“As you train, you play”: what is the risk for Russia falling to the eighth place in the UEFA coefficient table

Worst season in 18 years

Russian fans will hardly ever remember the current European Cup season with warmth, because domestic clubs scored only 4,333 points in total in the UEFA coefficient table and for the first time since 2014 dropped to eighth place in it, leaving the Netherlands ahead.

The fight with Portugal and the return to the top six are now out of the question.

Moreover, this result became the worst since 2003, when Russia scored 3,625 points and fell to 18th place.

The RPL teams performed not much better in European competitions last season, when they had 4,666 in their piggy bank.

Thus, in the last two draws, the country scored only 8.999 points.

An indicative moment: at the end of the current season, Russia took only 19th place in the table of coefficients, last - 20th.

But in the fall, the fans got a serious reason for pride.

Three national teams at once made their way to the group stage of the Champions League for the first time in history.

But for three, Zenit, Lokomotiv and Krasnodar scored only nine points, and even 12 bonus points for getting into the main round of the tournament did not help much to improve the situation in the table. 

The disastrous performance of Russian teams in the Europa League also affected.

Dynamo and Rostov took off sensationally in their very first qualifying rounds.

CSKA got directly to the group stage, but scored only three points there, although, of course, it could claim more.

In the second most important European Cup, domestic teams traditionally collected a large number of points, and a massive failure for the second season in a row could not but affect the country's position in the coefficient table. 

The weak performance of the RPL representatives and the fall to eighth place was one of the main topics for discussion on Friday.

And few experts looked to the future with a positive view.

At the same time, the reasons for the failure were named very different.

So, the ex-captain of the Russian national team Alexander Mostovoy called the fall natural, since "even Israel, Hungary, Croatia are beating us."

Former RFU President Vyacheslav Koloskov urged to look deeper - at the quality of training.  

“As you train, you play.

We must look for problems here.

All the nuances in tactics.

There is modern football, you have to play it.

To disassemble the opponent ... It's not about the limits and organizations, but about the preparation and the coach ”, - quotes the words of the“ Championship ”functionary.

In turn, the owner of the UEFA Cup and Super Cup with Zenit Roman Shirokov lamented that the fall of Russia in the coefficient table would reduce its representation in the Champions League, and the RPL grandees would play even fewer matches with opponents of the highest level, which would lead to a decrease in the championship level. ...

“Previously, we positioned ourselves as one of the best leagues, got into the top six, but ignominiously flew out of there.

This is the result of the last three years of performances in European competitions, when we could not even pass the selection in the LE.

Moreover, some of the strongest RPL teams were eliminated in the preliminary round.

This year, it seems to me, they practically did not score any points.

And this is very sad.

Only Krasnodar consistently brings points to the piggy bank from year to year, this is the only stable team in European competitions, in my opinion.

The rest cannot do anything yet, unfortunately, ”Sport24 quotes Shirokova.

Even people far from this sport spoke about the prospects of Russian football.

Thus, the two-time Olympic ice hockey champion, and currently State Duma deputy Vyacheslav Fetisov called for the creation of a system in Russian sports instead of "wasting money nowhere."

And well-known journalist Dmitry Guberniev suggested that Russia in the near future risks falling out of the top 10 of the UEFA coefficient table.

“We will go lower.

We need to return to the spring-autumn system so as not to play in winter, to stop thinking about how to fill only our own pocket.

Reform the club management system.

Consider canceling the legionnaire limit.

While there is a complete disaster.

I won't be surprised if we fly out of the top ten, ”the commentator noted.

8,999 Russian points for two seasons

And Guberniev's forecast seems quite realistic.

If the failure last season could be attributed to the problems of the teams, then another failure forces us to talk about the system.

Moreover, a gradual decline began back in 2018.

Then Russia regained the coveted sixth place in the UEFA coefficient table, which gives the right to exhibit three teams in the Champions League at once, two of which are directly in the group stage.

In general, the RPL representation in European competitions has increased to six teams.

However, the country was not ready for this.

The last three years have shown that Russia simply does not have so many combat-ready teams.

At the end of the 2018/19 season, domestic teams scored only 7.583 points.

At the same time, their performance can hardly be called a failure, because Krasnodar and Zenit reached the 1/8 finals of the LE, and CSKA beat Real twice in the Champions League group stage.

Unfortunately, the next two draws proved that at the moment it is simply unprofitable for the country to take the sixth place.

And the domestic giants were not ready to compete with dignity in the Champions League.

So, Lokomotiv took part in the main tournament of the main European Cup three times in a row, but did not score more than three points, not counting bonus points.

Even the richest club in the country, Zenit, experienced difficulties.

In 2019, the Petersburgers took fourth place in a company with Lyon, Leipzig and Benfica, and in 2020 they completely failed, having suffered five defeats in six matches.

Domestic teams have faced serious problems in the last two years in the LE, although the fans are used to considering this tournament "Russian".

In 2019, Krasnodar and CSKA reached the group stage of the second most important European Cup.

However, they failed to reach the playoffs.

Along the way, the southerners conceded five unanswered goals from Basel on the road, and the army team suffered a humiliating defeat from the champion of Bulgaria, Ludogorets - 1: 5.

The red and blue did not cope with the Hungarian "Ferencvaros", in the confrontation with which they scored only one point.

The next season turned out to be even more discouraging.

Dynamo and Rostov were eliminated from the LE immediately, and at the group stage Russia was represented by one CSKA.

But Viktor Goncharenko's charges took the last place in the group again.

They never managed to beat either the modest Austrian Wolfsberg or the Zagreb Dynamo, which then knocked out Krasnodar or Feyenoord from the Netherlands in the 1/16 finals.

Such results directly indicate a drop in the level of Russian football, because in the early-mid-2010s representatives of the RPL felt confident in the LE and, as a rule, calmly entered the playoffs.

In the 2017/18 season, four teams (Spartak, CSKA, Lokomotiv and Zenit) played at least in the 1/16 finals.

A year earlier, Rostov, Zenit and Krasnodar achieved similar success.

In 2015, Lokomotiv and Krasnodar reached the playoffs, and Rubin finished third in their quartet.

And in 2011, Russia was represented in the 1/16 finals by four teams at once: Rubin, Spartak, CSKA and Zenit.

The red and whites eventually made it to the quarterfinals.

And in the Champions League, domestic representatives performed much more successfully and, as a rule, at least took third place in the group and flew to the LE.

In 2017, Spartak and CSKA managed it (the army team eventually reached the LE quarterfinals), in 2016 - Rostov.

A year earlier, Zenit won five out of six matches altogether and took first place in their quartet.

Now, the domestic teams are not able to get into the playoffs of even the second most important European Cup and are losing to the representatives of the championships who are in the UEFA coefficient table much lower than Russia (Georgia - 45th place, Hungary - 28th, Azerbaijan - 26th, Bulgaria - 24th, Israel - 21st, Croatia - 19th).

And if one such failure can be attributed to bad luck, then a number of them testify to a gradual decline in the level of Russian football.

In this regard, there is no reason to expect a sharp improvement in results in the coming years.

hope for the best

However, the fans also have reason for cautious optimism.

It can even be assumed that next season Russia will probably improve its position in the UEFA coefficient table and may even rise to seventh place.

The main reason for this is the reduction in the number of participants in European competitions.

In the last three seasons, all points scored by domestic teams were divided by six, while now they will be divided by five.

And the sixth representative, as a rule, was not ready to speak at the international level.

In 2018, Ufa barely passed the Slovenian Domzale and Luxembourg Progress and lost to the Glasgow Rangers in the playoff round.

Even less successful was the performance of "Arsenal" and "Dynamo", which took off in the first qualifying rounds from what seemed to be inferior in the class of teams - Azerbaijani "Neftchi" and Georgian "Lokomotiv".

With five participants, only the strongest teams will get into the European Cups.

It is with this number of clubs that Russia has issued two of the most successful seasons in history (2017/18 - 12,600 points, 2015/16 - 11,500).

In addition, next season, the teams that took third and fourth places in the Premier League will take part in the new European Cup - the Conference League, where the level of resistance will be less than in the Europa League in its current format.

The bronze medalist starts from the third qualifying round, and the winner of the "wooden medals" - from the second.

In the LE from Russia in the next season, only the winner of the National Cup will perform, who will play immediately in the playoff round and, in case of defeat, will not complete the performance in European competitions, but will directly go to the group stage of the LK, where he will be able to score precious points in the UEFA coefficient table ...

Participation in the group stage of the Champions League is guaranteed only by the champion, while the silver medalist, in case of relegation in qualifying, will continue to play in the LE.