Rubin's UEFA Cup reward

FC Rubin Kazan qualified for the UEFA Cup on the last day of the Russian Premier League season, while FC Uralan Elista and FC Chernomorets Krasnodarskiy Kray were relegated.

Successful campaign
PFC CSKA Moskva gained their first ever championship last weekend with FC Zenit St. Peterburg snatching second place but Rubin capped a remarkably successful maiden campaign in the top flight with a 3-2 defeat of the already-crowned champions. The win was enough to leave FC Lokomotiv Moskva in fourth position despite the fact they trounced Uralan 6-0.

Boyarintsev double
CSKA were 2-1 ahead with just one minute of normal time remaining after an own goal from Andreas Skotti and a 72nd-minute strike from Dmitry Kirichenko. Roni Pereira Santos' 73rd-minute goal was followed by Denis Boyarintsev equalising from distance with just one minute of normal time remaining. His curled shot into the top corner after a deflection from midfield player Denis Evsikov clinched the remarkable win.

Goal fest
The victory rendered Lokomotiv’s emphatic defeat of Uralan meaningless, a match in which Dmitri Loskov scored twice and Vladimir Maminov, Vadim Evseev, Marat Izmailov and Dmitri Khokhlov were also on target.

Relegated teams
FC Torpedo-Metallurg Moskva’s 2-0 win against FC Spartak Moskva meant that Uralan and Chernomorets were condemned to spending next term outside the top flight. Hector Bracamonte opened the scoring from the spot, while Roman Monarev added the second three minutes from time.

Winning finish
Chernomorets signed off with a 2-1 triumph against FC Shinnik Yaroslavl. Dmitry Smirnov collected the opener and his team took all three points when Kamoljcev struck with three minutes remaining after Vyacheslav Daev had equalised.

New boys
In other games, Andrey Arshavin scored a hat-trick as FC Zenit dispatched FC Saturn 3-1 while FC Dinamo drew 0-0 with FC Spartak-Alania, as did FC Rostov against FC Torpedo Moskva. FC Amkar Perm and FC Kuban Krasnodar, meanwhile, achieved promotion. Perm have never played in Premier League; Kuban last sampled top-flight action back in 1992.