The 2026–27 Russian Cup is the 35th season of the Russian football knockout tournament since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The competition started on 29 July 2026 and will conclude on 6 June 2027.
The winner of the cup would normally gain entry into the 2027–28 UEFA Europa League; however, on 28 February 2022, Russian football clubs were suspended from FIFA & UEFA international competitions until further notice due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Representation of clubs by league Russian Premier League (1): 16 clubs Russian First League (2): 18 clubs Division A of Russian Second League (3): 15 clubs (without 3 farm teams) Division B of Russian Second League (4): 37 clubs (without 16 farm teams and 5 Crimean teams) Amateur leagues: Third division (5): 13 clubs (2 of which, Fankom Kirov and Krasnoye Znamya Noginsk, was merged for this cup season with media clubs (Broke Boys Moscow and SindEkat Yekaterinburg, respectively). Fourth division (regional leagues) (6): 0 clubs Media amateur clubs (7): 3 clubs Total: 102 clubs.
Distribution The teams of Premier League and the other teams will qualify to knockout phase in two different paths. Premier league teams will play in the RPL path group stage with a double round-robin tournament, divided into 4 groups with 4 teams in each group, while the other teams will play in the regions path qualification, starting with 1/256 round until 1/8 round with 1 match in each stage.
Schedule The schedule of the competition is as follows:
PhaseRoundMatch dateQualifying rounds (regions path)Round 128–30 July 2026Round 211–13 August 2026Round 325–27 August 2026Round 48–10 September 2026Round 514–16 October 2026Round 63–5 November 2026Group stage (RPL path)Matchday 14–6 August 2026Matchday 218–20 August 2026Matchday 31–3 September 2026Matchday 413–15 October 2026Matchday 527–29 October 2026Matchday 624–26 November 2026Knockout stageEighth-finals (Last 16)RPL pathMatch 12–4 March 2027Match 216–18 March 2027Regions pathStage 117–19 March 2027Stage 27–9 April 2027Quarter-finalsRPL pathMatch 16–8 April 2027Match 220–22 April 2027Regions pathStage 121–23 April 2027Stage 25–7 May 2027Semi-finalsRPL pathMatch 14–6 May 2027Match 218–20 May 2027Regions path19–21 May 2027Final6 June 2027
Qualifying round (regions path) The draw for all rounds in regions path was held on 19 June 2026.
Round 1
Entered clubs: 16 clubs from Amateur leagues 8 lowest clubs from Russian Second League Division B Date of matches was determined on 28–30 July 2026.
Times are MSK (UTC+3), as listed by RFU (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Round 2 Entered clubs: 12 winners of Round 1 29 highest clubs from Russian Second League Division B 15 clubs from Russian Second League Division A
Date of matches was determined on 11–13 August 2026. Times are MSK (UTC+3), as listed by RFU (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Round 3
Entered clubs: 28 winners of Round 2
Date of matches was determined on 25–27 August 2026.
Times are MSK (UTC+3), as listed by RFU (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Round 4 Entered clubs: 14 winners of Round 3 18 clubs from Russian First League
Date of matches was determined on 8–10 September 2026.
The draw was consisted of 2 phases. On the first phase, 2 random balls with First League team from pot 2 was relocated to pot 1, then on the second phase usual draw procedure started. Pot 1 Pot 2 Chertanovo Moscow (4) Druzhba Maykop (4) Dynamo Barnaul (4) Dynamo Kirov (3) Dynamo Saint Petersburg (4) Dynamo Stavropol (3) Kaluga (3) Krasnoye Znamya SindEkat Noginsk (5) Luki-Energiya Velikiye Luki (4) Murom (4) Ryazan (4) Shinnik Yaroslavl (2) Sokol Saratov (3) Tekstilshchik Ivanovo (2) Volgar Astrakhan (3) Volna Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (4) Arsenal Tula (2) Chelyabinsk (2) KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny (2) Leningradets Leningrad Oblast (2) Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (2) Nizhny Novgorod (2) Rotor Volgograd (2) Shinnik Yaroslavl (2) → Pot 1 SKA-Khabarovsk (2) Sochi (2) Spartak Kostroma (2) Tekstilshchik Ivanovo (2) → Pot 1 Torpedo Moscow (2) Ufa (2) Ural Yekaterinburg (2) Veles Moscow (2) Volga Ulyanovsk (2) Yenisey Krasnoyarsk (2) The team from pot 2 that was relocated to pot 1 is written in italics. The team was unknown until it will be drawn from pot 1.
Times are MSK (UTC+3), as listed by RFU (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Round 5 Entered clubs: 16 winners of Round 4
Date of matches was determined on 13–15 October 2026.
Times are MSK (UTC+3), as listed by RFU (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Group stage (RPL path) The draw for group stage was held on 19 June 2026.
16 teams of the Russian Premier League (RPL) will start the tournament from the group stage (4 teams in each group). The teams will play 6 matches in the group stage: 1st day — 4–6 August; 2nd day — 18–20 August; 3rd day — 1–3 September; 4th day — 13–15 October; 5th day — 27–29 October; 6th day — 24–26 November.
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4 Zenit Saint Petersburg Krasnodar Lokomotiv Moscow Spartak Moscow CSKA Moscow Baltika Kaliningrad Dynamo Moscow Rubin Kazan Akhmat Grozny Rostov Krylia Sovetov Samara Orenburg Akron Tolyatti Dynamo Makhachkala Rodina Moscow Fakel Voronezh
Composition of the pots is based on results of the 2025–26 Russian Premier League and 2025–26 Russian First League. In the same group there can't be more than 2 teams from Moscow, also FC Fakel Voronezh and FC Rostov can't be in the same group due to logistics restrictions in this cities.
Times are MSK (UTC+3), as listed by RFU (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Eighth-finals Unlike previous seasons, this time, the play-off will begin from Eighth-finals (or Last 16 stage). Also, the 1st place in group from RPL Path, will played 1st match away, and 2nd leg at home. RPL Path
Quarter-finals RPL Path
Semi-finals RPL Path
Final
Notes
References
External links