Russian Premier League

The Russian Football Championship , or Russian Premier League, currently called Russian Football Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. The competition is administered by the . There are 16 teams in the competition. The league has two Champions League qualifying spots given to the top two teams at the end of the season and three Europa League spots are allocated to the third, fourth and fifth teams. The last two teams are relegated to the Russian National Football League at the end of the season. The Russian Premier League was established in 2001 and succeeded the Top Division. The Top Division was run by the Professional Football League of Russia. Creation of the Premier League is considered to give the clubs a greater degree of independence.