2022–23 Russian Premier League

Venues

More information Zenit Saint Petersburg, Ural Yekaterinburg ...

Zenit Saint Petersburg	Ural Yekaterinburg	Khimki	Rostov
Krestovsky Stadium	Central Stadium	Arena Khimki	Rostov Arena
Capacity: 67,800	Capacity: 35,696	Capacity: 18,636	Capacity: 45,000
Spartak Moscow	Fakel Krasnodar Ural Orenburg Rostov Akhmat Zenit CSKA Dynamo Lokomotiv Spartak Torpedo Khimki Krylia Sovetov Pari Nizhny Novgorod Sochi Locations of teams in the 2022–23 Russian Premier League Dynamo Lokomotiv Spartak CSKA Torpedo Khimki Locations of teams in the 2022–23 Russian Premier League in Moscow		Krylia Sovetov Samara
Otkritie Arena			Solidarnost Arena
Capacity: 44,307			Capacity: 44,918
Krasnodar			Akhmat Grozny
Krasnodar Stadium			Akhmat-Arena
Capacity: 34,291			Capacity: 30,597
CSKA Moscow			Lokomotiv Moscow
VEB Arena			RZD Arena
Capacity: 30,457			Capacity: 27,320
Sochi			Pari Nizhny Novgorod
Fisht Olympic Stadium			Nizhny Novgorod Stadium
Capacity: 47,659			Capacity: 44,899
Fakel Voronezh	Dynamo Moscow	Orenburg	Torpedo Moscow
Tsentralnyi Profsoyuz Stadion	VTB Arena	Gazovik Stadium	Luzhniki Stadium (set to change)
Capacity: 31,793	Capacity: 26,319	Capacity: 10,046	Capacity: 81,000

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Personnel and kits

More information Team, Location ...

Team	Location	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Akhmat	Grozny	Sergei Tashuyev	Rizvan Utsiyev	Joma	Akhmat Foundation
CSKA	Moscow	Vladimir Fedotov	Igor Akinfeev	Joma	X-Holding Wildberries Fonbet
Dynamo	Moscow	Pavel Alpatov (caretaker)	Daniil Fomin	Puma	BetBoom
Fakel Voronezh	Voronezh	Vadim Evseev	Ruslan Magal	Puma	Olimpbet
Khimki	Khimki	Andrei Talalaev	Butta Magomedov	Puma	Fonbet Samolet
Krasnodar	Krasnodar	Vladimir Ivić	Matvei Safonov	Puma	Winline
Krylia Sovetov	Samara	Igor Osinkin	Aleksandr Soldatenkov	Puma	Fonbet
Lokomotiv	Moscow	Mikhail Galaktionov	Dmitri Barinov	Adidas	RZhD
Orenburg	Orenburg	Marcel Lička	Andrei Malykh	Adidas
Pari Nizhny Novgorod	Nizhny Novgorod	Sergei Yuran	Kirill Gotsuk	Jako	Pari
Rostov	Rostov-on-Don	Valery Karpin	Danil Glebov	Puma	TNS Energo BetBoom
Sochi	Sochi	Dmitri Khokhlov (caretaker)	Soslan Dzhanayev	Puma
Spartak	Moscow	Guille Abascal	Georgi Dzhikiya	Nike	Lukoil
Torpedo Moscow	Moscow	Pep Clotet	Aleksandr Ryazantsev	Puma	Pari
Ural	Yekaterinburg	Viktor Goncharenko	Eric Bicfalvi	Nike	TMK BetBoom
Zenit	Saint Petersburg	Sergei Semak	Douglas Santos	Joma	Gazprom

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Managerial changes

More information Team, Outgoing manager ...

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
CSKA Moscow	Aleksei Berezutski	Mutual consent	15 June 2022[3]	Off-season	Vladimir Fedotov	15 June 2022[4]	Off-season
Dynamo Moscow	Sandro Schwarz	Resigned	29 May 2022[5]		Slaviša Jokanović	17 June 2022[6]
Pari Nizhny Novgorod	Aleksandr Kerzhakov	Mutual consent	16 June 2022[7]		Mikhail Galaktionov	16 June 2022[8]
Sochi	Vladimir Fedotov	Signed by CSKA Moscow	15 June 2022[4]		Vadim Garanin	20 June 2022[9]
Spartak Moscow	Paolo Vanoli	Resigned	9 June 2022[10]		Guille Abascal	10 June 2022[11]
Lokomotiv Moscow	Zaur Khapov	Moved to coaching staff	30 June 2022[12]		Josef Zinnbauer	30 June 2022[12]
Ural Yekaterinburg	Igor Shalimov	Sacked	8 August 2022[13]	16th	Yevgeni Averyanov (caretaker)	8 August 2022[13]	16th
Khimki	Sergei Yuran	Mutual consent	10 August 2022[14]	7th	Nikolai Pisarev	10 August 2022[15]	7th
Ural Yekaterinburg	Yevgeni Averyanov (caretaker)	Caretaking spell over	15 August 2022	16th	Viktor Goncharenko	15 August 2022[16]	16th
Torpedo Moscow	Aleksandr Borodyuk	Mutual consent	18 August 2022[17]	15th	Nikolai Kovardayev	18 August 2022[18]	16th
Khimki	Nikolai Pisarev	Sacked	2 September 2022[19]	11th	Spartak Gogniyev	2 September 2022	11th
Fakel Voronezh	Oleg Vasilenko	Mutual consent	6 September 2022[20]	14th	Dmitri Pyatibratov	6 September 2022 (caretaker) 18 September 2022 (permanent)[21]	14th 14th
Akhmat Grozny	Andrei Talalaev	Sacked	11 September 2022[22]	9th	Yury Nagaytsev (caretaker)	11 September 2022	9th
Akhmat Grozny	Yury Nagaytsev (caretaker)	Caretaking spell over	22 September 2022[23]	8th	Sergei Tashuyev	22 September 2022	8th
Lokomotiv Moscow	Josef Zinnbauer	Sacked	8 October 2022[24]	14th	Andrei Fyodorov (caretaker)	13 October 2022[25]	14th
Torpedo Moscow	Nikolai Kovardayev	Return to FC Torpedo-2	13 October 2022[26]	16th	Andrei Talalaev	13 October 2022	16th
Pari NN	Mikhail Galaktionov	Resigned	11 November 2022[27]	11th	Anton Khazov (caretaker)	11 November 2022	11th
Lokomotiv Moscow	Andrei Fyodorov (caretaker)	Caretaking spell over	13 November 2022[28]	14th	Mikhail Galaktionov	13 November 2022	14th
Sochi	Vadim Garanin	Sacked	25 December 2022[29]	9th	Kurban Berdyev	25 December 2022	9th
Pari NN	Anton Khazov (caretaker)	Caretaking spell over	31 December 2022[30]	12th	Artyom Gorlov	31 December 2022	12th
Krasnodar	Aleksandr Storozhuk	Moved to Krasnodar-2	4 January 2023[31]	8th	Vladimir Ivić	4 January 2023	8th
Torpedo Moscow	Andrei Talalaev	Mutual consent	22 March 2023[32]	16th	Pep Clotet	28 March 2023[33]	16th
Khimki	Spartak Gogniyev	Mutual consent	3 April 2023[34]	15th	Rinat Bilyaletdinov (caretaker)	3 April 2023	15th
Pari Nizhny Novgorod	Artyom Gorlov	Mutual consent	4 April 2023[35]	13th	Sergei Yuran	4 April 2023[36]	13th
Sochi	Kurban Berdyev	Sacked	10 April 2023[37]	9th	Dmitri Khokhlov (caretaker)	10 April 2023	9th
Khimki	Rinat Bilyaletdinov (caretaker)	Caretaking spell over	11 April 2023[38]	15th	Andrei Talalaev	11 April 2023	15th
Fakel Voronezh	Dmitri Pyatibratov	Mutual consent	30 April 2023[39]	14th	Vadim Evseev	1 May 2023[40]	14th
Dynamo Moscow	Slaviša Jokanović	Sacked	14 May 2023[41]	7th	Pavel Alpatov (caretaker)	15 May 2023[42]	7th

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Promotion and relegation

For the purpose of determining First League positions for the following, the teams that will not pass 2023–24 RPL licensing or drop out of 2023–24 season for any other reason, or the second teams of RPL clubs (such as FC Krasnodar-2), or the teams that finished lower than 6th place in First League standings will not be considered. For example, if the teams that finished 1st, 3rd and 4th in the First League standings fail licensing, the team that finished 2nd will be considered 1st-placed team, the team that finished 5th will be considered 2nd-placed team and the team that finished 6th will be considered 3rd-placed team. There will be no designated 4th-placed team in this scenario.

The teams that finish 15th and 16th will be relegated to the 2023–24 First League, while the top 2 in that league will be promoted to the Premier League for the 2023–24 season.

The 13th and 14th Premier League teams will play the 4th and 3rd 2022–23 First League teams respectively in two (home-and-away) playoff games, with penalty shootout in effect, if necessary (away goals rule for these games has been abolished beginning from this season), the winners will secure Premier League spots for the 2023–24 season. If both of the teams that finish RPL in 13th and 14th place fail licensing for the 2023–24 season or drop out for any other reason, play-offs will not be held, and 3rd and 4th First League teams will be promoted automatically. If one of the teams that place 13th and 14th in the Premier League fails licensing for 2023–24 season or drops out for other reasons, 3rd First League team will be promoted automatically and the 13th or 14th-placed team that passes licensing will play 4th First League team in playoffs, with the winners securing the Premier League spot. If only one First League team is eligible for the play-offs (as in the example scenario above), that team will play the 14th-placed RPL team in playoffs, with the winners securing the Premier League spot, and the 13th RPL team will remain in the league. If none of the First League teams are eligible for the play-offs, they will not be held and 13th and 14th-placed RPL teams will remain in the league. If any of the teams are unable to participate in the season after the play-offs have been concluded, or there are not enough teams that pass licensing to follow the above procedures, the replacement will be chosen by the Russian Football Union in consultation with RPL and FNL.^[44]

Russian Football Union announced their initial licensing decision for the 2023–24 season on 23 May 2023.^[45] Rubin Kazan and Baltika Kaliningrad, which secured the top two First League spots at that time, were licensed for the RPL and will receive a direct promotion. Out of the teams that could potentially finish in a Top 6 First League spot at that time (with two games remaining in the season), 3rd-placed Alania, Volgar, Arsenal Tula and SKA-Khabarovsk were all denied the RPL license, those clubs could appeal that decision. Some other teams who could finish in the Top 6, like Dynamo Makhachkala, which was 6th in the standings at the time, did not apply for the RPL license at all. Yenisey Krasnoyarsk and Rodina Moscow were the only teams out of the potential Top-6 finishers to receive the license. On 27 May 2023, Yenisey secured 4th-place finish and participation in the promotion play-offs.^[46] Rodina secured 5th First League spot and participated in the play-offs in the 4th-placed team spot. Alania's appeal was denied on 29 May 2023 (the appeal by Volgar was successful, but that was moot as Rodina secured a higher table position than Volgar by that time).^[47]

Exclusion from the league

Any team can be excluded from the Premier League during the season for the following reasons: a) using counterfeit documents or providing inaccurate information to the league; b) not arriving to the game on more than one occasion; c) match fixing. Such a team is automatically relegated and is not replaced during the season, and only one additional team (that gains the fewest points at the end of the season) is directly relegated. If the excluded team plays fewer than 15 games at the time of exclusion, all its results would be annulled and will not count for the standings. If the excluded team plays at least 15 games at the time of exclusion, all their remaining opponents are awarded a victory, without effect on their goal difference.^[44]

Issues related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine

On 21 June 2022, FIFA extended their ruling that would allow foreign players in Russia to unilaterally suspend their contracts with their clubs, and sign with a club outside of Russia until 30 June 2023.^[48]

Players who suspended their contracts

Fan ID introduction and related issues

A new mandatory government-issued electronic identification document officially called "fan card" (Russian: Карта болельщика) and colloquially referred to as "Fan ID" was introduced before the season.^[56] Similar ID cards were used during the 2018 FIFA World Cup and Russia-hosted UEFA Euro 2020 games. The ID is a QR code issued after an application online and a visit to a government office to confirm identity. The ID was mandatory from the beginning of the season to attend games at the home stadiums of PFC Sochi, FC Rostov, FC Ural Yekaterinburg, PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara and FC Pari Nizhny Novgorod, and was expanded for all the remaining stadiums in December 2022.^[56] It would not be issued to fans who were banned from attending games by court due to committing violations at previous games such as launching firecrackers or fighting other fans.^[57]

In June 2022, Communist Party of the Russian Federation introduced a draft of a new law to reverse the introduction of Fan ID.^[58]

Ultras for most Premier League clubs (with the exception of FC Akhmat Grozny) boycotted the games in protest against Fan ID, considering it a privacy and rights violation.^[59] Ultras for FC Zenit Saint Petersburg boycotted the games where Fan ID was mandatory, but attended the games where it was not yet introduced.^[60]

Attendance was significantly lowered at the stadiums that introduced Fan ID. The August game between FC Ural Yekaterinburg and FC Spartak Moscow was attended by 8,931 people, while the attendance for the 2021–22 season game in May between the same teams was 26,402.^[61] A Russian Cup game between FC Rostov and FC Dynamo Moscow was attended by 28,931 people (Fan ID is not mandatory at Cup games except the final), and the previous Rostov league game against PFC CSKA Moscow only had 8,616 attendees.^[62] Overall, the average attendance at the games where Fan ID was mandatory was about half of overall average attendance. According to league's president Aleksandr Alayev, 315,000 people were issued Fan ID by late November.^[63] By late February, as the season was about to resume after the winter break, 450,000 people were issued Fan ID.^[64] In mid-March, the application procedure was adjusted so that it can be fully completed online, and a personal visit to the government office is no longer necessary (the identity is confirmed by scanning your biometric passport by a NFC-supporting smartphone). By early May, 850,000 people were issued Fan ID.^[65]

Pari NN–Torpedo game

In the game played on 19 March 2023 between FC Pari Nizhny Novgorod and FC Torpedo Moscow that ended in a 1–1 draw, Pari NN started Yaroslav Mikhaylov. Mikhaylov started the season with FC Zenit Saint Petersburg before moving on loan to Pari NN, and received a caution in two Russian Second League games for the reserve team FC Zenit-2 Saint Petersburg. He then received caution two more times in RPL games for Pari NN. According to RPL regulations, receiving four cautions leads to an automatic one-game disqualification, and cautions received in the current season in Russian First League or Russian Second League games count for the total, with the exception of the cautions received in games for the current club's reserve team (which Pari NN did not have at the time). The league allowed Mikhaylov to be fielded as their computer system that automatically tracks disqualifications only accounts for the cautions received in RPL games, and the clubs are responsible for tracking the lower-leagues cautions themselves.^[66] Torpedo announced that they will lodge a protest and will demand the game to be awarded to them.^[67] Russian Football Union awarded the game to Torpedo with the score of 3–0 on 22 March 2023.^[68]

First leg

7 June 2023 (2023-06-07)

15:00 UTC+3 (19:00 UTC+7)

More information Yenisey Krasnoyarsk, 0–1 ...

Yenisey Krasnoyarsk[a]	0–1	Fakel Voronezh
Lanin  59'	Report	Markov 77'

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Futbol-Arena Yenisey, Krasnoyarsk

Referee: Sergei Karasev

7 June 2023 (2023-06-07)

18:00 UTC+3

More information Rodina Moscow, 0–3 ...

Rodina Moscow[a]	0–3	Pari Nizhny Novgorod
	Report	Sevikyan 11' Yakovlev 57' Sharipov 90+2'

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Spartakovets Stadium, Moscow

Referee: Kirill Levnikov

Second leg

10 June 2023 (2023-06-10)

14:30 UTC+3

More information Pari Nizhny Novgorod, 0–2 ...

Pari Nizhny Novgorod	0–2	Rodina Moscow
	Report	Timoshenko 8' Kalmykov 24'

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Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod

Referee: Vitali Meshkov

Pari Nizhny Novgorod won 3–2 on aggregate and retained their Russian Premier League spot, Rodina remained in the First League.

10 June 2023 (2023-06-10)

17:30 UTC+3

More information Fakel Voronezh, 2–0 ...

Fakel Voronezh	2–0	Yenisey Krasnoyarsk
Akbashev 10' (pen.), 70'	Report

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Tsentralnyi Profsoyuz Stadion, Voronezh

Referee: Sergey Ivanov

Fakel Voronezh won 3–0 on aggregate and retained their Russian Premier League spot, Yenisey remained in the First League.

Top goalscorers

More information Rank, Player ...

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[72]
1	Malcom	Zenit St. Petersburg	23
2	Quincy Promes	Spartak Moscow	20
3	Fyodor Chalov	CSKA Moscow	19
4	Jhon Córdoba	Krasnodar	14
	Vladimir Pisarski (Sychevoy)	Orenburg Krylia Sovetov Samara
6	Aleksandr Sobolev	Spartak Moscow	13
7	Mohamed Konaté	Akhmat Grozny	11
	Christian Noboa	Sochi
9	Ivan Sergeyev	Zenit St. Petersburg	10
	Maksim Glushenkov	Krylia Sovetov Samara Lokomotiv Moscow
	Nikolay Komlichenko	Rostov
	Timur Suleymanov	Pari Nizhny Novgorod
	Eduard Spertsyan	Krasnodar
	Fyodor Smolov	Dynamo Moscow

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Hat-tricks

More information Player, For ...

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Vladimir Pisarsky	Orenburg	Ural Yekaterinburg	3–0 (H)	23 July 2022	[73]
Ivan Ignatyev	Lokomotiv	Orenburg	5–1 (H)	28 August 2022	[74]
Wendel	Zenit	Orenburg	8–0 (H)	11 September 2022	[75]
Vladimir Pisarsky	Orenburg	Krasnodar	5–1 (H)	13 November 2022	[76]
Artem Dzyuba	Lokomotiv	Rostov	3–1 (A)	4 March 2023	[77]
Malcom4	Zenit	Krylia Sovetov	5–1 (A)	29 April 2023	[78]

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• ⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Clean sheets

More information Rank, Player ...

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Mikhail Kerzhakov	Zenit Saint Petersburg	12
2	Igor Akinfeev	CSKA Moscow	10
3	Giorgi Sheliya	Akhmat Grozny	8
4	Ilya Lantratov	Khimki Lokomotiv Moscow	7
	Matvei Safonov	Krasnodar
	Aleksandr Selikhov	Spartak Moscow
	Ilya Svinov	Fakel Voronezh
8	Ilya Pomazun	Ural Yekaterinburg	6
	Anton Shunin	Dynamo Moscow
10	Artur Nigmatullin	Pari Nizhny Novgorod	5
	Sergei Pesyakov	Rostov

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Notes

Daniil Odoyevsky and Mikhail Kerzhakov both played in Zenit's 0–0 draw against Akhmat Grozny on 6 August 2022. Soslan Dzhanayev was sent off in the 25th minute of Sochi's 2–0 victory over Dynamo Moscow on 1 April 2023, with Denis Adamov playing the rest of the game. Yegor Baburin played in a 1–1 draw against Pari NN that was awarded to Torpedo on technicality after the fact with the score of 3–0, that game does not count for his clean sheets total. Ivan Lomayev and Yevgeny Frolov both played in Krylia Sovetov's 3–0 victory over Ural Yekaterinburg on 21 May 2023.

Monthly awards

More information Month, Player of the Month ...

Month	Player of the Month		Manager of the Month		Goal of the Month		Ref.
	Player	Club	Manager	Club	Player	Club
July	Daniil Utkin	Rostov	Vladimir Fedotov	CSKA Moscow	Konstantin Maradishvili	Lokomotiv Moscow	[79]
August	Quincy Promes	Spartak Moscow	Sergei Semak	Zenit St. Petersburg	Artur Yusupov	Sochi	[80]
September	Aleksandr Sobolev	Spartak Moscow	Valery Karpin	Rostov	Denis Makarov	Dynamo Moscow	[81][82][83]
October	Vladimir Pisarsky	Orenburg	Viktor Goncharenko	Ural Yekaterinburg	Anton Zinkovsky	Spartak Moscow	[84][85][86]
November	Danil Glebov	Rostov	Valery Karpin	Rostov	Danil Glebov	Rostov	[87][88][89]
March	Artem Dzyuba	Lokomotiv Moscow	Mikhail Galaktionov	Lokomotiv Moscow	Ruslan Litvinov	Spartak Moscow	[90][91][92]
April	Ivan Oblyakov	CSKA Moscow	Vladimir Fedotov	CSKA Moscow	Artem Dzyuba	Lokomotiv Moscow	[93][94][95]

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Annual awards

Winline-Heroes of the RPL Awards

Awarded by the league.^[96]

More information Award, Winner ...

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Malcom	Zenit St. Petersburg
Manager of the Season	Vladimir Fedotov	CSKA Moscow
Goalkeeper of the Season	Igor Akinfeev	CSKA Moscow
Defender of the Season	Douglas Santos	Zenit St. Petersburg
Midfielder of the Season	Eduard Spertsyan	Krasnodar
Forward of the Season	Malcom	Zenit St. Petersburg
Goal of the Season	Konstantin Maradishvili	Lokomotiv Moscow
Assist of the Season	Igor Akinfeev	CSKA Moscow
Fans' Choices	Quincy Promes	Spartak Moscow

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More information Team of the Season ...

Team of the Season
Goalkeeper	Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow)
Defence	Moisés (CSKA Moscow)	Maksim Osipenko (Rostov)	Georgi Dzhikiya (Spartak Moscow)		Douglas Santos (Zenit St. Petersburg)
Midfield	Malcom (Zenit St. Petersburg)	Wendel (Zenit St. Petersburg)	Eduard Spertsyan (Krasnodar)	Ruslan Litvinov (Spartak Moscow)	Quincy Promes (Spartak Moscow)
Attack	Fyodor Chalov (CSKA Moscow)

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