2024–25 Russian Second League Division A
| Season | 2024–25 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 21 July 2024 – June 2025 |
← 2023–24 2025–26 → | |
The 2024–25 Russian Second League Division A is the 33rd season of Russia's third-tier football league since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The season began on 21 July 2024 and will end in June 2025.
Overview
[edit]Before the 2023–24 season, the Russian Second League was reorganized and split into two tiers - third-tier Russian Second League Division A and fourth-tier Russian Second League Division B.[1]
Division A consists of two groups of 10 teams each.
The Gold Group initially includes:
- 3 teams relegated from the 2023–24 Russian First League (FC Leningradets Leningrad Oblast, FC Volgar Astrakhan and FC Kuban Krasnodar)
- 3 teams from the Top 6 of the 2023–24 Second stage Gold Group that were not promoted to the Russian First League (including FC Novosibirsk, who were renamed to FC Sibir Novosibirsk)
- Top 4 teams from the 2023–24 Second stage Silver Group
The Silver Group includes:
- Bottom 4 teams from the 2023–24 Second stage Gold Group.
- Bottom 6 teams from the 2023–24 Second stage Silver Group.
In the first part of the season (summer/autumn 2024), each team in the Gold and Silver groups will play each other team in the same group twice, home-and-away, for 18 games in total for each team.
For the second part of the season (spring/summer 2025), groups will be re-constituted.
Top 6 teams of the First stage Gold Group and top 4 teams of the First stage Silver Group will qualify for the Second stage Gold Group. Bottom 4 teams of the First stage Gold Group will be moved to the Second stage Silver Group.
Bottom 2 teams of the First stage Silver Group will be automatically relegated to the 2025 Division B. Four winners of the 2024 Division B zones (FC Forte Taganrog, FC Dynamo-2 Moscow, FC Dynamo Vladivostok and FC Dynamo Kirov) will be promoted to the Second stage Silver Group.
Teams that finish 7th and 8th in the First stage Silver Group would qualify for the relegation play-offs (two games, home-and-away) against the teams that finished 9th and 10th in the Second stage Silver Group of the 2023–24 Russian Second League Division A (FC Torpedo Miass and FC Dynamo Bryansk). If Torpedo Miass and Dynamo Bryansk finished in 5th and 6th place in the First stage Silver Group, the 5th-placed team would play the 8th-placed team and the 6th-placed team would play the 7th-placed team in the relegation play-offs. If only one team out of Torpedo/Dynamo finish in 5th or 6th place, that team will play in relegation play-offs against the 7th-placed team, and the 8th-placed team will be relegated automatically. If neither Torpedo Miass nor Dynamo Bryansk finish in 5th or 6th place, the relegation play-offs will not be held, and the 7th and 8th-placed teams would be relegated automatically. The losers of the relegation play-offs would be relegated to the 2025 Division B, the winners would be included in the Second stage Silver Group. Torpedo Miass secured a top-4 finish and a direct relegation for the 8th-placed team with 3 games left to play.
The teams in re-constituted groups will play each other twice more for 18 more games. Top 2 Gold Group teams at the end of the season will be promoted to the Russian First League for the 2025–26 season.
The 3rd-placed Second stage Gold Group team will play in promotion play-offs (two games, home-and-away). Their opponent will be:
- The 1st-placed First stage Gold Group team, unless that team finishes in the Top 2 or in the bottom 4 in the second stage; if 3rd-placed Second stage team was 1st in the First stage, it would get promoted automatically; otherwise
- The 2nd-placed First stage Gold Group team, unless that team finishes in the Top 2 or in the bottom 4 in the second stage; if 3rd-placed Second stage team was 2nd in the First stage, it would get promoted automatically; otherwise
- The 3rd-placed First stage Gold Group team, unless that team finishes in the Top 2 or in the bottom 4 in the second stage; if 3rd-placed Second stage team was 3rd in the First stage, it would get promoted automatically.
The winner of those play-offs will also be promoted to the Russian First League.[2]
If none of the top-3 First stage Gold Group teams qualify for the promotion play-offs under the conditions described above, the play-offs would not be held and the 3rd-place Second stage Gold Group team would be promoted to the Russian First League automatically.
The bottom four teams in the Gold Group at the end of the season would be moved to Silver Group for the 2025–26 season, and the top four teams in the Silver Group would be moved to Gold Group. The bottom two teams in the Silver Group would qualify for the 2025–26 relegation play-offs.
The rotation between Division A and Division B will be happening in the winter going forward, as Division B switched to spring-to-autumn, March-to-November cycle for their seasons. There will no relegation from Division A or promotion to it immediately at the end of the 2024–25 season.
First stage
[edit]Gold Group
[edit]| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelyabinsk (Q) | 16 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 24 | 14 | +10 | 32 | Qualification for the Second Stage Gold Group |
| 2 | Kuban Krasnodar (Q) | 16 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 18 | 16 | +2 | 26 | |
| 3 | Spartak Kostroma (Q) | 16 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 20 | 16 | +4 | 26 | |
| 4 | Leningradets (Q) | 16 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 21 | 16 | +5 | 24 | |
| 5 | Volgar Astrakhan (Q) | 16 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 20 | 13 | +7 | 24 | |
| 6 | Veles Moscow | 16 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 21 | 20 | +1 | 21 | |
| 7 | Tekstilshchik Ivanovo | 16 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 18 | 24 | −6 | 16 | Qualification for the Second Stage Silver Group |
| 8 | Avangard Kursk | 16 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 19 | 20 | −1 | 16 | |
| 9 | Sibir Novosibirsk | 16 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 15 | 21 | −6 | 15 | |
| 10 | Kaluga (Q) | 16 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 17 | 33 | −16 | 9 |
(Q) Qualified for the phase indicated
Silver Group
[edit]| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rodina-2 Moscow (Q) | 17 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 38 | 21 | +17 | 34 | Qualification for the Second Stage Gold Group |
| 2 | Volga Ulyanovsk (Q) | 17 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 29 | 18 | +11 | 32 | |
| 3 | Torpedo Miass (Q) | 17 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 18 | 15 | +3 | 31 | |
| 4 | Mashuk-KMV Pyatigorsk | 17 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 22 | 21 | +1 | 24 | |
| 5 | Dynamo Bryansk | 17 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 21 | 20 | +1 | 21 | Qualification for the Second Stage Silver Group |
| 6 | Murom | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 17 | 23 | −6 | 21 | |
| 7 | Irtysh Omsk | 17 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 18 | 27 | −9 | 20 | Qualification for the 2024 relegation play-offs |
| 8 | Khimik Dzerzhinsk | 17 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 22 | 27 | −5 | 19 | Relegation to the 2025 Division B[a] |
| 9 | Krasnodar-2 (R) | 17 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 22 | 30 | −8 | 16 | |
| 10 | Metallurg Lipetsk (R) | 17 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 19 | 24 | −5 | 14 |
(Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (R) Relegated
Notes:
- ^ Since Torpedo Miass (9th in the 2023–24 Silver Group Second Stage) secured a position in the Top 4, the 8th-placed team will be relegated directly
References
[edit]- ^ "Бюро исполкома РФС утвердило реформу Второй лиги" (in Russian). Russian Football Union. 10 May 2023.
- ^ "Russian Second League regulations 2024-25 - paragraph 3.17" (PDF) (in Russian). Russian Second League. Retrieved 13 July 2024.