I tend not to do reports until we get a decent amount into a season, so I waited until now, and most teams have eight matches under their belt, so why the heck not?
Before going into what's happening this season, here's a little history. If you wanna skip it, move forward to the horizontal ruler after the bold text.
The Russian football system is, as is to be expected, the largest successor to the old Soviet system. All but one of the Soviet highest-level champions who won championships more than twice is from Russia, and all four of those are from Moscow. (That said, one of those teams, Torpedo, has had markedly less success in the post-Soviet era than the other three
![Tongue :P](https://spursnetwork.com/forums/Smileys/sn/tongue.gif)
and currently play in the second level of Russian football system, the National Football League. Presently they are sucking up a storm even in that division, having not played in the top flight since 2006.)
This is the 22nd season of the Russian league system, and out of those 22 seasons, Spartak Moskva have won the title nine times, being far and away the most successful club in the post-Soviet era. (They were the best Russian team in the Soviet era but were only one title ahead of Dinamo Moskva, and one behind Dynamo Kyiv.) Truth is, they won nine out of the first ten seasons, finishing third in 1995 behind Alania Vladikavkaz and Lokomotiv Moskva, and won six in a row in a stretch from 1996 to 2001. Although they haven't won since then, they have been runners-up five times as well - every season from 2005 to 2007, 2009, and 2011-12.
(Oh right
![Tongue :P](https://spursnetwork.com/forums/Smileys/sn/tongue.gif)
I forgot to say that Russia switched to a more mainland-European timeline starting in 2011. Before that, the entire season was played within the calendar year.)
Anyhoo, the second-best team in Russia and the best team since the turn of the millennium has been CSKA Moskva. Over the last eleven seasons (not counting this one) CSKA has won four titles, and finished second four times (five overall in the post-Soviet era). The 21st century has seen the league shift from being dominated by Spartak to being more open, and although CSKA has four titles, that's seven titles they didn't win, split between Zenit Sankt-Peterburg (3 titles), Rubin Kazan', and Lokomotiv Moskva (2 titles each).
Now with all that out of the way, let's see how everyone started!
Three of the big Moscow clubs are off to good starts. The best is CSKA (20) who have yet to lose, although Lokomotiv (19) is hot on their heels, and Spartak is only a goal back of Zenit (both have 17) for third. So the "usual suspects" are doing well.
Last year in Russia, Kuban' Krasnodar pipped Rubin Kazan' by a point to reach Europa, finishing fifth. Occupying the same place in the table so far this season are cross-town rivals FK Krasnodar (15), while Kuban', oddly enough, are in the same tenth place FKK finished last season. Whooda thunk it? Right behind FKK are FK Rostov (14) and Dinamo Moskva (13), the latter of whom continues to struggle to really succeed in the post-Soviet era, barring a decent run of form from 1992-1994 (3rd, 3rd, and 2nd) and finishing 3rd in 1997. They finished seventh last season, so they aren't strangers to the place they're at now. Right behind them, Rubin Kazan' (12), who haven't yet lost a match, but are struggling to win - two wins and
six friggin' draws!
![Tongue :P](https://spursnetwork.com/forums/Smileys/sn/tongue.gif)
Amkar Perm' and Kuban' Krasnodar (both 10) are even on points, but the former is ahead on goal differential in spite of Kuban' having more luck scoring goals. Both are at two wins, four draws, and two losses.
After them in the table are the teams that are clearly in win deficit. Krylja Sovetov Samara (9) has a win, six draws, and two losses, Volga Nizhny Novgorod (7) has two wins versus five losses (only one draw), Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast (6) has
one win versus five losses (three draws), and Anzhi Makhachkala (4), Terek Grozny (3), and Tom Tomsk (1) have yet to win at all. Anzhi finished
third last season, and here they are, eight games in, with not a single win... duh,
LOSING! Shows to go ya that money can't always buy success.
![Tongue :P](https://spursnetwork.com/forums/Smileys/sn/tongue.gif)
Also, Tom and Ural were only promoted up this season and here they are in danger of going back down again. The reverse is also true. Down in the NFL, Mordovia Saransk is tops and Alania Vladikavkaz is looking strong early, only a point behind Ars*nal Tula for second. (Since I have an aversion to any team called "Ars*nal," I hope they don't get promoted
![Tongue :P](https://spursnetwork.com/forums/Smileys/sn/tongue.gif)
)
Anyway, this is it for Russia for a while now. Back in a month.