Late replacement: why Orenburg became the last participant of RPL-2025/26

Orenburg football club replaced Torpedo Moscow in the 2025/26 RPL and Russian Cup season. This decision was made on July 11 at a meeting of the Bureau of the RFU Executive Committee. The car manufacturers went to the first league. The reason is attempts to influence the results of three home games of the first league in 2024/25. Read more about the most notorious scandal of Russian football in recent years in the Izvestia article.

Discontent of Yekaterinburg

On Friday, July 11, the bureau of the RFU Executive Committee approved Orenburg as the 16th participant of the new RPL season. The decision was made unanimously, although not all members attended the meeting. According to RPL President Alexander Alaev, this is "the common position of the clubs and the entire football pyramid of Russia."

— The fundamental principle of the League is to observe the sporting principle even in extremely difficult circumstances, — explained the head of the RPL. — It would be unfair and irrational to start the season with 15 participating clubs, since such a format would have an unacceptably strong negative impact on the calendar and the structure of the season. This is the common position of the clubs and the entire football pyramid of Russia. Based on this agreed position, the Bureau of the RFU Executive Committee made a decision as soon as possible, taking into account a variety of circumstances. Orenburg had previously obtained the license necessary to participate in the RPL, has extensive experience playing in the League, is familiar with all standards and requirements, therefore, despite the shortest possible time before the start of the championship, we are confident in the high-quality organization of Orenburg matches and the season as a whole.

Orenburg itself confirms these words. The financial situation of the club is stable, the club is fully ready to participate in the RPL, Kirill Volzhenkin, president of Orenburg, emphasized in a conversation with Izvestia.

— As for transfers, yes, of course, given the participation in the Premier League, some more players will join the team, we still have time to work in this direction, - he assured.

Against the background of the news about the return of Orenburg to the RPL, the Ural press service had questions. "Are you serious there?!" says a message on the Yekaterinburg residents' Telegram channel.

Earlier, the president of Ural, Grigory Ivanov, was outraged about this in an interview with Sport-Express. "Why should Orenburg be in the league? From which side? If Torpedo was suspended due to violations in the FNL, then why should Orenburg be in the RPL, and not Ural? Why is that? We are ready to play in the RPL," the functionary said.

Recall that Ural finished fourth in the 2024/25 First League season and lost to Akhmat in the play-off matches for entry into the Premier League." (2:1, 0:2). However, they did not listen to the opinion of Yekaterinburg residents and chose Orenburg.

— Can Ural appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) if the club is not given a chance to play a play-off match with Orenburg for the right to play in the RPL? Every club has the right to defend its interests if they believe that they have been violated," said Maxim Mitrofanov, General Secretary of the RFU. — There are mechanisms to protect interests. I see no reason for this, nor do I see any violations. The junction between the Urals and Orenburg? We have not considered this issue. If we had been with you in May, there would have been more options for making decisions, but materials were being collected there.

There is no issue

Orenburg will also play in Zenit's group in the Russian Cup instead of Torpedo. The day before, the RFU KDK expelled the Moscow club from the RPL "for attempting to arrange match-fixing in football competitions" and fined the club 5 million rubles (the club tried to influence the results of three First league home games in the 2024/25 season: with Rodina (round 25, March 22), Ural (29Round 2, April 21) and Shinnik (Round 32, May 11).

In addition, the club's CEO Valery Skorodumov and owner Leonid Sobolev have been suspended from any football—related activities for ten years. They are currently in jail.

Following a meeting of the RFU Executive Committee bureau, it became known that Torpedo will be able to participate in the new season of the first league.

"If Torpedo had remained in the FNL according to the results of the previous season and sanctions had been applied to them, then at best they would have ended up in the second league,— Maxim Mitrofanov continued. — The club would be excluded from the competition, where they are located. The RFU has no task to destroy the club. Especially one that has great significance in terms of brand and history. They received more than severe punishment — they were excluded from the main football competition of the country.

However, this decision of car manufacturers is not very encouraging. Lawyer Andrey Alyoshkin, who represents the interests of Leonid Sobolev, co-owner of Black and white, reacted to the news that Orenburg would replace the Moscow club in the RPL in the 2025/26 season as follows.

— Adding Orenburg to the RPL is an unsportsmanlike decision. If Orenburg believes that he got into the RPL in a sporting way and everything is fine, then God is his judge," said Alyoshkin.

Recall that Orenburg took 15th place in the RPL standings and directly flew to the FNL. The head coach of the team is Vladimir Slishkovich, who previously worked at Spartak Moscow.