Spartak is growing due to investments.
Over the past year, 12 RPL teams in the 2025/2026 season have increased their roster value, while four have decreased in price. And in general the league has become more expensive.
A sleeping giant
St. Petersburg Zenit has the most expensive squad in the RPL, but the value of the team has changed by only 0.5% over the past year. Several key blue-white-blue players immediately lost value due to a lackluster game: Gerson, Luis Enrique, Wendel and several other foreign players fell in price by a couple of million euros.
In addition, the core of Sergei Semak’s team is aging – Vilmar Barrios is already 32 years old, Alexander Erokhin is 36, Douglas Santos is 31. Age, of course, affects the cost of a football player, even if he continues to play at a high level and show consistent performance. Nevertheless, the St. Petersburg team managed to avoid devaluation thanks to Pedro and Maxim Glushenkov, who were able to increase their transfer value, despite 2025, which was not the most successful year for the team.
From the basement to the top
The largest increase in transfer value was demonstrated by Baltika and Sochi – 110.9% and 115%, respectively. This is a familiar story for promoted teams. Transfermarkt traditionally increases the price tags for footballers who reach the elite division. In addition, the southerners and Kaliningraders bought well after returning to the RPL.
Thanks to the stunning start to the season, many players from Andrei Talalaev’s team have increased in value. For example, Nikolai Titkov received a price tag of € 1 million, although previously the midfielder was valued at only € 150 thousand. The transfer price of Vladislav Saus, Maxim Petrov, and Maxim Borisko has increased several times. This list will be extremely long, because only seven Kaliningrad football players have fallen in price at the end of 2025.
Photo source: FC Sochi
The Sochi team increased the value of their roster thanks to newcomers from top RPL clubs. In the summer transfer window, the Leopards took Alexander Soldatenkov, Sergei Volkov, Alexander Kovalenko, Maxim Mukhin and several other players whose market value exceeds € 1 million. Unlike Baltika, most southern football players have fallen in price over the past year. Only five players added value. But in general, the team, which even with serious improvements cannot leave the basement of the standings, has problems.
Russians are trendy
The cost of the Moscow Lokomotiv squad increased by almost a third – from € 88.6 million to € 114.9 million, and yet the railway workers are predominantly played by Russians. Despite the absence of expensive foreign players, Mikhail Galaktionov’s team continues to produce results. At the end of last season, the red-greens were three points short of getting into the top 5, and now they are even fighting for the championship.
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The progress of young football players was noted – their price tags increased several times. Alexey Batrakov has risen in price by €17 million over the year and is now the most expensive Russian football player.
It is impossible not to mention CSKA – in 2025, the army team has produced several talented football players, who have increased the value of the red-blue squad. The price tag of Matvey Kislyak has increased by a cosmic 1567%, Kirill Glebov – by 1043%, and we should also not forget about Matvey Lukin, who is estimated at € 4 million, although at the beginning of the year he was worth only € 1.2 million.
Infographics of “Soviet Sports”
The work of Fabio Celestini and Marko Nikolic with young Russians has a positive effect on the results – in March the team took bronze medals in the Russian Championship, a few weeks later – the National Cup, and at the start of the current season they added the Super Cup to their treasury. The increase in the market value of a number of players is further evidence that the club is moving in the right direction.
The quartet has become more expensive
The unstable year 2025 affected the transfer prices of many Spartak Moscow players. None of the red-and-white foreign players, except Marquinhos, increased in value in 2025, and only three Russian players showed positive dynamics – Nail Umyarov, Alexander Maksimenko and Igor Dmitriev. Perhaps this quartet is currently the most stable in the team that has experienced the resignation of the head coach.
5000₽ FREE BET FROM PARIHowever, things are not entirely bad – the overall value of the team has increased by € 23.1 million. But this was thanks to a solid cash injection over the last two transfer windows. During this time period, for example, Gedson Fernandes and Levi Garcia joined the team, who, due to their huge price tags, helped Spartak not to go into the red.
Title argument for the champion
Not only Krasnodar’s triumph, but also the club’s competent work in the transfer market affected the team’s market value. In 2025, the “bulls” showed an increase in prices by a third – this was also facilitated by newcomers who emerged in the champion team of the southerners. Only Gaetan Perrin, Zhubal and Vitaly Stezhko lost value after Murad Musaev joined the team.
Photo source: FC Krasnodar
The long-awaited championship also left its mark – Stanislav Agkatsev and Alexander Chernikov entered the top 10 most expensive football players for the calendar year. The increase in the overall value of the team could be even greater, but the Bulls have several players over 30 years old. Because of this criterion, for example, John Cordoba and Sergei Petrov fell in price, although both players are the most important players in Musaev’s system.
Financial crisis
“Rostov” and Samara “Krylya Sovetov” turned out to be the cheapest teams over the past year. Both clubs are also experiencing financial problems – the Rostov team operates in economy mode, and the Samara club still has not resolved the issue with its debt to RT-Capital.
Because of this, they are forced to part with their leaders at the first lucrative offer, and in return, raise young people who will also be sold in the future. But this does not affect the team’s results – even with a truncated squad, Jonathan Alba keeps the team away from the play-off zone, and the Wings, with varying degrees of success, take points from their competitors and are also trying to protect themselves from relegation.
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