Tartar titans show title form

Having given top stars like Sergei Semak the chance to "relax away from the fuss of the big city", FC Rubin Kazan have surged to the top of the Russian league.

Stunning results
Four games into the new Premier-Liga season, Russia has an entirely unexpected top club, with Rubin taking full marks from their opening fixtures. In other circumstances, it might be seen as an aberration, but while home wins against FC Luch-Energia Vladivostok and FC Tom Tomsk were not unexpected, away wins against FC Lokomotiv Moskva and defending champions FC Zenit St. Petersburg showed a side worthy of respect.

European ambitions
Rubin have set their target on a place in Europe as they look to improve on their last continental showing, when they bowed out in the first round of the 2006/07 UEFA Cup. Having finished third in their first Premier-Liga season in 2003, Rubin have never finished lower than tenth since, but their current form reflects a substantial raising of the club's ambitions.

War chest
Local businesses combined with the regional authorities in the Republic of Tartarstan to give Rubin coach Kurban Berdyev a mighty war chest for the 2008 campaign. Back in 2005, a similarly impressive cash injection failed to earn Kazan's local ice-hockey team gold medals as part of the city's millennium celebrations, but Rubin's 50th anniversary campaign may have a better end.

Big budget
While the president of the Republic of Tartarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev, has not revealed exactly how much has been invested in Rubin, unofficial sources suggest a figure of around €30m, giving them a budget almost as big as the likes of PFC CSKA Moskva and FC Spartak Moskva, and they showed their ambition in the winter as they tried to sign Russian stars like Yegor Titov, Dmitri Loskov and Semak.

Provincial retreat
Semak was the only local titan to accept their offer, with the former CSKA and Paris Saint-Germain FC star said to be earning €2m a season for the duration of his three-year contract. "Finally I can relax away from the fuss of the big city and spend more time with my family," he said. "I'm 32, so I am at risk of getting a serious injury; a three-year contract allows me to feel secure."

Name signings
Among the 14 other winter signings now enjoying the more relaxed pace of life are Turkey midfielder Gökdeniz Karadeniz, Serbian striker Savo Milošević and FC Dynamo Kyiv legend Serhiy Rebrov while goalkeeper Sergei Ryzhikov and former Russia defender Roman Sharonov are also catching the eye. However, the star of the show may be the tight-lipped Berdyev.

Quiet man
Coach since 2001, Berdyev became Rubin's vice-president and de facto general manager in 2004. Unashamedly sullen in his dealings with the local press, he allows his defensively-orientated style to speak for itself. With Rubin two points clear of FC Dinamo Moskva at the top of the 16-team table, for the moment his side are producuing results worth shouting about.