Russian football

[TO DEVILS]

I think its time teams are fined and fined very heavily for this crap.

[kennethlindheim]

LOL

[Mighty T.A.L.]

Well deserved I guess...

[TO DEVILS]

CSKA Moscow clinch Russian title with crushing win

MOSCOW, Nov 18 (Reuters) - CSKA Moscow crushed Luch-Energiya Vladivostok 4-0 on Saturday to clinch their second consecutive Russian league title.


Daniel Carvalho opened the scoring in the 15th minute and fellow Brazil international Vagner Love added a hat-trick to lead CSKA to an easy victory despite travelling more than 6,000 km and seven time zones to the eastern port city of Vladivostok.


The win gave the army side an unassailable three-point lead over city rivals Spartak with just one round of matches remaining. Even if Spartak were to win their last game, CSKA would still be champions thanks to a larger number of victories.

Spartak captain Yegor Titov and fellow Russian international Roman Pavlyuchenko each scored twice to power Spartak to a thrilling 4-3 win at Rostov to secure the runners-up spot.

Spartak remained five points clear of third-placed Lokomotiv Moscow, who beat Amkar Perm 3-1 to stay a point ahead of Zenit St Petersburg, 2-1 winners over bottom club Shinnik Yaroslavl.

Zenit must beat mid-table Tom Tomsk and hope that Lokomotiv slip up against Rostov in the season's finale to finish third. If Lokomotiv end third, it would mean the same finishing order as last year.

CSKA and Spartak will represent Russia in next year's Champions League competition while Lokomotiv and Zenit will play in the UEFA Cup.

At the other end of the table, Shinnik and Torpedo Moscow, who lost 2-1 to city rivals Dynamo on Saturday, are relegated and will be replaced by FK Khimki and Kuban Krasnodar.

Dynamo, one of the oldest and most popular Russian clubs who have fallen on hard times in recent years, just escaped the drop as they finished third from bottom.

They remain the only Russian side never to be relegated.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...392546&cc=5901

[TO DEVILS]

CSKA win overshadowed by match-fixing allegations


MOSCOW, Nov 19 (Reuters) - CSKA Moscow's second consecutive Russian title, secured on Saturday with a match to spare, was a hollow victory for many fans after a season overshadowed by widespread allegations of match-fixing.


The army side crushed Luch-Energiya Vladivostok 4-0 to clinch the title. With a round of matches still to play, second-placed city rivals Spartak Moscow could draw level on points but CSKA would still win the championship because they have had more victories.


Talk of corruption and match-rigging has been rife for years in Russia but it escalated this season.

Many Russian bookmakers refused to take bets on certain matches, saying their outcome was pre-determined, while CSKA's main rivals, Spartak Moscow and Zenit St Petersburg, accused the army side of benefiting from favourable refereeing decisions.

Match-fixing allegations reached new heights near the end of the season following CSKA's controversial 1-0 win over Zenit on Nov. 5, which virtually sealed first place for the Moscow club.

The Russian FA later acknowledged that the referee had made crucial errors in disallowing two Zenit goals while wrongly awarding CSKA a penalty which they scored.

The match was also marred by a number of altercations, notably a scuffle between CSKA's Brazilian striker Vagner Love and Zenit's Dutch midfielder Fernando Ricksen.

After initially suspending Love for punching Ricksen, the league's disciplinary committee reversed its decision and allowed the Brazilian to go unpunished. Love then scored a hat-trick against Vladivostok to clinch first place for CSKA.

The controversy has attracted huge media coverage around the country and led to several politicians writing an open letter to Russia's Prosecutor General, calling for an investigation.

One St Petersburg politician even suggested relegating CSKA if they were found guilty, following the example of Italian champions Juventus who were demoted to Serie B after a match-fixing scandal.

CSKA have denied any wrongdoing.

Observers have pointed to a conflict of interest in CSKA president Yevgeny Giner also running the premier league.

Match-rigging allegations have coincided with an increase in violence and racism in the domestic game.

This month, Saturn's Ghanaian striker Baffour Gyan accused Spartak captain Yegor Titov, one of Russia's most popular and influential players, of inciting racist abuse from the crowd. Titov denies the charge.

A week earlier, Spartak fans, considered the most violent in the country, displayed a banner showing a swastika during a league match at Shinnik Yaroslavl.

Also this month, a coach of a third-division club received a life ban from the game for his role in hiring a gang of thugs to attack three of his players following allegations of bribe-taking.

The team captain suffered the most serious injuries in the attack, spending several weeks in hospital with a broken nose, concussion and a bullet wound in an arm.

While off-the-pitch incidents have been on the rise, playing standards have diminished, most evident from Russian clubs' poor showing in European competition.

Spartak remain rooted to the bottom of their Champions League group, having gone a record 21 matches without a win in Europe's premier club competition.

Lokomotiv, another big Moscow side, were knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the first round, suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Belgian part-timers Zulte Waregem.

Even CSKA have been inconsistent throughout the season. Despite leading their Champions League group, Valery Gazzayev's team have struggled against most of their European rivals and were fortunate to snatch a 0-0 draw at Arsenal this month.

The London club wasted a sackful of clear-cut chances at the Emirates Stadium to allow the Russians to escape with a point, prompting Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to underline a huge gulf in class between the two sides.

'We dominated this Moscow team by miles,' Wenger said afterwards. 'There was a division's difference between us.'

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...392760&cc=5901

[TO DEVILS]

CSKA president admits paying incentives to clubs

MOSCOW, Nov 20 (Reuters) - CSKA Moscow president Yevgeny Giner has admitted regularly paying incentives to other clubs so that they would play harder against his team's main rivals.


'I don't see anything bad in it,' Giner was quoted as saying by the Sport-Express newspaper.


'Many people say that such thing is incorrect. I don't think so. More than that, I could openly say how much would pay and also tell tax authorities where I get the money from.'

Although is not officially outlawed, the practice of paying out bonuses to other clubs has been deemed unethical and against the rules of fair play by both the world governing body FIFA and the ruling European organisation UEFA.

CSKA clinched their second consecutive league title over the weekend but their victory overshadowed by widespread allegations of match-fixing in Russian soccer this season.

The army club have been accused by their chief rivals of benefiting from favourable refereeing decisions and a conflict, having Giner also being the premier league's boss.

CSKA have denied any wrongdoing.

Giner said: 'Someone might think that if CSKA paid money to a club, then next time that club would throw a game playing against us. But I don't see anything wrong with that (giving bonuses to other clubs).'

CSKA host Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The Russians top Group G on eight points, a point ahead of both Arsenal and Porto.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...393118&cc=5901

[Oliver_Kahn]

Harder against other teams ?

Yeah right....

[JD]

most corrupt country in the world
but this pratice is acceptable and commonplace in spain as well

[TO DEVILS]

Originally Posted by JD

most corrupt country in the world
but this pratice is acceptable and commonplace in spain as well

I am sure it happens in Portugal....it would explain some performances and results that's for sure.

[Oliver_Kahn]

I doubt thta.
The clubs don't have enough cash to pay their players!

[TO DEVILS]

Originally Posted by Oliver_Kahn

I doubt thta.
The clubs don't have enough cash to pay their players!

I am not refering to Amadora paying Naval.....but Porto paying Pacos to beat Benfica sounds very possible!

[Frank Cunha]

Russia - Russian Cup
16:39 February 26

FT FC Moscow 3 - 0 Amkar Perm

FT Krylya Sovietov S. 2 - 0 CSKA Moscow

81' Sibir Novosibirsk 1 - 3 Spartak Moscow

[Scarlet Ibis]

Zenit was #1 for two weeks but is now tied for 2nd. And Russia lost a member ofit's U-21 team. Lenar Gulmullin died after an auto accident. R.I.P.

[Lazarus]

russian transfer news:

spartak moscow have confirmed the signing of welliton from brazilian outfit goais fc for a reported fee of 6 million euros rising to 8 million euros depending on the clubs performance in the champions league, the player has signed a 5-year deal...a quality signing by spartak in an area they have been lacking...he is only 20 but one of the beat am/st in brazil....

cska moscow have signed dawid janczyk for a fee of 4.2 million euros for polish club legia warsaw...the polish u-20 shone the u-20 world cup and atletico madrid were also after him but he opted to sign for cska in a 5-year deal...cska continues with its transfer philosophy of signing quality youngsters cheaply and building them up into quality players...

lokomotiv moscow have confirmed the signing of peter odemwinghe from lille for $14 million with the player signing a 4-year deal...the player was also talking with spartak but signed for rivals at lokomotiv instead....he has russian nationality and will return to the city where he grew up after having begun his career at cska moscow's youth academy....

[Lazarus]

fc moskva have signed maxi moralez from racing club in argentina for a fee of 5 million euros. the player has signed a 5-year deal with the muscovite club....source - uefa.com

a good coup by moscow...the player was arguably argentinas best player at the u-20 world cup and moskva have moved quick to snap him up with a number of other clubs interested...this may be a signal of intent by the moskva administration that they want to build a strong squad to challenge in the rpl...this can only be good for the rpl as another quality youngster arrives...