152 matches in 131 days in the RPL

On Tuesday, RPL published the calendar of the new season of the Russian football championship. It will start on August 8 and end on May 16. At the same time, the participants will leave for the winter break record late - December 17. For comparison: last year, the last match of the national championship was played on December 8, and in 2018 - on the 10th.

The new season starts without swinging. A pause of several days is planned only between the first and second rounds. In the future, RPL meetings will be held daily from 14 to 30 August until the pause for national teams. There are three of them: August 31 - September 8, October 5-14 and November 9-18.

At the same time, the players will not be able to rest after the end of the previous championship draw, because it ended only on July 22. Thus, the old and new seasons will be separated by only 16 days.

However, in the fall it will be easier for teams that are not involved in European competitions, because in addition to the RPL, they will only have to play in the National Cup, but many in such a busy schedule can sacrifice this tournament.

But the teams that will represent Russia in Europe, according to the new regulations of the Cup of the country, start in it only in the spring, starting from the 1/8 finals stage. Now in the fall they will not have to be torn into three tournaments at once, as it happened in previous years.

At the same time, the calendar of the new season is drawn up in such a way that the participants of European competitions from Russia at the time of their performance on the international arena will not have to hold a series of meetings with strong rivals in the domestic championship.

For example, Zenit is already waiting for a difficult segment before the winter break. Semak's charges will first hold the final meeting of the Champions League group stage, and then will host Dynamo and Spartak.

Vice-champion Lokomotiv, on the other hand, will have an extremely difficult start. In the first six rounds of the RPL, the railroad workers will play against Rubin, Krasnodar, Spartak and Zenit. In turn, Murad Musaev's wards in late October - early November can play three matches of the UCL / LE group stage, as well as meet in the national championship with Spartak and Zenit.

Two games a week and three breaks for international matches

The teams that will represent Russia in Europe will still be harder than the others, because if they perform successfully until the very end of the year, they will have to play two matches a week. The exceptions are Zenit, Lokomotiv and CSKA, which made it directly to the group stage of the Champions League and Europa League.

It starts only on October 20-22, and therefore in September - early October, the players will be able to focus on the RPL and have a little rest.

However, contrary to expectations, their schedule will not be much tighter than in recent years. For example, Zenit players will have to play 34 matches in all tournaments in 132 days by the end of the year (on average, one match in 3.9 days), including games for the national team. The Russian national team will play eight matches in 2020, six of which are official in the League of Nations, and two are friendly.

In 2018, from the beginning of August to the end of December, Petersburgers played the same 34 games in 131 days (3.8). Lokomotiv's players will have a little harder time, as in August-December they can play five more meetings at once than last year (34 versus 29). CSKA will have to play three more matches (33 versus 30).

However, in previous seasons, the Russian teams that made their way to the group stage of European competitions, in September-December, had to regularly enter the field twice a week. So the former coach of Lokomotiv, Yuri Semin, complained that his players had to be torn into three fronts, taking into account the Russian Cup.

But the leading teams had the opportunity in August to calmly prepare for the start in European competitions. For example, Zenit last year, in the last month of summer, received 27 days of rest, playing matches in a weekly cycle, like Lokomotiv in 2018.

New limit and chronic fatigue

The hardest part in the current season will be Krasnodar, Dynamo and Rostov, which will have to take part in the qualification of European competitions. They will play their first Champions League and UEFA matches after a pause for national team games in September. If all three teams pass the sieve and make their way to the group stage, by the end of the year they will face a very difficult schedule with two matches a week.

Southerners are used to playing in this mode. For example, last year many of them played 33 games in August-December, ten of which were in European competitions. In 2020, if they reach the group stage of the Champions League or Europa League, they will have to enter the field 36 times, taking into account the matches of the Russian national teams. But Krasnodar, at least, has a fairly wide bench and rich experience in playing on the international arena.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Dynamo and Rostov. The footballers of these teams involved in the national teams can hold 37 and 36 meetings by the end of the year, respectively (one game on average for 3.5 days). At the same time, last year the blue-white from August 10 to December 6 played only 16 times, and the yellow-blue - 17.

Unlike Krasnodar? these teams do not have such a high-quality clip to successfully perform on two fronts. And "Dynamo" on the eve of returning to European competition parted with seven players at once.

In such a situation, the Russian representatives in the European competition may fail. With such a busy calendar, teams that are able to carry out a serious rotation of the roster will perform most successfully. However, only Zenit can do this painlessly. For everyone else, if necessary, to be torn into two or even three fronts, taking into account the matches of the national teams, serious problems may arise.

In general, domestic teams have historically failed to cope with such a busy schedule? unlike rivals from Europe. For example, Lokomotiv won only one victory in the RPL last season from late October to early December. CSKA, who played in the Europa League, had similar difficulties, which scored only ten points in ten league games in October, November and December. Now it’s even harder for them. 

The new limit on foreign players will also hit the national teams, which will deprive them of the opportunity to use more than eight foreigners in matches. In particular, Semak has already criticized the innovation.

“Either we play with a limit and trust Russian players, we are waiting for a talented generation that will be competitive in Europe, or we cancel the limit and fight for the result. Then we will have a level playing field with European clubs. There are no such conditions yet, ”the coach said in an interview with Sports.ru.

It is possible that in this situation, some clubs will be forced to push the European cups to the background for a successful performance in the national championship. In particular, this applies to teams playing in the Europa League and simultaneously fighting for the championship and tickets to the Champions League.

Lokomotiv, which during the draw of the Champions League group stage will be in the third or fourth basket, in case of getting into the same quartet with two top clubs, as it was last season, may also switch to the Russian championship, realizing that it will make the play -off is almost unrealistic.

A difficult schedule can negatively affect the performance of the national team of the country, because the players will come to its location very tired. This can lead to an increase in the number of injuries in the future, especially for leaders who are most involved in all tournaments. 

At the same time, an unsuccessful performance in the League of Nations could lower the rating of the Russian national team in the UEFA rating and send it to a lower basket in the draw for the qualifying stage of the 2022 World Cup.