Country | Russia |
---|---|
Confederation | UEFA |
Founded | 1992 |
Number of teams | 20 (2015–16) |
Level on pyramid | 2 |
Promotion to | Premier League |
Relegation to | Second Division |
Domestic cup(s) | Russian Cup |
Most championships |
Chernomorets Tyumen Shinnik Yaroslavl Luch-Energiya Anzhi (2 titles) |
Website | http://www.1fnl.ru/ |
2016–17 Russian National Football League |
The Russian Football National League (FNL) (Russian: Первенство Футбольной Национальной Лиги, Pervenstvo Futbol'noy Natsional'noy Ligi; complete official name FONBET-Russian Football Championship among the club teams of FNL, Russian: ФОНБЕТ-Первенство России по футболу среди команд клубов ФНЛ for sponsorship reasons), formerly called Russian First Division (Russian: Первый дивизион) is the second level of Russian professional football.
The used to run the division. Since 2011, it has been managed by the .
The league consists of 20 clubs. After each season the two top clubs are promoted to the Premier League, and the bottom five clubs are relegated to the Russian Professional Football League.
Due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, all Russian clubs of the former Soviet Top League and Soviet First League formed a single Russian Top Division, which meant that the new second tier of Russian football would remain regionalized. For the first two seasons three regional groups were formed for the second tier, until 1994 when a single division was formed.