The Premier League of the Russian Football Championship includes 16 teams, which in the spring part of this year's tournament are split into two eights. In the games of the clubs, the first of them will be determined by the champion, two prize-winners, as well as five Russian participants in European cup tournaments. The second eight will identify two teams leaving the top division, and send two more participants to transitional games with teams from the first league.
This Russian championship has been going on for the second year and includes four laps instead of the usual two. This scheme is associated with the transition to a new system, according to which the tournament will now begin in the summer and end in the spring of next year. There is only one round left until the end of the last lap, but the current leader and winner of the entire championship is already known. This is Zenit from St. Petersburg - it was not on the top line in only one of four laps. Today the gap from the second team - Moscow CSKA - is eight points. Zenit lost only 4 games out of 43 and scored much (14 goals) more than any other team in the championship.
The St. Petersburg club guaranteed the title of champion four rounds before the end of the tournament. On that day, Zenit, in the presence of twenty thousand fans, defeated Dynamo Moscow at their home stadium Petrovsky, even though they had almost half of the game with one player less. The fans, out of excess of feelings, broke through the reinforced police cordon and gloriously began the celebration of the championship, dismantling the football goal as souvenirs.
The leader of the Russian championship will receive gold medals for the third time in the past five years, including the last two seasons. The club also has two national cups (1999 and 2010) and one Super Cup (2008), one Premier League Cup (2003), as well as the UEFA Cup and Super Cup of the 2007/2008 season.
For the last two years, the team has been led by Italian coach Luciano Spalletti, seven players are in the current composition of the Russian national team, and among the foreign players of the team it is difficult to find those who do not play for the national teams of their countries. Of course, speaking about the leader of the current championship, one cannot fail to mention the main sponsor, who ensured the formation and supports the development of such a wonderful team - this is a giant company, not only in Russia, but also globally, OAO Gazprom.
