The match between Akron and Krasnodar is not the main event of the ninth round of the RPL, but it is the most interesting in its own way. We are looking forward to a battle between two private clubs, created from scratch and which quickly rose to the top of Russian football. Now the Togliatti team is following the path taken by the Krasnodar team. And its founder, Pavel Morozov, dreams that one day Akron will play in the Champions League, as Sergei Galitsky’s club did. The upcoming match is an opportunity to remember the Bulls’ first season in the top division and compare it with the debut of the Togliatti team in the RPL.
It took Krasnodar only three seasons to get to the RPL. For Akron, this journey took twice as long – six seasons. But the Togliatti team, unlike Krasnodar, solved the problem on its own, defeating Ural in the play-offs. The Bulls finished only fifth in the First League in the 2010 season. The Galitsky club was given the place of the bankrupt Saturn in the RPL.
It is curious that Krasnodar, like Akron, did not have its own stadium. However, unlike the Togliatti residents, the Krasnodar team played in its own city. We shared its arena with Kuban. The construction of the modern Krasnodar stadium began in 2013 and was opened in October 2016. Morozov’s club is also planning to build its home stadium.
After joining the RPL, Akron left the coach who achieved historic success at the club – Zaur Tedeev and now heads the Tolyatti team. Krasnodar was coached by Sergei Tashuev in the 2010 season. Under him, there was also progress – the “bulls” rose from tenth to fifth place and began to play in the style that later became the signature of the southerners. However, Galitsky and Tashuev disagreed on some issues, and the Krasnodar team began its first season in the RPL under the leadership of a foreign specialist. Galitsky invited the former coach of Lokomotiv and Bordeaux, Serbian Slavoljub Muslin, to the club.
Who has the best breeding campaign in the summer window:
Classification
The best RPL summer transfer in the 2024/2025 season
To some extent, Krasnodar had it easier than Akron today. Starting from the 2011/2012 season, Russian football adopted a new format; the championship that started lasted a year and a half. Then, Galitsky’s club had time to adapt to the RPL and the right to make mistakes. Even if the team found itself in the relegation or relegation zone after 30 rounds, it still had the opportunity to change everything in the remaining 14 rounds of the second stage. Akron has less time in the 2024/2025 season to develop its squad and correct possible mistakes at the start of the championship.
Morozov’s club changed most of its squad during the summer window. According to Transfermarkt, Akron signed 17 newcomers, spending a total of 2.2 million euros on them, and got rid of 15 players. The Togliatti team bought seven players, rented four and took six as free agents. Eight foreign players joined Akron’s squad, and the most expensive acquisition was Cape Verde national team striker and Portuguese striker Estoril Benchimol. The rights cost Akron 700 thousand euros.
PAVEL MOROZOV
Photo: fcakron.ru
However, the most high-status newcomer to Akron is, of course, the Russian. This is the former captain of our team Artyom Dzyuba. Although the 36-year-old forward does not help the RPL debutant much, at least he will draw more attention to the team in Togliatti, the Samara region and throughout Russia. Additional publicity will not hurt the young Akron.
Krasnodar could already afford more. Galitsky was also convinced that the team needed massive reinforcements to play among the elite. Before the start of the 2011/2012 season, the Krasnodar club signed 16 newcomers. Eight of them cost 10.2 million euros. The three most expensive were the purchases of Georgian defender Alexander Amisulashvili from Turkish Kayserispor (3 million euros), Armenian forward Yura Movsisyan from Danish Randers (2 million euros) and Montenegrin center Nikola Drinčić from Spartak (1.6 million euros). At the same time, Joaozinho, bought from Bulgarian Levski for 1 million euros, and young Alexander Erokhin, future midfielder of the Russian national team, from Sheriff of Moldova, appeared in Krasnodar. In total, the Bulls added eight foreign players to their squad during the winter window. 19 players left Krasnodar.
SERGEY GALITSKY
Photo: Dmitry Golubovich, “Championship”
Together with Galitsky’s club, Kuban also rose to the elite at the end of the 2010 season. Then the Krasnodar derby appeared in the RPL. True, in the first stage Krasnodar and Kuban met only in the 14th and 29th rounds. Both won formally away from home. In the first round the “bulls” won 1:0, and in the second they lost 0:2. Akron and Krylya Sovetov will also meet for the first time in the 14th round.
Akron today had a normal start for a top debutant. In eight rounds, Tedeev’s team won two over Fakel (2-0) and Khimki (3-0), drew with Orenburg (2-2) and Akhmat (0-0), and lost four defeats to Lokomotiv (2-3), Dinamo (0-2), Rubin (1-2) and CSKA (0-4). The Togliatti team scored eight points and is in 11th place. In the matches in which it participated, 23 goals were scored, that is, almost 3.0 on average per match. “Akron” did the main thing – it did not get to the RPL on the “bus”, it does not bet on anti-football in order to save itself from relegation by any means. For this, I respect the Morozov club.
Krasnodar had a similar result in the first eight rounds of the RPL: two wins over Nalchik Spartak (2-0) and Amkar (1-0), four draws with Anzhi (0-0), CSKA (1-1), “Wings of the Soviets” (0-0) and “Zenith” (0-0), two defeats to “Lokomotiv” (1-4) and “Rubin” (1-2). The team scored 10 points and took 9th place. Only 13 goals were scored in the Bulls’ matches, i.e. just over 1.5 goals per game. At first, Krasnodar did not please their entertainment so much.
The Galitsky club finished its first season in the elite in ninth place. Following the results of the two-round tournament in the first part of the season, Krasnodar also finished ninth, 10 points behind the top eight. The “Bulls” were quite far behind the top eight teams, which continued to fight for medals and tickets to European competitions. For Akron, ninth place this season would be a success.
During the 2011/2012 season, Galitsky admitted that the club’s expenses amounted to about 100 million dollars.
“We will invest at least $50 million in our academy,” the Krasnodar founder added. “There was a huge construction project there and we finally completed it. The fields, stadium and new high school are ready. We will definitely make it one of the best in the country in terms of the quality of education.”
Why did the Togliatti club sign Dzyuba?
Now Dzyuba will be called up to Akron. Why did a young newcomer to the RPL need a veteran?
Morozov has not yet revealed the exact size of Akron’s budget. And the general director of the Togliatti club, Alexey Vlasov, said in August:
“We can confidently say that our budget is in the top three of the RPL since the end. It is more than 1 billion rubles. For us, as a private club, it is important to attract external, non-governmental funding.”
Of course, Akron still has to grow and grow up to Krasnodar. But, by the way, Morozov’s club can win its first ever trophy against Galitsky’s club. For example, the Russian Cup. Why not motivate Tolyatti?
