Russian Second League
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| Country | Russia |
|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Divisions | 2 |
| Number of clubs | Division A – Gold Group: 10 Silver Group: 10 Division B – Group 1: 17 Group 2: 16 Group 3: 15 Group 4: 14 Total: 79 |
| Level on pyramid | 3–4 |
| Promotion to | First League |
| Relegation to | Third Division |
| Website | 2fnl.com |
| Current: 2025–26 Division A 2025 Division B | |
The Russian Second League (Russian: Первенство России II дивизиона ФНЛ), formerly the Russian Professional Football League, are both the third (Division A) and fourth level (Division B) of Russian professional football.
History
[edit | edit source]In 1998–2010, it was run by the Professional Football League. The 2011–12 season was run by the Department of Professional Football of the Russian Football Union (Russian: Департамент профессионального футбола Российского футбольного союза (ДПФ РФС), Departament professional'nogo futbola Rossijskogo futbol'nogo soyuza [DPF RFS]).[1] From 2013 to 2021 season the league was again run by the Professional Football League and the name Second Division was no longer used, the league was just called PFL. Before the 2021–22 season, the league was merged organizationally with the second-tier First League and renamed to FNL2.[2] Before the 2022–23 season, its short name was changed again, to a historical name "Russian Second League", even though the league's full title ("Second Division of the Football National League") remained the same.[3]
The Second League was geographically divided into 4 zones:[4] 1 (ex-South - Southern European Russia), 2 (ex-West - Western European Russia and Eastern Siberia), 3 (ex-Centre - Northern and Eastern European Russia and Sakhalin), 4 (ex-Ural-Povolzhye - Southern Urals and Western Siberia). The number of clubs in each zone varied between years. In the 2020–21 season, there were 64 clubs in the division.[5]
The winners of each zone were automatically promoted to the Russian First League (known before 2011 as the First Division and from 2011 to 2022 as Russian Football National League). The bottom finishers of each zone lost professional status and were relegated to the Russian Amateur Football League. The teams typically could avoid relegation as long as they still have necessary financing to stay in the FNL2. Each club plays its opponents twice home and away.[citation needed]
For the 2023–24 season, the league was reorganized once again and split into two tiers - third-tier Russian Second League Division A and fourth-tier Russian Second League Division B.[6]
Division A consists of two groups of 10 teams each - Gold Group and Silver Group. In the first stage of the season (summer/autumn), each team in the Gold and Silver groups plays each other team in the same group twice, home-and-away, for 18 games in total for each team.
For the second stage of the season (spring/summer), Groups are re-constituted. Gold Group now includes the top 6 first-stage Gold Group teams and top 4 first-stage Silver Group teams. Silver Group includes bottom 4 first-stage Gold Group teams, 5th and 6th-placed first-stage Silver Group teams and four winners of the Division B groups. Bottom 2 first-stage Silver Group teams are relegated to Division B. 7th and 8th first-stage Silver Group teams play in relegation play-offs against the previous season's bottom two second-stage Silver Group teams, with the losers of the play-offs relegated to Division B and the winners remaining in Division A Silver Group for the second stage. The teams in re-constituted groups play each other twice more for 18 more games. Top 2 Gold Group teams at the end of the season are promoted to the Russian First League for the next season. The 3rd-placed Gold Group team plays in promotion play-offs (two games, home-and-away) against the team that finishes first in the Gold Group in the first stage of the season (or second-placed first-stage team if the first-place first-stage team finishes in the top 2 or the bottom 4 in the second stage, or third-placed first-stage team if the second-place first-stage team also finishes in the top 2 or the bottom 4 in the second stage), the winner of those play-offs is also promoted to the Russian First League. The bottom four teams in the Gold Group at the end of the season are moved to Silver Group for the next season, and the top four teams in the Silver Group are moved to the Gold Group.[7]
Division B consists of four groups, mostly based on geography (1, 2, 3, 4). The winners of groups 1, 2, 3 and 4 are promoted to the Division A Silver Group for the spring/summer part of the Division A season. Division B switched to the spring-to-autumn cycle, the season is played from March to November.
The rotation between Division A and Division B happens in the winter, as described above.
Current Teams
[edit | edit source]Second League A[8]
[edit | edit source]| Team | Home City | Stadium | Capacity | Head Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FK Dinamo Bryansk | Bryansk | Stadion Dinamo | 10,100 | Russia Konstantin Sineokov |
| FK Irtysh Omsk | Omsk | Stadion Krasnaya Zvezda | 4,655 | Russia Maksim Mishatkin |
| FK Khimik Dzerzhinsk | Dzerzhinsk | Stadion Khimik | 5,266 | Russia Sergey Perednya |
| FK Krasnodar II | Krasnodar | Stadion Akademii FK Krasnodar | 4,371 | Russia Ilya Valiev |
| FK Mashuk-KMV Pyatigorsk | Pyatigorsk | Central'nyj Stadion Mashuk | 10,365 | Russia Artur Sadirov |
| FK Metallurg Lipetsk | Lipetsk | Stadion Metallurg | 14,940 | Belarus Maksim Romashchenko |
| FK Murom | Murom | Stadion Park 50 | 3,000 | Belarus Aleksandr Kulchiy |
| FK Rodina Moskva II | Moscow | Stadion Rodina | 10,033 | Russia Filipp Sokolinskiy |
| FK Torpedo Miass | Miass | Stadion Trud | 5,000 | Russia Vladimir Fedorov |
| FK Volga Ulyanovsk | Ulyanovsk | Stadion Trud | 15,000 | Russia Mikhail Belov |
Second League B Group 1[9]
[edit | edit source]| Team | Home City | Stadium | Capacity | Head Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaniya Vladikavkaz II | Grozny | Republican Spartak Stadium | 32,364 | Russia Aslan Zaseev |
| Angusht Nazran | Nezran | Stadion Central'nyj im. Rashida Ausheva | 3,200 | Russia Umar Markhiev |
| FK Astrakhan | Astrakhan | Stadion imeni Kolosova | 5,000 | Russia Artem Kulikov |
| Biolog Novokubansk | Progress | Stadion Biolog | 2,300 | - |
| Dinamo Dagestan | Makhachkala | - | - | Russia Artem Kashuba |
| Dinamo GTS Stavropol | Stavropol | Stadion Dinamo | 15,982 | Russia Ashamaz Shakov |
| Druzhba Maikop | Maykop | Adygeyskiy Respublikanskiy Stadion Druzhba | 15,000 | Russia Sergey Miroshnichenko |
| Forte Taganrog | Taganrog | Forte Arena Taganrog | 16,500 | Russia Eduard Sarkisov |
| Kuban Kholding | Pavlovskaya | Stadion Urozhay | 3,500 | Russia Dmitri Fomin |
| Legion Makhachkala | Machačkala | Stadion Dinamo | 16,100 | Russia Akhmad Magomedkamilov |
| Nark Cherkessk | Cherkessk | - | - | Russia Arslan Khalimbekov |
| FK Pobeda | Khasavyurt | - | - | - |
| FK Rostov II | Rostov-na-Donu | - | - | Russia Aleksandr Abroskin |
| FC Rubin Yalta | Yalta | Stadion Avanhard | 4,000 | Russia Aleksey Grachev |
| FC Sevastopol | Sevastopol | SKS Arena | 5,864 | Russia Stanislav Gudzikevich |
| Stroitel Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy | Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy | - | - | Russia Aleksey Korobchenko |
| Spartak Nal'chik | Nal'chik | Stadion Spartak | 14,384 | Russia Timur Bitokov |
Second League B Group 2[10]
[edit | edit source]| Team | Home City | Stadium | Capacity | Head Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luki-Energiya Velikiye Luki | Velikiye Luki | Stadion Ekspress | 3,500 | Russia Sergey Osadchuk |
| Baltika BFU imeni Immanuila Kanta | Kaliningrad | - | - | Russia Anver Koneev |
| Chertanovo Moskva | Moscow | Arena Chertanovo | 4,000 | Russia Sergey Chikishev |
| Dinamo Moskva II | Moscow | UTB Novogorsk-Dynamo | 1,500 | Russia Pavel Alpatov |
| Dinamo St. Petersburg | St. Petersburg | Malaya Sportivnaya Arena | 3,018 | Russia Aleksandr Fomichev |
| Dinamo Vologda | Vologda | Stadion Dinamo | 8,460 | Russia Rudolf Chesalov |
| FK Irkutsk | Irkutsk | - | - | Russia Konstantin Dzutsev |
| FK Rodina-m | Moscow | - | - | Russia Aleskandr Pavlenko |
| Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast | Ramenskoe | Leon Arena | 16,726 | Belarus Vladimir Korytko |
| FK Spartak Moskva II | Moscow | Futbol'noe pole 4 Akademiya Spartak im. F. Cherenkova | 4,000 | Russia Dmitri Kombarov |
| Torpedo Vladimir | Vladimir | Stadion Torpedo | 19,700 | Russia Denis Evsikov |
| FK Tver | Tver | Stadion Junost' | 650 | Russia Vladislav Ternavskiy |
| FK Yenisey Krasnoyarsk | Krasnoyarsk | Central'nyj Stadion | 32,500 | Russia Aleskandr Kishinevskiy |
| Zenit St. Petersburg II | St. Petersburg | Malaya Sportivnaya Arena | 3,018 | Russia Andrey Pocheptsov |
| Znamya Truda Orekhovo-Zuyevo | Orekhovo-Zuyevo | Sportkompleks Znamja Truda | 5,500 | Russia Vyacheslav Lugovkin |
| Zvezda St. Petersburg | St. Petersburg | Stadion Nova Arena | 2,000 | - |
Second League B Group 3[11]
[edit | edit source]| Team | Home City | Stadium | Capacity | Head Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal-2 Tula | Kosaya Gora | DYuSSh Arsenal Stadium | 1,000 | Russia Andrey Kozlov |
| Dynamo Vladivostok | Vladivostok | - | - | Russia Mikhail Salnikov |
| Spartak Tambov | Tambov | Stadion Spartak | 8,000 | Russia Mikhail Pilipko |
| FK Khimki II | Khimki | Stadion Novye Khimki | 3,066 | Serbia Branimir Petrović |
| FK Kolomna | Kolomna | Stadion Trud | 3,200 | Russia Aleksandr Kuranov |
| Kompozit Pavlovsky Posad | Pavlovsky Posad | - | - | Russia Igor Rudoy |
| Kosmos Dolgoprudny | Dolgoprudny | - | - | Russia Andrey Proshin |
| Kvant Obninsk | Obninsk | Stadion Trud | 4,000 | Russia Oleg Morozov |
| FK Orel | Orel | Stadion Central'nyj im. V.I. Lenina | 15,292 | Russia Evgeni Polyakov |
| FK Ryazan | Ryazan | Central'nyj Sportivn'yj Kompleks | 20,000 | Russia Yuri Kuleshov |
| Sakhalin Sakhalinsk | Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk | Stadion Spartak | 4,200 | Russia Yuri Drozdov |
| Salyut Belgorod | Belgorod | Stadion Salyut Belgorod | 11,456 | Russia Viktor Navochenko |
| SKA-Khabarovsk II | Khabarovsk | Stadion imeni V.I. Lenina zapasnoe pole | 1,000 | Russia Marat Khoziev |
| Strogino Moskva | Moscow | Stadion Rublevo | 2,000 | Russia Sergey Zagidullin |
| Zenit Penza | Penza | Stadion Pervomayskiy | 4,000 | - |
Second League B Group 4[12]
[edit | edit source]| Team | Home City | Stadium | Capacity | Head Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dinamo Barnaul | Barnaul | Stadion Dinamo | 16,000 | Russia Vitali Vikhlyanov |
| Akron Togliatti II | Togliatti | - | - | Russia Renat Miftakhov |
| Amkar Perm | Perm | Stadion Zvezda | 17,000 | Russia Andrey Blazhko |
| Dinamo Kirov | Novovyatsk | Stadion Rossiya | 3,000 | Russia Viktor Bulatov |
| Krylya Sovetov Samara II | Samara | Stadion Metallurg zapasnoe pole | 1,500 | Russia Dmitri Shukov |
| Lada Tolyatti | Tolyatti | Stadion Torpedo | 18,500 | Russia Vladimir Shcherbak |
| Nosta Novotroitsk | Novotroitsk | Stadion Metallurg | 6,060 | Russia Maksim Gerasin |
| FK Orenburg II | Rostoshi | Stadion Gazovik | 10,046 | Russia Maksim Groshev |
| Rubin Kazan II | Kazan | Stadion Rubin | 10,000 | Turkey Gökdeniz Karadeniz |
| Sokol Kazan | Kazan | - | - | Russia Sergey Ryzhikov |
| Ural-D Ekaterinburg | Ekaterinburg | Stadion Central'nyj | 27,000 | Russia Aleksandr Dantsev |
| Uralets TS Nizhnyi Tagil | Nizhnyi Tagil | Stadion Uralets | 10,000 | Russia Igor Bakhtin |
| Volna Nizhegorodskaya Oblast | Kovernino | - | - | Russia Oleg Makeev |
| RTsPF NN Elektrika | Nizhny Novgorod | - | - | Russia Valeri Burlachenko |
Winners
[edit | edit source]References
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- ^ a b From 2016–17 – Zone Ural-Povolzh'e was renamed Ural-Privolzh'e and all zones began to be referred to as "groups" instead.
- ^ a b Since the 2020–21 season, the Vostok group has been abolished. The teams from Vostok were scattered in groups 2, 3 and 4.
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External links
[edit | edit source]- (in Russian) Professional Football League official website
- (in Russian) Department of professional football of the Russian Football Union
- (in English) Russian Professional Football League summary (Soccerway)