Football Club Dynamo Kyiv is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was officially formed only in 1989 and currently plays in the Ukrainian Premier League, and has never been relegated to a lower division. The club has secured brand rights from the Ukrainian Dynamo society and has no direct relations to the sports society since 1989. Their home is the 70,050 capacity Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex.
Association football is the most popular sport in Russia, beating ice hockey by a huge margin. Men's football is overseen by the Russian Football Union, having the Russian Premier League as the first tier of the Russian football league system, with the Russian Football National League being the second tier.
The Russia national rugby league team, nicknamed The Bears, represents Russia in international rugby league tournaments and other rugby league fixtures. The Bears, played their first fixtures against two British club sides: York Wasps and Fulham RLFC. In 2013, Russia became a full member of the Rugby League International Federation.
The Russian Premier League, also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 as the Russian Football Premier League and was rebranded with its current name in 2018. From 1992 through 2001, the top level of the Russian football league system was the Russian Football Championship.
The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League, served as the top division (tier) of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The league's name was a conditional designation used for brevity since being completely owned and governed by the Football Federation of the Soviet Union. The full official name was the USSR Championship in football: Top League. An attempt to create an independent league as autonomously governed organization during "perestroika" period was denied by the Federation due to political culture in the Soviet Union.
RC Lokomotiv Moscow is a professional Russian rugby football club based in Moscow, which from 2010 will field teams in both rugby league and rugby union. The club is one of the oldest in Russia. Originally a club for those who worked on the railways, they participated in the first USSR rugby union championship in 1937. Lokomotiv were Soviet Championship winners in 1983. During the existence of the USSR, RC Lokomotiv Moscow club was a part of the Lokomotiv Voluntary Sports Society.
Rugby union in Russia is a moderately popular sport. Russia was in 2011 ranked 20th worldwide by the World Rugby, having over three hundred clubs and close to 22,000 players nationally. Russian Rugby Championship is the top-level professional competition held in Russia. Krasnoyarsk, in the middle of Siberia, is traditionally the heartland of Russian rugby.
Rugby union in Georgia is a popular team sport. Rugby union is considered one of the most popular sports in Georgia.
BC UNICS is a professional basketball club in Kazan, Russia, that plays in the VTB United League, and formerly played in the EuroLeague. On February 28, 2022, EuroLeague Basketball suspended the team because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Kazan Arrows, sometimes called Strela Kazan, are a rugby league and rugby union club from Kazan, Tatarstan in Russia. They were formed in 1989 and play in the Russian Championship, the top-tier of rugby league in Russia. Since late 2009 they have decided to run their senior team as a rugby union team
Sport in Europe tends to be highly organized with many sports having professional leagues. The origins of many of the world's most popular sports today lie in the codification of many traditional games, especially in the United Kingdom. However, a paradoxical feature of European sport is the extent to which local, regional and national variations continue to exist, and even in some instances to predominate.
Russian Rugby League Federation was the governing body for rugby league in Russia until 2010. It was founded in 1978 mainly as a governing body for Moscow-based teams, and became the head body for all of Russia in 1986. The Russian Rugby League Federation became affiliated to the Rugby League International Federation in 1993. In 2003 the Russia became a full test nation in rugby league.
The most popular sport in Russia is soccer. According to Yandex search analysis results rating of the most popular sports among Russians: "Football topped the list of the most popular sports in Russia" with 5 to 10 million requests. Ice hockey came in second with handball, basketball, futsal, boxing, auto racing, volleyball, athletics, tennis, and chess rounding out the top ten rankings. Other popular sports include bandy, biathlon, figure skating, weightlifting, gymnastics, wrestling, martial arts, rugby union, and skiing.
The 1936 Soviet football championship was the first season conducted between teams of sports societies and factories. It was also the seventh in order of primary football competitions in the Soviet Union since 1923. It was a major transition from a previous season which involved participation of teams representing cities and republics composed of better players of that city or republics teams. The decision about conducting the first Soviet championship among teams of sports societies and factories was adopted by the All-Union Council of Physical Culture (VSFK) of the Soviet Union Central Executive Committee. On 21 June 1936 the VSFK was liquidated and replaced with the All-Union Committee of Physical Culture and Sports (VKFKS) of the Soviet Union Sovnarkom.
Ekaterina Ulanova is a Russian volleyball player. She competed for the Russia women's national volleyball team in the 2008 and the 2012 Summer Olympics. She also won the gold medal at the 2014 FIVB Club World Championship, playing with Dinamo Kazan.
Nataliya Olegovna Goncharova, from 2012 to 2016 Obmochaeva, is a Russian volleyball player. She played for the Ukraine women's national volleyball team until 2010 when she became part of the Russia women's national volleyball team.
The Association of Rugby League Clubs is the governing body for rugby league in Russia. The association was formed in 2010, bringing together amateur clubs and regional RRLF clubs after the expulsion of the Russian Rugby League Federation and essentially rugby league itself by the Order of the Ministry of Tourism RUSSIA № 21 from State Register of Sports of Russia.
The Russian Volleyball Federation is the governing body of volleyball in Russia; although existing since 1991, it is the prosecutor of the pre-existing Soviet volleyball federation.
Volleyball is one of the most oldest team sports practiced in Russia. The Russian Volleyball Federation is the Official governing body for this sport After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Volleyball Federation stripped Russia of hosting the men's World Cup in August 2022.
