National team moment: how RPL clubs are preparing for the season

This week, most of the Russian Premier League clubs have started pre-season training camps. The teams are preparing for the new championship, which starts in the second half of July. Some of them are starting a new stage under the guidance of new mentors. In particular, Dynamo Moscow is already welcoming Sandro Schwartz, who has returned to the club.

New and old faces

This offseason, only two RPL clubs have changed their head coaches.

Tolyatti Akron dismissed Zaur Tedeev back in May, immediately after a crushing defeat by Samara Krylia Sovetov (0:4) in the 30th round of the championship. The specialist worked at the club for two and a half years and led it to the main achievements in history — reaching the RPL in 2024 and retaining his place in the elite a year later.

This time, the team avoided direct relegation, but found itself in the zone of transitional matches. Following the results of the play-offs, Akron, already under the leadership of Tedeev's assistant Murat Iskakov, retained its registration in the Premier League, beating the Volgograd Rotor." (2:0, 0:1).

Serbian Srdjan Blagojevich became the new head coach of the club. On June 19, his players will come out of vacation and undergo a medical examination, and the next day they will begin training camp in Moscow.

Dynamo Moscow, which is once again headed by Sandro Schwartz, will start work at the end of the week. The German specialist returned to the club three years after leaving Russia. In his first period of work, he led the blue and white team to the bronze medals of the national championship and the final of the Cup of Russia - results that Dynamo had rarely achieved in recent decades.

On June 17, Schwartz flew to Moscow. At Vnukovo airport, he was greeted by fans, as well as the club's management, headed by CEO Pavel Pivovarov.

At the end of next week, Dynamo will play its first test match against Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. In the first half of July, the blue and white team will have several more friendly meetings, including with CSKA and Brazilian Botafogo in the framework of the Fraternal Cup, a traditional pre-season tournament for Dynamo and the army.

"It will be interesting to see if Schwartz can make a second appearance in the team," Sergei Silkin, former Dynamo head coach, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — After all, the line-up has changed in four years. Yes, there are still some leaders, like Konstantin Tyukavin, who, under Sandro, established himself at the core of the club. But a lot has changed since then. In addition, Schwartz himself did not work out in the best way during this time at Hertha, having flown out of the Bundesliga with her in the USA. At the same time, he coached Dynamo quite productively last time, so it's very difficult to predict how it will turn out now.

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Preparing for the season

Akhmat Grozny was the first to start preparing for the season. Stanislav Cherchesov's team started training in Novogorsk near Moscow last week.

Kaliningrad Baltika, which became one of the main sensations of last season, is also actively preparing for the new championship. At the same time, the club is strengthening its squad — defender Maxim Shnaptsev, one of the leaders of Pari Nizhny Novgorod, who was relegated to the First League, recently joined it.

The players of Lokomotiv and Krylia Sovetov have already passed a medical examination in Moscow, after which they began training camps. At the end of next week, the railwaymen will play their first test match against the newcomer of the Moscow Rodina RPL.

Rubin continues to prepare for the season in Kazan. Dynamo Makhachkala will start working at the end of the week.

Krylia Sovetov has been training in Samara since June 17. At the end of May, the club confirmed Sergey Bulatov as head coach, who had been working with the "acting" prefix since the end of March and managed to keep the team in the Premier League.

"We are starting preparations for the season with optimism and expect to conduct training camps as efficiently as possible," Krylia Sovetov defender Ivan Lepsky told Izvestia. — The previous championship was difficult for us, where we fought for survival almost the whole season, but we managed to have a great ending, stay in the RPL without transitional matches and go on vacation in a good mood. Now the main thing is to keep all this and transfer it to the new championship.

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RPL Leaders

The reigning Russian champion Zenit St. Petersburg will start training on June 20. The team will play several friendly matches in the first half of July. In particular, on July 12, the team will face Red Star Belgrade at home.

Later than the rest, CSKA and the Russian Cup winner Spartak will start preparing. Krasnodar, the vice-champion of the country, will also start training camps next week.

The new Russian season will open on July 18 with a match for the Russian Super Cup between Zenit and Spartak. The meeting will be held in Nizhny Novgorod. A week later, the next Russian Premier League championship starts.