The uprise of Russian Premier League

Russian Premier League has been established in 2001 and has since become one of the strongest leagues in Europe. The top tier of Russian football is currently ranked as 6th best league in Europe, mostly thanks to the success of teams from Russia in European competitions. This competition is attracting big crowds in the biggest country in the World and the quality of football does not fall too far behind their English counterpart.

Heavy investments in football are basically what helped Russian Premier League reach such heights and the influx of good foreign footballers has helped domestic players develop their skills in highly competitive league. The competition is very evenly matched and there are always at least five title contenders every season. Teams from Russia have recently started to achieve very good results in Europe, with Zenit  wining the UEFA Cup in 2008.

Russia national team have benefited a great deal from the strong domestic competition and Guus Hiddink now has the team that almost entirely consist of domestic players. This is mostly thanks to big budget of Russian clubs that manage to keep hold of their stars even when big European clubs come calling. Players like Dzagoev, Bukharov, Shchennikov, Svezhov, Kokorin and others have the chance to develop their talents in such a strong league, and do you really think Andrei Arshavin would become such a great player if he had played in Ukrainian League (no disrespect) for example?

Rubin Kazan and CSKA Moscow will play in the Champions League this season and they definitely have the quality to surprise some of the big names. There are currently seven teams competing for the Russian Premier League title including the giants like Spartak, CSKA, Dinamo and Lokomotiv, but also some smaller teams like Rubin, FK Moskva and Zenit. All this proves that the competition has improved considerably in such a short period of time and I am looking forward to seeing even more Russian teams doing well in Europe.

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