For all news about the Russian League. I've never started a thread before but I felt this news story deserved it's own thread. https://en.fc-zenit.ru/news/2020-01...yl-v-liderakh-uzhe-cherez-odin-dva-sezona.htm
Nice video of what it's like at a match: Russian Women's Cup final, behind the scenes (2018) RFU TV www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sfGksDyLGQ&t=3m03s Zvezda Perm (red) won 1-0 against Ryazan-VDV (blue) in that 2018 final. Ryazan won that year's title in the Russian Championship, but in season 2019 they fell to 5th, and there was a New Name On The Trophy, CSKA Moscow. The women's game now has its own video channel separate from the RFU's, titled Women's Football League, with highlights and some live streams.
Lenta.ru has an article on the game's history in Russia: "Why in the USSR women's football was humiliated and banned" lenta.ru/articles/2019/01/05/women_football/, Autotranslated (Archive) Women's amateur football was played post-WWII in the Soviet Union and, the opposite of many other countries at the time, it was banned in 1972 until the 1980s. Only in 1990-91 did the Soviet Union women's team exist – Wikipedia's Russian page lists all of their games, including in 1992 as the C.I.S. Elena Terekhova in 2016 – (photo: el_loko74, cc-by) From 2018:
Can one person represent an entire league's history? If so, perhaps it's Hanna Kostraba. From the first women's league season in 1990, she played in a great Russian team of that decade, Energy Voronezh, and was later part of the league's most successful 21st-century club. Anna Kostraba: “I'll play while I have the strength!”, Oct 2008 www.59.ru/text/sport/61891281, Autotranslated (Archive) ⬤ Zvezda-2005 (Star 2005) was founded in that year by sports teachers, and the club soon amassed 6 titles in 11 years and reached the Uefa Cup final 2008/09. The Russian women's league has not been dominated by Moscow teams – Zvezda play in Perm, and '90s champ Voronezh is near the Ukrainian border. Zenit will be the first St Petersburg major club to join. There's also a southwestern team in Krasnodar, and off the map to the east, Yenisey Krasnoyarsk. (European Russia map, Maulucioni, cc-by)
In 2019 they really stepped up the coverage, and so should I. Let's start! 2019 Week 1 highlights The champions of 2018, Ryazan, kicked off with a 3-0 win over Torpedo, who were literally point-less the previous season... The past runner-up club Chertanovo lost 1-0 on a long and tough trip east to Yenisey. Their striker from Cameroon, Tatiana Ewodo Ekogo got the goal (23'). CSKA needed a dubious penalty but won their opener in the south. Krasnodar 0 - 1 CSKA - (Ksenia Tsybutovich 44'p) www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnDuGHzl7us In her pre-season predictions, ex-Russian international Anna Cholovyaga picked as her top 2 the Moscow clubs CSKA and Lokomotiv: wfl.rfs.ru/posts/1012367 (Archive) And in the game of the week, Lokomotiv began with a difficult away match at 6-time champs Zvezda. Zvezda v Lokomotiv - Full match / (Highlights) www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQqlfhPSYKY&t=6m55s Zvezda: Zvarich, Akimova, Sinko, Podshibyakina, Berendeeva, Nurgaliev (c), Pantyukhin, Khoroshev (Gaistenova, 46), Shkvara, Shishkin (Kurochkina, 46), Ilinykh. Lokomotiv: Nosenko, Ziyastinova, Kozhnikova (c), Belomyttsev, Myagkov, Kuropatkin, Samoilov, Yakupov, Khotyrev (46 Dergousova), Ruzina (Sheina 72), Korovkina (Yashchenko, 90+) / Match report In Week 2, Zvezda fell to a 1-0 loss at Krasnodar through Elena Kostareva (9'), and there were wins for championship hopefuls Ryazan, Lokomotiv and CSKA... those ultras were on fire. A legend of Russian soccer retired before season 2019: Elena Danilova, top scorer in many recent years while she was playing at Ryazan. She was the World Cup's youngest goalscorer in 2003. youtu.be/Z0VDYE9vfRs
Apparently this page is "Trending" on the Bigsoccer sidebar. Good work, everyone ...In other news, the other forums have now become as weak as a kitten, not a mighty bear, that's for sure
Try toggling THIS out! Week 3, 2019: A meeting of two clubs on 100% records at Moscow's Sapsan Arena, but Lokomotiv and Ryazan couldn't hit the target in a 0-0 draw. Former runners-up Chertanovo were down on just 2pts in 4 games, after they drew 2-2 with Krasnodar. youtu.be/_Jqls0FD7ew Week 4: A set of tough matchups – Krasnodar sub Elena Shesternyova grabbed a late goal in another 2-2 v Ryazan. Zvezda-2005 beat Yenisey 1-0 (Ekaterina Pantyukhina 15') but it was no kickstart for their season. youtu.be/PM0SP1skJF0 And the Moscow derby. The previous finishers in 4th and 6th, but they were tipped as the new "big two" of Russian women's soccer: CSKA Moscow v Lokomotiv Moscow CSKA: 1 Todua (c), 19 Tsybutovich, 27 Alekseeva, 23 Chernova, 22 Kovalenko, 88 Pozdeeva, 11 Sochneva, 10 Smirnova, 70 Chernomyrdin (15 Myasnikova 88'), 32 Mashina, 77 Ongene (63 Bespalikova 34'). Lokomotiv: 24 Nosenko, 3 Kozhnikova (c), 15 Belomyttseva, 18 Miagkova, 23 Bratko, 11 Samoilova (29 Dergousova, 84'), 10 Kuropatkina, 7 Yakupova, 16 Sheina (17 Khotyreva 46'), 20 Korovkina, 22 Yaschenko (9 Ruzina, 62'). - (WFL / See also: Highlights) Yep, shirt number 63, 70, 77, 88, it's like American football out there
Week 5: I haven't mentioned Torpedo much, as 2019 was their last season - the club from Izhevsk are now replaced by Zenit St Petersburg, who will surely improve on Torpedo's league record of 1 win in 2 years! This was the win - Torpedo torpedoed the eastern club Yenisey with a captain's goal by Darya Eremenkova (83'). Lokomotiv had an emphatic 3-0 win over a dangerous Krasnodar team, with all 1st-half goals by Belomyttseva, Yashchenko and Yakupova. In the matchup of 2018's top 2, Ryazan were stunned by a breakaway Chertanovo equalizer by Kristina Komissarova: Ryazan 1 - 1 Chertanovo youtube.com/watch?v=EtnnZqqaY9c Week 6: The week after CSKA impressed in a rainy 3-1 v Zvezda, they were out to prove themselves at a Moscow rival with good results in recent years. Could the blues' blue-haired goalie Diana Ponomareva stop them? Chertanovo v CSKA Moscow Chertanovo: 27 Ponomareva, 13 Abashilova, 77 Abdullina, 32 Govor, 3 Morozova, 6 Belousova, 7 Bessolova, 25 Dubova, 91 Eliseeva, 9 Komissarova, 24 Trenkina; sub 2 Voronko, 28 Kozik, 19 Shalimova. CSKA: 1 Todua, 27 Alekseeva, 19 Tsybutovich, 23 Chernova, 22 Kovalenko, 88 Pozdeeva, 11 Sochneva, 70 Chernomyrdina, 74 Bizenkova, 77 Gabriel Ongen, 10 Smirnova; sub 29 Ananyeva, 21 Simanovskaya, 63 Bespalikova, 7 Konyukhova, 17 Yakovleva - (WFL site / Highlights)
It certainly did, thanks for starting the thread. Zenit has just appointed longtime Russia midfielder and 3-time league champion Ekaterina Sochneva its first female team captain. And it only took the club 94 years. They've even given her this house (fc-zenit.ru, 2020) Other signings are experienced GK Yulia Grichenko and DF Zapotichnaya both from Lokomotiv. Coach Olga Poryadina knows the league well and coached Russia's national youth teams for 4 years; she'll lead Zenit into their first season, whenever it is. How well do you predict they'll do? Lokomotiv and CSKA built up recently as 2019's top 2, [spoiler alert!], and the other clubs have long histories in the league. And compared to other recent "Giant Noob" clubs in top-division debuts, Juventus (1st place), Man Utd (4th), Real Madrid (Rebranded Their Shirts in Shame) ... I'm gonna say Zenit will be ... 3rd? What do you think?
I'd say they'll start off slow as most new clubs tend to; but I suspect a third place finish isn't unfair. I'm most excited about the potential youth talent to come through the club because growing the game is always a positive in my eyes.
It looks like an August start for the 2020 season - that & other info is on the fan page by Polina Dogunkova; she also has a Russian-language blog. Back in the timewarp... 2019 Weeks 7–10 Defending title holders v the league leaders - Ryazan held CSKA to a draw amidst some rough play, and a red card for CSKA's Kseniya Kovalenko: Ryazan 1 - 1 CSKA - (Yeremeyeva 8'p / Myasnikova 54') youtube.com/watch?v=tcAncq7SzQk In the next weeks, 4-time champs Ryazan were well beaten by Lokomotiv, 3-0 (Nelli Korovkina 2 goals), and drew away indoors at Yenisey, 1-1. Another minor success for Torpedo before their collapse - a 1-1 with former European finalist Zvezda Perm. Krasnodar got an important win for their eventual 3rd place, winning 3-2 over the previous runner-up Chertanovo. You may notice that the southwestern club's former name (Kubanochka) is no more - the club folded but is replaced by a new club in the same city, Krasnodar. Moving into June 2019, Women's World Cup month, Chertanovo fell to a shocking home derby loss in Moscow, 5-0 to Lokomotiv (two goals by the No.9 Alena Ruzina). Then, in week 10, a meeting of two teams in trouble: Zvezda Perm v Chertanovo Zvezda: 77 Elena Kochneva, 90 Anastasia Akimova (c), 21 Anastasia Berendeeva, 9 Irina Podshybyakina, 14 Ilona Vlasenko 87 Olga Kasatkina, 20 Kristina Khorosheva, 51 Aida Gaistenova, 88 Nadezhda Ilinykh, 11 Ekaterina Pantyukhina, 10 Anna Sinko; as sub 5 Daria Shkvara, 15 Sofia Shishkina, 22 Alyona Nurgalieva Chertanovo: 33 Alyona Belyaeva, 77 Alsu Abdullina, 32 Anastasia Govor, 5 Ksenia Dzhinikashvili, 3 Ekaterina Morozova, 6 Olga Belousova, 7 Julia Bessolova (c), 25 Victoria Dubova, 9 Kristina Komissarova, 24 Anastasia Trenkina, 99 Natalya Trofimova; as sub 76 Alana Chochieva - (WFL site / Highlights)
So, we have a kickoff date for the new season: 1 August 2020, delayed several months by the pandemic. No calendar yet that I've seen, but it's sure to be a shortened schedule for 2020, so every result matters. Teams are in training, the league news page has preseason interviews – Lokomotiv's coach Elena Fomina spoke about her 2½-year journey to the Uefa Pro licence. As well as Zenit, Krasnodar are officially a new club (but replacing an old one), while that city's former striker Elena Shesterneva has moved north to St Petersburg. The Yenisey coach, Olga Kapustina, regrets that crowds may not be let in this year, saying, "Our fans are the thirteenth player on the pitch", a nice sentiment but it makes you wonder, who's the 12th player? Ah, nostalgia... 2019 Weeks 11–15 In the third quarter of the season, Lokomotiv's title challenge ran into trouble, and CSKA went ahead in the championship with 4 more wins. Loko (2nd) had a couple of defeats, against Krasnodar (3rd) and Zvezda (4th) Krasnodar 1 - 0 Lokomotiv - (Viktoriya Shkoda 32') youtube.com/watch?v=ipZBvLssS_o Lokomotiv 0 - 1 Zvezda - (Olesya Kurochkina 26') youtube.com/watch?v=7fw1kIn3mNw The top 2 went toe-to-toe again, but it ended in a draw: Lokomotiv 1 - 1 CSKA Anna Kozhnikova 40'p / Darya Yakovleva 14' youtube.com/watch?v=gA6FkxLjSTQ&t=50s Zvezda got some other good away results - the biggest scoreline of the year outside the top 2 was their 6-0 win at Yenisey (7th) - and Zvezda beat their near rivals in the league, Ryazan, 1-0 (Aida Gaistenova 90'). Come the end of 2019, those two were tied in 4th place on points, but Zvezda took it on goal difference. They also had this: 2019 Cup semi-finals Zvezda made it to the final 2-1 on aggregate, handing CSKA their first defeat of the year: youtube.com/watch?v=85SD1sWnDDg&t=2h10m03s In the other semi-final, Ryazan knocked out Lokomotiv 1-0 (agg). The Russian Cup's best smaller team was Donchanka of the 1st division (i.e. 2nd division) who beat Krasnodar, then lost to CSKA in a quarter-final. Donchanka play near the Russia-Ukraine border, sharing a team name with a formerly successful women's club in Donetsk, Ukraine, but I don't think they're related.
First game is scheduled and should be interesting - CSKA v Zenit https://en.fc-zenit.ru/news/2020-07-29-zenit-women-v-cska.htm
Before the new season, the last of last year... 2019 Weeks 16–21 CSKA Moscow sealed the title with 3 games to spare - they won 4-0 at Torpedo, while Lokomotiv (2nd) slipped up at their neighbours Chertanovo (6th) who won with a goal by Yulia Bessolova, 1-0. Krasnodar won 3rd place on the last day, in technically the last match of the old club Kubanochka. They won 2-0 against Ryazan (5th). For Torpedo (8th), they didn't even finish their final season and forfeited two games 3-0. Two other important matters: CSKA lifted the trophy but lost the match to end the season, after Yulia Grichenko stopped their early penalty. A pulsating contest on a cold November evening of minus 5°C CSKA 0 - 1 Lokomotiv - (Veronika Kuropatkina 29') www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtOxyXlk7DY (Match info: WFL) And the Russian Women's Cup was won... In some nice symmetry, it was a rematch of the previous final at the top of this thread, and had the same winners, and another great little film of the day: Zvezda Perm 2 - 0 Ryazan www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CQDt3HSX1Q (Also Full match on Zvezda's channel / 2019 Cup info) The WFL Russian site has the 2019 league results, table, and some stats – a brilliant season for Nelli Korovkina (Lokomotiv) with 20 goals in 21 games. Next best Ksenia Tsybutovich scored 11 for CSKA, but now she has switched back to her old club Ryazan. She was in Russia's U19 team that were European champions in 2005. Tsybutovich: 3 Russian titles(img by Mikhail Slain, cc-by-sa) -No.1 in assists in 2019 was CSKA midfielder Nadezhda Smirnova, and since the goalie is the true star in Russia, honorable mentions to the shot-stoppers Elvira Todua (CSKA) and Margarita Shirokova (Ryazan).
2020 Week 1 The league's newest club couldn't ask for a better test, away to the champs in Moscow - it's live on Saturday (14.00 GMT) CSKA v Zenit St Petersburg www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TjVGRSA0WQ CSKA coach and ex-footballer Maksim Zinovyev started 5 years ago in women's football with top club Rossiyanka, who merged with CSKA in 2017. Teams began training in June, and in a nation run by an authoritarian, Zenit captain Ekaterina Sochneva says "The regime remains strict"... nah, she meant the quarantine regime. Match tickets will be sold, but with numerous entry restrictions. All matches are live on the WFL channel. Also on Saturday, the former champions are playing away, Chertanovo v Ryazan in Moscow. And in the east it's Zvezda Perm v Yenisey. There'll be updates in English on Polina Dogunkova's page.
Highlights CSKA 2 - 1 Zenit www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTPgF-rjG4A (Match info: WFL site) The St Petersburg team had a dream start from Shesterneva's breakaway goal inside 2 mins. But CSKA soon levelled through Cameroon's Gabrielle Onguéné, and a late penalty by Nadezhda Smirnova won it, Zenit midfielder Daria Shkvara sent off for handball. In the early game, cupwinner Zvezda Perm won 2-1 (2 goals by captain Kurochkina) against Yenisey, theoretically the weakest team remaining, but a surprisingly fast-paced opener, Diana Mammadova scored late for them. Ryazan won 1-0 away with a nice chipshot by Asya Turieva. Loko had a scoring start but couldn't add to a 3rd-minute goal by Ukrainian Tetyana Kozyrenko. Lokomotiv 1 - 0 Krasnodar youtube.com/watch?v=WulceppXSWY
2020 Week 2 A Thursday matchday today - the federation is announcing fixtures on the calendar only week-by-week, strangely. What's known is, no crowds allowed in for this one. The league has had St Petersburg clubs before (most notably FC Aurora) but this is the league's first game there for over a decade. Live match videos - Yenisey v CSKA Moscow - (10.00 GMT) - Chertanovo v Lokomotiv - (15.00 GMT) - Krasnodar v Ryazan - (15.00) - Zenit St Petersburg v Zvezda Perm - (15.00 GMT) www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv841FQvY24
Highlights in matchday 2 - continuing the fantastic goalscoring start for Onguéné of CSKA this season. Along with Smirnova's penalty, Onguéné scored twice at Yenisey in a 3-0 win, and the following week she added a goal to make it 4 in 3 matches. Yenisey 0 - 3 CSKA youtube.com/watch?v=TW_rKfEhEUI Ryazan had a bad loss away, as Krasnodar won 2-0 mainly on set-pieces: a penalty scored by Anna Sinko, then a red card for her teammate DF Daniela Basaeva on a professional foul, but Ryazan couldn't make it pay, and later Ksenia Tsybutovich missed a spotkick too.
In week 3 on Thursday, it was a second defeat for Zenit. The debutant club got only 1 goal and 1 point in their first three games. The captain Ekaterina Sochneva had been sent off in the previous match, 0-0 v Zvezda, and she missed this loss for Zenit at Ryazan. It ended 1-0 with a nice strike from midfielder Natalia Perepechina. Lokomotiv made it 3 wins with a late 1-0 over Yenisey (goal by Russia's Anna Kozhnikova), while Zvezda remain unbeaten on 7pts, beating Chertanovo 2-0. The surprise of the day was CSKA dropping points at home to Krasnodar, who rode their luck but defended fairly well to earn a draw. CSKA 2 - 2 Krasnodar Onguéné 17', Smirnova 69'p / Organova 34'p, Kostareva 66' www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xoH6foWzF4
2020 Week 4 – it's already begun, with an early kickoff for Krasnodar v Zvezda (07:00 GMT / 10:00 local). Following on, later on Sunday, it's Ryazan-Yenisey (13:00 GMT), Chertanovo-CSKA (15:00 GMT), and a fourth tough match for the St Petersburg club, away at the league leaders in Moscow: Lokomotiv v Zenit (15:00 GMT). The nascent team of Zenit have added to their strikeforce, recruiting from within the league from Yenisey. The Cameroonian FW Tatiana Ewodo travels west.
RIP Raziya Nurkenova – the Kazakh-born player and coach won three Russian championships in the early years of the league, and managed the Kazakhstan women's national team from 2018 until her death, aged 52. After she debuted in the 1988-90 USSR league with Olympus Karaganda in her hometown, Nurkenova had successful years in Russia with CSK VVS Samara, winning the league in 1993, 1994 and 1996 – there were tributes before the next match by CSKA Moscow. (Archive)
2020 Weeks 4–6 update – I know you miss the NWSL, but you see, the Russian league can have endless 1-1 draws and hype too Krasnodar 1 - 1 Zvezda Ryazan 1 - 1 Yenisey Zvezda 1 - 1 Lokomotiv Lokomotiv's draw erased their 2pt lead at the top. They fell further behind in a spectacular failure at Ryazan when the Muscovites blew every chance in a 0-0. CSKA gain 1st place unimpressively. Two games should have been 1-1 but in the last minute, facing a draw at Chertanovo (last place on 0pts), Tatiana Petrova gave CSKA a 2-1 win, the midfielder's first goal since 2017. Next, CSKA won 1-0 (Onguéné 40') v Ryazan, who had a seemingly valid goal disallowed. From 3rd to 7th it's competitive, Yenisey got a rare win 1-0 over Krasnodar. Good news for Zenit's women, their first win; captain Sochneva was back and opened the scoring in this 3-0. Another victory followed, on the longest away trip 3500km to Yenisey - a very late goal by Zenit's Tatiana Morina made it 1-0 in the 95th minute. Zenit St Petersburg 3 - 0 Chertanovo Ekaterina Sochneva 45', Nika Belova 45', 61' youtube.com/watch?v=2d81HuZiZoA Supporters can still go to these games. Most worrying has been a lack of spacing by fans, mainly CSKA ultras, during a huge pandemic - it's not as if there isn't plenty of room, but nobody stops them crowding together. Earlier I found it really crass how the NWSL and its spiritual void counterpart the EPL rushed back to play games for publicity, but at least they didn't endanger people like this.
Worse, several players and staff from the eastern clubs Zvezda and Yenisey caught coronavirus in October, and their 2 fixtures had to be called off. The person who chooses their news photos made a ... strange decision, really the wrong mood.
Now we're at the business end of the season... 2020 Weeks 7–10: CSKA look good for the title, with three more wins and a much-needed draw away at Lokomotiv, 0-0 – then, Loko dropped more points in a 1-1 tie at Yenisey (7th). So, the Lokomotiv title train has hit an iceberg and is on the rocks, as they trail by 4 points with 4 games to go. The Moscow rivals will meet again in the final week on 22 November. As I'll outline below, there'll be European football for the teams finishing 1st and 2nd – the beleaguered third club Zvezda could steal a place, if they beat Loko in Moscow on 8 Nov and get a result at CSKA a week later. The next best club Ryazan took the lead but lost to Krasnodar, who are running ahead of Zenit (6th). The new St Petersburg team haven't been a bad side at all, but have struggled with narrow losses, and no major wins yet. Ryazan 1 - 2 Krasnodar Tatiana Krasnova 22' / Medea Zharkova 23', Elena Kostareva 60' www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdciY2GfRzI 4 games to go: Internationals: Russia look good for a Euro 2022 playoff place, with a 1-0 group win v Slovenia this week at Loko's stadium. Up for the Cup? CSKA can dream of two more trophies, one of which is likely – the Russian Women's Cup, where they've reached the final and could re-gain the Cup they won in 2017. The masters are Zvezda, who've won it 6 times in the past 8 seasons, but unfortunately their trophy defence is disrupted by that postponement and some clubs are two rounds behind. (The bracket is below.) In the Women's Champions League 2020/21, in its final year as a straight knockout, CSKA host Flora Tallinn in the 1st qualifying round. The last 8 seems a distant aim now, but CSKA's forerunner Rossiyanka did it three times. The rest is on a good Wiki page on Russian clubs in Europe. Only one club made it to Europe this time because Russia declined in the coefficient of Uefa results – but the 2nd-place club will be back in the Champions League in 2021/22, when it expands with a lucrative group stage. None of that is likely to filter down to that club, as they'll enter the "Being beaten by rich entitled title-losers" round, a.k.a. "the League Path". Russian Cup bracket - final scheduled on 6 December(!) ❆