2025–26 Russian Cup


The 2025–26 Russian Cup is the 34th season of the Russian football knockout tournament since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The competition started on 29 July 2025 and will conclude on 24 May 2026.
The winner of the cup would normally gain entry into the 2026–27 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.

Representation of clubs by league

Distribution

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.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows:

Qualifying round (regions path)

The draw for all rounds in regions path was held on 29 June 2025.

Round 1

Entered clubs:
Date of matches was determined on 5–7 August 2025.
Times are MSK, as listed by RFU.

Round 2

Entered clubs:
Date of matches was determined on 19–21 August 2025.
Times are MSK, as listed by RFU.

Round 3

Entered clubs:
  • 28 winners of Round 2
Date of matches was determined on 9–11 September 2025.
Times are MSK, as listed by RFU.

Round 4

Entered clubs:
The draw was 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.
Pot 1Pot 2

  • Arsenal Tula
  • Chayka Peschanokopskoye
  • Chelyabinsk
  • Chernomorets Novorossiysk
  • Fakel Voronezh KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny → Pot 1
  • Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk
  • Rodina Moscow
  • Rotor Volgograd
  • Shinnik Yaroslavl SKA-Khabarovsk → Pot 1
  • Sokol Saratov
  • Spartak Kostroma
  • Torpedo Moscow
  • Ufa
  • Ural Yekaterinburg
  • Volga Ulyanovsk
  • Yenisey Krasnoyarsk
    • The team from pot 2 that was relocated to pot 1 is written in italics. The team was unknown until it will be drawn from pot 1.
    Times are MSK, as listed by RFU.

    Round 5

    Entered clubs:
    • 16 winners of Round 4

    Round 6

    Entered clubs:
    • 8 winners of Round 5

    Group stage (RPL path)

    The draw for group stage was held on 29 June 2025.
    16 teams of the Russian Premier League will start the tournament from the group stage. The teams will play 6 matches in the group stage:
    • 1st day — 29–31 July;
    • 2nd day — 12–14 August;
    • 3rd day — 26–28 August;
    • 4th day — 16–18 September;
    • 5th day — 30 September – 2 October;
    • 6th day — 21–23 October.
    Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4

  • Dynamo Moscow
  • Lokomotiv Moscow
  • Rubin Kazan
  • Rostov
  • Akron Tolyatti
  • Krylia Sovetov Samara
  • Dynamo Makhachkala
  • Akhmat Grozny
  • Baltika Kaliningrad
  • Orenburg
  • Sochi
  • Pari Nizhny Novgorod
    • Composition of the pots is based on results of the 2024–25 Russian Premier League and 2024–25 Russian First League. In the same group there can't be more than 2 teams from Moscow, also FC Krasnodar and FC Rostov can't be in the same group due to logistics restrictions in this cities.
    On 10 July 2025, as a result of the decisions made at the meeting of the Russian Football Union's Control and Disciplinary Committee, Torpedo Moscow was excluded from the 2025-26 season, and was replaced by Orenburg.
    Times are MSK, as listed by RFU.

    Group A

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    Group B

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    Group C

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    Group D

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    Quarter-finals

    RPL Path

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    Semi-finals

    RPL Path

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