Premier Liga
| Country | Russia |
|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Number of teams | 16 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | Football National League |
| Domestic cup(s) | Russian Cup |
| International cup(s) |
Champions League Europa League |
| Current champions |
CSKA Moscow (2015–16 season) |
| Most championships | Spartak Moscow (21 titles)* |
| Website | www.RFPL.org |
 2016–17 Russian Premier League*Including Russian Top League and Soviet Top League titles |
|
The Russian Football Premier League (Russian: Чемпионат России по футболу), or Russian Premier League, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. The competition is administered by the Russian Football Premier League. There are 16 teams in the competition. The league currently has two Champions League places, however, from the 2017–18 season, the league will have three Champions League qualifying spots given to the top three teams at the end of the season and the two Europa League spots will be allocated to the fourth and fifth placed teams. The cup winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa League without play-offs. The last two teams are relegated to the Russian National Football League at the end of the season. The Russian Premier League was established in 2001 and succeeded the Top Division. The Top Division was run by the Professional Football League of Russia. Creation of the Premier League is considered to give the clubs a greater degree of independence. The league is currently called Rosgosstrakh Russian Football Championship for sponsorship reasons.
CSKA Moscow is the current Russian Premier League champion.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, starting in 1992, each former Soviet republic organized an independent national championship. In Russia, the six Russian teams who had played in the Soviet Top League in 1991 (CSKA Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Torpedo Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, Spartak Vladikavkaz, and Lokomotiv Moscow) were supplemented with 14 teams from lower divisions to form a 20-team Russian Top Division. The Top Division was further divided into two groups to reduce the total number of matches. The number of teams in the Top Division was gradually reduced to 18 in 1993 and 16 in 1994. Since then, the Russian Top Division (and subsequently the Premier League) has consisted of 16 teams, except for a short-lived experiment with having two more teams in 1996 and 1997.
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