Russia Premier League betting tips and odds

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Russia Premier League Results

Russian Premier League Intro

One of the most important factors for successful football betting is knowing the game itself. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way of attaining this knowledge – you simply have to love football and follow it for years.

Betting Fellow is here to help you with anything related to online sports betting, so we can at least point you in the right direction. We’ll try to do this by providing you with overviews of leagues you might not be as familiar with as you might want to be. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at the Russian Premier League.

Russian Premier League History and General Info

Often abbreviated to RPL, the Russian Premier League is the highest tier of professional football in Russia. It consists of 16 of the best association football clubs in the country. It is currently officially called the Rosgosstrakh Russian Football Championship due to a sponsorship deal with one of Russia’s leading insurance companies.

As of the writing of this review, the UEFA league coefficients rank the Russian Premier League as the 7th-best national league in Europe. This ranking system bases such rankings on performances during the past five years. This means that the RPL is one of the biggest professional football competitions in the world.

The league in its current form was founded only 19 years ago, in 2001. However, the true history of top-flight leagues in Russia starts way back in 1936 while it was still part of the Soviet Union. The highest division of football in the USSR was the Soviet Top League.

The Soviet Top League was established on the initiative of Nikolai Starostin, the founder and head of the Spartak sports society. He is widely considered to be the creator of the Soviet football league system and is a very important figure in the history of USSR’s professional football. The League was originally called Group A. It changed several names over the decades, including the First Group after World War 2 and the Higher League after 1970.

Back in the day, the Soviet Union was a powerhouse in terms of world sports. The Soviet Top League ranked as the second-best league among UEFA members in the 1988-89 season. Following the country’s dissolution in 1991, however, the top-flight league was also splintered into several national leagues – most notably the Ukranian Premier League and the Russian Premier League. Since the international community widely considers Russia to be the USSR’s political successor state, UEFA also considers the Russian Premier League to have succeeded the Soviet Top League.

However, since several major leagues were spawned from the STL, discussing team records and titles can get a bit muddy. Keep this in mind when we discuss such topics later in this article. Between 1991 and 2001, Russia’s highest tier league was the Russian Football Championship. It was rather short-lived but worked a lot like the league we have today. In terms of structure, the RPL follows a mostly standard format. The 16 teams all play each other twice, once home and once away, for a total of 30 matches per team. The teams are then ranked based on a point system in which three points are awarded for a win and one for a draw. In case of a tie between two teams, they are further ranked by the number of wins, then the goal difference, followed by several other factors like head-to-head results.

The highest-ranked team are named Champions, and qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage, along with the runners-up. The third-ranked team qualify for the Champions League qualifying round. The next two teams on the board qualify for the Europa League.

The two teams with the least points are relegated to the National Football League (Formerly known as the First Division) and are replaced by the top-ranked two teams from that 2nd tier league. Matches used to be played between March and November in order to avoid the infamous Russian winter, but that changed in 2010. Nowadays, they’re played between autumn and spring, like in most European national leagues.

From 1991 to this day, the most decorated team in the RPL’s history is Spartak Moscow with 10 titles and 5 runner-up positions. They are followed by CSKA Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg with 6 and 5 titles, respectively.

The league’s all-time top scorer is Oleg Veretennikov, who played for many different teams throughout his career. (Soviet Top League appearances are taken into account for individual players.) The record for most appearances is held by CSKA Moscow’s Sergei Ignashevich with 489 outings.

Russian Premier League Title Challengers

To get the best idea of how you should be betting on the Russian Premier League, let’s take a look at some of this coming season’s favourites. To start with, well consider some Russian Premier League betting odds, as provided by the biggest online bookmakers.

According to these, Zenit St. Petersburg are the clear favourites at 1/10, leading against all other teams by a comfortable margin. Below them are FC Krasnodar – the new kids on the block with the betting odds of 16/1.

Following these two we have CSKA Moscow and Lokomotiv Moscow.

The old guard of Spartak has fallen way down, and are no longer even among the top five favourites for this league. They might be historically the most decorated club in the country, but their form is worse than it has been in decades. As such, we won’t be examining them closely in this article.

Zenit St. Petersburg

Often referred to simply as Zenit, these guys are the reigning champions of the Russian Premier League. They’ve been one of the country's most successful teams in the 21st century, winning the championship title a total of 5 times. Additionally, they’ve won the 2007–08 UEFA Cup and the 2008 UEFA Super Cup.

They were officially founded in 1925. However, many claim that their history actually starts in 1914 as “Murzinka”. This team survived the unrest in Russia around World War I, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Russian Civil War, and moved on to merge with the team of workers from the Leningrad Metal Plant in 1925.

They won their first title with the Soviet League in 1944, defeating CSKA Moscow in a war-time season. Nowadays, the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom holds a majority stake in the club. Last season saw some amazing results from this team after they appointed their own former midfielder Sergei Semak as a coach. The only lost 6 games throughout the whole year, showing top-notch form and strategy.

Speaking of which, they generally rely on a 4-4-2 formation based around a strong midfield presence. This allows the wings to almost act as strikers, which had great results in overwhelming the opposing defence. Combined with a high-press possession style, it seems like nothing can stop Zenit’s unrelenting initiative.

FC Krasnodar

Nicknamed the Byki (The Bulls) based on their black-and-green crest, Krasnodar are one of the youngest teams competing in Russia on a professional level, but their rise has truly been meteoric. They were founded in 2008 and by 2010, they already had their spot in the Premier League.

As young as they are, they don’t have a lot to show in terms of titles and trophies yet, but that’s looking to change soon. They qualified for the Europa League for the first time in 2014, successfully making their way to the group stage. They made it to the round of 32 the following year.

Their success is often tied to the arrival of Belorusian manager Oleg Kononov in 2013, who proved to be an amazing asset at the helm of Krasnodar. They are often praised for their midfield line, and boast a lot of talent with the quality of their players. Krasnodar is a fairly balanced team – however, some of their top playmakers are looking to either retire or move on to other teams, which may raise some questions about this team’s future.

CSKA Moscow

Probably the most famous team from Russia, CSKA Moscow is known for their close ties to the army. Their name is in fact derived from their historical name, which translates to Central Sports Club of the Army. During the Soviet era, they were actually part of the Armed forces sports society which, combined with their red kits, led to them being known as the Red Army in the West.

CSKA won a total of 7 Soviet Top League championships and 5 Soviet Cups, in addition to 6 Russian Premier League titles and a record 7 Russian Cups. Internationally, their greatest success thus far is a 2005 UEFA Cup victory, the first of its kind for a Russian team.

The club’s history stretches back to the Russian Empire, during which time it was created in 1901 and called OLLS. However, their official founding date is considered to be 1911.

They are coming into this season with a strong form, with a strategy revolving around a strong offence and maintaining momentum. Some experts even believe that they sacrifice too much on the defensive side of things, but it’s hard to argue with the results: they are currently the league’s top goalscorers.

Russian Premier League Relegation Candidates

Although it might seem less important for Russian Premier League betting at first glance, knowing which teams are most likely to be relegated to the National Football League is crucial for getting a good sense of the team rankings.

FK Tambov

Founded in 2013, Tambov is a very young club. They started out in the third-tier Russian League in 2013, after which they managed to climb up the ladder. Their qualification to the Premier League was delayed several times, due to a few near misses and play-off losses. Finally, though, they managed to qualify last season.

Being the new kid on the block that barely managed to scrape their way into the league, it should be clear why they’re considered favourites to return right back to the second tier. They seem to lack any real goal-scorers or playmakers, which is worrying.

FC Orenburg

Founded in 1976, Orenburg only managed to qualify to the top-flight league in 2010. Their presence there has not been constant by any means, which already does not put place them in a great light. The past decade has been the most successful in this club’s history, but that doesn’t necessarily mean much considering they spent most of it in lower leagues. While their relative financial stability might provide some hope, experts simply don’t consider Orenburg’s lineup to be on the level of other Premier League teams.

Rubin Kazan

Founded back in 1958, Rubin experienced a sort of golden age with the turn of the century. They’ve consistently been part of the Russian Premier League since 2003, even managing to win two championship titles in 2008 and 2009.

It’s only been a decade since then, but they are really not what they used to be. Rubin is going into their third year of serious financial difficulties, causing 6 players from the regular roster to leave the team during the pre-season. With no transfer budget for freshening up the lineup, they instead had to rely on the inexperienced reserve.

Russian Premier League Top Players

In this section, we’ll be taking a quick look at some of the Russian Premier’s league most distinguished individual players.

Malcom

At only 22 years of age, Malcom Filipe Silva de Oliveira is already considered one of the most audacious wingers in the world. This young Brazillian is an inspiring success story coming from the streets of Sao Paolo, and easily the most highly valued player in the RPL.

He first made his fame with Brazil’s Corinthians and Bordeaux, continued on to a brief year with Barcelona, and will be spending the next season as part of Zenit’s starting lineup. His competitiveness and ambition know no bounds. Malcom is a dynamic playmaker known for hitting key passes while running at top speed, and his presence alone is enough to make any offensive strategy shine.

Mário Fernandes

Another Brazilian-born footballer, Fernandes is currently CSKA Moscow’s right back, as he has been since 2012. He had a somewhat troubled past, but was there and largely contributed to a number of major successes for both CSKA and the Russian national team.

What sets him apart is that not only is he a world-class defender able to stop attacking manoeuvres in their tracks, he has also been known to stampede across the pitch and score goals of his own.

Nikola Vlašić

This Croatian attacking midfielder is currently part of CSKA’s squad. He first came to prominence with a move to Everton, and fans and critics alike were baffled at The Toffees’ decision to let him go so easily.

He originally came to Russia on a loan to CSKA, but evidently, something clicked, and he was quickly signed on a more permanent basis. Vlašić is a stunningly able striker, acclaimed for his accurate and powerful long-range shots.

Russian Premier League Rising Stars

Fyodor Chalov

Aged only 21, Chalov is considered one of Russia’s most promising young players. He is a centre-forward as part of CSKA’s starting lineup. Although some are sceptical about his abilities as a striker, he is nonetheless a player with great pace and movement and is reportedly being scouted by both West Ham and Chelsea.

Shapi Suleymanov

Krasnodar’s 20-year-old right winger. Last season was Suleymanov’s first stint in the highest echelon of Russian football, and he managed to score 6 goals over 8 games. A brief look at his stats might not seem all that impressive, but that’s because so far he has spent most games on the bench, somewhat unfairly. If you take that into account - on average, he scores a goal once every 32 minutes of game time.

Russian Premier League Derby Matches

Moscow Derby

A rivalry as old as 1922, this derby is the match-up between two of the biggest football teams in Russia’s capital of Moscow – Spartak and CSKA (Although, nowadays there’s something to be said about Lokomotiv.)

It should be noted, however, that this name is sometimes given to any match played between any of the following: Torpedo Moscow, Spartak Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow and Dynamo Moscow. The current balance of power between these varies, as does the importance of their respective rivalries.

The Rivalry of Two Capitals

Again, this derby has been attached to several different rivalries. Zenit St. Petersburg is always on one end; on the other is any of Moscow’s leading clubs, namely Spartak and CSKA.

Russian Premier League Best Stadiums

VEB Arena

Also known as Arena CSKA due to UEFA sponsorship regulations, this multi-purpose sports stadium has a capacity of just over 30,000. As you might have guessed, it is CSKA’s home turf but is also occasionally used by the Russian national team.

Otkritie Arena

Spartak’s base of operations, the Otkitie arena may be familiar to football fans as one of the venues for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It has a capacity of 45,360 and was completed in 2010. The name is due to a sponsorship deal with the Otkritie financial group, but it’s usually referred to simply as Spartak Stadium.

Krasnodar Stadium

Built in 2016, Krasnodar’s new stadium is an absolute architectural wonder. It is hailed as one of the most modern sports arenas in the world and can house up to 35,000 spectators.