Here’s how representatives of the Russian Premier Liga performed at the 2020 European Championships.

For the 1st time, matches from the European Championships finals were held in Russia. One of the 11 host cities was St. Petersburg, which hosted seven matches: six games of the group stage - including Russia’s games against Belgium and Finland - and the Spain vs Switzerland quarter-final. Zenit’s Gazprom Arena accumulated a total attendance of 132,752 spectators. Previously, the stadium hosted matches at the 2017 Confederations Cup and the 2018 World Cup, and in 2022 the arena will host the Champions League final.

Matvey Safonov played two matches at the Euros, despite never having appeared for Russia’s senior side before the start of the tournament - only named as a substitute in the 1-1 friendly draw against Poland on 1 June. The Krasnodar goalkeeper was on the bench for the 3-0 defeat against Belgium, in the next game with Finland he made his debut from the start and kept a clean sheet in the 1-0 win, but in the last round he conceded four goals in the heavy 4-1 loss to Denmark.

Three goals were scored by RPL players at the Euros, and all in the third round of the group stage. Their scorers were Zenit’s Artem Dzyuba (for Russia against Denmark), CSKA’s Nikola Vlasic (for Croatia against Scotland) and Krasnodar’s Viktor Claesson (for Sweden against Poland). The most productive Euros for the league’s players remains Euro 2008 with seven goals, all scored by Russian players. In terms of number of players who scored, the best tournaments for the RPL were in 2008 and 2016 (four players).

Four coaches worked as part of backroom staff at this Euros. Zenit's physical training coach, Andrea Scanavino, helped the club’s former head coach Roberto Mancini with the Italian national team, which became a two-time European champion. Ivan Jovanovski, who works as a physical training coach at Ural, worked with Northern Macedonia. Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic's assistants were former Lokomotiv captain Vedran Corluka and Ivica Olic, who left his post as head coach of CSKA during the tournament.

Scanavino joined Zenit in 2017 together with Mancini, and after Roberto left for the national team in May 2018, he began to combine work for the club and the national team.

Andrea Scanavino - first row, second from the right

Referee Sergey Karasev received six assignments during the Euros. The 42-year-old official was appointed as the main referee for three matches: Italy 3-0 Switzerland, Germany 2-2 Hungary, and Netherlands 0-2 Czech Republic. At these matches, his assistants were Maksim Gavrilin and Igor Demeshko. Karasev was also appointed as fourth official for Austria 3-1 North Macedonia in the group stage, the Czech Republic 1-2 Denmark quarter-final, and the Italy 1-1 (4-2 pens) Spain semi-final. It was the second Euros in his career: in 2016, in France, he took charge of the Romania vs Switzerland and Iceland vs Hungary group-stage matches, both of which finished as 1-1 draws.

Yury Zhirkov played his ninth match at European Championships. Of Russian players, only Sergey Ignashevich has played more often at the Euros with 10 (four in 2008, and three each in 2012 and 2016). At Euro 2008, Zhirkov played all five matches, in 2012 he played the entire group stage, in 2016 he missed the tournament, and at Euro 2020 he played only one game, against Belgium. Due to an injury, the 37-year-old was replaced before the break of the opening game and then left the national team ahead of schedule. In total, Zhirkov has played 105 matches for the national team in his career - keeping him the fourth most capped player in Russian history.

25 RPL players took part at Euro 2020; nine foreigners, and 16 players for Russia. The club with the most players to appear was Zenit, which were represented by six players. Next was Spartak with five players, then three teams had four players each - Krasnodar, CSKA and Lokomotiv - while Dynamo and Akhmat had one player each. In total, 32 players from eight RPL clubs (10 for foreign national teams and 22 for Russia) were named in squads.

Artem Dzyuba scored his 30th goal for Russia against Denmark. Thanks to this, the forward drew level with the national team’s all-time top goalscorer, Aleksandr Kerzhakov, although the current Zenit captain has played fewer matches for the national team - 55, compared to 91. Kerzhakov became the record holder on 3 September 2014 thanks to a double against Azerbaijan in a 4-0 friendly win to overtake Vladimir Beschastnykh, who scored 26 goals. Kerzhakov’s last goal was scored on 7 June 2015 against Belarus in a 4-2 win for Russia.

Quincy Promes and Viktor Claesson were awarded their 50th caps, and both met the landmark in the round of 16. Promes played 33 minutes against the Czech Republic, while Claesson came off the bench in the first period of extra-time against Ukraine and played 24 minutes. The Spartak winger, who made his debut for the Netherlands in March 2014, was appearing at a European Championships for the first time, as was the Krasnodar forward. However, the Swede - who made his international debut back in January 2012 - had also played for his country at the 2018 World Cup.

Kristoffer Olsson played 339 minutes at the Euros - the most of all RPL players. The Krasnodar midfielder started all four matches for Sweden, but was replaced in three of them, only completing 90 minutes against Poland. The next most minutes played were by Georgy Dzhikia, who played three group-stage matches for Russia (270 minutes), and third was Artem Dzyuba with 265 minutes.

Photo: Mikhail Shapaev / RFU; Swedish Football Union; Italian Football Federation; Konstantin Rybin / RPL