Pre-season controversies: how RPL's top clubs are preparing for the new season

There are only a few weeks left before the start of the new season of the Russian Premier League. Zenit and Spartak will play the Russian Super Cup on July 18, while the clubs complete their summer training camps and hold their last test matches. The focus is on Zenit's international friendly matches, the upcoming Moscow derbies with the participation of Lokomotiv, as well as the refusal of Brazilian Botafogo to come to the Fraternal Cup. After the disruption of the visit, CSKA and Dynamo announced their intention to seek payment of the penalty.

Sparring of the champion

In the spring, the blue-white-blues regained the championship title, which they had lost to Krasnodar a year earlier. In the off-season, the club strengthened its squad by signing Brazilian striker Felipe Augusto from Turkish SIDE Trabzon, as well as buying Colombian defender Kevin Andrade from Kaliningrad.

At the same time, the team is still without defender Douglas Santos and midfielder Luis Enrique, who played for the Brazilian national team at the World Cup. After the departure of the national team, both players went on vacation and will join Zenit closer to the start of the championship. Head coach Sergei Semak has already stated that the coaching staff will assess the players' readiness after their return. They probably won't participate in the Super Bowl game.

Zenit is once again hosting a series of international friendly matches at the summer training camp. On July 5, Petersburgers drew with the Argentinean Khimnasia and Esgrima La Plata (1:1), and three days later defeated the Uzbek Neftchi from Ferghana — 4:1.

On July 12, the reigning Serbian champion, Crvena Zvezda Belgrade, will arrive in St. Petersburg. The next day, Semak's team will face Dynamo Makhachkala, which is preparing for its third season in the Russian Premier League in the Leningrad Region.

According to the St. Petersburg system: the main summer transfers of the RPL

Zenit signed Brazilian Augusto, Loko was reinforced by a former pupil and a promising young midfielder.

Bratsk without "Botafogo"

CSKA and Dynamo Moscow have been holding the Fraternal Cup for the fourth summer in a row. In 2023, the matter was limited to two face-to-face matches. And in the next two draws, foreign teams were added to them in the person of Serbian Partizan and OFK. At that time, even from a friendly country, clubs did not often come to Russia against the background of the sanctions that began in 2022. Therefore, the appearance of two teams from the Balkans symbolized a relative breakthrough between our clubs.

All the more surprising was the disruption of Botafogo's visit this summer. Representatives of the RPL have already met with Brazilian clubs in the last couple of years. Zenit did most of this. But Dynamo also had a constructive relationship with the club from Rio de Janeiro. In particular, in January, the blue and white acquired a defender from them, David Ricardo.

However, at the end of June, Botafogo announced that he would not come to Moscow, although the schedule of matches with CSKA and Dynamo had already been published. The club referred to internal reasons at the board of directors level. This has not been officially announced, but according to a number of sources, the fact is that one of the investors of Botafogo is an American company.

Dynamo and CSKA announced that they would demand a penalty due to the violation of the agreements. In the meantime, they are preparing for a series of games among themselves. The main one will be held on July 18 at the VEB Arena.

In addition, Lokomotiv will play Spartak at home on July 11, and will face CSKA on July 14.

The season will begin on July 18, when Zenit, as the reigning national champion, and Spartak, as the reigning Russian Cup winner, will compete for the Russian Super Cup in Nizhny Novgorod.

The first match of the championship will be held on July 24.