Surprise champions, new stadiums and a forthcoming World Cup suggest the Russian game is in rude health, but in many ways it is still struggling.
Russia
Fans who remember the early days of the Champions League will see a familiar name return this autumn: Spartak Moscow are the Russian Premier League champions for the first time since 2001.
Despite many false dawns, Spartak’s title win was unexpected. CSKA Moscow started the season confident of defending their 2015-16 championship under their successful manager Leonid Slutsky; Zenit Saint-Petersburg were optimistic about a new era under Mircea Lucescu, who won eight Ukrainian titles and the UEFA Cup with Shakhtar Donetsk.
Spartak, by contrast, parted company with coach Dmitri Alenichev at the start of August following an early Europa League exit. His assistant Massimo Carrera took over, quickly adapted to the league and built a unified team – a first for a foreign coach at the club. By the winter break Spartak were top and had already built up a good lead over Zenit and CSKA.
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