RPL reform: Spartak, Zenit and other top clubs in Russia need their own Super League, opinion

A few weeks ago, the football world was going crazy over the creation of the European Super League. The rich decided to unite in order to earn even more and play matches with each other, letting only a select few into their elite club. The idea was immediately criticized by UEFA, the fans staged protests, and the project was quickly canceled.

The idea of ​​their own Super League would be worth considering for the Russian top clubs as well. In recent years, the level of our club football has only been falling: we have dropped to the eighth line in the UEFA coefficient table, RPL teams are losing outright outsiders in the struggle to get into the group stage of European competitions (Tbilisi Loko, Baku Neftchi and Israeli Maccabi from Haifa ), and even Zenit with all its expensive purchases for the second year in a row cannot qualify from the group in the Champions League.

The Russian Super League can give our football a chance to rescue. We explain why it is necessary.

Reason # 1. Competition

There are many reasons for the failure of our football in Europe: someone will say about the limit, someone about the lack of competition, someone about the insufficient intensity of play in the league or the general level of football players in Russia, and even the fall-spring system. We will leave the discussions about the limit and the championship system to our colleagues. But about competition and intensity it is worth talking separately. Live examples work best, here are a few of them.

Photo: Dmitry Golubovich, “Championship”

– In winter, the future champion of Russia, Zenit, beat Spartak without a chance, which at that time also claimed the title. Yes, the score in the match was only 3: 1, but the red and white could concede six or seven goals.

– In the last round, Zenit, in an effort to secure the championship at home, sketched six (!) Goals for the second league team at that time.

– The last team in the league, Tambov, lost nine out of nine matches in 2021 with a total score of 4:27.

– Rotor (14th place in the RPL to date) has two wins, one draw and six defeats in nine matches after a break, the total score is 2:21.

What kind of development of football are we talking about if the Russian champion scores six goals to both the last league team and the second, and all this in a little more than one week? It is logical that in the face of such internal “competition” the leader of the RPL will simply not be ready for more serious resistance in European competitions. For the rest, it is even more difficult: most of the teams, which we habitually consider to be the top, are trying to simply hack the “buses” of the poorer teams. But in European competitions, our top clubs are waiting for other rivals who are ready to play faster, smarter and not only sit in defense. True, do we really expect that CSKA or Lokomotiv, which in the RPL struggle with the conditional Ural or Arsenal, will easily beat the conditional Ajax or even any Borussia? If every week our top teams play with each other, then they will get used to a higher pace and level of resistance faster, and they will have more chances of success in European competitions. And more money earned, respectively.

Reason number 2: desire to develop

Indirectly, this reason is, of course, related to normal competition. In the RPL, it is possible, albeit not very clearly, to divide the clubs into those who want to develop and grow normally, and those who are satisfied with a place in the “swamp” or the status of an “elevator team”. Do you think there was a desire to develop at Rotor, which recruits players in batches from one agent? Did Tambov have such a desire – now five minutes later a dead club with debts and without a normal home stadium? These are just the most striking examples, although you can recall others – what are the goals set by the conventional “Ural” or “Akhmat”? There is a complete feeling that just hanging out in the RPL suits them perfectly.

If you dig deeper, then look what kind of game is going on in the FNL: Orenburg seems to be ready to enter the RPL, but for several years it has not been able to put its stadium in order – and according to the regulations with their arena there is no place in the Major League. It is good that there will be no exceptions for it (although theoretically it is still possible). And how many stories were there when a club successfully performing in the FNL suddenly gave up at the very end of the season due to the fact that there was simply no money for the RPL?

Such stories hit not only the reputation of our football, but also its development. Clubs without tasks and desires simply hinder the competition between those who want to develop.

Reason # 3: the price for TV rights and new sponsors

One of the ideas of the Super League is to earn as much as possible. Now the rights to our league cost a penny – 1.7 billion rubles per season. For comparison, the top clubs in Europe received 4.1 billion euros from broadcasts in the 2018/2019 season (the season before the coronavirus pandemic). The difference is huge. And here we should at least try to close the gap.

All the bosses of RPL clubs constantly repeat that they want to receive more money from TV rights. This desire is understandable. But what should the viewer pay for? Even now, few are willing to pay 300 rubles a month for access to all the games of the tour. The desire to take everything for free when there is an opportunity to “spiral” is our problem. On the other hand, you can understand the fans: hardly many (except for those who sincerely worry about these teams) are interested in watching the matches between the conditional “Tambov” and “Rotor”, and even more so – for money!

The Super League is capable of changing the situation, because in this case we will practically lose the passing matches, and the games between the tops will take place every week – this is much more interesting for the viewer, it is not a pity to pay even more than 300 rubles. It is unlikely that it will be possible to immediately earn billions, but the amount of contracts should definitely increase. It is possible to find serious sponsors for this business, because the TV audience and attendance of top matches will greatly increase.

How to organize it?

The format of the national Super League should be discussed by the clubs. Here you can divide the championship into two parts, where after half of the season the tops are fighting among themselves for the championship, and the rest – for registration in the RPL. By the way, a living example of such a championship: the transitional season from the “spring-autumn” system to “autumn-spring” is one of the best RPL draws in history. You can also divide teams in advance by raising the licensing criteria. Let the clubs, the league and the RFU figure out the specifics – the main thing here is the idea itself.

Photo: fcorenburg.ru

But the Super League should never be closed. They can also fly out of it (this will add competition), it will be possible to go into it (only in case of full compliance with even more stringent licensing regulations).

It will not be difficult to estimate a rough list of clubs even now: Zenit, Spartak, CSKA, Krasnodar, Rostov, Dynamo, Rubin, Sochi, Lokomotiv – these are clubs with modern stadiums, there is no doubt about their financial position and motivation to develop over the past few years. Khimki, Akhmat and Ural can compete for the tenth ticket. And then the FNL teams and those who from the current RPL did not get into it will fight for access to the Super League. But, again, this is just an idea. The specifics of the composition of the participants and the requirements for them should be discussed by the clubs and the football authorities.

But what about football in the regions, after all, the Super League will strangle small clubs?

Criticism of the Super League idea will most likely be based on two theses: such a championship will kill the romance of football (when a small provincial club can beat a top team), and football in our regions will die out. Let’s analyze both of them.

First, the Russian Super League, as we said earlier, should not be closed. All teams that really want to get there should have a chance. And it is for the chance to break into the elite that smaller clubs must fight. Isn’t it romantic to be the first guy in the village, then to get into the city and become noticeable there, earn money and gain a foothold? Secondly, no one canceled the Russian Cup, where a ticket to European cups will be played out and small teams will play with big ones. In this case, its importance for representatives of other divisions will only increase: a small team will also be able to defeat a large one and enter Europe.

What to do with the second thesis? Everything is simple here: if a region does not want football to die in it, it will try to prevent this from happening. Gradually invest money in academies, try to achieve results not here and now, but consistently go towards the goal – to get into the elite in order to gain a foothold in it. Nowadays, most clubs are comfortable with a situation where no one wants anything. This is observed not only in the RPL, but also in the FNL (there is even more). So let those who do not need big victories cook in their own juice. And if the attitude changes, and you want to make money on football (but in the normal sense of the word), the club will be able to quickly break into the elite – look at Krasnodar or Sochi.

Photo: RIA Novosti

Why invent a Super League if you can just cut the RPL?

One of the tasks of the new Super League is positioning and moving away from the RPL, which has long lost its good reputation. Yes, the police were renamed the police, but the essence remained the same, however, in football, the story is more likely about advertising and new positioning: we are not the past RPL with its scandals and scandals, we are a new league of the best, without bankrupt teams, with beautiful stadiums and only high-quality matches.

Yes, such an idea now seems too revolutionary and somewhat naive. There will be a lot of specific problems when creating it. Where in Russia, where they are still accustomed to solving problems by concepts and where a bunch of clubs agree on budgets only for the season, to create a Super League? But when every year the state of football in the country becomes worse and there are two options – to create something fresh, revolutionary and try to change life for the better or further observe the degradation of football, I would definitely vote for the former. And you?