In recent days, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Belarus' Minister of Sports and Tourism Sergey Kovalchuk proposed the unification of the Russian and Belarusian championships. This was reported by www.euro-football.ru.
To be honest, this proposal is not the best idea and frankly, it is unbeneficial for both sides. Our task is to understand why the championships should not be unified. How will this benefit Russian football?
There are no teams in Belarus that can compete in the Russian Premier League. The leader of Belarusian football is the Minsk "Dinamo" club.
Players like Evgeniy Shevchenko and Ivan Bahar, who played for this club, attempted to make their mark at Tula "Arsenal" in 2024, but they could not find their place at the FNL mid-level. This shows that even the players from Belarus' strongest team are not succeeding in the lower leagues of Russia.
In the 1980s, players from Minsk "Dinamo" moved to major clubs like "Juventus" and Kiev "Dinamo," but currently, their path has led them to smaller teams. One of the leaders of the Belarus national team, Vitaliy Lisakovich, plays for "Baltika," while another notable player, Valeriy Gromiko, has participated in 19 matches in the RPL and is currently playing for the Kazakhstan club "Kairat." The only Belarusian player with regular playing practice in the RPL is Kirill Pechenin, a defender for Samara "Krylya Sovetov."
Other players, such as Artyom Shumanskiy, do not play in the main squad. In previous years, major players like Sergey Gurenko, Timofey Kalachev, and Sergey Kornilenko achieved success in the Russian championship. What does this give to Belarusian football?
There are no strong teams in Belarus, and they cannot compete in the RPL. Transitioning to a league at the FNL level would increase logistics costs without raising the level of football.
Even if just one Belarusian team enters the RPL and is strengthened with legionnaires, it remains questionable. This is due to unclear financial aspects and existing logistics problems.
Moreover, this format resembles the situation of the KHL hockey league, where the unification project was unsuccessful. As an alternative, it is proposed to organize a pre-season tournament between Russian and Belarusian teams. If this tournament has a good prize pool, it could motivate the teams.
Especially, Belarusian teams would have the opportunity to play against strong opponents during the winter preparation process. However, this proposal may not generate much interest from Russian clubs, which have the opportunity to play against clubs like "Crvena Zvezda" or "Fenerbahçe" in winter. In conclusion, the idea of a unified championship appears to be an unfeasible, utopian project.
Considering the current state and possibilities of Russian and Belarusian football, such unification is not beneficial for either side and would lead to complex problems. Author: Anton Karasevich
