Twenty teams will participate in the 2020/21 season, and they will be divided into two groups.

Starting from the 2020/21 season, the Youth Championship will be held in a new format. In addition to the 16 youth teams of RPL clubs, four teams that played in last season’s Youth Football League will take part.

Group A: Arsenal Tula, Akhmat Grozny, Dynamo Moscow, FC Krasnodar, FC Rostov, Rotor Volgograd, FC Sochi, Spartak Moscow, FC Tambov, Chertanovo

Group B: Konoplev Academy, Zenit St. Petersburg, Lokomotiv Moscow, Rubin Kazan, Strogino Moscow, Olympic Reserve School No. 5, Ural Ekaterinburg, FC Ufa, FC Khimki, CSKA Moscow

Sergey Pryadkin, RPL President:
"I am very happy that the Youth Championship is starting. Together with the RFU, we have done a lot of work to get permission to start under restrictions due to the coronavirus. I would also like to thank Rospotrebnadzor, which agreed to hold the tournament.

“The new format of the Youth Championship should increase interest in the tournament and create better conditions for reserve training. This is a long-term project, so we will work on the commercial, marketing and communication programs of the championship to make it interesting for both fans and sponsors."

The championship will be held in two stages. In the first stage, the teams will be divided into two groups and play each other home and away. In the second stage, teams that finish in the top five in their groups will form Group I to determine the top 10 places in the final standings.

Teams ranked 6th to 10th in their groups will advance to the second stage of the championship into Group II to determine 11th to 20th in the final standings. However, the teams that advance to the second stage from Group A will only play the teams that advance to the second stage from Group B. All points scored in the first stage will be saved and will be taken into account when allocating places in the second stage.