Saul Pope looks at a rising challenge to the traditional elite of Russian football, with plenty of money and some famous faces
Since its creation in 1992 Moscow sides have largely dominated the Russian top flight, winning 14 of 19 league titles and taking the lion’s share of second and third places. Lately, this stranglehold has been broken somewhat by Zenit St Petersburg and Rubin Kazan. However, this season two teams from the North Caucasus – the scene of wars and insurgency for much of the last two decades – aim to upstage them all.