Unlimited trust: how is the Ministry of Sports going to reduce legionnaires in the RPL

The new limit on foreign players in Russian football may encourage clubs to actively engage in the development of young talents, but it will be pointless if it leads only to a slight reduction in the number of foreigners. In particular, if everything is limited to its tightening from the "13+8" format (13 foreigners in the application for the match and eight on the field) to "12+7". This is exactly the reduction announced by the Russian Ministry of Sports for the next season of the Russian Premier League (RPL). At the same time, the agency plans to gradually strengthen restrictions in the future.

Cosmetic changes

Since 2022, the "13+8" limit has been in effect in the Russian Premier League championship. Discussions about the need to tighten it have arisen repeatedly, but a new impetus in the summer of 2025 was given to them by the Minister of Sports and Chairman of the ROC Mikhail Degtyarev.

—We are targeting five foreigners on the field, 10 in the application," he said then. — By 2028, a gradual decline. There can be no discussion.

Over the next few months, this initiative was sharply criticized by a significant part of the football community. In particular, the head coach of the Russian national team, Valery Karpin, as well as a number of star football players of the past like Andrei Arshavin, Alexander Kerzhakov, Alexei Berezutsky and many others spoke out against tightening the limit. Nevertheless, among the reputable experts there were those who supported the initiative of the Ministry of Sports. In particular, this was done by the former head coach of the Russian national team Leonid Slutsky, who now works at the Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua.

This week, the Russian Ministry of Sports issued an order to gradually tighten the limit. From the 2026/2027 season, the RPL will have a limit of "12 +7", from the 2027/2028 season - "11+6", from the 2028/2029 season — "10+5".

— If we take the changes for the coming year, then we can say that there is nothing left behind the pretentious summer statements of the Ministry of Sports — there has been a rollback, — Andrey Chervichenko, the former owner of Spartak, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — In principle, it was predictable, since the current minister opposed too heavy-handed influential groups in Russian football, which are behind the Russian top clubs and the RFU. As a result, a compromise option was adopted so that one of the parties could save face and announce that it had achieved a reduction in the number of foreigners, but minus one legionnaire in the application and minus one legionnaire on the field would not radically change the situation in our football.

At the same time, the former head of the red and white is not sure that in a year the proposed changes to the Ministry of Sports will not be stopped.

— If you really want to change something, then you need to drastically reduce the number of foreigners immediately, without half measures, otherwise rich clubs like Zenit, Spartak and many others will push through all sorts of measures to slow down the process, and only then sink it in all sorts of discussions and approvals, - added Chervichenko. — Therefore, I would really like the Ministry of Sports to bring the limit to five or six foreigners on the field, but I will believe in it only when I actually see the practical implementation of this idea in a couple of years.

Over the past 20 years, the limit on foreign players in Russian football has changed several times and has always been the subject of serious discussions. As a rule, clubs and the RPL opposed him, citing low competition among domestic football players and, as a result, inflated salaries to them and payments to their agents. Supporters of the limit pointed out that such expenses are a consequence of the low qualifications of club managers, and also assured that foreign football players and their agents charge clubs no less.

"The numerous foreign players who come to the Russian Premier League are serious business," Dmitry Bulykin, a former striker of the Russian national team and a former member of the board of directors of Lokomotiv, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — It's easier to buy someone, even if they don't always play better. Interested parties are always involved in such transactions with high commissions. That's why I understand why everyone wants legionnaires.

The struggle of interests

Another argument of the supporters of the limit is the interests of the Russian national team, which usually has a shortage of high—level players with daily practice in top matches at the club. At the same time, a number of experts believe that the limit should have been severely tightened at least in 2022, when our national teams and clubs were suspended from international competitions.

— For many years, the clubs opposed the limit, arguing that they needed to strengthen themselves with high—quality foreign players in order to successfully compete in European competitions, - recalls Vyacheslav Koloskov, Honorary President of the RFU. — The statement is controversial, because our main achievements in the post-Soviet era occurred when clubs relied on a significant number of Russians, like CSKA and Zenit, who won the UEFA Cup in 2005 and 2008, respectively.

He noted that at the same time they began to introduce a limit, and before that the clubs simply did not have the money for a large number of high-quality foreigners. Even now, when this money is available, high-quality foreigners do not always come to us, but they displace talented Russians, and clubs generally have no incentive to engage in their schools, academies, develop young people and bring them to the main squad, often risking short-term results. Although now, Koloskov believes, when we are not on the international scene, it would be good to systematically engage in the development of youth football within the country at the level of each club, redistribute budgets there, and not to foreigners.

Meanwhile, in recent years, a number of star football players of the past have assessed the limit as a harmful phenomenon, citing the need to compete for a place in the main squad. In particular, Andrey Arshavin, who is the deputy chairman of the Zenit board, recalled that in early 2000, he and many of his partners in the Russian national team made their way to the base without a limit.

— When they remember that it used to be good without a limit, they do not take into account that then there was no money for good foreigners in our football yet, — Andrey Chervichenko emphasized. — In 2001-2002, we could not afford good and expensive foreigners, so without any limits, everyone had to trust young Russians like Arshavin, Kerzhakov or the Berezutsky brothers. This is about how Serbia lives now, growing world-class stars year after year without a limit, but it doesn't need it because clubs with small budgets and their business is built on finding talent, training them, playing in the base and selling them to top European championships. Our clubs, because of the excess of funds, believe that it is easier to hire a foreigner. And they also fit the theory that young Russians will learn to play from him, progressing in competition with him. Although in recent years, legionnaires have been coming to us for a lot of money of such quality that our youth definitely do not need to learn from them.

It should be recalled that the RFU Executive Committee formally decides on the format of the limit for foreign players in the RPL. But according to the federal law of the Russian Federation on sports, it is finally approved by the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation.