American football in Russia operates at two competitive levels: the Super League and the Minor League. The Super League follows NCAA rules, while the Minor League utilizes a 9 vs. 9 format, catering to smaller cities with fewer resources.
The Divisions are set for the 2025 season of American Football in Russia!
Unlike the NFL, the divisions for American Football in Russia change every year for a variety of reasons. Although divisional rivalries are part of what make the sport a great game to watch, when there are no salary caps or a college draft to keep things fair, then being stuck in a “tough division” could easily be a franchise killer. The league wants to expand, not contract, thus the divisions fluctuate every year, but geography does play a factor, keeping teams geographically close in the same division is preferred.
American Football in Russia is played at two levels: The Super League which uses essentially NCAA rules and the Minor League which uses a 9 vs. 9 format to give smaller cities a chance to play as it requires far less manpower.
Both the Super and Minor Leagues play throughout the warm weather months just like the CFL does in Canada. Games start around May and last until the Russia Bowl in August or September. There is a competing CAFL league that utilizes many of the same players and teams but in a much more condensed format that interestingly uses a clock similar to the one used for soccer. This might sound strange, but it actually works very well and gives the games a quicker flow.
In terms of the divisions, for the first time we are seeing a team from Belarus, the Litwins playing in Russia. This is a good sign as Belarus has four worthy teams that could really expand the Super League in the future. The Ministry of Extreme Circumstances (the firemen, ambulances, etc.) have their own minor league team in St. Petersburg. For the first time Spartak has organized a farm team for the minor league while the famous Moscow Spartans-2 are absent this year with only the Super League club in action.
If you’d like to coach or play in the league just let us know!
If you are interested you can follow the league(s) on VK: https://vk.com/eeslpro?from=search
The graphic for the divisions was compiled and translated from “Another Football” which has dedicated journalistic coverage of American Football in Russia and the former USSR: https://vk.com/anotherfootballl?from=search
Written by Tim Kirby
