Most RPL clubs have approximately the same number of foreigners (11–10) on their rosters. Among all, only three clubs differ: “Fakel” (Motspan), “Lokomotiv” (Fasson) and “Rostov” (Mohebbi). Each of them has one regularly playing foreign player.
Many of the Russian teams are faced with difficulties when choosing a squad for the match, and all because: this year the RFU approved a new limit on foreign players in the RPL. Then the organization reported on the decisions taken by the RFU executive committee on its website:
- Starting from the 2022/2023 season. For participants in the Russian Football Championship among RPL clubs, it is a mandatory requirement to simultaneously include no more than 13 foreign players in the entry list, of which no more than 8 foreign players can be on the field at the same time in a championship match for one club.
For example, in volleyball the ratio is different — only two out of six can be foreigners.
Over the 12 rounds of the current championship, only 10 times teams have fielded the maximum number of foreign players in the main squad — eight. Zenit did this most often.
It was in the St. Petersburg club that almost 60% of the playing time is “eaten up” by legionnaires.
A slight decline in the total number of foreign players was observed only in the summer of 2022. Then it was not connected with the new limit at all, but with the outflow of foreigners.
This season, the share of playing time of foreign football players has returned to the level of the RPL 2019/20 (36.3%), when no more than 6 foreign players were released onto the field at a time.
Zenit has accumulated a core of Brazilians
If Spartak, CSKA and Lokomotiv actively attracted football players from Brazil back in the 2000s, Zenit became involved only in the 10s. But how!
The first football player from hot Rio de Janeiro in a club from St. Petersburg — Hulk! He moved in 2012 from Porto.
![Five of Zenit's foreign players are on the list of the highest paid RPL football players Five of Zenit's foreign players are on the list of the highest paid RPL football players](http://southampton.top/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/327b9598838b099234db7652d8809b53_cropped_666x424.jpg)
The current team began to form at Zenit in 2019 — they arrived in the summer Douglas Santos And Malcolm.
Looking at individual clubs other than “Zenith” — stands out here and “Rostov” The Blue-White-Blues are making the most of the benefits of the new limit, which is reflected in the latest matches. The yellow-blues, on the contrary, are already accustomed to doing without foreign players.
For the entire last championship for the team Valeria Karpina Only one legionnaire played — Macedonian David Toshevski.
![The highest paid foreign players in the RPL The highest paid foreign players in the RPL](http://southampton.top/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/dffd5d039ad19adc1f8f058c6f417379_cropped_600x350.jpg)
Most likely, the share of playing time of foreign players in the RPL will increase. It is quite possible that even during the current championship it will reach 40%.
Currently, clubs are finding a balance between the withdrawal of Russian and foreign players, which confirms the fact that Russian footballers are not being squeezed yet.
If absolutely all clubs always field 8 foreign players on the field, the share of foreign players’ playing time in the RPL could reach 73%. Currently, this figure is two times lower.