The Russian Premier League saw its first big match of the season on Sunday with CSKA Moscow facing off against Zenit St. Petersburg. The 1-1 was enough to preserve each side’s undefeated records (it’s week four of the season in Russia, who play a similar schedule to MLS), but that wouldn’t stand for long. Zenit, as it turns out, ran badly afoul of Russia’s strict homegrown player rules, and thus retroactively forfeit the match in a technical defeat:
Zenit St. Petersburg Vs. CSKA Moscow: 1-1 Draw Overturned; Zenit Incur Technical Defeat Over Roster Violation
CSKA Moscow awarded 3 points after Zenit incur technical defeat, despite drawing, by not including a home grown player in their match squad.less than a minute ago via web 
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SlavicFootballUnion
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In addition to the points deduction, they’ve also been fined almost €5,000. The regulations state that each side much field a Russian player born no later than 1990 in their squad. Zenit failed to comply - and played on despite a warning from the official. It seems a silly way to cost yourself a point and some money, and even if you think the rules are too strict, they’re still the rules, and not abiding by them has proved fairly costly this time. What on earth was Luciano Spaletti thinking?
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