The Russian Rugby Championship, officially known as the Pari - Russian Rugby Championship for sponsorship reasons (), is Russia's top level professional men's rugby union competition. The Russian Rugby Championship is run by Russian Rugby Union and is contested by 10 teams as of the 2019-2020 season.
History The founding of the league coincided with a period of rapid change for Russian rugby. The first Russian rugby championship, which succeeded the Soviet Rugby Championship, was played in 1992, under the name Russian Superleague. The league kept this name until 2004, when the competition was then rebranded as the Rugby Premier League.
In 2007, Yug-Krasnodar were admitted to the competition, increasing the number of teams in the league to eight.
Just one year later, in 2008, a further six teams from several of the lower division competitions were admitted into the Rugby Premier League. This increased the total number of teams again, to fourteen teams. The fourteen teams were split into three conferences, based on geography, in that season. One thing to note was that many of the elevated clubs geographically were semi-professional or even amateur in nature, which lead to a lack of competitive balance.
2010 saw another change of format to the Rugby Premier League where the East-West divide was removed, culminating in the formation of a 'Super Group'. This meant that VVA-Podmoskovye Monino, Krasny Yar, Enisey-STM, Slava Moscow, RC Novokuznetsk and Imperia-Dynamo as well as Fili Moscow and Spartak GM were scheduled to play each other in a straight home-and-away league format.
Current Teams
Current Teams Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality Team Manager Captain Stadium Capacity Enisei-STM Aleksandr Pervukhin Uldis Saulīte Avangard Stadium Central Stadium 2,463 15,000 Krasny Yar Igor Nikolaychuk Victor Arkhip Krasny Yar Stadium Central Stadium 3,600 15,000 Slava Levan Tsabadze Denis Antonov Slava Stadium 1,300 VVA Nikolay Nerush German Davydov Gagarin Air Force Academy Stadium 1,500 Metallurg Vyacheslav Shalunov Anton Sychev Metallurg Stadium 10,000 Lokomotiv Aleksandr Yanyushkin Sergey Yanyushkin Pervomaysky Stadium 5,182 Strela JP Nel Magomed Davudov Tulpar Stadium Central Stadium 3,275 25,400 Dinamo Rianne van Straten Aleksandr Zorin Slava Stadium 1,300 Khimik John Molvihill Khimik Stadium 5,266
Champions TeamNumber of TitlesVVA17Krasny Yar12Enisei-STM12Fili Moscow5Dynamo Moscow3RC AIA Kutaisi3MVTU2Slava Moscow2RC Aviator Kiev1RC Lokomotiv Moscow1Lokomotiv Penza1
Winners by year
YearChampionRunner-upSoviet Championship1936Dynamo MoscowVTsIK School Moscow1937 Season Not Played1938Dynamo MoscowSpartak Moscow1939Dynamo MoscowSpartak Moscow1940-1965 Seasons Not Played1966MVTUDynamo Tbilisi1968MVTUDynamo Moscow1969VVAFili Moscow1970Fili MoscowMAI Moscow1971VVAMAI Moscow1972Fili MoscowVVA1973Fili MoscowBurevestnik Leningrad1974Fili MoscowKIIGA Kiev1975Fili MoscowKIIGA Kiev1976VVASlava Moscow1977VVASlava Moscow1978RC Aviator KievFili Moscow1979Slava MoscowFili Moscow1980VVARC Lokomotiv Moscow1981VVARC Aviator Kiev1982Slava MoscowVVA1983RC Lokomotiv MoscowFili Moscow1984VVARC AIA Kutaisi1985VVASlava Moscow1986VVASlava Moscow1987RC AIA KutaisiVVA1988RC AIA KutaisiKrasny Yar1989RC AIA KutaisiVVA1990Krasny YarVVA1991Krasny YarSKA Alma AtaRussian Superleague1992Krasny YarVVA1993VVAKrasny Yar1994Krasny YarVVA1995Krasny YarWest Star Kaliningrad1996Krasny YarRC Penza1997Krasny YarRC Penza1998Krasny YarVVA1999Enisei-STMKrasny Yar2000Krasny YarEnisei-STM2001Krasny YarEnisei-STM2002Enisei-STMKrasny Yar2003VVAEnisei-STM2004VVAEnisei-STMRussian Professional Rugby League2005Enisei-STMVVA2006VVAKrasny Yar2007VVAEnisei-STM2008VVASlava Moscow2009VVAEnisei-STM2010VVAEnisei-STM2011Enisei-STMKrasny Yar2012Enisei-STMKrasny Yar2013Krasny YarEnisei-STM2014Enisei-STMKrasny Yar2015Krasny YarEnisei-STM2016Enisei-STMKrasny Yar2017Enisei-STMKrasny Yar2018Enisei-STMKrasny Yar2019Enisei-STMKrasny Yar2020-21Enisei-STMLokomotiv2021-22Enisei-STMLokomotiv2022-23LokomotivEnisei-STM2023-24Enisei-STMStrela2025 StrelaDynamo Moscow
See also Rugby union in Russia
External links Official website Russian rugby statistics