I believe Dianmo Moscow and CSKA moscow have some really class players this year, how have Costinha and Maniche and Vagner Love been kept in this league. I understand they are on good money but it was only a year ago that maniche was being touted round europe and even a potential replacement for Vieira.

I think that Daniel Carvahlo, Aleksander Kerzhakov are the 2 best players in the Russian League. I have no idea why Big european clubs have not tried to get a hold of these two guys, they are absolutely outstanding to watch. I think that Carvahlo will leave CSKA in the next couple of years hes won everything there is to win in Russia plus the Uefa Cup. Kerzhakov will probably stay with Zenit for a while (signed a new contract til 2007) but he should move on to a more competitive league to see how he plays there I think that the German Bundesliga or the Serie A would be a good place for Kerzhakov. For Carvahlo he could adapt to any league.

Daniel Carvalho is without doubt the strongest player in the league, and would likely to be a great addition to any club in the world at this point.

The majority of the other outstanding players are in CSKA Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Zenit St. Petersburg, Lokomotiv Moscow and Dynamo Moscow. Here's a short overview.

CSKA Moscow - As the UEFA cup winners, a lot of their players are currently creating a lot of interest in Europe. However because the funding for CSKA is very extensive, they are able to afford all the players, and are currently expected to sign a few more of the caliber in order to prepare for their Champions League run. The only way they would sell any of their star players would be if they got an offer from a club of the Real, Milan, or Man U caliber.

Daniel Carvalho - Man of the Match UEFA Cup, Scored in the Supercup against Liverpool, most people probably know about him, should on Brazilian NT team.

Igor Akinfeev - GK - Recently turned 19 but has already been CSKA's main keeper for 2 yerars - Arguably the best keeper at that age in the world - Considered by many to become the greatest Russian keep since Yashin. Had some outstanding performances both for CSKA and the national team on the worldstage.

Vagner Love - Brazilian Striker, recently regained form after injuries and hoping to be on the NT along with Carvalho. At first hoped to go back to Brazil but adapted to European football and now acting like he wants to stay in CSKA even though a few teams like Benfica offered money for him.

Ivica Olic - Croation NT striker with outstanding speed and drive, bought for $5 million

Yuriy Zhirkov - 22 Year old left-winger - scored in UEFA cup final



Spartak Moscow - Recently recovered the form that they lost for a few years, and qualified for Champions League in the upcoming season. Have heavy financial backing, which will probably lead them to keep their leaders, even though they are wanted by many European clubs.

Nemanja Vidic - young defender, wanted by many clubs throughout Europe, with Aston Villa, Fiorentina and a few other clubs currently offering prices of over $10 million for him, undecided whether he will stay in Russia.

Fernando Cavenaghi - Young Argentinian striker bought for $10 million but so far unable to adapt to European football.

Yegor Titov - Playmaker, wanted by Bavaria Munich and others about 5 years ago but unable to recover that form so far after injuries and a doping ban

Clemente Rodriguez - Argentinian NT

Martin Jiranek - Chezh NT defender


Zenit St. Petersburg - Fast but inconsistent team. Rely heavily on the cooperation of the duo of Kerzhakov and Arshavin. They were both wanted by many European clubs but extended their contracts until 2007.

Alexander Kerzhakov - Fast and nimble striker, having scored over 70 premier-leauge and international goals even though he is only 22. Sometimes criticized for holding the ball.

Andrey Arshavin - Attacking midfielder, amazingly creative playmaker, considered by many the best Russian player of 2005.


Lokomotiv Moscow - Underwent a somewhat dissapointing season as they lost both the championship and a champions league spot. Supposedly spending $20 million on transfers for the upcoming season.

Dmitry Sytchev - 21 Year old Striker, priced at around $5 million. Played for Marseille before being bought by Lokomotiv

Francesco Lima - Familiar from Roma

Dmitry Loskov - Good Playmaker but getting old

Malkhaz Asatiani - Georgian Universal


And finally, Dynamo Moscow - Has amazing finances, spending over $80 million on transfers, but so far without much success. Got a new qualified coach in Yuriy Semin, and will likely to make huge improvements in the upcoming season.

Maniche - All self-explanatory and well-known

Costinha - All self-explanatory and well-known

Derlei - All self-explanatory and well-known

Danni - All self-explanatory and well-known

A number of other less well known Portuguese players will probably be sold back.

Good stuff there. Thanks

Titov is quite popular i think

carvahlo is the king of football in russia IMO.

Not in my world

Is this players in the leagues or Russia in general ?

Radon, what about Izmalov (sp?) from Lokomotiv. He was a young Russian who played on the left of midfield, i think he was right footed.

When Arsenal went to Moscow to play Lokomotiv a few years ago he was by far their best player, after watching him i thought he was going to be a superstar for club and country at the Euro's.
I haven't heard anything of him since, has he fell away in the last couple of years?

I would have to say Roman Abrahamovic looks very dangerous, hes so influencial off the ball!

Izmailov has been plagued by injuries in the past few years... when he recovers from them he still performs at an amazing level, his goal against Monaco in the Champions League 2 years ago was voted as the goal of the whole tournament... But he seems to be unable to play for more than 3-4 months without getting injuries so theres no room for progress unfortuantely...

I have been really impressed with Afineev. I think he is going to move to a bigger club soon. Dmitri Loshkov is another good player.Other than that from the ones mentioned ,Carvalho is definitely the best.

maniche was allowed to negotiate with other clubs, russia destroyed his career for now.

I liked the look of Izmailov when i saw him on the odd occasion, he looked a real pacy left winger with bags of potential, he did go down a bit to easy but that can be said for many players around the world. A shame he got plagued by so many injuries because i think if he stayed fit he would be one top top player, hes still fairly young so he can still get to that level.

Carvalho is the best though for me in the league, great feet, got a great shot on him, bit of pace and i think he will move onto a better European team one of these days because hes better than the Russian League (no offence to the Russian league or anything).

well titov used to be good. There's a risin star right now that plays for spartak moscow , i believe hes from moldova, i forgot his name...

How about Alves Jo from CSKA Moskva. this guys has scored 16 goals in 17 apperances for CSKA this season. With Champions League football looming for CSKA i think that its just a matter of time before this guy leaves.

17 goals in 16 games

Sergei Kovalchuk. This season he is playing not very good...

I have to add Fatih Tekke to this list now. He has been class for Zenit, and has began his Russian career with 3 goals in the opening 4 games. He is reaching the peak of his career (he's reaching 29 yrs old) and under Guus is improving rapidly. A real gem, and you will be seeing alot more of him during the Euro 2008 qualifiers with Turkey.

A few more additions, after 17 games into the season - Jay Kay mentioned a huge one - here are a few more players that stood out:

Alejandro Dominguez - really made an impression in his role as supporting forward/attacking midfield, scoring 8 goals in the league and a few more in the UEFA cup, including some very impressive free kicks.

David Mudjiri - playmaker for KS Samara

I can add to this list Dmitry Loskov. He starts to show very good game again

these are not stars, simply nice players... the stars are Carvalho, Kerzhakov, Arshavin, Zhirkov and Akinfeev, the others are 'starring' on the Russian premiership level -- which is not even close to being a top one...

Fatih Tekke is the best in russia

Does anyone know how Dmitry Sychev is doing at Lokomotiv? I remember after WC02, he was suppose to be the new star of Russian football and was likened to Owen.

After WC he left Spartak Moscow wit a big scandal and move to Marselie. He scored many important goals, but play unstable. Now he is player of Lokomotiv Moscow, national team. He's continuing scoring

I don't know much about Russian football teams/league until watching Russians doing well in UEFA cup & CL this few years. I find the Russian cyrillic lettering cool! Does the names of players on the backs of their jerseys and sponsors in cyrillic? Like what i see in the Arab,Chinese,Korean & Japanese leagues use their native letterings! Would be COOL to have my name in cyrillic!

When Russian teams (or other Eastern Europeans teams) compete in European competition like the UEFA cup or CL, they must use Latin alphabet lettering but in their own league competition, they use their own alphabet. Which makes sense.

Sponsor wise, there's no regulation but Spartak do write their sponsor in Latin when playing in the CL, probably so more people can read it and advertise it.

Has Arsenal's former player Quincy Owusu Abeyie been playing for Spartak?

In our national championship we have names and logos of sponsors in cirilic. But in international competitions we must use latin in names and sponsors titles.
jerseyFREAK, your name in Cyrillic will look like Джерсифрик

syza, ye, Quincy is continuing playing for Spartak. He's good player but... He wants to do all by his own, he can't see any team mates around him. He has amazing dribbling, but he uses it too much. It's the main cause why he often starts matches on the bench.

What do u guys think of Danny and jorge luiz from dinamo? I heard jorge isnt really happy in russia is that true? he was great for braga.

Danny now is best in Dynamo. About Luiz - he is really unhappy, because he didn't play even 1 match!!!

At this moment we the best championat at East Europe ))

actually , that's the romanian league .

Russia has one absolutely world class player that seems to be getting overlooked. This player has helped countless teams win games which they couldn't imagine winning. That player is known as "Guus Hiddink". The one.

So true, remember his games for South Korea and Australia?

can anyone tell me how good vukcevic from saturn is? and how is karyaka doing? we shouldnt have loaned him out hes a good player

vukcevic was absolutely good when played at Serbia... big talent! but he don`t watch any interesting in Russia.
karakya - is OK. But Saturn (his new team) take just 14 th place from 16 th

Lol yes I do.
And he did quite good with Holland as well. 1998 when we made it to the semi-finals and were arguably the best (at least most entertaining) team that year. Unlucky to lose to Brazil in penalties though... and have our overtime goal called offsides (even though it wasn't).

Watch out for Akinfeev of CSKA Moscow has the potential to be one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. Hes that Good!!!

Of all time? Wow.

No he's not. He's a really nice player, yes, but not even close to being the best today, forget about all time. There are too many keepers who are simply better.

Alterus, are you kidding?
Akinfeev great talent! i din`t think about "the best of all time"... but, i`m sure he has a great future. Look Golden Boy list from last season... he was taken the 8 plase, and also he was a unique goalkeeper from thems. he was the moust youngest keeper at last Champion league. or may be you can tell me u21 keeper who regulary play at champioms league? may be Shovkovskiy?)))

Zhirkov from CSKA is a very good player, I also like Anyukov from Zenit (Advokaat gives him more playing time these days and he's just getting better). I 've been in Russia for the last 4 weeks (back in Glasgow now) and was able to read a lot about Russian league and also watched many games on TV and from these impressions only Anyukov and Zhirkov were players who performed really well.

Russian league is very unpredictable this season, very even competition this year

"Alterus, are you kidding?
Akinfeev great talent! i din`t think about "the best of all time"... but, i`m sure he has a great future. Look Golden Boy list from last season... he was taken the 8 plase, and also he was a unique goalkeeper from thems. he was the moust youngest keeper at last Champion league. or may be you can tell me u21 keeper who regulary play at champioms league? may be Shovkovskiy?)))"

You speak English like russians from those old James Bond films... nothing personal, don't take it serious =)

I didn't say he doesn't have a bright future, but I don't think he will be a star some day. A quality player, yes, a football star, no. He isn't talented enough to break into the first team of some superclub like Chelsea, Barsa or something. Maybe clubs like Tottenham or Valencia, that level being his maximum.

Alterus I know that my english very bad...
but I can tell: ты зато думаешь как обыкновенный украинец который страдает синдромом неполноценности по поводу соседства с Россией! ничего личного; но это так!

Та ну? Это "комплекс неполноценности" теперь называется - реально смотреть на вещи?

Заметь, я не говорю, что у нас есть лучше вратари. Акинфеев - талантливый игрок, как я говорил, но мировой звездой ему не стать.

Ленинград - олень )))))))) ну это так. Акинфеев... один уровеньс Мандрыкиным - х-ня

лось... что еще сказать тебе!?))

Spartak the best Russian club.He will champion in this season.CSKA лохи.

Ребята.Давайте спорить о кто лучше кто хуже на наших форумах.Здесь не место разбираться о "комплексе неполноценности" и т.д.
Здесь по-моему хорошо бы узнать, что думают о нашем футболе коллеги из западных стран, а также побольше узнать интересного о западном футболе...

Ïî-ìîåìó,âñåì ÿñíî,÷òî Àðøàâèí ëó÷øèé èãðîê íàøåãî ÷åìïèîíàòà,äðóãèõ ìíåíèé áûòü íå ìîæåò.
Äðóãîå äåëî,åñëè áû îí âñå ìàò÷è ïðîâîäèë íà ñâî¸ì óðîâíå...

Ç.Û. Ðàäîøà,ïðåâåä))