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I was having a flick through my FourFourTwo magazine when my attention was drawn to the amazing Russian Premier League (Rosgosstrakh Championship of Russia)...

FC Luch-Energiya Vladivostok: Putting the East into the Russian Premier League

by Andrew McNair (Senior Writer)

8

333 reads

Stats

November 14, 2008

World Football, International Football, Russia, Stats

I was having a flick through my FourFourTwo magazine when my attention was drawn to the amazing Russian Premier League (Rosgosstrakh Championship of Russia).

The 16-team league is one of the richest leagues in the world, thanks to plenty of other Abramovich types taking an interest in the football in their own back yard for a change. It is also like the Barclay’s Premier League, as it is full of foreigners.

What I noticed was plenty teams being linked to Moscow and it got me thinking. London has Fulham, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, and West Ham United, which is a quarter of England’s top flight.

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CSKA Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow, FC Moscow, FC Saturn Moscow and Spartak Moscow make up 6 of 16 top Russian sides, so would that mean the league was less representative of the country?

Well that’s what I thought until I realised that two teams are actually in Asia.

FC Tom Tomsk and FC Luch-Energiya Vladivostok may be in one of Europe's top leagues, but god help fellow Europeans if the Vladivostok side ever make Europe.

As we all know, Russia is one of the longest trips for British teams in Europe but that is just to Moscow or St Petersburg. What if I told you that Vladivostok is around 15,000km’s east of St Petersburg, Arsenal wouldn’t be back in time for the next weekend's league game!

The city is only a few miles from China and North Korea.

Famous Russian 'keeper, Igor Akinfeev, once said that he believed they should play in Japan.

And not many would argue with that.

 

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comments (8) write a comment »

  1. reply to comment by Guido
    about 1 month ago

    I heard a story about a few Vladivostok fans who travelled to a Moscow away game, by car... Imagine that...

    1. by Andrew
      from about 1 month ago

      Haha yeah I read on Wiki that 3 zenit fans drove there. There car broke down and Zenit bought them a new one lol

  2. reply to comment by Yoosof
    about 1 month ago

    haha i would love to see vladivostok get into europe. and i'd love to see arsenal play them away. they most certainly wouldn't make it back in time for league game!!

    1. by Andrew
      from about 1 month ago

      lol Arsenal always draw the eastern Europeans too lol, or in this case east asia lol

  3. reply to comment by Michael
    about 1 month ago

    My god, if they get into Europe, play Chelsea and they have a match with a big four team, saturday lunchtime, they are screwed!

    Right, I will do my best to get this team to Europe haha!

    1. by Andrew
      from about 1 month ago

      yip would be a hell of a trip though! I'd feel sorry for even Chelsea.

  4. reply to comment by Jermaine
    about 1 month ago

    Andrew this is a masterpiece haha. Seeing them in the CL would put some much needed gloss on the comp! Superb article mate

    1. by Andrew
      from about 1 month ago

      Thanks mate. Was just a wee bit of fun. Couldn't believe it when I stumbled on the info haha

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