2009 Russian First Division

The 2009 Russian First Division was the 18th season of Russia's second-tier football league since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The season began on 28 March 2009 and ended on 4 November 2009.^[1]

Russian First Division

Season	2009
← 2008 2010 →

Teams

The league has been reduced from 22 to 20 teams. It features eleven clubs from 2008 Russian First Division, two clubs relegated from 2008 Russian Premier League, five zone winners from 2008 Russian Second Division and two of the third-placed clubs from 2008 Russian Second Division.

Movement between Premier League and First Division

FC Rostov as 2008 champions and Kuban Krasnodar as runners-up have been promoted to the Premier League. They will be replaced by relegated teams Shinnik Yaroslavl and Luch-Energia Vladivostok.

Movement between First Division and Second Division

Due to the league contraction, seven instead of the regular five teams were relegated to their respective Second Division group. These teams, ranked 16th through 22nd in 2008, were Metallurg-Kuzbass Novokuznetsk, Volga Ulyanovsk, Torpedo Moscow, Mashuk-KMV Pyatigorsk, Dinamo Barnaul, Dinamo Bryansk and Zvezda Irkutsk.

The relegated teams were replaced by the five 2008 Second Division zone winners. These were MVD Rossii Moscow (West), Metallurg Lipetsk (Center), Volgar-Gazprom-2 Astrakhan (South), Volga Nizhny Novgorod (Ural-Povolzhye) and FC Chita (East).

Further team changes

Sportakademklub Moscow avoided relegation in 2008 by finishing 15th, but announced refusal to play in the First Division on 18 December 2008.^[2] On 15 January 2009, SKA Rostov-on-Don refused to play as well.^[3] Regulations provided that Sportakademclub and SKA should be replaced by two of the runners-up from the Second Division groups (FC Bataysk-2007, FC Torpedo Vladimir, FC Gazovik Orenburg, FC Avangard Kursk or FC Smena Komsomolsk-on-Amur). However, since all of those teams refused promotion, the places were eventually filled by third-place finishers FC Nizhny Novgorod^[4] and FC Krasnodar.^[5]

Overview

Alania

Anzhi

Baltika

Ch'morets

Chita

KAMAZ

Luch-Energiya

Metallurg

MVD Rossii

Nosta

Salyut

Shinnik

Sibir

SKA-Energiya

Ural

Vityaz

Volga
NN

Volgar

Krasnodar

Location of the teams participating in the 2009 season

Team	Location	Head coach	Captain	Venue	Capacity	Position in 2008
Alania	Vladikavkaz	Mircea Rednic	Kamalutdin Akhmedov	Republican Spartak	32,464	10th
Anzhi	Makhachkala	Omari Tetradze	Rasim Tagirbekov	Dynamo	16,800	6th
Baltika	Kaliningrad	Leonid Tkachenko	Denis Matyola[6]	Baltika	14,660	7th
Chernomorets	Novorossiysk	Igor Cherniy (caretaker)		Tsentralny (Trud)	12,500	9th
FC Chita	Chita	Oleg Kokarev	Ilya Makiyenko[7]	Lokomotiv	10,200	1st, D2 "East"
KAMAZ	Naberezhnye Chelny	Vitali Panov (caretaker)	Spartak Gogniyev[8]	KAMAZ	9,221	3rd
FC Krasnodar	Krasnodar	Nurbiy Khakunov	Maksim Demenko[9]	Kuban	35,200	3rd, D2 "South"
Luch-Energiya	Vladivostok	Aleksandr Pobegalov		Dinamo	10,200	16th, RPL
Metallurg	Lipetsk	Valeri Tretyakov (caretaker)		Metallurg	14,940	1st, D2 "Center"
MVD Rossii	Moscow	Vladimir Eshtrekov		Avangard, Domodedovo	6,000	1st, D2 "West"
FC Nizhny Novgorod	Nizhny Novgorod	Viktor Zaidenberg	Oleg Gubanov[10]	Severny	3,180	3rd, D2 "Ural-Povolzhye"
Nosta	Novotroitsk	Gennady Gridin	Ruslan Surodin[11]	Metallurg	6,060	5th
Salyut-Energiya	Belgorod	Sergei Tashuev	Sergei Kushov[12]	Salyut	11,500	12th
Shinnik	Yaroslavl	Yuri Bykov	Roman Monaryov[13]	Shinnik	18,500 (in reconstruction time)	15th, RPL
Sibir	Novosibirsk	Igor Kriushenko	Aleksey Medvedev[14]	Spartak	12,500	14th
SKA-Energiya	Khabarovsk	Vladimir Faizulin	Andrey Konovalov[15]	Lenin Stadium	15,200	8th
Ural	Yekaterinburg	Vladimir Fedotov	Aleksey Katulsky[16]	Uralmash	13,000	4th
Vityaz	Podolsk	Andrei Novosadov (caretaker)	Andrei Smirnov[17]	Trud	12,000	11th
Volga	Nizhny Novgorod	Khazret Dyshekov	Vitali Astakhov[18]	Polyot	4,600	1st, D2 "Ural-Povolzhye"
Volgar-Gazprom-2	Astrakhan	Aleksandr Ignatenko	Nail Magzhanov[19]	Centralny	18,500	1st, D2 "South"

FC MVD Rossii resigned from the league on 17 July after playing 19 matches.^[20] The team was in the 19th position with 17 points.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing	Manner	Date	Table	Incoming	Date	Table
Chernomorets	Nikolai Yuzhanin	Sacked	1 May 2009[21]	20th	Eduard Sarkisov (caretaker)
Shinnik	Sergei Pavlov	Sacked	12 May 2009[22]	10th	Ivan Lyakh	12 May 2009[23]	10th
Luch-Energiya	Benjaminas Zelkevičius	Sacked	16 May 2009[24]	19th	Konstantin Yemelyanov (caretaker)
Baltika	Zurab Sanaya	Sacked	29 May 2009[25]	10th	Leonid Tkachenko	8 June 2009[26]	8th
Nosta	Sergei Podpaly	Sacked	3 June 2009[27]	16th	Oleg Samatov (caretaker)
Volga	Sergei Petrenko	Sacked	5 June 2009[28]	19th	Sergei Perednya (caretaker)
FC Nizhny Novgorod	Mikhail Afonin	Sacked	6 June 2009[29]	17th	Viktor Zaidenberg
MVD Rossii	Yuri Kovtun	Sacked	8 June 2009[30]	16th	Vladimir Eshtrekov
Metallurg Lipetsk	Gennadi Styopushkin	Sacked	16 June 2009[31]	17th	Valeri Tretyakov (caretaker)
Luch-Energiya	Konstantin Yemelyanov (caretaker)	Finished	23 June 2009[32]	14th	Francisco Arcos
Nosta	Oleg Samatov (caretaker)	Finished	26 June 2009[33]	14th	Gennady Gridin
Ural	Aleksandr Pobegalov	Sacked	13 July 2009[34]	5th	Vladimir Fedotov
Volga	Sergei Perednya (caretaker)	Finished	5 June 2009[35]	16th	Khazret Dyshekov
Chernomorets	Eduard Sarkisov (caretaker)	Finished	24 July 2009	20th	Aleksandr Irkhin
Alania	Valeriy Petrakov	Sacked	10 August 2009[36]	3rd	Aleksandr Yanovskiy (caretaker)
Luch-Energiya	Francisco Arcos	Finished	11 August 2009	16th	Aleksandr Pobegalov
Alania	Aleksandr Yanovskiy (caretaker)	Finished	19 August 2009	3rd	Mircea Rednic
Chernomorets	Aleksandr Irkhin	Finished	3 September 2009	19th	Igor Cherniy
Vityaz	Sergei Balakhnin	Sacked	18 September 2009[37]	13th	Andrei Novosadov (caretaker)
Shinnik	Ivan Lyakh	Sacked	1 October 2009[38]	4th	Yuri Bykov
KAMAZ	Yuri Gazzaev	Finished	13 October 2009[39]	7th	Vitali Panov (caretaker)

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Anzhi Makhachkala (P)	38	21	12	5	61	31	+30	75	Promotion to Premier League
2	Sibir Novosibirsk (P)	38	22	7	9	60	21	+39	73	Prmotion to Premier League and qualification to Europa League third qualifying round[a]
3	Alania Vladikavkaz[b] (P)	38	21	7	10	57	30	+27	70	Promotion to Premier League
4	Volga Nizhny Novgorod	38	17	14	7	54	32	+22	65
5	KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny	38	18	10	10	50	31	+19	64
6	Shinnik Yaroslavl	38	18	7	13	46	35	+11	61
7	Salyut-Energia Belgorod	38	17	10	11	54	41	+13	61
8	Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast	38	15	15	8	40	32	+8	60
9	Baltika Kaliningrad	38	14	10	14	41	42	−1	52
10	Krasnodar	38	14	10	14	50	47	+3	52
11	Vityaz Podolsk	38	13	12	13	46	39	+7	51
12	Volgar-Gazprom-2 Astrakhan	38	12	15	11	40	41	−1	51
13	Nizhny Novgorod	38	14	8	16	37	47	−10	50
14	Luch-Energiya Vladivostok	38	13	11	14	42	43	−1	50
15	SKA-Khabarovsk	38	12	11	15	43	42	+1	47
16	Nosta Novotroitsk (R)	38	9	13	16	47	59	−12	40	Relegation to Second Division
17	Chita (R)	38	10	5	23	27	65	−38	35
18	Chernomorets Novorossiysk (R)	38	8	10	20	31	51	−20	34
19	Metallurg Lipetsk (R)	38	8	7	23	30	62	−32	31
20	MVD Rossii Moscow (R)	38	3	8	27	10	75	−65	17

Source: PFL, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd matches won; 3rd head-to-head (points, matches won, goal difference, goals scored, away goals scored); 4th goal difference; 5th goals scored; 6th away goals scored
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Since the 2009–10 Russian Cup winners Zenit St. Petersburg qualified for the Champions League, their UEFA Cup berth was carried down to the finalists, Sibir Novosibirsk.
2. Alania Vladikavkaz accepted promotion to the 2010 Russian Premier League upon the withdrawal of FC Moscow.^[40]

Results

Home \ Away	ALA	ANZ	BAL	CHM	CHI	KAM	KRA	LUE	MLI	MVD	NN	NOS	SAL	SHI	SIB	SKA	URA	VIT	VNN	VGA
Alania Vladikavkaz		0–1	1–2	2–0	3–0	2–3	2–2	3–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	4–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–1	3–1
Anzhi Makhachkala	0–0		2–0	2–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	3–0	1–0	4–0	4–1	0–0	1–0	2–1	3–1	0–0	2–1	2–2	1–0
Baltika Kaliningrad	3–1	0–0		1–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–2	3–0	3–0	2–2	3–0	2–2	0–2	0–3	0–2	1–2	2–1	0–0	1–1
Chernomorets Novorossiysk	0–1	1–2	0–3		3–0	1–0	1–2	0–1	1–1	3–0	1–1	2–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	4–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–1
Chita	0–2	0–2	1–0	2–0		1–0	1–2	1–6	1–0	3–0	0–2	0–0	1–3	1–0	0–4	0–4	0–1	3–3	3–2	1–2
KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–0		2–1	2–0	1–1	3–0	3–0	3–1	0–0	0–1	2–1	3–1	1–1	3–1	2–0	0–0
Krasnodar	5–1	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–1		3–1	1–0	3–0	1–0	1–2	2–0	1–3	2–3	3–1	2–2	1–1	1–3	2–2
Luch-Energiya Vladivostok	1–1	3–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–0	2–1		1–0	0–0	2–0	1–1	0–0	0–2	1–0	2–2	0–0	0–1	2–2	2–2
Metallurg Lipetsk	1–5	2–1	1–1	1–2	0–1	0–2	1–3	1–2		3–0	3–0	0–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	1–6	2–1	0–3	0–0	1–2
MVD Rossii Moscow	0–3	0–3	2–1	2–1	0–0	1–3	0–1	0–3	0–2		0–3	0–3	0–1	0–1	0–3	0–3	0–3	0–3	0–0	0–3
Nizhny Novgorod	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–2	1–2	2–0	2–1	1–1		2–0	2–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	3–2	0–1	0–0
Nosta Novotroitsk	2–2	2–2	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–2	4–0	2–0	1–2	2–2	2–3		2–2	3–1	1–1	1–3	0–0	1–1	0–0	3–1
Salyut-Energia Belgorod	2–0	3–0	3–2	1–0	5–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	5–1	3–0	0–2	2–0		1–2	0–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–0
Shinnik Yaroslavl	1–2	3–0	0–0	0–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–3	1–0	3–0	3–0	2–1	4–2		3–1	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–0
Sibir Novosibirsk	1–0	2–1	6–0	4–0	3–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	0–0	3–0	4–0	1–0		0–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	4–0
SKA-Khabarovsk	0–0	2–3	0–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–2	1–0	0–2	0–1		2–0	1–0	0–0	0–2
Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast	0–1	0–2	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–3	1–1	2–1	1–2	2–0	3–1	0–0	1–0	3–1	2–1	2–1		2–1	2–2	2–0
Vityaz Podolsk	0–1	1–1	2–1	4–1	0–0	1–2	2–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	1–0	2–1	3–1	1–0	0–2	1–1	0–0		0–2	2–0
Volga Nizhny Novgorod	0–3	1–1	1–0	4–0	3–0	4–1	2–1	2–0	1–0	3–0	1–2	4–2	2–1	4–1	2–0	3–1	1–1	0–0		0–3
Volgar-Gazprom-2 Astrakhan	1–0	1–3	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	0–0	3–1	1–1	0–1	2–3	1–1	2–2	0–0	0–2	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–0

Source: PFL (in Russian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Last updated: 4 November 2009; Source: PFL (in Russian)

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Aleksei Medvedev	Sibir	18
2	Spartak Gogniyev	KAMAZ	17
3	Vladimir Shishelov	Ural	16
4	Roman Grigoryan	Vityaz	15
5	Otar Martsvaladze	Anzhi	13
6	Nikita Burmistrov	Shinnik	12
	Serghei Dadu	Alania
8	Anton Khazov	Volga	10
9	Sergei Davydov	Volgar-Gazprom-2	9
	Denys Dedechko	Luch-Energiya
	Nicolae Josan	Anzhi
	Vasili Karmazinenko	SKA-Energiya

Awards

On 25 November 2009, Professional Football League announced the award winners for the season.^[41]

• Best player: Aleksei Medvedev (FC Sibir Novosibirsk).
• Best goalkeeper: Sergei Chepchugov (FC Sibir Novosibirsk).
• Best defender: Rasim Tagirbekov (FC Anzhi Makhachkala).
• Best midfielder: Nicolae Josan (FC Anzhi Makhachkala).
• Best striker: Aleksei Medvedev.
• Best manager: Omari Tetradze (FC Anzhi Makhachkala).

See also

• 2009 Russian Premier League