RPL Player, Manager and Goal of the Month for March

Russian Premier Liga fans helped experts from Match Premier TV channel and the RPL select the best player, coach, and goal for March. Fans voted on the RPL’s official group on Vkontakte social network, while Match Premier and RPL representatives also took part in the voting.

The winners from each of the three groups count equally in the overall poll. In the event of a three-way tie, the RPL casts the deciding vote. The winners from each of the three voting groups - and the overall winners for each category - were as follows.

Player of the Month: Aleksandr Kokorin

Nominees: Sardar Azmoun, Aleksandr Kokorin, Christian Noboa, Aleksandr Belenov, Grzegorz Krychowiak

RPL choice: Aleksandr Belenov

Match Premier choice: Aleksandr Kokorin

Fans' choice: Aleksandr Kokorin

RPL experts picked FC Ufa goalkeeper Aleksandr Belenov for their Player of the Month for March. This month he has kept clean sheets away to both Zenit St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow, and his team retained the league’s second-tightest defensive record overall.

Representatives of Match Premier and RPL fans gave their votes to FC Sochi striker Aleksandr Kokorin, so he won the award by the majority of votes. In March, the forward played every minute of all four matches for his new club and scored three goals, two of them against Orenburg.

Manager of the Month: Vladimir Fedotov

Nominees: Yuri Semin, Sergey Matveev, Kirill Novikov, Domenico Tedesco, Vladimir Fedotov

RPL choice: Vladimir Fedotov

Match Premier choice: Vladimir Fedotov

Fans' choice: Yuri Semin

Representatives of the RPL and Match Premier gave their votes to the FC Sochi manager, while the fans went for Yuri Semin. The latter led 2017/18 RPL champions Lokomotiv Moscow to wins over Akhmat Grozny and FC Rostov, and a goalless draw away to leaders Zenit St. Petersburg.

The majority of votes were won by Fedotov. The former FC Orenburg manager took charge of the team in December, and under his leadership, FC Sochi have dragged themselves off the foot of the table and out of the relegation zone. After losing to Arsenal, FC Sochi won three games in a row which included ending FC Krasnodar’s 11-match unbeaten run.

Goal of the Month: Mario Fernandes

Nominees: Ricardo Alves (MD 20, Krylia Sovetov vs FC Orenburg), Eric Bicfalvi (MD 20, CSKA vs FC Ural), Mario Fernandes (MD  20, CSKA vs FC Ural), Kirill Zaika (MD 21, FC Sochi vs FC Ural), Roman Eremenko (MD 21, FC Rostov vs CSKA), Dmitry Skopintsev (MD 22, Akhmat vs Dynamo), Jordan Larsson (MD 22, FC Orenburg vs Spartak), Sebastian Driussi (MD 22, Zenit vs FC Ural).

RPL choice: Roman Eremenko

Match Premier choice: Mario Fernandes

Fans' choice: Mario Fernandes

RPL experts chose Roman Eremenko’s stunning long-range strike off the crossbar against CSKA Moscow as their Goal of the Month. Just like for the Player of the Month, however, the votes of Match Premier experts and fans picked a different overall winner: Mario Fernandes.

It wasn’t only the acrobatic instinct and precise top-corner finish that swung the opinion in his favour, but the fact that it arrived dramatically in added time to save his side from a first-ever RPL defeat to FC Ural. Incidentally, CSKA have won in this category for the third time in a row after Nikola Vlasic in November and Ivan Oblyakov in December.