Change of leadership, the risk of breaking the TV contract and problems with VAR: why the approach of the new RPL season is alarming

In a week, the next season of the Russian Football Championship starts, but it is still difficult to give an unambiguous answer as to how ready the RPL is for this event.

The outflow of foreign players from the teams continues, the main broadcaster threatens to terminate the contract, and the video assistant referees risk encountering technical problems that can significantly limit their capabilities.

And all this against the backdrop of the departure of Ashot Khachaturyants from the posts of president of the Premier League and head of the refereeing committee of the Russian Football Union, as well as uncertainty about his successors.

Alexander Alaev has not yet been officially approved as the head of the organization, and Pavel Kamantsev cannot boast of great work experience.

As for Alaev, many clubs expressed their readiness to support his nomination to the post of head of the Premier League, but under certain conditions.

According to the Kommersant publication, the candidate is required to leave the posts of the RFU Secretary General and the head of the First League, defend the interests of the teams before the Union and maintain the "independence of the structure."

However, the stumbling block may be a request to support the holding of the RPL Cup.

The purpose of creating this tournament was an attempt to compensate for the lack of international matches and thus provide the players with additional game practice.

At the same time, the format of the competition and the participation in it exclusively of teams from the country's top division automatically made it more attractive to spectators than the Russian Cup, therefore, it made it possible to count on attracting sponsors.

And according to Sport-Express, three large companies at once were ready to allocate billions of rubles for its holding.

However, it has not yet been possible to enlist the support of all representatives of the RPL.

At the moment, the project of the competition was supported by 13 teams, and with reservations.

If the same "Spartak" as a whole positively assessed this initiative, then "Zenith" refused to give a clear answer up to studying the details, in particular, the calendar and logistics.

Khimki, as well as two former representatives of the FNL, Orenburg and Fakel, opposed.

Among other things, Match TV, which owns the rights to show matches of the Russian Football Championship, did not like this idea.

In October 2021, a deal was concluded between the parties for four seasons, according to which the league, according to media reports, will earn a total of 14.3 billion rubles.

However, due to the changed conditions, the channel is considering the possibility of terminating the current contract.

"Match TV" believes that the creation of a new tournament among RPL clubs will negatively affect the media attractiveness of the Russian Championship and the Russian Cup, which will entail appropriate consequences for all parties involved ... And the launch of an alternative RPL product does not comply with the principles of partnerships ... Given the above, " Match TV reserves the right to take legal action regarding the revision or termination of the license agreement with the Russian Premier League," the channel's open letter says.

It is expected that the final decision on the creation of the tournament will be made before July 15.

However, there are already reasons to believe that organizational problems may force clubs to abandon this idea.

At least, this is evidenced by the appearance of rumors about a change in the format of the Cup of Russia.

Thus, it will be possible to "kill two birds with one stone" - to increase the number of meetings and avoid sanctions from Match TV.

Indeed, in this case, the number of competitions remains unchanged, therefore, it will be impossible to use a number of arguments.

At the same time, a draft reform of the Russian Cup has already appeared in the media, in many ways resembling an extended version of the disgraced championship.

All participants will be divided into "The RPL Path" and "The Path of the First and Second Leagues".

While 16 representatives of the country's top division will determine the winners of tickets to the next round as part of the group stage (as expected in the RPL Cup draft), teams from the lower divisions will immediately play right through matches.

A total of 16 clubs will proceed to the final stage of the competition.

The RPL teams that took the first two places in their groups will go to the upper bracket, the third ones will go to the lower bracket, where they will fight from the winner of the “Ways of the First and Second Leagues”.

The rest of the championship will be held in the playoff format, and the two strongest teams will meet each other in the Superfinal, which is scheduled to be held at Luzhniki.

However, not only the issue of increasing the number of matches and reorganizing the championships should worry the clubs before the start of the new season.

As it became known to "Sport-Express", in the near future the topic of refereeing may become especially acute.

And it's not just the departure of Khachaturyants, but also problems with the system of video assistance to referees.

Previously, the Premier League used the services of HawkEye Innovations, but at the end of the last championship, cooperation was terminated.

It is noted that an American company has come to replace the British company, the name of which is still a secret.

It is licensed by FIFA, but has a limited range of services.

In particular, it does not include offside line technology.

Thus, video assistants will not be able to clearly see who exactly was closer to the goal - the player of the attacking or defending team.

In the absence of the ability to draw offside lines, the referees will either have to determine the offside position by eye, or use other available means - a piece of paper or a ruler.

But taking into account the camera angle, this method will not always be possible to apply.

Consequently, there is a risk of an increase in the number of controversial episodes, which can significantly complicate the life of the new head of the refereeing department.

In addition to HawkEye, four companies offer the possibility of determining the offside position by building offside lines - the Belgian Deltacast and EVS Broadcast Equipment, the American SportsMEDIA Technology Corporation and the German Vieww.

However, there is no certainty that, given the current geopolitical situation, the RFU will have the opportunity to agree on cooperation with one of them.