Dear Friends!  

On behalf of the Football Union of Russia and myself I would like to congratulate all players, coaches, heads of Russian professional football leagues and clubs, referees, journalists, as well as a great army of fans on the kick-off of the second part of football season 2016/2017. 

2017 is a special year in Russian football calendar. Today football clubs Zenit, Krasnodar and Rostov are going to play their first matches in UEFA Europa League Play-off. We hope that they will be able to compete for the honorary European trophy. ROSGOSSTRAKH Russian Football Championship will re-start at the beginning of March, it is very exciting and produce unexpected results, competitions for the Cup of Russia will continue as well. It is not possible to predict the winner there, too.

Of course, in 2017 the attention of the Russian football fans majority will be attracted to the FIFA  Confederations Cup, which will take place in four cities of Russia. It is a very important tournament for our country, it is a rehearsal of the FIFA World Cup in Russia in 2018. I am sure that FIFA Confederations Cup will be held at the highest possible level and thousands of supporters will be able to enjoy matches of the best national teams of the continents.

I wish exciting and thrilling games to the teams and a lot of positive emotions for supporters!