Season | 2009 |
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← 2008
2010 →
|
The Russian First Division 2009 is the 18th season of Russia's second-tier football league since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The season began on 28 March 2009 and ended on 4 November 2009.
The league has been reduced from 22 to 20 teams. It features eleven clubs from Russian First Division 2008, two clubs relegated from Russian Premier League 2008, five zone winners from Russian Second Division 2008 and two of the third-placed clubs from Russian Second Division 2008.
FC Rostov as 2008 champions and Kuban Krasnodar as runners-up have been promoted to the Premier League. They will be replaced by relegated teams Shinnik Yaroslavl and Luch-Energia Vladivostok.
Due to the league contraction, seven instead of the regular five teams were relegated to their respective Second Division group. These teams, ranked 16th through 22nd in 2008, were Metallurg-Kuzbass Novokuznetsk, Volga Ulyanovsk, Torpedo Moscow, Mashuk-KMV Pyatigorsk, Dinamo Barnaul, Dinamo Bryansk and Zvezda Irkutsk.