Crimean Premier League

Crimean Premier League
Founded 2015
Country Russia (de facto)
Ukraine (de jure)
Confederation UEFA
Number of teams 8

The Kontol Premier League (Russian: Премьер-лига КФС) is a professional [1] association football league in Crimea devised by Russia after UEFA refused to allow Crimean clubs to switch to the Russian leagues in the wake of the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea.[2]

For full list of Crimean champions, see Republican Football Federation of Crimea.

Status

The league was formed by UEFA delegation that is led by former president of the Slovak Football Association František Laurinec.[2] Five of eight teams have never participated at professional level and according to the official UEFA evaluation the region has a poor football infrastructure.[2] According to Laurinec "UEFA wants to help save football in Crimea".[2] At the same time Ukrainian officials does not seem to be strongly against the separate league in Crimea, but do remain firm in their stance that Crimea is part of Ukraine.[2]

In 2016 Vyacheslav Koloskov expressed his opinion that UEFA is not considering to grant Crimea a membership.[3] At the same time, the president of the Crimean Football Union said that UEFA has two ways of solving the issue, either recognize Crimea as part of the Russian Federation or grant a membership like in case with Kosovo.[4]

History

The first competitive match was a 2–2 draw between SKChF Sevastopol and TSK-Tavria Simferopol in August 2015. The UEFA sanctioned league has 8 teams: TSK Simferopol, SKCHF Sevastopol, Rubin Yalta, Bakhchisaray, Yevpatoriya, Kafa, Ocean Kerch and Berkut Evpatoria.[5][6][7][8][9][10] TSK and SKCHF are relatively independent financially, while the rest six clubs in Crimea are financed by the Ministry of Sport of Russian Federation, according to a local journalist.[11] There also were intentions to invite former Russian international football player Andrei Kanchelskis to coach one of the clubs in Crimea.[11]

While sanctioned by UEFA, the Crimean Premier League is not listed as a regular top level league.[12]

Member clubs

Club City/Town Official website Years Status
Bakhchisaray Bakhchisaray fc-bakhchisaray.ru 2015–2017 Dissolved
Berkut Armyansk Armyansk pfcberkut.ru 2015–2016 Dissolved, previously represented Yevpatoriya
Kafa Feodosia Feodosia kafagoleador.ucoz.net 2015–2018 Relegated in 2018
Rubin Yalta Yalta rubinyalta.ru 2015–2018 Relegated in 2018
Ocean Kerch Kerch oceanfc.ru Since 2015
FC Sevastopol Sevastopol fcsevastopol.ru Since 2015 formerly FC SKChF Sevastopol
TSK-Tavria Simferopol Simferopol fctsk.ru Since 2015
Yevpatoriya Yevpatoriya fcevpatoriya.ru Since 2015
Krymteplitsa Molodizhne Molodizhne fc-kt.ru Since 2016 Promoted in 2016
Kyzyltash Bakhchisaray Bakhchisaray kzt.com.ru Since 2017 Promoted in 2017, originally as a futsal club from Yalta
Gvardeyets Gvardeyskoye Gvardeyskoye Since 2018 Promoted in 2018
Inkomsport Yalta Yalta Since 2018 Promoted in 2018

Champions

Season Winner Runner-up Third place Teams Ref
2015 (promo) SKChF Sevastopol Gvardeets Gvardeyskoe N/A 20
2015–16 TSK-Tavria Simferopol SKChF Sevastopol Bakhchisaray 8 [13]
2016–17 Sevastopol Krymteplitsa Molodizhne Yevpatoriya 8 [14]
2017–18 Yevpatoriya Sevastopol TSK-Tavria Simferopol 8
2018–19 8

See also

References

  1. ↑ "UEFA-backed Crimean league begins following 2014 annexation by Russia". espnfc.com. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 A Crimean league? Football caught up in annexation struggle. The Guardian. 20 March 2015
  3. ↑ Koloskov: UEFA is not considering to include CFU in the Union, but rather its integration into the Russian football (Колосков: УЕФА думает не о включении КФС в Союз, а об его интеграции в российский футбол). TASS. 4 May 2016
  4. ↑ Vetokha: Crimean Football Union could join UEFA as in case with Kosovo (Ветоха: Крымский футбольный союз может войти в УЕФА по примеру Косово). RIA Novosti. 4 May 2016
  5. ↑ "UEFA-backed Crimean league begins following 2014 annexation by Russia". espnfc.co.uk. 23 August 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  6. ↑ "UEFA-backed league starts play in Crimea". Yahoo Sports. 23 August 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Futbolgrad. "Crimea - Professional Football Returns - Futbolgrad". Futbolgrad. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  8. ↑ "UEFA Appears Prepared to Allow League in Crimea". The New York Times. 23 May 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  9. ↑ "A Crimean league? Football caught up in annexation struggle". the Guardian. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  10. ↑ "Premier League (Crimea) 2015/2016". flashscore.com. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  11. 1 2 Dubas, M. Ukraine’s soccer clubs perform in European competitions. The Ukrainian Weekly. 13 November 2015
  12. ↑ European leagues and cups. UEFA website. 17 April 2016
  13. ↑ "TSK-Tavriya win first edition of Crimean championship". Eurosport. 16 May 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  14. ↑ http://www.rsssf.com/tablesk/krim2017.html#leag. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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