The 2026 Russian Second League Division B is the fourth season of Russia's fourth-tier football league. The season began on 28 March 2026 and will end in November 2026.
Overview In the summer of 2023, the Russian Second League was reorganized and split into two tiers - third-tier Russian Second League Division A and fourth-tier Russian Second League Division B. Division B also switched to the spring-to-autumn, March-to-November schedule. 2023 was a transitional half-year season. 2024 season was the first full-length season.
Division B is split into 4 groups, mostly based on geographical location. At the end of the year, four winners of their groups will be promoted into the Division B Second Stage Silver Group. Four bottom teams from the Division A First Stage Silver Group will be relegated to 2027 Division B.
Team movement At the end of the 2025 season, Dynamo Stavropol, Zenit-2 St. Petersburg, Dynamo Bryansk and Amkar Perm were promoted to Division A as winners of their Division B groups. Avangard Kursk and Murom were relegated to Division B from Division A.
Kuban-Holding Pavlovskaya, Sochi-2, Kolomna, Znamya Truda Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Uralets-TS Nizhny Tagil and Sokol Kazan were relegated or voluntarily dropped out.
Legion Makhachkala was relocated and renamed to Pobeda Nizhny Novgorod, also moving from Zone 1 to Zone 4. Rodina-M Moscow was renamed to Rodina-3 Moscow. Dynamo St. Petersburg moved from Group 3 to Group 2, Saturn Ramenskoye moved from Group 2 to Group 3, Volna Nizhny Novgorod Oblast moved from Group 4 to Group 3.
Spartak Nalchik, Dynamo-2 Makhachkala, Yenisey-2 Krasnoyarsk, Kvant Obninsk and Nosta Novotroitsk, which finished the 2025 season in relegation spots, were kept in the league because of the other teams dropping out or moving zones. That was the second consecutive occasion that happened for Dynamo-2, Yenisey-2 and Kvant.
New teams were Zarya Lugansk, Kyzyltash Bakhchisaray, Neftyanik Izberbash, PSK Dinskaya, Shakhtyor, Iskra Smolensk, Shumbrat Saransk, Izhevsk (all promoted from lower-level amateur leagues) and Chayka-M Peschanokopskoye (reserve team of a Russian First League club).
Group 1 Group 1 includes 15 teams that will play each other twice, home and away, from 28 March 2026 to 30 October 2026. The group winner will be promoted to the Division A Second Stage Silver Group, the bottom team will be relegated from Division B.
FC PSK Dinskaya dropped out of the league on 17 June 2026 for financial reasons. As they played less than half of their scheduled games, all their results have been discarded.
Group 2 Group 2 includes 15 teams that will play each other twice, home and away, from 28 March 2026 to 1 November 2026. The group winner will be promoted to the Division A Second Stage Silver Group, the bottom two teams will be relegated from Division B.
Group 3 Group 3 includes 16 teams that will play each other twice, home and away, from 28 March 2026 to 31 October 2026. The group winner will be promoted to the Division A Second Stage Silver Group, the bottom two teams will be relegated from Division B.
Group 4 Group 4 includes 12 teams.
In the first stage, 12 teams played each other twice, home and away, from 5 April 2026 to 23 August 2026. At the end of the first stage, top 6 teams qualified for the second stage subgroup 4A, and the remaining 6 qualified for the second stage subgroup 4B. All the first stage results were included in the initial subgroup 4A and 4B standings. The teams in subgroups 4A and 4B will play each other team in their respective subgroups home and away, for 10 additional games.
The winner of subgroup 4A will be promoted to the Division A Second Stage Silver Group, the bottom two teams of subgroup 4B will be relegated from Division B.
First stage
Second stage
Subgroup 4A
Subgroup 4B
References