For phased changes: why most RPL clubs did not support the abolition of the limit on foreign players

The day before, a meeting of the Russian Premier League clubs took place, at which possible reforms in the national championship were discussed. Along with the change in the format of the tournament, proposed by the Dutch research and consulting company Hypercube, the issue of a possible cancellation of the limit for legionnaires was discussed. As a result, the absolute majority of collectives, for one reason or another, did not support the complete rejection of artificial restrictions.

It is noteworthy that even before the start of the meeting, the head of the Russian Football Union (RFU), Alexander Dyukov, officially announced his position on this issue. The functionary said he was in favor of abolishing the limit on legionnaires and creating healthy competition within the national championship. However, this did not have a serious impact on the opinion of the representatives of the clubs. According to media reports, only four teams supported this initiative, while the majority favored less drastic changes.

As far as is known, the meeting considered three possible options for reforming the limit. In addition to its complete cancellation, two more formats were brought up for discussion: "7 + 4" (there can be seven foreigners on the field, there is no limit on their number in the application) and "10 + 15" (there can be no more than ten athletes from - abroad, but they can all play). According to RB Sport, most of the league representatives chose the last of them. Apparently, among them was the Moscow "Spartak".

“The club is in favor of softening the limit. So, in "Spartak" is not against the "10 + 15" format. But at the same time, according to the club, certain criteria must be observed for legionnaires. If the player does not match them, the club must transfer money to a special fund that encourages those who develop and actively involve homegrown players. If later the legionnaire grew up and began to meet the criteria, the money is returned to the club, ”the“ Championship ”quotes a source in the red-and-white club.

In fact, this limit format is a more relaxed version of the current one - "8 + 17". According to him, up to eight players from abroad can be included in the club's application, while the remaining 17 must have a Russian passport. Moreover, they can all be on the field at the same time, as a result of which only three domestic players receive a guaranteed place in the squad. Under the new system, their number will be reduced to one.

It is worth noting that such a restriction option was previously considered by the RPL. In 2015, at the general meeting of clubs, it was decided to allow teams to have up to ten foreign players in the application, and everyone can simultaneously be on the field in the matches of the Russian championship. However, later Alexey Miller, the chairman of the board of Gazprom, voiced his critical position on this issue, according to whom these transformations could negatively affect the performance of the Russian national team at the 2018 home world championship.

“One of the priority steps now should be the immediate decision of the executive committee of the Russian Football Union to tighten the limit for legionnaires -“ 6 + 5 ”. This should be done immediately. Otherwise it will be too late. A common priority in the work of the RFU, the Ministry of Sports, the management of Russian clubs, a common goal in the coming years, should now be the interest of the country's national football team ... The Russian national football team has recently been playing not only ugly, but also hopeless. And hopeless no longer in terms of qualifying from the group for the 2016 European Championship. And from the point of view of which national team we will have for the home world championship in 2018, ”said Miller.

At that time, the current president of the RFU Vitaly Mutko took the side of the chairman of the board of "Gazprom", and the RPL introduced a limit of "6 + 5" - six foreigners on the field with no restrictions on their number in the application.

As for the current situation, there were unexpectedly few supporters of the abolition of the limit.

In general, this idea was supported by only four clubs.

If you believe the media, they include Rubin, Sochi, Dynamo and Krasnodar.

And in this context, it is especially worth paying attention to the citizens of Kazan.

According to journalist Sergei Yegorov, their attitude to the restriction is largely due to the recent situation with the transfer of Denis Makarov.

The midfielder had an impressive season under the leadership of Leonid Slutsky and was one of the team's key performers, but decided to leave after receiving a generous contract offer from the blue and white.

Surely many expected that Zenit would join them, but he limited himself to putting forward an extremely interesting idea.

The current champion of the country, according to media reports, came up with an initiative to allow some teams to buy out places for legionnaires from others.

“As for the limit on legionnaires, there are different points of view.

But we have only been playing with the current limit for the second year.

Let's finish the season, let's look at the results of the season, analyze how many foreigners have entered the field, how many we need.

Maybe we don't need more foreigners?

And then there is now Alexander Ivanovich Medvedev from Zenit suggests - let's buy seats from those clubs that do not need them.

Well, let's buy places tomorrow, buy something else!

But this is all wrong, "Ural President Grigory Ivanov told RIA Novosti.

This information was confirmed by the general director of Ufa, Shamil Gazizov.

He did not name the club that initiated the discussion of this issue, but said that he liked this undertaking.

“One of the RPL clubs offered to establish a tariff at which you can buy a place for a legionnaire?

Yes, I supported this story.

You can work in this direction.

Maybe not even the tariff: for example, the number of legionnaires does not change - eight remain - but if Ufa wants to have six legionnaires, then it can give up the quota.

Did you write that one of the clubs suggested?

Proposed by another club, but I supported, "- quotes Gazizov's words" Championship ".

At the same time, the functionary admitted that although he generally shares the idea of ​​canceling the restriction on the number of foreign players in the application, he does not believe that such changes should be made right now. According to Gazizov, the limit should be left in its current form for several seasons and see if it works or not. Apparently, the same opinion is shared by Rostov and Ural, who also supported the preservation of the current version.

In general, it is not difficult to understand the clubs opposed to the lifting of restrictions. If we leave aside the interests of the Russian national team, about which the same head of “Ural” Ivanov constantly speaks, then there are still a number of factors that can influence their decision. Firstly, in recent years, the regulations in this matter have changed several times, which forced the teams to urgently part with the extra foreigners. Moreover, this often happened on an emergency basis, as a result of which it was far from always possible to sell a football player on favorable terms. It is not surprising that they do not want to reshape the composition again, having no guarantees that the next reforms will not take place soon.

Secondly, the opportunity to have an unlimited number of legionnaires in the squad may negatively affect the prospects of a number of teams in the championship. If rich clubs get the opportunity to recruit strong foreigners, then less affluent ones may face the problem of acquiring them. Especially if the criteria for signing them are approved.

As for the change in the formula for the championship itself, most RPL members did not appreciate the innovations proposed by Hypercube. According to Sergei Egorov, CSKA, Dynamo, Khimki, as well as the fourth club, which remained unnamed, spoke in his favor. At the same time, the arguments are called the lack of guarantees that this reform will have a positive effect on both the financial and sports components. So, outsiders are seriously afraid that after the division into "gold" and "silver" subgroups, interest in meetings of teams from the bottom of the table will decrease, and the absence of matches with giants will have a negative impact on ticket sales.

It should be noted that the general meeting will take place in a week, on August 31. It is on it that the voting will be held on both the possible cancellation or transformation of the limit on foreign players, and the reform of the Russian championship. In this case, the final decision will be made at the executive committee of the RFU, which will then need to be approved by the Ministry of Sports.