Ponomaryov proposed to limit the number of legionnaires in Russian football

Former CSKA football club defender Vladimir Ponomaryov expressed his opinion on the initiative by the Russian Ministry of Sports to introduce a salary cap for players in the Russian Premier League. This was reported by Euro-football.ru.

He emphasized that he has a positive attitude towards this initiative, but stated that he does not have a clear idea of how to implement this idea in practice. According to him, it will be difficult to fully implement such a system in Russian football.

If players' monthly salaries are strictly limited, it will become much more complicated to attract experienced and strong players from Europe to the country. Ponomaryov also proposed to limit the number of foreign players.

In his opinion, especially during the period when Russian clubs cannot participate in international competitions, it would be appropriate to reduce the number of legionnaires. Earlier, Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyaryov announced that a decision to tighten restrictions on foreign players had already been made.

These changes are planned to come into effect starting from the 2026/2027 season.