Gold on horns: Krasnodar became the champion of Russia in football

Krasnodar Football Club has won the Russian Premier League for the first time in its history. On May 24, Murad Musayev's team won the match against Dynamo Moscow (3:0) and won the gold medals of the RPL of the 2024/25 season. In a parallel match, Zenit from St. Petersburg defeated Akhmat Grozny (3:0), but this was not enough to win the title: Krasnodar scored 67 points in the final table, and Zenit - 66. How the Kuban team achieved historical success is described in the Izvestia article.

Krasnodar became the champion of Russia in football — the best players

This year, Krasnodar managed to assemble a truly champion squad. Graduates of the youth academy gained experience and matured alongside high-quality foreign players.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Vitaly Timkiv

The Bulls' leader and captain, Eduard Spertsyan, confirmed his high level and finished the season with 17 points in the goal+pass system. After a heavy 1-4 loss to Zenit in the 24th round of the Russian Premier League, Spertsyan scored three goals and provided one assist in the next three rounds. Krasnodar did not lose any points during this difficult period, although they won twice with a one-goal difference. In addition, the captain of the Bulls assisted Nikita Krivtsov in the championship game against Dynamo and scored from the penalty spot, scoring the last goal of this RPL draw.

"There is motivation to prevent Krasnodar, but we are thinking about our tasks"

Dynamo Moscow football player Daniil Fomin — about the match of the last round of the Russian Premier League, the fight for bronze, the resignation of his personal account and the games of the national team

The legend of Moscow's Lokomotiv and Spartak, former Russian national team striker Dmitry Sychev, named Spertsyan among the best players of the season in an interview with the Championship portal.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Vitaly Timkiv

Another hero of this RPL draw is forward John Cordoba, who became the team's best sniper with 12 goals scored. The combination of physical strength and high speed made him one of the most dangerous players in the entire league. Cordoba scored a goal + an assist in the most important matches of the first round with Zenit (2:0) and Lokomotiv (3:0), as well as an accurate shot in the game of the 29th round with Orenburg (2:1) and, finally, the golden ball with Dynamo.". Thus, Cordoba scored 17 (12+5) performance points for the season and took fifth place in the list of top scorers.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Vitaly Timkiv

One of the discoveries of not only Krasnodar, but the entire league, this year was goalkeeper Stanislav Agkatsev. After former number one Matvey Safonov left for French PSG in the summer, experts predicted problems for the bulls, but Agkatsev showed a mature game and composure beyond his years and made an important contribution to the team's final success. He has 15 dry matches to his credit this RPL season, which is the second highest score after Zenit goalkeeper Evgeny Latyshon (17 zero matches).

Golden attraction: will Krasnodar be able to take away the championship from Zenit

The Southern club needs to beat Dynamo at home in order to break the hegemony of St. Petersburg.

Krasnodar became the champion of Russia in football — coach Murad Musaev

The main creator of Krasnodar's historic success this season was coach Murad Musaev. This is his second visit to the team. Earlier, Musaev led the Bulls to bronze medals in the 2018/19 season and silver last year.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Vitaly Timkiv

Murad Musayev managed to achieve stable results and instill a champion character in his team. So, having received a painful slap in the same 24th round with Zenit (1-4), Krasnodar managed to take three matches in a row and maintain an advantage in the standings over St. Petersburg. However, the defeat by CSKA (0:1) in the 28th round was perceived by many as a break and a loss of championship ambitions. The Bulls reacted to this with a strong-willed victory over Orenburg (1:2) and did not allow Zenit to beat them. Finally, in the decisive match of the season, the team beat Dynamo, which allowed them to stay in first place at the end of the season.

Sergey Galitsky's Club

Krasnodar's championship has become a landmark for all of Russian football, because it has fulfilled the dream of the club's owner, Sergei Galitsky. For all neutral fans, Galitsky has become a symbol of a new era in Russian sports, associated with abundant investments in the academy and the development of a private club based on a foreign model.

Alexander Kuzmak, a sports columnist for REN TV, noted that Krasnodar, more than any other RPL team, "deserved the title this year with its progressive upward development," and noted Galitsky's direct contribution.