The Russian First League (, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division () and Russian Football National League (FNL) () is the second level of the Russian football league system.

The Russian Professional Football League (PFL) used to run the division. Since 2011, it has been managed by the .

The league consists of 18 clubs. After each season the two top clubs are promoted to the Premier League, and the bottom three clubs are relegated to the Second League. Third and fourth team play in home-and-away promotion play-offs against the 13th and 14th Premier League teams. Should one or more clubs not possess the required licence to participate for the upcoming season, the teams previously relegated are kept in the league instead, in the order of last season's standings.

History Due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, all Russian clubs of the former Soviet Top League and Soviet First League unified into the Russian Top Division, which meant that the new second tier of Russian football would remain regionalized.

On 10 June 2022, the number of teams in the league was reduced from 20 to 18 for the 2022–23 season. On the same day, the league requested Russian Football Union to rename the league to its historical name of Russian First League. RFU officially approved the name change on 23 June 2022. On the same date the league announced that the league's title sponsor would be a bookmaker Melbet.

Current clubs

The following teams are competing in the 2024–25 season: Team Home city Stadium Capacity Head coachAlania Vladikavkaz Vladikavkaz Republican Spartak Stadium 10,250 Soslan BeteevArsenal Tula Tula Arsenal Stadium 19,241 Aleksandr Storozhuk Chayka Peschanokopskoye Peschanokopskoye Chayka Central Stadium 3,445 Dmitri PyatibratovFakel Voronezh Voronezh Tsentralnyi Profsoyuz Stadion 32,750 Dmitri PyatibratovChernomorets Novorossiysk Novorossiysk 12,500 Vadim GaraninKAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny KAMAZ stadium 6,248 Vladimir KlontsakNeftekhimik Nizhnekamsk Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik Stadium 3,100 Kirill NovikovRodina Moscow Moscow Spartakovets Stadium 5,000 Vladimir GazzayevRotor Volgograd Volgograd Volgograd Arena 45,316 Denis BoyarintsevShinnik Yaroslavl Yaroslavl Shinnik Stadium 22,990 Dmitri CheryshevSKA-Khabarovsk Khabarovsk Lenin Stadium 14,800 Dmitri VoyetskiySokol Saratov Saratov Lokomotiv Stadium 15,000 Aleksey BagaFC Orenburg Orenburg Gazovik Stadium10,046 Vladimir SliškovićTyumen Tyumen Geolog Stadium 13,057 Igor Menshchikov Ufa Ufa BetBoom Arena 15,234 Yevgeni KharlachyovUral Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg Arena 35,696 Yevgeni AveryanovYenisey Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk Central Stadium 15,000 Andrey Tikhonov

Winners and top scorers Season Winners Also promoted Top scorer 1992 Zhemchuzhina-Amerus (West) KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny (Centre) Luch Vladivostok (East) – Gocha Gogrichiani (Zhemchuzhina-Amerus, West) – 26 Oleg Teryokhin (Sokol Saratov, Centre) – 27 Vyacheslav Kartashov (Irtysh Omsk, East) – 19 1993 Chernomorets Novorossiysk (West, not promoted)Lada Togliatti (Centre)Dinamo-Gazovik Tyumen (East) – Sergey Burdin (Chernomorets Novorossiysk, West) – 25 Vladimir Filimonov (Zvezda Perm, Centre) – 37 Vyacheslav Kamoltsev (Dinamo-Gazovik Tyumen, East) – 22 1994 Chernomorets Novorossiysk Rostselmash Rostov-on-Don Dmitri Silin (Baltika Kaliningrad) – 35 1995 Baltika Kaliningrad Lada TogliattiZenit Saint Petersburg Sergei Bulatov (Baltika Kaliningrad) – 29 1996 Dinamo-Gazovik Tyumen Shinnik YaroslavlFakel Voronezh Varlam Kilasonia (Lokomotiv Saint Petersburg) – 22 1997 Uralan Elista – Aleksei Chernov (Lada-Grad Dimitrovgrad) – 29 1998 Saturn Moscow Region Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod Andradina (Arsenal Tula) – 27 1999 Anzhi Makhachkala Fakel Voronezh Konstantin Paramonov (Amkar Perm) – 23 2000 Sokol Saratov Torpedo-ZIL Moscow Andrei Fedkov (Sokol Saratov) – 26 2001 Shinnik Yaroslavl Uralan Elista Vitaly Kakunin (Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk) – 20 2002 Rubin Kazan Chernomorets Novorossiysk Vyacheslav Kamoltsev (Chernomorets Novorossiysk) – 20 David Chaladze (Rubin Kazan) – 20 2003 Amkar Perm Kuban Krasnodar Aleksandr Panov (Dynamo Saint Petersburg) – 23 2004 Terek Grozny Tom Tomsk Andrei Fedkov (Terek Grozny) – 38 2005 Luch-Energia Vladivostok Spartak Nalchik Yevgeni Alkhimov (Lokomotiv Chita) – 24 2006 Khimki Kuban Krasnodar Yevgeni Alkhimov (Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast) – 25 2007 Shinnik Yaroslavl Terek Grozny Dmitri Akimov (Sibir Novosibirsk) – 34 2008 FC Rostov Kuban Krasnodar Denis Popov (Torpedo Moscow/Chernomorets Novorossiysk) – 24 2009 Anzhi Makhachkala Sibir NovosibirskAlania Vladikavkaz Aleksei Medvedev (Sibir Novosibirsk) – 18 2010 Kuban Krasnodar Volga Nizhny NovgorodKrasnodar Otar Martsvaladze (Volga Nizhny Novgorod) – 21 2011–12 Mordovia Saransk Alania Vladikavkaz Ruslan Mukhametshin (Mordovia Saransk) – 31 2012–13 Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast Tom Tomsk Spartak Gogniyev (Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast) – 17 2013–14 Mordovia Saransk Arsenal Tula Torpedo Moscow Ufa Aleksandr Kutyin (Arsenal Tula) – 19 2014–15 Krylia Sovetov Samara Anzhi Makhachkala Yannick Boli (Anzhi Makhachkala) – 15 2015–16 Gazovik Orenburg Arsenal Tula Tom Tomsk Artyom Delkin (Gazovik Orenburg) – 16 Khasan Mamtov (Tyumen) – 16 Maksim Zhitnev (Sibir Novosibirsk) – 16 2016–17 Dynamo Moscow Tosno SKA-Khabarovsk Kirill Panchenko (Dynamo Moscow) – 24 2017–18 Orenburg Krylia Sovetov Samara Yenisey Krasnoyarsk Artyom Kulishev (Dynamo Saint Petersburg) – 17 2018–19 Tambov Sochi Maksim Barsov (Sochi) – 19 2019–20 Rotor Volgograd Khimki Aleksandr Rudenko (Spartak-2 Moscow/Torpedo Moscow) – 14 Ivan Sergeyev (Torpedo Moscow) – 14 2020–21 Krylia Sovetov Samara Nizhny Novgorod Ivan Sergeyev (Krylia Sovetov Samara) – 40 2021–22 Torpedo Moscow Fakel VoronezhOrenburg Maksim Maksimov (Fakel Voronezh) – 22 2022–23 Rubin Kazan Baltika Kaliningrad Gedeon Guzina (Baltika Kaliningrad) – 14 Ivan Timoshenko (Rodina) – 14 2023–24 Khimki Dynamo Makhachkala Akron Tolyatti Jonathan Okoronkwo (Arsenal) – 17 2024–25 Baltika Kaliningrad Torpedo Moscow Sochi Martin Sekulić (Ural) – 14 2025–26 Rodina Moscow Fakel Voronezh Artyom Maksimenko (Rodina) – 17

See also List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues

References

External links Russian First League – official website