The 2025–26 Russian Second League Division A is the 34th season of Russia's third-tier football league since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The season began on 19 July 2025 and will end in June 2026.
Overview Before the 2023–24 season, the Russian Second League was reorganized and split into two tiers - third-tier Russian Second League Division A and fourth-tier Russian Second League Division B.
Division A consists of two groups.
The Gold Group initially included 10 teams:
2 teams relegated from the 2024–25 Russian First League (FC Alania Vladikavkaz and FC Tyumen). FC Sokol Saratov, which finished the First League season in the relegation spot, remained in the First League to replace FC Khimki, which was administratively relegated from the Premier League and then dissolved instead of entering the First League. 3 teams from the Top 6 of the 2024–25 Second stage Gold Group that were not promoted to the Russian First League. FC Veles Moscow, which finished 7th in the 2024–25 Second stage Gold Group and would have been moved to the Silver Group, but was kept in the Gold Group to replace Sokol. Top 4 teams from the 2024–25 Second stage Silver Group.
The Silver Group initially included 8 teams (instead of usual 10):
Bottom 3 teams from the 2024–25 Second stage Gold Group. Teams placed 5th to 9th from the 2024–25 Second stage Silver Group.
FC Forte Taganrog, which finished last in the 2024–25 Second stage Silver Group, was dissolved after the season and could not be replaced by a Division B team, as Division B is contested on a March-to-November cycle.
In the first part of the season (summer/autumn 2025), each team in the Gold and Silver groups played each other team in the same group twice, home-and-away, for 18 games (in the Gold Group) and 14 games (in the Silver Group) in total for each team.
For the second part of the season (spring/summer 2026), 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.
The 8th-placed team of the First stage Silver Group was automatically relegated to the 2026 Division B. Four winners of the 2025 Division B groups (Dynamo Stavropol, Zenit-2 St. Petersburg, Dynamo Bryansk and Amkar Perm) will be promoted to the Second stage Silver Group.
Team that finished 7th in the First stage Silver Group would qualify for the relegation play-offs (two games, home-and-away) against the team that finished 9th in the Second stage Silver Group of the 2024–25 Russian Second League Division A, FC Murom. The play-offs would only be held if Murom finished 5th or 6th in the First stage Silver Group. If Murom finished in any other place, the play-offs would not be held, and the 7th-placed team would be relegated automatically. As Murom finished 8th, 7th-placed Avangard was relegated directly.
The teams in re-constituted groups (with Silver Group now containing 10 teams) will play each other twice more for 18 more games. Top 2 Gold Group teams at the end of the season will be promoted to the Russian First League for the 2026–27 season.
The 3rd-placed Second stage Gold Group team will play in promotion play-offs (two games, home-and-away), if they successfully apply for the 2026-27 Russian First League license. Their opponent will be: The 1st-placed First stage Gold Group team, unless that team finishes in the top 2 or in the bottom 4 in the second stage; if 3rd-placed Second stage team was 1st in the First stage, it would get promoted automatically; otherwise The 2nd-placed First stage Gold Group team, unless that team finishes in the top 2 or in the bottom 4 in the second stage; if 3rd-placed Second stage team was 2nd in the First stage, it would get promoted automatically; otherwise The 3rd-placed First stage Gold Group team, unless that team finishes in the top 2 or in the bottom 4 in the second stage; if 3rd-placed Second stage team was 3rd in the First stage, it would get promoted automatically.
If none of the top-3 First stage Gold Group teams qualify for the promotion play-offs under the conditions described above, the play-offs would not be held and the 3rd-place Second stage Gold Group team would be promoted to the Russian First League automatically.
If the 3rd-placed Second stage Gold Group team does not receive the 2026–27 Russian First League license prior to the play-offs, the play-offs will be contended by: The 1st-placed First stage Gold Group team and 2nd-placed First stage Gold Group team, unless either of those teams finish in the top 3 or the bottom 4 in the second stage; otherwise The 1st-placed First stage Gold Group team and 3rd-placed First stage Gold Group team, unless either of those teams finish in the top 3 or the bottom 4 in the second stage; otherwise The 2nd-placed First stage Gold Group team and 3rd-placed First stage Gold Group team, unless either of those teams finish in the top 3 or the bottom 4 in the second stage; otherwise If only one of the top 3 First stage teams finish outside of top 3 and outside of bottom 4 in the second stage, that team will be promoted directly; otherwise If none of the top 3 First stage teams finish outside of top 3 and outside of bottom 4 in the second stage, the highest-placed First League team that would be relegated will remain in the First League
If one or both of the Top 2 Second stage Gold Group teams do not receive the 2026–27 Russian First League license, the play-offs would not be held, and both teams that would otherwise qualify for the play-offs would be promoted automatically.
The bottom four teams in the Gold Group at the end of the season would be moved to Silver Group for the 2026–27 season, and the top four teams in the Silver Group would be moved to Gold Group. The bottom two teams in the Second stage Silver Group would qualify for the 2026 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 2025–26 season.
First stage Gold Group
Top goalscorers RankPlayerClubGoals 1Timur MelekestsevTekstilshchik Ivanovo 7 2Aleksandr ShubinVeles Moscow 6 3Maksim BachinskyLeningradets Leningrad Oblast 5Aleksandr BemTyumenGleb MiroshnichenkoDynamo-2 MoscowBilal BilalovSibir NovosibirskArtemi UkomskyDynamo Kirov
Silver Group
Top goalscorers RankPlayerClubGoals 1Daniil AgureyevDynamo Vladivostok 6Roman YanushkovskyIrtysh Omsk 3Dmitri YugaldinKaluga 5Nikita DorofeyevIrtysh OmskIvan MatyushenkoKaluga
Second stage Gold Group
Top goalscorers RankPlayerClubGoals 1Timur MelekestsevTekstilshchik Ivanovo 18 2Maksim BachinskyLeningradets Leningrad Oblast 11Ivan MatyushenkoKaluga 4Denis PokotyloSibir Novosibirsk 10Artemi UkomskyLeningradets Leningrad Oblast
Silver Group
Top goalscorers RankPlayerClubGoals 1Makhach AbdulkhamidovAlania Vladikavkaz 11 2Kirill KosarevZenit-2 St. Petersburg 10 3Vladlen BabayevTyumen 9 4Ruslan BolovTyumen 8 5Artyom ZakirovAlania Vladikavkaz 7Andrey KasadzhikovZenit-2 St. PetersburgGleb MiroshnichenkoDynamo-2 MoscowMaksim NikiforovDynamo-2 MoscowMatvey MartinkevichDynamo Kirov
Promotion play-offs First leg
Second leg
5–3 on aggregate, Veles Moscow was promoted to the First League.
References