On 7 March after almost three months interval SOGAZ-Russian Football Championship will restart. The teams had a lot of work during their training camps and at the end of May it will be clear how well the preparation was done.

Zenit is still the confident leader, but its opponents are planning to chase and reach it during the remaining time of the Championship. The competition will be tough in all parts of the tournament table – in the leaders group, in European Cups zone, and the teams from the bottom part will be competing especially hard.

Terek – PFC CSKA   

07.03.2015 16:00, S.Bilimkhanov Memorial SC

Referee: Vitaly Meshkov (Dmitrov). In season  2014-2015 – 12 matches – 36 yellow cards – 4 penalties awarded

Suspended: none - none

Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +3=2-10 (12:28)

Last season:  2:0, 1:4

In the first round: 0:1

The kick-off match of the SOGAZ-Russian Football Championship re-start will be held in Grozny at S.Bilimkhanov Memorial Stadium, where Terek and PFC CSKA will play. There are some works on the turf replacement under way at Akhmat Arena, and Terek will host its opponents at this nice stadium until these works are finished.

 During the interval Terek got defender Teiku, who should replace Ferreira who had left the team. Two forwards also came to Terek – Shepovich and M”Bengue. Rodolfo, a defender known for his playing for Lokomotiv, has  been included into the players list at the last moment.

The main loss of PFC CSKA is Doumbia’s moving to Roma. However, the club earned a lot with relation to this transfer. And two forwards from Sweden are taken as good perspective – young Strandberg and Aliev. Bazelyuk and Vitinho are onn a loan. But according to the words of the team Head coach Leonid Slutskiy, the team still has the same task – competition for  the title.

Zenit - Ural          

07.03.2015 19:00, Petrovskiy 

Referee: Sergey Karasev (Moscow). In season 2014-2015 – 6 matches – 27 yellow cards  – 1 red card – 2 penalties awarded

Suspended: None - None

Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +0=1-6 (5:12)

Last season:  1:2, 1:2

In the first round: 1:2

Zenit has not made any noticeable changes in the squad during the winter break. The only remarkable event will happen in summer, when Dzyuba from Spartak will join the team. National Team of Russia forward decided to continue his career in Zenit, and expects to win a lot of trophies with this club.

So far the team played successfully in UEFA Europa League without Dzyba, and beat PSV from the Netherlands. They also managed to avoid injuries of the leading players.

Ural is in the play-off zone so far and only a little bit ahead of Arsenal and Rostov. So the team of Alexander Tarkhanov still has the same task – to do their best in order to rise as far as possible in the table to avoid different problems.

There are no particular changes in the squad. None of the leading players, with the exception of Ottesen, left the team.

Spartak – Krasnodar           

08.03.2015 13:30, Otkrytie Arena 

Referee: Sergey Ivanov (Rostov-on-Don). In season 2014-2015 – 11 matches – 48 yellow cards – 2 red cards – 6 penalties awarded

Suspended: none - none

Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +5=0-2 (14:12)

Last season: 3:2, 0:4

In the first round: 0:4

Spartak and Krasnodar will be playing in the central match of the MD in Moscow. Additional intrigue is added to this match by the Red-Whites midfield Shirokov who said a lot of interesting information to the media.

During winter Spartak sent on a loan Costa, Dzyuba, who leaves the club in summer, Bocchetti and Yakovlev. No new players arrived to make the team stronger, but the Administration of Spartak has already announced that it is time for their own trainees to show their best. In winter  Murat Yakin gave playing practice to many players. Forward Davydov was very good, from time to time he will substitute Movsisyan who prolonged his contract with the club.

It is interesting that in the latest matches Spartak has conceded less goals than usual. And in summer the defense line of Moscow club should be supported by Granat, who turned his choice for Spartak.

As for the tasks for the final part of the season – Spartak expects to be in UEFA Champions League.

In the off-season time Krasnodar obtained only Shirokov, or loaned him to be more precise. As for the losses – Markov and Burmistrov, but they also are on a loan for playing practice.

Krasnodar team has problems with squad – defender Jędrzejczyk has been injured.

As for the tasks, Krasnodar, which will be playing at their own new stadium next season, also expect to compete for the slot in UEFA Champions League.

Dynamo - Ufa          

08.03.2015 16:00, Arena Khimki

Referee: Vladimir Moskalev (Voronezh). In season 2014-2015 – 6 matches – 23 yellow cards – 2 red cards  – 1 penalty awarded

Suspended: none – Tishkin (red card)

Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +1=0-0 (2:0)

Last season: did not play

In the first round: 2:0

Dynamo has already played two official matches in the current year – according to the results of both matches Belgian Anderlecht was beaten in UEFA Europa League.

We would like to remind that according to the lost points ranking Dynamo is on the second position and they can compete Zenit in their run to the title. Besides, these two teams will have to play a match soon. So the team of Stanislav Cherchesov cannot afford to lose points.

Manolev, Prudnikov and Noboa left the team in winter, Granat and Panyukov went on a loan. But Dynamo still has enough players in its squad in order to compete for the top places.

Ufa managed to get quite far from the relegation zone, but they have no time to be complacent, only a couple of unsuccessful matches  and everything reached in summer and autumn can thaw with spring snow. The club administration, coaches and players do not want to return back to FNL.

In winter Ufa brought support to the midfield line with Zinchenko and Stotskiy, and Shevchenko from Torpedo came to the attack.

Rostov - Lokomotiv          

08.03.2015 18:30, Olymp-2

Referee: Alexander Egorov (Saransk). In season 2014-2015 – 11 matches – 54 yellow cards – 1 red card

Suspended: Dyakov (4 yellow cards) – none

Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +2=14-25

Last season: 2:0, 0:5

In the first round: 1:2

Rostov starts the final straight on the 16^th line in the tournament table and with a new coach. Kurban Berdyev came to the team in winter, he is well-known by everybody. The team will try to solve the.

In winter media reported about serious finance problems of Rostov, but the team will for sure play the current season till the very end.

During second registration period Rostov managed to get on a loan two national team of Russia players – forward Dzyuba and defender Granat. But the Dynamo player has not fully recovered from his injure yet and will not be able to help his team on the starting matchdays. Talented attacking player Asmun has been loaned from Rubin, and defender Novoseltsev has been purchased from Torpedo.

Lokomotiv lost  forward N’Doye, who is playing very well in English Premier League now. Serbian Skuletic has been purchased to the attacking line. As for the rest, there are no particular changes in the squad.

Lokomotiv has the most ambitious aims, besides they have a good chance to play successfully in the Cup of Russia where Loko has already reached the semifinal.

But this success is not easy – goalkeeper Abaev is injured for a long period, a number of players were injured in the match against Rubin.

We would like to remind that Lokomotiv has not lost a match throughout nine matchdays

Amkar - Torpedo          

09.03.2015 13:00, Zvezda

Referee: Sergey Kulikov (Saransk). In season 2014-2015 – 5 matches – 17 yellow cards – 2 penalties awarded

Suspended: Cherenchikov (4 yellow cards) - none

Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +3=3-2 (7:7)

Last season: did not play

In the first round: 1:1

The teams which are not far from each other in the tournament table are going to play in Perm. The match will be played at Zvezda stadium, which after some works on the pitch maintenance and improvements managed to get  back the first category, which allows to host Premier League matches.

The club from Perm changed the head coach in winter. An experienced Gadzhi  Gadzhiev came to work on this position. The following players also came to the team: goalkeeper Khomich, defenders Butko and Arzumanyan, midfield Batov and forward Prudnikov. Goalkeeper Narubin, defenders Wawrzyniak  and Phibel, midfield Kamess.

Evidently the main task of the team will be keeping their place in Premier League.

Torpedo is trying to fix the same problem – to remain the elite division of the Russian football. Now there is only one point between the club from Moscow and play-off zone, and that means that they have to play the remaining matches at least not worse than their opponents.

The team squads did not have any significant changes. The following players left: defender Novoseltsev, midfield Kuleshov and forward Shevchenko. Two forwards came at the same time – Bazelyuk on a loan from PFC CSKA, Smarson on a loan from Helsinborg, and Zenev, who is able to play both in attack and midfield line.

Rubin – Arsenal           

09.03.2015 15:30, Rubin

Referee: Vitaly Rushakov (Arkhangelsk). In season 2014-2015 – 1 match – 6 yellow cards – 1 penalty awarded

Suspended: none – Ryzhkov (red card)

Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +0=1-0 (0:0)

Last season: did not play

In the first round: 0:0

Rubin Kazan in the off-season period did not have any particular changes. Some players went on a loan, and defender Cotunho and forward Otstavnov came to support the squad. As for the rest, the team from Kazan has a good squad and we are to expect a spectacular performance from this team after the break.

The teams will play at Rubin stadium, because Kazan Arena is being prepared for the watersports championship, and Centralnyi is not ready.

Arsenal is preparing for the struggle for survival. The team received experienced Mucha, Hagus and Korytko. They should support the squad and to help in this struggle. And it will be very difficult, as the intensity of the results is too high.

Kuban – Mordovia           

09.03.2015 18:00, Kuban

Referee: Alexey Matyunin (Moscow). In season 2014-2015 – 7 matches – 30 yellow cards – 2 red cards – 3 penalties awarded

Suspended: none – Perendija (4 yellow cards)

Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +2-1-0 (4:0)

Last season: did not  play

In the first round: 0:0

Due to the calendar fixing these teams already played in the beginning of March – in the Cup of Russia quarterfinals. And the fortune favored the team from Krasnodar then.

During the winter break Krasnodar managed to return defender Manolev from Dynamo, to loan midfield Tkachev from Lokomotiv and to sign a contract with Hugo Almeida, national team of Portugal forward.

Kuban always has ambitious aims and so the team will try to compete for the place in European Cups zone.

Mordovia managed to get quite far from the relegation zone in the first part of the championship. But it is early to rest on laurels, as there are 13 matchdays ahead and anything can happen.

In winter the team of Yury Semin received the following players: defender Gapon, midfield Yakovlev on a loan from Spartak, forward Samodin and Djalo on a loan from Benfica.