Russian Professional Football League
The Professional Football League, formerly the Russian Second Division is the third level of Russian professional football.History
In 1998–2010, it was run by the :ru:Профессиональная футбольная лига |Professional Football League. The 2011–12 season was run by the Department of Professional Football of the Russian Football Union, Departament professional'nogo futbola Rossijskogo futbol'nogo soyuza ). From 2013–14 season the league is again run by the Professional Football League and the name Second Division is no longer used.
The PFL is geographically divided into 5 zones: West, Centre, South, Ural-Povolzhye, and East. The number of clubs in each zone varies between years. In the 2015–16 season, there are 62 clubs in the division.
The winners of each zone are automatically promoted to the Russian National Football League. The bottom finishers of each zone lose professional status and are relegated to the Russian Amateur Football League. In the lowest populated East zone, each club plays each opponent three times, while in all other zones traditional home-and-away scheme applies.Winners
