2008 Russian Premier League

The 2008 Russian Premier League was the 17th edition of the Russian Football Championship, and the seventh under the current Russian Premier League name. The season started on Friday, 14 March 2008 with a match between Terek and Krylia Sovetov in Grozny. Krylia Sovetov won 3–0. The first goal of the season was scored by Krylia Sovetov's forward Yevgeny Savin.

Due to Russia's participation in UEFA Euro 2008, the season was interrupted from 16 May until 5 July.

The champions were determined on the 27th matchday, 2 November 2008. Rubin claimed their first championship title in Russian Premier League, defeating Saturn 2–1 away, with Savo Milošević scoring in the 89th minute to claim the title for his club. Rubin became the third (and second consecutive) non-Moscow club to become Russian champions.

The last round of matches was played on 22 November 2008.

Teams
As in the previous season, 16 teams played in the 2008 season. After the 2007 season, Kuban Krasnodar and Rostov were relegated to the 2008 Russian First Division. They were replaced by Shinnik Yaroslavl and Terek Grozny, the winners and runners up of the 2007 Russian First Division.

Awards
On 16 December 2008 Russian Football Union named its list of 33 top players:


 * Goalkeepers
 * 1) 🇷🇺 Igor Akinfeev (CSKA)
 * 2) 🇷🇺 Sergei Ryzhikov (Rubin)
 * 3) 🇷🇺 Vyacheslav Malafeev (Zenit)


 * Right backs
 * 1) 🇷🇺 Aleksandr Anyukov (Zenit)
 * 2) 🇦🇷 Cristian Ansaldi (Rubin)
 * 3) 🇷🇺 Vasili Berezutskiy (CSKA)


 * Right-centre backs
 * 1) 🇷🇺 Denis Kolodin (Dynamo)
 * 2) 🇧🇷 Rodolfo (Lokomotiv)
 * 3) 🇷🇺 Dmitri Belorukov (Amkar)


 * Left-centre backs
 * 1) 🇷🇺 Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA)
 * 2) 🇦🇷 Leandro Fernández (Dynamo)
 * 3) 🇷🇺 Aleksei Popov (Amkar/Rubin)


 * Left backs
 * 1) 🇨🇿 Radek Šírl (Zenit)
 * 2) 🇷🇺 Aleksei Berezutskiy (CSKA)
 * 3) 🇷🇺 Renat Yanbaev (Lokomotiv)


 * Defensive midfielders
 * 1) 🇺🇦 Anatoliy Tymoschuk (Zenit)
 * 2) 🇷🇺 Sergei Semak (Rubin)
 * 3) 🇷🇺 Dmitri Khokhlov (Dynamo)


 * Right wingers
 * 1) 🇷🇸 Miloš Krasić (CSKA)
 * 2) 🇷🇺 Igor Denisov (Zenit)
 * 3) 🇷🇺 Kirill Kombarov (Dynamo)


 * Central midfielders
 * 1) 🇵🇹 Danny (Dynamo/Zenit)
 * 2) 🇷🇺 Igor Semshov (Dynamo)
 * 3) 🇷🇺 Alan Dzagoev (CSKA)


 * Left wingers
 * 1) 🇷🇺 Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA)
 * 2) 🇷🇺 Konstantin Zyryanov (Zenit)
 * 3) 🇷🇺 Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Lokomotiv)


 * Right forwards
 * 1) 🇧🇷 Vágner Love (CSKA)
 * 2) 🇷🇺 Pavel Pogrebnyak (Zenit)
 * 3) 🇷🇺 Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak M.)


 * Left forwards
 * 1) 🇷🇺 Andrei Arshavin (Zenit)
 * 2) 🇧🇦 Marko Topić (Saturn)
 * 3) 🇹🇷 Gökdeniz Karadeniz (Rubin)