arena in Makhachkala. Photo: Andy Shenk/RFN If there's a club in Russia that never fails to surprise, it's the pearl of Dagestan, Anzhi Makhachkala. In the 27 years the club has existed, Anzhi has seen it all. They've been purchased by a billionaire, signed players like Roberto Carlos and Samuel Eto'o, defeated Liverpool in the Europa League, got relegated to the FNL and then became worst team in Europe. Now, it has emerged that the Southern club could join many others in Europe … [Read more...]
Oleg Shatov: Forgotten Talent?
November 25, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Oleg Shatov grew up quickly, going from a humble background to playing with superstars. For some time his progress was guaranteed by hard work and natural talent, but as time went by he faded from promise to enigma. The Making Of A Big Footballer Shatov was born into an ordinary family and grew up in Nizhny Tagil, neighboured by Yekaterinburg. During his childhood, he was introduced to both football and futsal. It may seem a rarity for a European footballer to have been schooled in … [Read more...]
Oleg Kononov - Welcome to Spartak’s House of Fun!*
November 23, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Oleg Kononov during his time at Krasnodar | Sport-Express After more than two weeks of speculation, the worse kept secret in Russian football finally got out. Three weeks to the day after Spartak parted company with 2016/17 title-winning manager Massimo Carrera, the Red-Whites named Oleg Kononov as his successor. In a crazy twist of fate, Kononov himself was the man responsible for the final nail in Carrera's coffin three weeks ago when he was Arsenal Tula manager, defeating Spartak 3-2. … [Read more...]
