2024–25 Russian Cup

The 2024–25 Russian Cup is the 33rd season of the Russian football knockout tournament since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.^[1] The competition started on 30 July 2024 and will conclude on 1 June 2025.

The winner of the cup would normally gain entry into the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League; however, on 28 February 2022, Russian football clubs were suspended from FIFA & UEFA international competitions until further notice due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[2]

• Russian Premier League (1): 16 clubs
• Russian First League (2): 18 clubs
• Division A of Russian Second League (3): 18 clubs (without 2 farm teams)
• Division B of Russian Second League (4): 42 clubs (without 17 farm teams and 2 Crimean teams)
• Amateur leagues:
  • Third division (5): 8 clubs
  • Fourth division (regional leagues) (6): 2 clubs
  • Media amateur clubs (7): 3 clubs
• Total: 107 clubs.^[3]

The teams of Premier League and the other teams will qualify to knockout phase in two different paths. Premier league teams will play in the RPL path group stage with a double round-robin tournament, divided into 4 groups with 4 teams in each group, while the other teams will play in the regions path qualification, starting with 1/256 round until 1/8 round with 1 match in each stage.^[4]

The schedule of the competition is as follows:^[5][6]

The draw for qualifying stage rounds 1 and 2 was held on 15 July 2024.^[7]

Entered clubs:

• 13 clubs from Amateur leagues
• 21 lowest clubs from Russian Second League Division B

Date of matches was determined on 24 July 2024.^[8]

Times are MSK (UTC+3), as listed by RFU (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Entered clubs:

• 17 winners of Round 1
• 21 highest clubs from Russian Second League Division B
• 18 clubs from Russian Second League Division A

Date of matches was determined on 9 August 2024.^[9]

Entered clubs:

• 28 winners of Round 2

The draw for round 3 defining home and away team was held on 23 August 2024.^[12] The schedule of the third round was held on 26 August 2024^[13]

Times are MSK (UTC+3), as listed by RFU (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

The draw was held on 8 September 2024 at 19:30 MSK live on TV-channel «Match Premier».^[14] Entered clubs:

• 14 winners of Round 3
• 18 clubs from Russian First League

On 6 September draw procedure was released, that consisted of 2 phases. On the first phase, 2 random balls with First League team from pot 2 was relocated to pot 1, then on the second phase usual draw procedure started. The teams from pot 1 played their matches in round 4 at home.^[15]

The team from pot 2 that was replocated to pot 1 is written in italics. The team was unknown until it will be drawn from pot 1.

Times are MSK (UTC+3), as listed by RFU (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

The draw was held on 27 September 2023 at 15:00 MSK live on TV-channel «Match Premier».^[16][17]
Entered clubs:

• 16 winners of Round 4

The draw was held on 18 October 2024 at 15:30 MSK live on TV-channel «Match Premier».^[18][19]
Entered clubs:

• 8 winners of Round 5

The draw for group stage was held on 10 June 2024 live on TV-channel «Match TV».^[20]

16 teams of the Russian Premier League (RPL) will start the tournament from the group stage (4 teams in each group). The teams will play 6 matches in the group stage:

• 1st day — 30 July – 1 August;
• 2nd day — 13–15 August;
• 3rd day — 27–29 August;
• 4th day — 17–19 September;
• 5th day — 1–3 October;
• 6th day — 22–24 October.^[21]

Composition of the pots is based on results of the 2023–24 Russian Premier League and 2023–24 Russian First League. In the same group there can't be more than 2 teams from Moscow, also FC Krasnodar, FC Rostov and Fakel Voronezh can't be in the same group due to logistics restrictions in this cities.

Times are MSK (UTC+3), as listed by RFU (local times, if different, are in parentheses).