Referee Vasiliy Kazartsev will serve as the main official for the opening match of the 2025/2026 Russian Championship season, featuring FC Spartak Moscow against FC Dynamo Makhachkala. This game is scheduled for Saturday, July 19.

Assisting him will be referees Rustam Mukhtarov and Andrey Vereteshkin, with Mikhail Cheremnykh as the reserve official. The VAR will be Andrey Fisenko, and Pavel Shadykhanov will serve as the AVAR. The inspector for the match will be Vladimir Kazymenko.

The encounter between Spartak and Dynamo Makhachkala will take place at the “Lukoil Arena” in Moscow, kicking off at 20:30 Moscow time.

Earlier, the Referee and Inspectorate Department of the Russian Football Union (RFU) released a ranking of officials in RPL matches and the Fonbet Cup for the 2024/2025 season, in which Vasiliy Kazartsev was ranked 10th.

The most decorated football clubs in Russia: