# 1996 Russian Top League

In 1996 the Russian Top League was extended to 18 clubs. The following is a summary of 1996 teams and people.

## Overview

| Team | Head coach |
| FC Spartak Moscow | Georgi Yartsev |
| FC Alania Vladikavkaz | Valery Gazzaev |
| FC Rotor Volgograd | Viktor Prokopenko |
| FC Dynamo Moscow | Adamas Golodets |
| PFC CSKA Moscow | Aleksandr Tarkhanov |
| FC Lokomotiv Moscow | Yuri Syomin |
| FC Baltika Kaliningrad | Leonid Tkachenko |
| FC Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod | Valeri Ovchinnikov |
| FC Krylia Sovetov Samara | Aleksandr Averyanov |
| FC Zenit St. Petersburg | Pavel Sadyrin |
| FC Rostselmash Rostov-on-Don | Sergey Andreyev |
| FC Torpedo-Luzhniki Moscow | Valentin Ivanov |
| FC Chernomorets Novorossiysk | Oleg Dolmatov |
| FC KAMAZ-Chally Naberezhnye Chelny | Valeri Chetverik (until August) Ivan Butaliy (caretaker, from August) |
| FC Zhemchuzhina Sochi | Arsen Naydyonov |
| FC Uralmash Yekaterinburg | Valeri Voytenko (until April) Vitaliy Shevchenko (from May) |
| FC Energiya-Tekstilshchik Kamyshin | Sergei Pavlov |
| FC Lada Togliatti | Viktor Tishchenko |

## Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Spartak Moscow (C) | 34 | 21 | 9 | 4 | 70 | 34 | +36 | 72 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Alania Vladikavkaz | 34 | 22 | 6 | 6 | 64 | 35 | +29 | 72 | Qualification to UEFA Cup second qualifying round |
| 3 | Rotor Volgograd | 34 | 21 | 7 | 6 | 58 | 27 | +31 | 70 | Qualification to UEFA Cup second qualifying round |
| 4 | Dynamo Moscow | 34 | 20 | 7 | 7 | 60 | 35 | +25 | 67 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup group stage |
| 5 | CSKA Moscow | 34 | 20 | 6 | 8 | 58 | 35 | +23 | 66 | |
| 6 | Lokomotiv Moscow | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 46 | 31 | +15 | 55 | Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 7 | Baltika Kaliningrad | 34 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 44 | 35 | +9 | 46 | |
| 8 | Lokomotiv N.N. | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 39 | 50 | −11 | 45 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup group stage |
| 9 | Krylia Sovetov Samara | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 31 | 38 | −7 | 45 | |
| 10 | Zenit St. Petersburg | 34 | 13 | 4 | 17 | 32 | 37 | −5 | 43 | |
| 11 | Rostselmash | 34 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 58 | 60 | −2 | 41 | |
| 12 | Torpedo-Luzhniki Moscow | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 42 | 51 | −9 | 41 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup group stage |
| 13 | Chernomorets Novorossiysk | 34 | 11 | 6 | 17 | 38 | 51 | −13 | 39 | |
| 14 | KAMAZ-Chally Naberezhnye Chelny | 34 | 10 | 6 | 18 | 43 | 57 | −14 | 36 | |
| 15 | Zhemchuzhina Sochi | 34 | 10 | 6 | 18 | 38 | 57 | −19 | 36 | |
| 16 | Uralmash Yekaterinburg (R) | 34 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 38 | 57 | −19 | 33 | Relegation to First League |
| 17 | Energiya-Tekstilshchik Kamyshin (R) | 34 | 4 | 12 | 18 | 25 | 48 | −23 | 24 | Relegation to First League |
| 18 | Lada-Togliatti (R) | 34 | 4 | 6 | 24 | 18 | 64 | −46 | 18 | Relegation to First League |
* ↑ The title was decided in a championship playoff as Spartak Moscow and Alania Vladikavkaz finished with equal points.
* ↑ FC Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz renamed to FC Alania
* ↑ FC Torpedo Moscow renamed to FC Torpedo-Luzhniki
* ↑ FC Tekstilshchik Kamyshin renamed to FC Energiya-Tekstilshchik

### Championship play-off
## Results

| Home \ Away | ALA | BAL | CHE | CSK | DYN | ETK | KAM | KRY | LAD | LOK | LNN | ROS | ROT | SPA | TOR | URA | ZEN | ZHE |
| Alania Vladikavkaz | | 4–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 |
| Baltika Kaliningrad | 2–0 | | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Chernomorets Novorossiysk | 1–2 | 1–0 | | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 3–1 |
| CSKA Moscow | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–3 | | 1–1 | 2–2 | 4–2 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Dynamo Moscow | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–3 | | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 4–2 | 4–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Energiya-Tekstilshchik Kamyshin | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 |
| KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny | 0–1 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 1–0 | | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–7 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 |
| Krylia Sovetov Samara | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–3 |
| Lada-Togliatti | 0–3 | 0–5 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–3 |
| Lokomotiv Moscow | 0–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 5–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 |
| Lokomotiv N.N. | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | | 2–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 4–1 |
| Rostselmash | 1–2 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 0–5 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 4–5 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–3 | | 0–2 | 2–4 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Rotor Volgograd | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 4–2 | | 4–3 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 |
| Spartak Moscow | 4–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 |
| Torpedo-Luzhniki Moscow | 2–2 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 2–5 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–4 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| Uralmash Yekaterinburg | 1–3 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–4 | 0–2 | 1–0 | | 1–3 | 2–1 |
| Zenit St. Petersburg | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | | 2–0 |
| Zhemchuzhina Sochi | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 1–0 | |

## Season statistics
### Top goalscorers

    As of matches played on 3 November 1996.
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Aleksandr Maslov | Rostselmash | 23 |
| 2 | Oleg Veretennikov | Rotor | 19 |
| 3 | Dmitri Cheryshev | Dynamo | 17 |
| 4 | Vladimir Niederhaus | Rotor | 16 |
| 4 | Andrey Tikhonov | Spartak Moscow | 16 |
| 6 | Valery Kechinov | Spartak Moscow | 13 |
| 6 | Oleg Teryokhin | Dynamo | 13 |
| 8 | Sergei Bulatov | Baltika | 12 |
| 8 | Andrey Kobelev | Dynamo | 12 |
| 10 | Mirjalol Qosimov | Alania | 11 |
| 10 | Mukhsin Mukhamadiev | Lokomotiv N.N. | 11 |
| 10 | Nazim Suleymanov | Alania | 11 |
| 10 | Bakhva Tedeyev | Alania | 11 |

## Medal squads

* 1. FC Spartak Moscow
* Goalkeepers: Aleksandr Filimonov (26), Ruslan Nigmatullin (10).
* Defenders: Sergei Gorlukovich (31 / 2), Dmitri Ananko (30 / 1), Vadim Evseev (27 / 2), Aleksandr Lipko (24), Vladislav Duyun (18 / 1), Yuriy Nikiforov (14 / 5), Ramiz Mamedov (14), Konstantin Golovskoy (9), Sergei Chudin (6).
* Midfielders: Andrey Tikhonov (34 / 16), Dmitri Alenichev (32 / 7), Yegor Titov (31 / 5), Valery Kechinov (30 / 13), Aleksei Melyoshin (24 / 2), Ilya Tsymbalar (21 / 9), Andrei Piatnitski (13), Andrei Konovalov (11), Artyom Bezrodny (10), Aleksandr Pavlenko (2), Yevgeni Toloknov (1).
* Forwards: Vladimir Dzhubanov (25 / 3), Aleksandr Shirko (22 / 5), Valeri Shmarov (3), Konstantin Kovalenko (2 / 1), Serhiy Nahornyak (2). (league appearances and goals listed in brackets)
* Manager: Georgi Yartsev.
* Transferred out during the season: Yuriy Nikiforov (to Sporting Gijón), Valeri Shmarov (to Chunnam Dragons), Serhiy Nahornyak (to FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk).
* 2. FC Alania Vladikavkaz
* Goalkeepers: Dmitriy Kramarenko (22), Zaur Khapov (16).
* Defenders: Omari Tetradze (31 / 1), Artur Pagayev (30 / 1), Alan Agayev (29 / 3), Inal Dzhioyev (29 / 1), Murtaz Shelia (27 / 5), Oleg Kornienko (22), Aslan Datdeyev (11 / 1).
* Midfielders: Igor Yanovskiy (34 / 5), Bakhva Tedeyev (28 / 11), Sergey Timofeev (25), Zaza Revishvili (19 / 1), Mirjalol Qosimov (17 / 11), Georgi Botsiyev (16), Robert Bitarov (13 / 1), Sergei Derkach (12 / 1), Gocha Jamarauli (9), Vitaliy Skysh (6).
* Forwards: Anatoli Kanishchev (33 / 7), Nazim Suleymanov (25 / 11), Oleg Sergeyev (13 / 2), Tamerlan Sikoyev (8 / 1), Valeri Klimov (6 / 1).
* One own goal scored by Albert Oskolkov (FC Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod).
* Manager: Valery Gazzaev.
* Transferred out during the season: Gocha Jamarauli (to FC Dinamo Tbilisi), Valeri Klimov (to FC Arsenal Tula).
* 3. FC Rotor Volgograd
* Goalkeepers: Andrei Samorukov (34).
* Defenders: Albert Borzenkov (33), Valeri Burlachenko (28 / 1), Aleksandr Shmarko (28 / 1), Volodymyr Gerashchenko (21), Sergei Zhunenko (16), Ihor Zhabchenko (3), Aleksandr Yeshchenko (1), Sergei Khramtsov (1).
* Midfielders: Oleg Veretennikov (33 / 19), Aleksandr Berketov (33 / 5), Valery Yesipov (33 / 1), Ihor Korniyets (33), Maksim Tishchenko (31 / 4), Hennadiy Orbu (20 / 2), Vitaliy Abramov (11 / 1), Aleksandr Tsarenko (7), Andrei Krivov (6 / 1), Ilya Borodin (3 / 1), Emil Tsatskin (3).
* Forwards: Vladimir Niederhaus (31 / 16), Aleksandr Zernov (30 / 3), Sergei Ilyushin (18 / 2), Mikhail Potylchak (3).
* One own goal scored by Sergei Makeyev (FC Krylia Sovetov Samara).
* Manager: Viktor Prokopenko .
* Transferred out during the season: Aleksandr Tsarenko (to FC Tekstilshchik Kamyshin), Emil Tsatskin (to FC Rostselmash Rostov-on-Don), Mikhail Potylchak (to FC Torpedo Volzhsky), Aleksandr Yeshchenko (to FC Zhemchuzhina Sochi).