SuperCup tournament of Russia

The idea of determination the strongest in the champion and cup winner of the country stand has been realized in Russia yet in Soviet times, when the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" had offered to set out the Cup of a season tournament. This initiative had partially caught on: the prize wasn’t contested every year, and the regulations were unstable. Some teams had met on neutral field, others had had matches home and away. Dates ranged from early spring till late autumn, and in 1987, “Dynamo” Kiev and “Torpedo” Moscow simply struck penalty shoot-outs after the USSR football Championship calendar match ended in a draw ...

In the XXI century, the Russian Football Union and Premier League have had a sound approach to the project. New title sponsors have been engaged for the SuperCup. The match was certainly held a week before the start of the Russian Football Championship, serving as a prelude to the season. And in case if the same club won the gold medals and the Cup of Russia, the Championship’s runner-up had a priority to compete for the SuperCup as a second participant.

The Champion of the country has constantly been on top during first six seasons. But this tradition has been broken in 2009 by CSKA (Moskow) which won it’s fourth in history SuperCup.

The SuperCup of Russia is a annual tournament, which consists of one game, organized jointly by Russian Football Union and the Russian Football Premier-League.

This match officially opens regular football season in Russia.

The main trophy of the tournament – the oval crystal cup on a pedestal of dark wood – is contested by the current Russian Champion on football and the Winner of the Cup of Russia.

 

According to the Tournament’s regulations, in case if the Champion of Russia on football and the Winner of Cup of Russia of last season is the same team, The Champion and the Runner-up of the previous year Russian Championship participate in the SuoerCup match. The noted situation occurred in 2006 and 2007, when PFC CSKA (Moscow) appeared to be the current Champion and Winner of the Cup of Russia. Both times it was a couple of "Spartak" (Moscow). In 2011, CSKA has been among the participants of the match for the SuperCup as a silver medalist of Russian championship, because FC Zenit (St. Petersburg) won both the most honorable football trophies of Russia of 2010.

According to all said above and taking into account the fact that the Cup of Russia tournament is open for the clubs of all football leagues and divisions including amateur-clubs, not only the teams of RFPL have an opportunity to contest the SuperCup trophy. The case mentioned occurred ones in 2005, when the Cup of Russia was won by the First Division club “Terek” (Grozny), but this cause can’t be considered a mere precedent because FC “Terec” also became the winner of 1^st Division in 2004 and at the meantime officially was a club of Russian Football Primier-League.

The participation in the SuperCup match is obligatory for the RFPL club. The club of any other Russian League or Division may refuse participation before the 1^st of September of the year before the match.

 The SuperCup match is carried out according to the following rules:

- if the match ended in a draw in regulation time (two equal halves of 45 minutes), then assigned to extra time (two additional half-time of 15 minutes each);

- If tied score remains at the end of extra time, the winner of the match determined by the penalty-kicks according with Laws of the Game, approved by the International Board (IFAB).

It’s remarkable that only four of the eight held between 2003 and 2010 SuperCup winners were defined in regulation time. This fact confirms the principled and ultimatistic struggle for this trophy.

SuperCup of Russia is a challenge prize. It’s handed over the winner club immediately after the match and carried under it’s custody till February 1 of next season. Upon returning to replace the special challenge prize club-winner receives forever it’s reduced (4 /5 the size of the original) copy . In the case of winning the SuperCup three times or five times in total prize remains at the club forever.

Winning team’s players and specialists are also awarded by and by gold medals and diplomas.

Current Champions of Russia won CuperCup seven times of total nine, only twice (2009, 2011) the Cup winner CSKA came up trumps and broke the habit.

The place (city, stadium), date and time of the match are determined by FUR and RFPL. The right to choose the color of players’ uniform, locker room and substitute’s bench resides in the participant – current Champion of Russia.

All SuperCup matches in Russia

Seson	Current Champion of Russia	Result	Second Participant	Location	Attendance
2003	Lokomotiv (Moscow)	1:1 (4:3 pen.)	CSKA (Moscow) (Winner of the Cup of Russia)	Lokomotiv (Moscow)	15 000
2004	CSKA (Moscow)	3:1 (ET)	Spartak (Moscow) (Winner of the Cup of Russia)	Lokomotiv (Moscow)	18 000
2005	Lokomotiv (Moscow)	1:0	Terek (Grozny) (Winner of the Cup of Russia)	Lokomotiv (Moscow)	11 000
2006	CSKA (Moscow)	3:2	Spartak (Moscow) (Runner-up of Russian Championship)	Lokomotiv (Moscow)	43 000
2007	CSKA (Moscow)	4:2	Spartak (Moscow) (Runner-up of Russian Championship)	Lokomotiv (Moscow)	45 000
2008	Zenit (St.Pts)	2:1	Lokomotiv (Moscow) (Winner of the Cup of Russia)	Lokomotiv (Moscow)	48 000
2009	Rubin (Kazan)	1:2 (ET)	CSKA (Moscow) (Winner of the Cup of Russia)	Lokomotiv (Moscow)	15 000
2010	Рубин (Казань)	1:0	CSKA (Moscow) (Winner of the Cup of Russia)	Lokomotiv (Moscow)	17 000
2011	Zenit (St.Pts)	1:0	CSKA (Moscow) (Runner-up of Russian Championship)	Cuban, Krasnodar

Clubs – participants of SuperCup tournament (2003-2011 гг.)

	Club	Number of victories	Total number of participations
1	CSKA (Moscow)	4	7
2	Lokomotiv (Moscow)	2	3
3	Zenit (St.Pts)	2	2
4	«Спартак» (Москва)	0	3
5	Rubin (Kazan)	1	2
6	«Терек» (Грозный)	0	1

 
  The winner of SuperCup 2011: FC «Zenit» (Saint-Petersburg)