| Competition: | Russian Premier League |
| Season: | 2008 |
| Winners: | Rubin Kazan 1st title |
| Relegated: | Shinnik Yaroslavl Luch-Energiya Vladivostok |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Rubin Kazan CSKA Moscow Dynamo Moscow |
| Continentalcup2: | Europa League |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Amkar Perm Zenit St.Petersburg Krylia Sovetov |
| Matches: | 240 |
| Total Goals: | 578 |
| League Topscorer: | Vágner Love (20) |
| Prevseason: | 2007 |
| Nextseason: | 2009 |
The 2008 Russian Premier League was the 17th edition of the Russian Football Championship, and the seventh under the current Russian Premier League name. The season started on Friday, 14 March 2008 with a match between Terek and Krylia Sovetov in Grozny. Krylia Sovetov won 3–0. The first goal of the season was scored by Krylia Sovetov's forward Yevgeny Savin.
Due to Russia's participation in UEFA Euro 2008, the season was interrupted from 16 May until 5 July.
The champions were determined on the 27th matchday, 2 November 2008. Rubin claimed their first championship title in Russian Premier League, defeating Saturn 2–1 away, with Savo Milošević scoring in the 89th minute to claim the title for his club. Rubin became the third (and second consecutive) non-Moscow club to become Russian champions.
The last round of matches was played on 22 November 2008.
As in the previous season, 16 teams played in the 2008 season. After the 2007 season, Kuban Krasnodar and Rostov were relegated to the 2008 Russian First Division. They were replaced by Shinnik Yaroslavl and Terek Grozny, the winners and runners up of the 2007 Russian First Division.
| Amkar | CSKA | Dynamo | Khimki | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zvezda Stadium | Luzhniki Stadium | Central Stadium | Arena Khimki | |
| Capacity: 20,000 | Capacity: 76,000 | Capacity: 36,540 | Capacity: 18,000 | |
| Krylia | Lokomotiv | |||
| Metallurg Stadium | RZD Arena | |||
| Capacity: 33,220 | Capacity: 28,800 | |||
| Luch-Energia | Moscow | |||
| Dynamo Stadium | Eduard Streltsov Stadium | |||
| Capacity: 10,200 | Capacity: 13,422 | |||
| Rubin | Saturn | |||
| Central Stadium | Saturn Stadium | |||
| Capacity: 30,133 | Capacity: 16,726 | |||
| Shinnik | Spartak Moscow | |||
| Shinnik Stadium | Luzhniki Stadium | |||
| Capacity: 19,000 | Capacity: 76,000 | |||
| Spartak Nalchik | Terek | Tom | Zenit Saint Petersburg | |
| Spartak Stadium | Sultan Bilimkhanov Stadium | Trud Stadium | Petrovsky Stadium | |
| Capacity: 14,400 | Capacity: 10,400 | Capacity: 14,950 | Capacity: 21,725 | |
| Team | Location | Head coach | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amkar Perm | Perm |  Miodrag Božović |  Aleksei Popov | Adidas | ||
| CSKA | Moscow | Valery Gazzaev | Igor Akinfeev | Reebok | VTB | |
| Dynamo | Moscow | Andrey Kobelev | Dmitri Khokhlov | Umbro | Metalloinvest | |
| Khimki | Khimki | Sergei Yuran |  Roman Berezovsky | Nike | Mezhregionalnaya Developerskaya Kompania | |
| Krylia | Samara | Leonid Slutsky | Matthew Booth | Umbro | RosTekhnologii | |
| Lokomotiv | Moscow |  Rashid Rakhimov | Diniyar Bilyaletdinov | Adidas | Russian Railways | |
| Luch-Energia | Vladivostok |  Semen Altman | Dmitry Smirnov | Nike | DalEnergo | |
| Moscow | Moscow | Oleg Blokhin | Dmitri Godunok | Umbro | Norilsk Nickel | |
| Rubin | Kazan |  Kurban Berdyev | Sergei Semak | Nike | ТАИФ | |
| Saturn | Ramenskoye | Jürgen Röber | Aleksei Igonin | Adidas | ||
| Shinnik | Yaroslavl | Sergei Pavlov | Denis Boyarintsev | Adidas | ||
| Spartak | Moscow | Michael Laudrup |  Mozart | Nike | Lukoil | |
| Spartak | Nalchik | Yuri Krasnozhan | Miodrag Džudović | Nike | ||
| Terek | Grozny | Vyacheslav Hroznyi | Timur Dzhabrailov | Umbro | RAO UES | |
| Tom | Tomsk | Valery Nepomnyashchy | Valeri Klimov | Adidas | ||
| Zenit | Saint Petersburg |  Dick Advocaat | Anatoliy Tymoshchuk | Puma | Gazprom |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moscow | Leonid Slutsky | Fired | End of 2007 Season[1] | Preseason | Oleg Blokhin | 14 December 2007[2] | Preseason | |
| Amkar | Rashid Rakhimov | Joined Lokomotiv | 6 December 2007 | Miodrag Božović | 9 January 2008[3] | |||
| Krylia | Aleksandr Tarkhanov | Leonid Slutsky | 21 December 2007[4] | |||||
| Lokomotiv | Anatoliy Byshovets | Rashid Rakhimov | 6 December 2007[5] | |||||
| Luch-Energiya | Sergei Pavlov | Zoran Vulić | 19 December 2007[6] | |||||
| Khimki |  Slavoljub Muslin | Fired | 14 April 2008[7] | 14th | 14 April 2008 | 14th | ||
| Khimki | End of role | 29 May 2008 | 16th | Sergei Yuran | 29 May 2008[8] | 16th | ||
| Tom | Valery Petrakov | Mutual termination | 1 June 2008[9] | 12th |  Miroslav Romaschenko | 1 June 2008 | 12th | |
| Saturn | Gadzhi Gadzhiyev | 8 August 2008 | 12th | Jürgen Röber | 21 August 2008[10] | 12th | ||
| Spartak | Stanislav Cherchesov | Fired | 14 August 2008[11] | 4th | 14 August 2008 | 4th | ||
| Tom | Miroslav Romaschenko | Fired | 4 September 2008[12] | 12th | 4 September 2008 | 12th | ||
| Tom | End of role | 11 September 2008 | 12th | Valery Nepomnyashchy | 11 September 2008[13] | 12th | ||
| Spartak | End of role | 12 September 2008 | 3rd | Michael Laudrup | 12 September 2008[14] | 3rd | ||
| Luch-Energiya | Zoran Vulić | 10 October 2008 | 14th | Semen Altman | 10 October 2008[15] | 14th |
| Rank | Player | Club | Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vágner Love | 20 | |
| 2 |  Marko Topić | 10 | |
| Peter Odemwingie | |||
| Danny | |||
| Eldar Nizamutdinov | |||
| 6 | Diniyar Bilyaletdinov | 9 | |
| 7 | Alan Dzagoev | 8 | |
 Fatih Tekke | |||
| Anton Bobyor | |||
 Héctor Bracamonte | |||
| Martin Kushev |
On 16 December 2008 Russian Football Union named its list of 33 top players:[16]
Cristian Ansaldi (Rubin) Rodolfo (Lokomotiv) Leandro Fernández (Dynamo)
Radek Šírl (Zenit) Anatoliy Tymoschuk (Zenit) Miloš Krasić (CSKA)
Danny (Dynamo/Zenit) Vágner Love (CSKA) Marko Topić (Saturn) Gökdeniz Karadeniz (Rubin)| 1. FC Rubin Kazan | |
| Goalkeepers: Sergei Ryzhikov (26), Sergei Kozko (6). Defenders: Cristian Ansaldi (27 / 1), Roman Sharonov (26 / 1), Dato Kvirkvelia  (24 / 3), Stjepan Tomas (19), Lasha Salukvadze (15), Aleksandr Orekhov (10), Aleksei Popov (7), Jefthon (2), Andrei Fyodorov  (1), Gabriel Atz (1).Midfielders: Gökdeniz Karadeniz (27 / 6), Sergei Semak (27 / 5), MacBeth Sibaya (25), Serhii Rebrov (24 / 5), Aleksandr Ryazantsev (22 / 1), Christian Noboa  (21 / 6), Andrei Kobenko (17 / 2), Yevgeni Balyaikin (10), Aleksei Rebko (3), Vagiz Galiullin (1), Pyotr Gitselov  (1).Forwards: Hasan Kabze (23 / 2), Aleksandr Bukharov (20 / 6), Roman Adamov (13 / 1), Savo Milošević (16 / 3).(league appearances and goals listed in brackets) Manager: Kurban Berdyev. Transferred out during the season: Gabriel Atz | |
| 2. PFC CSKA Moscow | |
| Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (30). Defenders: Sergei Ignashevich (28 / 4), Vasili Berezutski (28), Aleksei Berezutski (24 / 2), Deividas Šemberas  (24), Chidi Odiah  (23), Anton Grigoryev (16).Midfielders: Miloš Krasić (28 / 6), Yuri Zhirkov (28 / 3), Evgeni Aldonin (25 / 3), Elvir Rahimić (23), Alan Dzagoev (20 / 8), Caner Erkin (18 / 1), Pavel Mamayev (17 / 2), Dudu (10 / 1), Luboš Kalouda (1).Forwards: Vágner Love (26 / 20), Ricardo Jesus (10), Jô (8 / 3), Dmitri Ryzhov (8), Ramón (7), Daniel Carvalho (4), Dawid Janczyk  (4).Manager: Valery Gazzaev. Transferred out during the season: Dudu | |
| 3. FC Dynamo Moscow | |
| Goalkeepers: Vladimir Gabulov (12), Žydrūnas Karčemarskas (9), Anton Shunin (9). Defenders: Leandro Fernández (28 / 4), Denis Kolodin (22 / 1), Jovan Tanasijević (20 / 1), Marcin Kowalczyk (20), Aleksandr Dimidko (12 / 2), Luke Wilkshire  (11 / 2), Vladimir Granat (11), Arūnas Klimavičius (9 / 1), Nikita Chicherin (3), Aleksandr Tochilin (3).Midfielders: Dmitri Kombarov (30 / 1), Igor Semshov (29 / 6), Dmitri Khokhlov (27 / 2), Kirill Kombarov (26 / 1), Danny (18 / 5), Andrei Karpovich  (12), Aleksandr Denisov (1).Forwards: Aleksandr Kerzhakov (27 / 7), Tsvetan Genkov (23 / 4), Aleksandr Kokorin (7 / 2), Fyodor Smolov (7 / 1). Manager: Andrey Kobelev. Transferred out during the season: Danny (to FC Zenit St. Petersburg), Aleksandr Denisov (on loan to FC Salyut-Energia Belgorod). |