Today, Dynamo Makhachkala will make its debut in the RPL with a match against Khimki. Both teams were promoted from the First League, but they chose completely different off-season strategies. Khimki is powerfully reinforced by famous “oldies” such as Denis Glushakov, Artur Yusupov, Reziuan Mirzov and Anton Zabolotny, but the Dagestanis have not made a single notable move. Their roster is estimated at a modest 10.93 million euros.
It seems that everything is now clear with the loser of the new RPL draw. Or not? To do this, let’s find out how the same outsiders with a minimum price performed in different seasons using the “autumn-spring” system. Not all of them flew out.
2012/2013 season
poorest club – “Mordovia” Cost of composition – 16 million euros Place in the championship – fifteen
“Mordovia”
Photo: Sergey Litvak, “Championship”
Saranchan scored exactly 100 points in the FNL transition tournament, and their best striker Ruslan Mukhametshin scored 31 goals in 50 matches and became the top scorer. Grandmaster result. But it would be nice if the RPL became stronger, and Mordovia made only a few local transfers and spent only 900 thousand euros.
The signings of Tomislav Dujmovich from Dynamo, Alexey Ivanov from Anzhi, Evgeny Aldonin from CSKA, Roman Kontsedalov from Spartak Nalchik and Anton Bobr from Krylia did not make Mordovia’s midfield Spanish. Several players from the Romanian championship were also acquired. We are waiting for the result – a return to the FNL. The Romanian coach Dorinel Munteanu, invited in the winter, did not save either. Poor “Mordovia” did not reach the new level and immediately returned. Although Mukhametshin did not lose his head and scored 10+3.
But he never became the top scorer. Who did he become?
What was Russian football like the last time Ural played outside the RPL?
2013/2014 season
poorest club — “Volga” NN Cost of composition — 20.03 million euros Place in the championship – fifteen
“Volga” NN
Photo: Sergey Litvak, “Championship”
The Nizhny Novgorod team even strengthened compared to the previous season: previously it ranked 15th in terms of squad value with 17.48 million euros, in the RPL it was second only to Mordovia and heroically took 13th place. And then they lost Alexei Sapogov and drowned: the same Kontsedalov and Aldonin, as well as Dmitry Bulykin and Sychev, Denis Kolodin, Milan Rodic and other well-known footballers by Russian standards did not save Volga from relegation.
Volzhans stayed in the elite for three seasons. In principle, not so bad. But two more years in the FNL were the last. In 2016, the team was dissolved due to financial problems. Hey, what if they sold Sapogov to Juventus…?
The failed Juve star is also in this selection:
They disappeared from football, although they could play and play. Footballers who suddenly retired
2014/2015 season
poorest club — Arsenal Tula Cost of composition — 10.73 million euros Place in the championship – 16
Arsenal Tula
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
Tula residents with Dmitry Alenichev abruptly got out of the dungeon. But for some reason they forgot to recruit a squad for the RPL. In the first eight rounds they scored only one point. The results improved even more, but this did not save them from the last place. Arsenal did not spend a penny on newcomers and their main goalkeeper for a long time was 40-year-old Alexander Filimonov. He made mistakes quite often, which was not surprising at his age.
At the end of the season, Alenichev also made a move, sending a double in the match against CSKA in Moscow. All because of the RFU’s decision to postpone the match due to the poor condition of the grass in Tula. In any case, this principle did not affect anything. Although the scandal was loud.
2015/2016 season
poorest club – “Mordovia” Cost of composition — 16.65 million euros Place in the championship – 16
“Mordovia”
Photo: Natalya Silvestrova, “Championship”
“Mordovia”, after the failure in the 2012/2013 season, immediately returned to the RPL and, under Yuri Semin, took 8th place. But then it took 13th place in terms of train costs. And in 2015 – the last. Semin left – the result disappeared. It turned out that this phrase applies not only to Lokomotiv. Under Andrei Gordeev, Saranchan was not desperate, however, at the end of the championship they lost three matches and lost only two points to Kuban and Anzhi from 14th and 13th places, respectively.
The 12th Ufa and the 16th Mordovia were separated by only three points. For the lobsters, this difference proved fatal: three more seasons of torment between the FNL and the PFL led them to bankruptcy. One more victory and the fate of the club could have been completely different.
2016/2017 season
poorest club – “Thomas” Cost of composition — 13.40 million euros Place in the championship – 16
“Thomas”
Photo: Dmitry Golubovich, “Championship”
The Tomsk team went bankrupt in the middle of the season and played the second half with young players. One of its representatives even became a top football player – we are talking about Alexander Sobolev, who was then 20 years old. 14 points in the RPL is such a bad result that the team occupying 15th place, Khimki, scored twice as much. Perhaps it was worth staying in the FNL and not passing through Kuban in the playoffs.
This is not the first time that the Siberians have suffered from a lack of money. Vladimir Putin helped them once, but such generosity could not last forever: another five seasons in the FNL put an end to “Tom’s” existence.
Remember Tomi’s legendary playoff game?
The most epic endings of RPL teams. After a while the teams ceased to exist.
2017/2018 season
poorest club — “SKA-Khabarovsk”Cost of composition – 14.70 million euros Place in the championship – 16
“SKA-Khabarovsk”
Photo: Elena Razina, “Championship”
The Khabarovsk team jumped into the Premier League from fourth place in the FNL and a draw with Orenburg, spent 100 thousand euros on transfers and signed mostly not-so-famous free agents. Clearly not a good life. This strategy brought them 13 points – even poor “Tom” scored more! For the entire RPL season, SKA won only two victories, scoring two points since mid-September. Complete darkness.
But the team, unlike Volga, Tom and Mordovia, is still afloat: for the seventh year it has been playing in the First League, and in 2022 it almost jumped out of it, losing in the playoffs to Khimki (1:3 on aggregate). So it’s not so bad.
2018/2019 season
poorest club – “Anji” Cost of composition — 19.65 million euros Place in the championship – fifteen
“Anji”
Photo: Dmitry Golubovich, “Championship”
The Makhachkala team, like the Tomsk team, was hit by a crisis. And not the first one, if we recall the farewell to the rich times of the early 2010s, when Eto’o, Willian, Zhirkov and other stars had to be released. But the second one, with a much less stellar cast, became a death sentence for them. Still, they were ahead of Yenisei, although Ufa was five points ahead. It’s all thanks to the Dagestanis’ three points in the last 12 rounds.
At the same time, Anzhi should have gone to the FNL a year earlier, losing in the playoffs to Yenisei. But “Amkar” was disbanded “on time” and the Makhachkala residents remained in the RPL. As it turned out, the decision was short-sighted. The Dagestanis immediately collapsed in the Second League and three years later repeated the fate of the Permians.
The connection between Anzhi and the new flagship of Dagestan football:
Exclusive
“I got a crazy reaction in Anzhi and thought: ‘I’m handsome.’ RPL debutant has a brilliant leader
2019/2020 season
poorest club — “Tambov” Cost of composition – 16.80 million euros Place in the championship — 14
“Tambov”
Photo: Edgar Breshchanov, “Championship”
Finally, the first time in recent years that the poorest team in the RPL did not get relegated! The Tambov team won the FNL and before the new season signed newcomers exclusively for free. Previous examples proved that this should not be done, and yet the team was ahead of Krylia and Orenburg. But there was no play-off because of the coronavirus. It is far from a fact that “Tambov” would be stronger than “Torpedo” from the third place in the FNL. Lucky.
2020/2021 season
poorest club — “Tambov” Cost of composition — 20.23 million euros Place in the championship – 16
“Tambov”
Photo: Edgar Breshchanov, “Championship”
Luck is not infinite. The club’s budget is also not unlimited, so we had to give out a lot of loans and free transfers again. This time it led to collapse. 13 points for the entire championship, as in the crisis of Anzhi two years earlier. Tambov was so weak that since October it had gained only one point. And immediately after the season it lost its professional status, having existed for only nine years. It turned out like in miniatures of the Belarusian KVN champions from the team “Doctor Hauss”: short and funny.
Akron, by the way, made his debut in the RPL in an interesting way:
We didn’t expect such a start in the RPL! Five goals, weights and even a fight
2021/2022 season
poorest club – “Nizhny Novgorod” Cost of composition — 18.83 million euros Place in the championship – eleven
“Nizhny Novgorod”
Photo: Edgar Breshchanov, “Championship”
Nizhny Novgorod residents were lucky to enter the RPL from the third place in the FNL; Orenburg from the second place did not pass the license. The status of the main outsider was immediately assigned to Nizhny, since all transfers amounted to 400 thousand euros. In vain, because the club was headed by Alexander Kerzhakov. With him they defeated Spartak, Dynamo, Zenit, Rubin, which became the second Sochi. And took 11th place, which fans could only dream of. The same Spartak, for example, took 10th place.
Kerzhakov left his post due to disagreements with the management. Has Nizhny Novgorod become noticeably stronger? No. And another team took the place of the league’s leading poor.
2022/2023 season
poorest club – “Torch” Cost of composition – 13.80 million euros Place in the championship — 14
“Torch”
Photo: Dmitry Golubovich, “Championship”
Voronezh’s impudents, as they will be called in the RPL, jumped from second place in the FNL. And they practically did not strengthen themselves: they signed Evgeniy Markov as a free agent, who still scores in the Premier League, and also rented three people. Everything. It would seem that this is a direct way back. But no. By the winter break, Fakel had managed only one victory in 17 matches and 10 draws. But the competitors had even worse results.
Six wins and 12 draws allowed the Voronezh team to stay in the play-off zone, where they easily beat Yenisei (2-0, 1-0). Thanks to Torpedo and Khimki, who also got promoted from the First League, but performed much worse.
What’s new in Khimki now?
How the newcomers changed in the RPL before the season. Two have bought a lot, the third has questions
2023/2024 season
poorest club – “Torch” Cost of composition – 12.95 million euros Place in the championship – eleven
“Torch”
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
Surprisingly, the Voronezh team even reduced the cost of the train. They just know that money doesn’t play football. At first they suffered four defeats, and then Sergei Tashuev took over the club. And off we go. From last place, “Fakel” rose to 11th place, repeating the poor achievement of Nizhny Novgorod.
Fakel’s composition is not the last: 13.53 million euros against 13.15 million euros for Akron and 10.93 million euros for Dynamo Makhachkala. In recent years, the Dagestanis have generally only outperformed Alenichev’s Arsenal in this dispute. But they should not follow his example, but rather that of Fakel and Pari NN.
