Russian Women's Football Championship facts for kids
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| Founded | 1992 |
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| Country | Russia |
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | Women’s 1.Division |
| Domestic cup(s) | Russian Women's Cup |
| International cup(s) | UEFA Women's Champions League |
| Current champions | Zenit Saint Petersburg (2023) |
| Most championships | Zvezda-2005 Perm (6 titles) |
| Website | wfl.rfs.ru |
The Russian Women's Football Championship is the top professional football league for women in Russia. It's also known as the Top Division or the Women's Football League. This league is where the best women's football teams in Russia compete to become champions!
The Top Division started in 1992. Before that, there was a women's league in the Soviet Union that played for two seasons in 1990 and 1991.
Contents
How the League Works
The way the league is played has changed a bit over the years. For example, in the 2010 season, seven teams played each other four times. This meant two games at home and two games away for each team. In earlier years, teams only played each other twice.
Because Russia is one of the top football countries in Europe, the best two teams from the Russian Women's Football Championship get to play in the UEFA Women's Champions League. This is a big international competition! The team that finishes last in the Russian league usually moves down to the Women’s 1.Division, which is a lower league.
The 2011–12 season was special because it was the first time the league lasted through the winter months. Eight teams played that season, competing against each other four times. This made for a total of 28 matches for each team.
Sometimes, if teams have the same number of points at the end of the season, there are special rules to decide who ranks higher. These rules look at things like how many games a team won or how many goals they scored. If the first-place teams are tied, they might even play an extra match or a small tournament to decide the champion!
In the 2012–13 season, after the regular games, the teams were split into two groups. The top four teams played more games to decide the champion, and the bottom four played to avoid relegation. In 2013, the league went back to a spring-autumn schedule. In 2014, a championship group was used again, and points from both parts of the season were added together.
Teams in the 2022 Season
Here are some of the teams that played in the 2022 season:
| Team | Location | Ground |
|---|---|---|
| Chertanovo Moscow | Moscow | Arena Chertanovo |
| Dynamo Moscow | Moscow | VTB Arena |
| WFC Krasnodar | Krasnodar | Krasnodar Academy Stadium |
| CSKA Moscow | Moscow | Novye Khimki Stadium |
| Zenit Saint Petersburg | Saint Petersburg | Smena Stadium |
| Ryazan-VDV | Ryazan | Central'nyj Sportivn'yj Kompleks |
| Lokomotiv Moscow | Moscow | Sapsan Arena |
| Zvezda-2005 Perm | Perm | Zvezda Stadium |
| Yenisey Krasnoyarsk | Krasnoyarsk | Futbol-arena Enisey |
Champions and Top Scorers
Many different teams have won the Russian Women's Football Championship over the years. Here's a list of the champions and the players who scored the most goals each season:
| # | Year | Champion | Runner-up | Third place | Top scorer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1992 | Interros Moscow | CSK VVS Samara | SKIF Malakhovka |  Larisa Savina (CSK VVS Samara, 23 goals) |
| 2 | 1993 | CSK VVS Samara | Rus Moscow | SKIF Malakhovka | Larisa Savina (CSK VVS Samara, 19 goals) |
| 3 | 1994 | CSK VVS Samara | Energiya Voronezh | Kaluzhanka | Nadezhda Bosikova (Energiya Voronezh, 31 goals) |
| 4 | 1995 | Energiya Voronezh | CSK VVS Samara | Sibiryachka Krasnoyarsk | Nadezhda Bosikova (Energiya Voronezh, 37 goals) |
| 5 | 1996 | CSK VVS Samara | Energiya Voronezh | Lada Togliatti | Nadezhda Bosikova (Energiya Voronezh, 39 goals) |
| 6 | 1997 | Energiya Voronezh | CSK VVS Samara | VDV Ryazan | Nadezhda Bosikova (Energiya Voronezh, 21 goals) |
| 7 | 1998 | Energiya Voronezh | CSK VVS Samara | VDV Ryazan | Nadezhda Bosikova (Energiya Voronezh, 19 goals) |
| 8 | 1999 | VDV Ryazan | Energiya Voronezh | CSK VVS Samara | |
| 9 | 2000 | Ryazan TNK | Energiya XXI Vek Voronezh | CSK VVS Samara | Nadezhda Bosikova (Energiya Voronezh, 30 goals) Olga Letyushova (Ryazan-VDV, 30 goals) |
| 10 | 2001 | CSK VVS Samara | Energiya XXI Vek Voronezh | Ryazan TNK | Olga Letyushova (Ryazan-VDV, 31 goals) |
| 11 | 2002 | Energiya Voronezh | Lada Togliatti | Ryazan TNK | Natalia Barbashina (Lada Togliatti, 29 goals) |
| 12 | 2003 | Energiya Voronezh | Lada Togliatti | CSK VVS Samara | Natalia Barbashina (Lada Togliatti, 21 goals) |
| 13 | 2004 | Lada Togliatti | Rossiyanka | Energiya Voronezh | Olga Letyushova (Rossiyanka, 18 goals) |
| 14 | 2005 | Rossiyanka | Lada Togliatti | Nadezhda Noginsk | Olga Letyushova (Rossiyanka, 27 goals) |
| 15 | 2006 | Rossiyanka | Spartak Moscow | Nadezhda Noginsk | Olga Letyushova (Rossiyanka, 34 goals) |
| 16 | 2007 | Zvezda-2005 Perm | Rossiyanka | Nadezhda Noginsk | Olga Letyushova (Zvezda-2005 Perm, 19 goals) |
| 17 | 2008 | Zvezda-2005 Perm | Rossiyanka | SKA Rostov |  Emueje Ogbiagbevha (Rossiyanka, 16 goals) |
| 18 | 2009 | Zvezda-2005 Perm | Rossiyanka | Energiya Voronezh |  Daryna Apanaschenko (Zvezda-2005 Perm, 12 goals) Olesya Kurochkina (Zvezda-2005 Perm, 12 goals) |
| 19 | 2010 | Rossiyanka | Energiya Voronezh | Zvezda-2005 Perm | Emueje Ogbiagbevha (Rossiyanka, 23 goals) |
| 20 | 2011–12 | Rossiyanka | Zorky Krasnogorsk | Energiya Voronezh | Emueje Ogbiagbevha (Energiya Voronezh, 15 goals) |
| 21 | 2012–13 | Zorky Krasnogorsk | Rossiyanka | Ryazan-VDV | Olesya Kurochkina (Izmailovo Moscow, 16 goals) |
| 22 | 2013 | Ryazan-VDV | Zvezda-2005 Perm | Zorky Krasnogorsk | Elena Danilova (Ryazan-VDV, 17 goals) |
| 23 | 2014 | Zvezda-2005 Perm | Zorky Krasnogorsk | Ryazan-VDV | Daryna Apanaschenko (Zvezda-2005 Perm, 8 goals) |
| 24 | 2015 | Zvezda-2005 Perm | Rossiyanka | Zorky Krasnogorsk | Daryna Apanaschenko (Zvezda-2005 Perm, 13 goals) |
| 25 | 2016 | Rossiyanka | Zvezda-2005 Perm | Ryazan-VDV | Margarita Chernomyrdina (Chertanovo Moscow, 8 goals) Nadezhda Karpova (Chertanovo Moscow, 8 goals) |
| 26 | 2017 | Zvezda-2005 Perm | Ryazan-VDV | Chertanovo Moscow | Elena Danilova (Ryazan-VDV, 11 goals) |
| 27 | 2018 | Ryazan-VDV | Chertanovo Moscow | Zvezda-2005 Perm | Elena Danilova (Ryazan-VDV, 11 goals) |
| 28 | 2019 | CSKA Moscow | Lokomotiv Moscow | Kubanochka Krasnodar | Nelli Korovkina (Lokomotiv Moscow, 20 goals) |
| 29 | 2020 | CSKA Moscow | Lokomotiv Moscow | Zvezda-2005 Perm | Olesya Kurochkina (Zvezda-2005 Perm, 9 goals) |
| 30 | 2021 | Lokomotiv Moscow | CSKA Moscow | Zenit Saint Petersburg | Nelli Korovkina (Lokomotiv Moscow, 20 goals) |
| 31 | 2022 | Zenit Saint Petersburg | CSKA Moscow | Lokomotiv Moscow | Nelli Korovkina (Lokomotiv Moscow, 17 goals) |
| 32 | 2023 | Zenit Saint Petersburg | CSKA Moscow | Lokomotiv Moscow |  Ana Dias (Zenit Saint Petersburg, 18 goals) |
| 33 | 2024 | Zenit Saint Petersburg | CSKA Moscow | Spartak Moscow |  Gabriela Grzywińska (Zenit Saint Petersburg, 19 goals) |
Club Success Stories
This table shows which clubs have won the most championships, finished as runners-up, or placed third.
| Club | Winners | Runners-up | Third place | Years won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zvezda-2005 Perm | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2007, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2017 |
| Energiya Voronezh | 5 | 6 | 3 | 1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003 |
| Rossiyanka | 5 | 6 | 0 | 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011–12, 2016 |
| CSK VVS Samara | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001 |
| Ryazan-VDV | 4 | 1 | 7 | 1999, 2000, 2013, 2018 |
| Zenit Saint Petersburg | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2022, 2023, 2024 |
| CSKA Moscow | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2019, 2020 |
| Lada Togliatti | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2004 |
| Zorky Krasnogorsk | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2012–13 |
| Lokomotiv Moscow | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Interros Moscow | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1992 |
| Chertanovo Moscow / SKIF Malakhovka |
0 | 1 | 3 | |
| Spartak Moscow | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Rus Moscow | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Nadezhda Noginsk | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Kaluzhanka | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Sibiryachka Krasnoyarsk | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| SKA Rostov | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Kubanochka Krasnodar | 0 | 0 | 1 |
See also
In Spanish: Campeonato Ruso de fútbol femenino para niños
- Women's football in Russia
