Kanchelskis: Russian football will weaken without legionnaires

Famous former footballer Andrey Kanchelskis shared his opinion about the tightening of restrictions on the number of legionnaires in Russian football. This was reported by Euro-football.ru.

According to him, reducing the number of foreign players will not help the development of Russian football. Kanchelskis emphasized that due to strict restrictions, the Russian national team could even lose to lower-level teams like Jordan.

Moreover, local players, believing they will always find a place on the field, tend to demand less from themselves. Currently, the Russian Premier League operates under the "13+8" system for legionnaires, meaning a team can have a maximum of 13 foreign players on the season roster, and 8 legionnaires can play on the field simultaneously.

However, according to Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyaryov, starting from the 2028/2029 season, this system will change to "10+5". At the same time, recently the Russian national team drew 0:0 in a BetBoom friendly match against the Jordan national team.

This result is also causing a reconsideration of the impact of restrictions on football. Overall, reducing the number of legionnaires can help develop local players, but this process must be carried out carefully.

Otherwise, teams may lose their competitiveness.