2001 in Russian football

2001 in Russian football saw the ninth title for FC Spartak Moscow and the fourth Cup for FC Lokomotiv Moscow. The national team qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

National team

Russia national football team qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup by finishing first in the UEFA group 1.

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score1	Competition	Russia scorers	Match Report
28 February 2001	Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium, Heraklion (A)	Greece	3–3	F		Sport-Express
24 March 2001	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow (H)	Slovenia	1–1	WCQ	Maksim Buznikin (2), Dmitri Khokhlov	FIFA
28 March 2001	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow (H)	Faroe Islands	1–0	WCQ	Alexander Mostovoi	FIFA
25 April 2001	Stadion Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade (A)	Yugoslavia	1–0	WCQ	Vladimir Beschastnykh	FIFA
2 June 2001	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow (H)	Yugoslavia	1–1	WCQ	Yury Kovtun	FIFA
6 June 2001	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg (A)	Luxembourg	2–1	WCQ	Dmitri Alenichev, Sergei Semak	FIFA
15 August 2001	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow (H)	Greece	0–0	F		Sport-Express
1 September 2001	Stadion Bezigrad, Ljubljana (A)	Slovenia	1–2	WCQ	Egor Titov	FIFA
5 September 2001	Tórsvøllur, Tórshavn (A)	Faroe Islands	3–0	WCQ	Vladimir Beschastnykh (2), Aleksandr Shirko	FIFA
6 October 2001	Dynamo Stadium, Moscow (H)	Switzerland	4–0	WCQ	Vladimir Beschastnykh (3), Egor Titov	FIFA
14 November 2001	Skonto stadions, Riga (A)	Latvia	3–1	F	Dmitri Khokhlov, Dmitri Alenichev, Aleksandr Panov	Sport-Express

1. Russia score given first

Key

• H = Home match
• A = Away match
• F = Friendly
• WCQ = 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying, UEFA Group 1

Leagues

Top Division

Main article: Russian Top Division 2001

First Division

Shinnik Yaroslavl and Uralan Elista returned to the Top Division after occupying two top positions First Division. Uralan were back immediately after relegation in 2000.

			P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
P	1	Shinnik	34	21	6	7	58	21	+37	69
P	2	Uralan	34	19	8	7	55	31	+24	65
	3	Kuban	34	16	12	6	56	29	+27	60
	4	Amkar	34	16	8	10	46	29	+17	56
	5	Spartak	34	17	4	13	48	37	+11	55
	6	Volgar-Gazprom	34	14	8	12	40	40	0	50
	7	Tom	34	12	11	11	31	28	+3	47
	8	Rubin	34	13	7	14	44	44	0	46
	9	Metallurg	34	12	9	13	39	47	–8	45
	10	Kristall	34	13	5	16	37	45	–8	44
	11	Netfekhimik	34	13	4	17	49	56	–7	43
	12	Khimki	34	13	4	17	42	54	–12	43
	13	Gazovik-Gazprom	34	12	6	16	38	44	–6	42
	14	Lada	34	12	5	17	40	50	–10	41
	15	Lokomotiv Chita	34	12	4	18	38	50	–12	40
R	16	Arsenal	34	10	10	14	27	35	–8	40
R	17	Baltika	34	11	6	17	35	51	–16	39
R	18	Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod	34	9	5	20	26	58	–32	32

Vitaliy Kakunin of Neftekhimik became the top goalscorer with 20 goals.

Second Division

Of six clubs that finished first in their respective Second Division zones, three play-off winners were promoted to the First Division:

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
FC Dynamo Saint Petersburg (West)	2–1	FC Metallurg Lipetsk (Centre)	2–0	0–1
FC Svetotekhnika Saransk (Povolzhye)	1–2	FC SKA Rostov-on-Don (South)	1–1	0–1
FC Uralmash Yekaterinburg (Ural)	3–3	FC SKA-Energia Khabarovsk (East)	2–2	1–1

Cup

The Russian Cup was won by Lokomotiv Moscow, who beat Anzhi Makhachkala 4–3 on penalties after the final ended 1–1.

UEFA club competitions

UEFA Champions League 2001-02

Spartak Moscow qualified for the second group stage of the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League. Spartak finished fourth in group C which also contained FC Bayern Munich, Arsenal F.C., and Olympique Lyonnais.

2001–02 UEFA Cup

Lokomotiv Moscow lost to 0–2 on aggregate to Rayo Vallecano in the third round of the 2000–01 UEFA Cup.

UEFA Champions League 2001-02

Lokomotiv Moscow qualified for the group stage of the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League after defeating FC Wacker Tirol 3–2 on aggregate. This meant that Russia had two teams in the group stage of the Champions League for the first time. Lokomotiv finished third in the group with Real Madrid, A.S. Roma, and R.S.C. Anderlecht.

Spartak Moscow, who qualifiers for the group stage automatically, finished last in a group which also contained FC Bayern Munich, AC Sparta Prague, and Feyenoord Rotterdam, scoring only two points.

2001–02 UEFA Cup

Four Russian clubs played in the 2001–02 UEFA Cup. Chernomorets Novorossiysk, who were struggling in the league, lost both first round matches to Valencia CF (0–6 on aggregate). Torpedo Moscow also failed to progress, losing 2–3 on aggregate to Ipswich Town F.C.

Anzhi Makhachkala's fixture against Rangers F.C. was ordered by UEFA to be played over one leg at a neutral site. The tie was played soon after September 11, 2001 attacks, and UEFA decided not to play matches in Makhachkala due to the situation in Chechnya.[1] Rangers won the match in Warsaw 1–0.

The only club to progress to the second round was Dynamo Moscow, who overcome Birkirkara F.C. 1–0 on aggregate. In the second round Dynamo were beaten 7–2 on aggregate by Rangers.

References

• National team fixtures (Russian)
• League and cup results
• UEFA Champions League results: 2000-01 2001-02
• UEFA Cup results: 2000-01 2001-02