| Season | 2024–25 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 21 July 2024 – 28 June 2025 |
| Promoted | Spartak Kostroma Volga Ulyanovsk Chelyabinsk |
| Relegated | Dynamo Bryansk Khimik Dzerzhinsk Metallurg Lipetsk Krasnodar-2 |
2025–26 → | |
The2024–25 Russian Second League Division A was the 33rd season ofRussia'sthird-tier football league since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The season began on 21 July 2024 and ended on 28 June 2025.
Before the 2023–24 season, theRussian Second League was reorganized and split into two tiers - third-tier Russian Second League Division A and fourth-tier Russian Second League Division B.[1]
Division A consists of two groups of 10 teams each.
The Gold Group initially included:
The Silver Group included:
In the first part of the season (summer/autumn 2024), each team in the Gold and Silver groups played each other team in the same group twice, home-and-away, for 18 games in total for each team.
For the second part of the season (spring/summer 2025), groups were re-constituted.
Top 6 teams of the First stage Gold Group and top 4 teams of the First stage Silver Group qualified for the Second stage Gold Group. Bottom 4 teams of the First stage Gold Group were moved to the Second stage Silver Group.
Bottom 2 teams of the First stage Silver Group were automatically relegated to the2025 Division B. Four winners of the2024 Division B zones (FC Forte Taganrog,FC Dynamo-2 Moscow,FC Dynamo Vladivostok andFC Dynamo Kirov) were promoted to the Second stage Silver Group.
Teams that finish 7th and 8th in the First stage Silver Group would qualify for the relegation play-offs (two games, home-and-away) against the teams that finished 9th and 10th in the Second stage Silver Group of the2023–24 Russian Second League Division A (FC Torpedo Miass andFC Dynamo Bryansk). If Torpedo Miass and Dynamo Bryansk finished in 5th and 6th place in the First stage Silver Group, the 5th-placed team would play the 8th-placed team and the 6th-placed team would play the 7th-placed team in the relegation play-offs. If only one team out of Torpedo/Dynamo finished in 5th or 6th place, that team would play in relegation play-offs against the 7th-placed team, and the 8th-placed team would be relegated automatically. If neither Torpedo Miass nor Dynamo Bryansk finished in 5th or 6th place, the relegation play-offs would not be held, and the 7th and 8th-placed teams would be relegated automatically. The losers of the relegation play-offs would be relegated to the2025 Division B, the winners would be included in the Second stage Silver Group. Torpedo Miass secured a top-4 finish and a direct relegation for the 8th-placed team with 3 games left to play. Dynamo Bryansk finished 5th and faced 7th-placedFC Irtysh Omsk in the relegation play-offs.
The teams in re-constituted groups played each other twice more for 18 more games. Top 2 Gold Group teams at the end of the season will be promoted to theRussian First League for the 2025–26 season.
The 3rd-placed Second stage Gold Group team qualifies to play in promotion play-offs (two games, home-and-away) against one of top-3 First stage Gold Group teams, conditional on the performance of those top-3 teams in the second stage.
The 2nd-placed First stage Gold Group team,FC Spartak Kostroma, secured a top 2 finish in the second stage on 28 May 2025 and was not a potential play-off candidate anymore.
The 1st-placed First stage Gold Group team,FC Chelyabinsk, secured a position from 3rd to 6th place on 8 June 2025. If they finished in 3rd place, they would be promoted automatically. If they finished below the 3rd place, they would be the second participant of the promotion play-offs. The winner of those play-offs would also be promoted to theRussian First League.[2]
On the last match day on 14 June 2025, Chelyabinsk was playingFC Mashuk-KMV Pyatigorsk, which never applied for the 2025–26 Russian First League license. In case of Chelyabinsk victory, they would have secured 3rd place and an automatic promotion. In case of a draw, the 3rd place would be taken byFC Volgar Astrakhan orFC Leningradets Leningrad Oblast, both of which did apply for the license and would play Chelyabinsk in the play-offs in this scenario. In case of Mashuk-KMV victory, Mashuk-KMV would have secured the 3rd place, but Chelyabinsk could hypothetically receive an automatic promotion in this case, as Mashuk-KMV would not be eligible for the play-offs due to the lack of license. After Mashuk-KMV scored a go-ahead goal to make the score 2–1 in their favour in the 79th minute, Chelyabinsk startedtime wasting despite being behind, as the loss was preferable to a draw to them. The game ended with Mashuk-KMV's 2–1 victory.[3] The promotion decision had to be made by theRussian Football Union.[4] On 18 June 2025, RFU decided that Volgar would play Chelyabinsk in the play-offs.[5]
The bottom four teams in the Gold Group at the end of the season will be moved to Silver Group for the 2025–26 season, and the top four teams in the Silver Group will be moved to Gold Group. The bottom two teams in the Silver Group qualified for the 2025–26 relegation play-offs.
The rotation between Division A and Division B will be happening in the winter going forward, as Division B switched to spring-to-autumn, March-to-November cycle for their seasons. There will no relegation from Division A or promotion to it immediately at the end of the 2024–25 season.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelyabinsk | 18 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 27 | 18 | +9 | 35 | Qualification for the Second Stage Gold Group |
| 2 | Spartak Kostroma | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 22 | 16 | +6 | 32 | |
| 3 | Leningradets | 18 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 26 | 18 | +8 | 28 | |
| 4 | Kuban Krasnodar | 18 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 21 | 24 | −3 | 26 | |
| 5 | Volgar Astrakhan | 18 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 21 | 15 | +6 | 25 | |
| 6 | Veles Moscow | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 24 | 22 | +2 | 24 | |
| 7 | Avangard Kursk | 18 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 24 | 22 | +2 | 22 | Qualification for the Second Stage Silver Group |
| 8 | Sibir Novosibirsk | 18 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 18 | 21 | −3 | 21 | |
| 9 | Tekstilshchik Ivanovo | 18 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 19 | 27 | −8 | 16 | |
| 10 | Kaluga | 18 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 36 | −19 | 9 |
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals[6] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vladimir Azarov | Tekstilshchik | 6 |
| Ivan Matyushenko | Avangard | ||
| 3 | Yevgeny Mukhin | Avangard | 5 |
| Bogdan Reykhmen | Kuban | ||
| Artyom Pogosov | Volgar | ||
| Ilya Rubtsov | Spartak | ||
| Maksim Chikanchi | Spartak |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rodina-2 Moscow | 18 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 39 | 22 | +17 | 35 | Qualification for the Second Stage Gold Group |
| 2 | Volga Ulyanovsk | 18 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 32 | 18 | +14 | 35 | |
| 3 | Torpedo Miass | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 19 | 16 | +3 | 32 | |
| 4 | Mashuk-KMV Pyatigorsk | 18 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 23 | 22 | +1 | 25 | |
| 5 | Dynamo Bryansk[a] | 18 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 22 | 21 | +1 | 22 | Qualification for the 2024 relegation play-offs |
| 6 | Murom | 18 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 24 | −6 | 22 | Qualification for the Second Stage Silver Group |
| 7 | Irtysh Omsk | 18 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 19 | 28 | −9 | 21 | Qualification for the 2024 relegation play-offs |
| 8 | Khimik Dzerzhinsk | 18 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 22 | 30 | −8 | 19 | Relegation to the 2025 Division B[b] |
| 9 | Metallurg Lipetsk | 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 22 | 26 | −4 | 17 | |
| 10 | Krasnodar-2[c] | 18 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 24 | 33 | −9 | 16 | Dissolved after the season |
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals[8] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magomedkhabib Abdusalamov | Rodina-2 | 8 |
| Dmitri Kamenshchikov | Volga | ||
| 3 | Danila Shilov | Rodina-2 | 7 |
| Anzor Khutov | Mashuk-KMV | ||
| 5 | Artyom Kotik | Murom | 6 |
| 6 | Denis Mikhaylov | Murom | 5 |
| Anton Roshchin | Metallurg | ||
| Matvey Burlakov | Rodina-2 | ||
| Aznaur Geryugov | Irtysh |
The draw for the host team for the first leg was held on 14 November 2024.[9]
| Dynamo Bryansk | 0–0 | Irtysh Omsk |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Irtysh Omsk | 2–0 | Dynamo Bryansk |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Irtysh Omsk won 2–0 on aggregate and remained in Division A Silver Group, Dynamo Bryansk was relegated to Second League Division B.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spartak Kostroma(P) | 18 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 30 | 15 | +15 | 36 | Promotion to the Russian First League |
| 2 | Volga Ulyanovsk(P) | 18 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 32 | 15 | +17 | 34 | |
| 3 | Mashuk-KMV Pyatigorsk[a] | 18 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 21 | 13 | +8 | 27 | |
| 4 | Volgar Astrakhan[a] | 18 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 27 | Qualification for the promotion play-offs |
| 5 | Leningradets | 18 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 27 | |
| 6 | Chelyabinsk[a](O, P) | 18 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 18 | 22 | −4 | 26 | Qualification for the promotion play-offs |
| 7 | Veles Moscow[b] | 18 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 22 | 21 | +1 | 24 | |
| 8 | Kuban Krasnodar | 18 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 14 | 28 | −14 | 17 | Qualification for the 2025–26 First Stage Silver Group |
| 9 | Rodina-2 Moscow | 18 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 13 | 22 | −9 | 16 | |
| 10 | Torpedo Miass | 18 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 22 | −14 | 12 |
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals[11] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dmitri Kamenshchikov | Volga | 8 |
| 2 | Ilya Rubtsov | Spartak | 7 |
| 3 | Aleksandr Saplinov | Spartak | 6 |
| 4 | Denis Mironov | Volgar | 5 |
| Anzor Khutov | Mashuk-KMV |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tekstilshchik Ivanovo | 18 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 31 | 14 | +17 | 38 | Qualification for the 2025–26 First Stage Gold Group |
| 2 | Sibir Novosibirsk | 18 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 36 | 16 | +20 | 35 | |
| 3 | Dynamo Kirov | 18 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 23 | 17 | +6 | 31 | |
| 4 | Dynamo-2 Moscow | 18 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 23 | 24 | −1 | 26 | |
| 5 | Kaluga | 18 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 21 | 17 | +4 | 26 | |
| 6 | Dynamo Vladivostok | 18 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 18 | 17 | +1 | 23 | |
| 7 | Avangard Kursk | 18 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 15 | 24 | −9 | 20 | |
| 8 | Irtysh Omsk | 18 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 20 | −7 | 20 | |
| 9 | Murom | 18 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 16 | 30 | −14 | 16 | Qualification for the 2025 relegation play-offs |
| 10 | Forte Taganrog[a] | 18 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 16 | 33 | −17 | 14 | Dissolved after the season |
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals[13] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniil Agureyev | Kaluga | 8 |
| 2 | Vladimir Azarov | Tekstilshchik | 5 |
| Gleb Bakharev | Sibir | ||
| Karim Girayev | Murom | ||
| Beka Dzhanelidze | Dynamo Vladivostok | ||
| Artur Maksimchuk | Kaluga | ||
| Timur Melekestsev | Forte | ||
| Aleksei Skvortsov | Tekstilshchik | ||
| Yevgeni Tatarinov | Sibir | ||
| Dmitry Usov | Dynamo Kirov | ||
| Aleksandr Khubulov | Dynamo-2 |
1–1 on aggregate, Chelyabinsk won 4–2 in the penalty shoot-out and was promoted to the First League.
