MOSCOW, May 20. Spartak CEO Evgeny Melezhikov said that the Moscow football club opposes the expansion of the Russian Premier League (RPL) and proposes to change the format of the tournament. Earlier, the executive committee of the Russian Football Union (RFU) did not support the proposal of the RPL clubs to increase the number of teams in the tournament from 16 to 18. According to the current RPL regulations, teams leave placed 15th and 16th, they are replaced by the top two teams in the Football National League (FNL). The clubs that will take 13th and 14th places play play-offs for the right to remain in the RPL with rivals who finished the FNL championship in fourth and third positions. «By the end of the season, they again started talking about expanding the league. We consider it necessary to clarify our position. Spartak's opinion remains unchanged — we are categorically against this economically unjustified step. I understand that economic issues may only concern our club, but everyone will still have to deal with the consequences of this destructive decision, «the press service of the club quoted Melezhikov as saying. The functionary noted that Hypercube had previously failed a study on reforms in Russian football. Among other things, it offered options for changing the format of the national championship from the 2022/23 season.
