“On the lower leagues wiped their feet”: who and for what criticized the decision to end the season in the FNL

“It is impossible to fully complete the FNL within the indicated time frame”

The decision of the RFU to prematurely end the season in the FNL caused a serious resonance in domestic football. On the one hand, the vast majority of league clubs supported this move. On the other hand, several strong teams, not on a sporting basis, lost the opportunity to compete for promotion in the classroom. 

The leadership of Russian football in this situation can be understood. First of all, they are concerned about the fate of the RPL, while the lower leagues faded into the background. Yes, and playing 11 rounds in the FNL in a month and a half was almost impossible - too much work would have been put on the frustrated football players, which could entail a considerable number of injuries. 

“In the specified time from June 21 to August 2, it is impossible to fully complete the FNL in the format provided for by the regulations. This conclusion was adopted unanimously. This position will be conveyed to the leadership of the RFU, since the final decision on the completion of the tournament is in any case with this organization, ”explained FNL President Igor Efremov.  

In turn, the head of the RFU Alexander Dyukov emphasized that it would be difficult for the sub-elite league teams to fulfill the requirements of the regulation “from a financial point of view”. In addition, a large number of flights could create a risk of infection of footballers with the coronavirus, not to mention the considerable logistics costs.

It is not surprising that most of the clubs agreed to finish the season ahead of schedule. How difficult they are at the moment, you can understand the example of "Armavir" and "Ray", which after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic ceased to exist.  

Moreover, the decision of the RFU on FNL turned out to be far from unique. Previously ahead of schedule ended the season in the lower leagues in a number of European countries, for example, in England, Scotland, Poland. It is gratifying that in Russia they still found a way to maintain the sporting principle in the exchange of teams between the RPL and the FNL. The two worst teams of the Premier League will fly out, and “Rotor” and “Khimki” will take their places, located in first and second places, respectively, at the time of the suspension of the season.  

The abolition of butt matches also seems logical, because it was not possible to include them in the already saturated RPL calendar - there simply was no place left, because the season in the elite will end only on July 22, and the teams need a break before starting a new one.

The promotion in the Rotor class does not raise any questions. In Volgograd, they initially set such a task and invited a number of football players with experience in the elite, as well as Belarusian specialist Alexander Khatskevich.

In addition, the team plays at the brand new Volgograd Arena, built for the World Cup, and the interest in it in the traditionally football city is very great. The average attendance of Rotor matches this season amounted to almost 20 thousand spectators. In the RPL, this figure can grow significantly, given that the arena seats 45 thousand fans.

In this regard, Volgograd residents are two heads taller than Chertanovo, which took third place, which has practically no fans. The club does not have its own stadium, suitable for holding matches of the Premier League. In case of entering the RPL, the team was going to play in Luzhniki. 

In a similar situation was the leader of most of the season, “Torpedo”, although black and white have an incomparably larger army of fans than Chertanovo. The club’s home arena, the Eduard Streltsov Stadium, is waiting for reconstruction, which will be completed only by 2023.    

“Fixing today's FNL table is unfair”

If access to the RPL of the Rotor is absolutely logical, then the future of Khimki is quite vague. There are no questions for the team regarding the game. From the first rounds, the team struggled for a promotion in the classroom and simultaneously made it to the semifinals of the Russian Cup. However, the financial condition of the club raises questions. In winter, a change of development vector was announced in a city outside Moscow, which entailed the departure of head coach Andrei Talalayev, as well as a pair of leading football players.

It seemed that the team no longer claims to enter the Premier League. However, in the spring, already under Sergei Juran, the Khimki at the last moment got into second place and, as it turned out, guaranteed themselves a ticket to the RPL.

But Torpedo had no problems with finances. After the arrival of Roman Avdeev, the club in the capital did not hide the desire to enter the RPL and for this task they assembled a very strong team. Moreover, the reconstruction of the Torpedo stadium named after Eduard Streltsov has begun.

At first, it seemed that Sergei Ignashevich’s wards were clear favorites of the tournament. From August to September, they won nine victories in a row and seriously broke away from their pursuers. As a result, black and white led the most of the season - over 16 rounds of 27, but in the end did not make it to the Premier League. At the same time, “Torpedo” in the first round beat both Khimki (1: 0) and Rotor (2: 0), but remained behind these teams.

It is not surprising that Ignashevich called this situation unfair and called for an additional tournament for the first five teams, but his proposal was not heard.

“It’s necessary to finish the game. Fixing today's FNL table is unfair. If we are talking about sports in football. It remains to play a small number of matches, and all the most interesting is to come. For example, “Rotor” has not yet been in Khabarovsk or Vladivostok, ”the trainer wrote on Instagram. 

However, Chertanovo should be much more offensive to another team from the capital. If the “Torpedo” behind the second place by one point, then the players of Igor Osinkin lost to “Khimki” only in additional indicators. Khimki were higher due to the greater number of victories - 16 vs. 15. In fairness, the Talalaev-Juran team was stronger in face-to-face meetings (0: 0, 3: 1).  

At the same time, it is surprising that the rules in the RPL are completely different, and the first criterion in case of equality of points is precisely personal matches between the teams.  

So, a unique team from Moscow, betting on young pupils and already sending Nail Umyarov, Anton Zinkovsky and Maxim Glushenkov to elite clubs, lost the opportunity to play in the RPL, although it was ready for it.  

“If the season in the RPL is still played out, one could consider the possibility of holding a weekly tournament in one city with the participation of the leaders of the FNL for the right to enter the elite. In the first division, the players have the same two arms, two legs and a head as the RPL players, ”the club’s club’s director general quotes Sportbox. 

Finally, another team of the FNL, which was dissatisfied with the early completion of the season, was Neftekhimik, the fifth-largest player. In Nizhnekamsk, we were also ready to compete for promotion.   

Thus, immediately three strong teams had to finish the season ahead of schedule and come to terms with the fact that they would have to spend the next one in the FNL. Alternatively, these clubs offered to hold an additional tournament.

The first five teams could well play among themselves even in two circles. In this case, they, like the RPL teams, would hold eight meetings each and fit into the deadline designated by UEFA, especially since the RFU canceled the butt matches.

But the RFU explained that it was impossible to organize such a tournament in accordance with the regulations. Unfortunately, they did not remember compliance with the sporting principle in this situation, and, as the sports director of Baltika Ismail Ibragimov stated, “once again they wiped their feet on the lower leagues”.