Athletistic/ Football. This year, the option of expanding the Russian Premier League to 18 teams is discussed quite often. In particular, this topic is fueled by the fact that Russian clubs have been suspended from tournaments under the auspices of UEFA. In other words, in the 2022/2023 season, Russia will not be represented in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League. In this regard, many are looking for ways to fill the days. However, there are also other reasons. For example, the desire of club leaders to ensure and exclude the relegation of the RPL.

In the 2021/2022 season, they did not institute a moratorium on relegation to the RPL. Thus, the league was not expanded. The 2022/2023 season will take place as usual with 16 teams. At the same time, talking about the expansion of the Premier League does not calm down.

The Ural Football Club has taken the initiative to expand the RPL to 18 teams starting from the 2023/2024 season. This issue was put on the agenda of the RPL clubs meeting, which took place on Monday, June 20. The majority of clubs voted against expanding the league.

Fans reacted to the current situation. They left their comments on the page of the famous Russian edition “Championship”. Many believe there is no need at this time to expand the RPL due to the current economic situation.

almazka1990:

– What an extension, it’s impossible to watch half the games here, and you want even more.

ygrikd:

– It’s just that the “Urals” almost flew away, so its president decided to play it safe.

antiswamp21:

– Every year in the RPL, the team actually disappears, and they still want to add. Here is the same “Ufa”, if he does not shake Fedun money (I strongly doubt that he will), then he will replenish the heavenly league. The expansion is right, only the level of our championship cannot involve it at the moment.

leba:

– It is not necessary to expand so that your team does not fly to the FNL. They grow when there are lots of nice clubs, and we have clubs that disappear for more than a year: Tambov, Anji, Tosno, Amkar remember it.

tavahioyu7:

– Yes, it’s a bad idea at first, what an extension! Here, ideally, on the contrary, it should be reduced to at least 14 teams… But where is it, they will still be against it. So they did the right thing, leaving 16 teams.

sport1mogila:

– At least one sensible and balanced decision.

hornytolog:

– Are the authors of the expansion sure that we have 18 financially stable clubs?

kontanistov:

– Each club only pursues its own interests. RFU officials, not individual clubs, are responsible for the development of football in the country. Dyukov must show will and increase the number of teams in the championship to 18 and put the RPL before the facts.

It is worth agreeing with people that there is no certainty that the RPL will be able to exist with 18 teams. Many clubs have a rather difficult financial offer. Also, it won’t be very interesting if the league decides to expand by a relegation moratorium. Then the level of football will drop even more because teams won’t have to fight for survival. At the same time, if it ever becomes possible to expand the RPL by adding the teams that previously did not belong to Russian football (for example, from Crimea), then this should be considered. At the moment, the option with 16 teams in the RPL is optimal.

Yaroslav Pyatikh, Athletistic