The low attendance of Russian Premier League promotion-relegation playoff matches is a symptom that Russian football is short of top players, former Spartak Moscow forward Valery Reingold told RIA Novosti on Saturday.
This season features a new playoff system whereby Premier League teams play second-tier challengers in two-legged matches for a spot in the top flight.
The two top-division teams won their respective first legs Friday.
But neither FC Rostov's 3-0 victory over Shinnik Yaroslavl nor FC Volga's 2-1 comeback win over FC Nizhny Novgorod broke 10,000 fans, despite their matches' crucial nature.
"I saw that during the Rostov-Shinnik match the stadium wasn't full," said Reingold, 70, also a former Shinnik forward.
"The same I saw at the Volga-Nizhny Novgorod match ... which took place before half-empty stands. But these are relegation matches. What does it mean? It means that football became not interesting, not only in the first division, but also in the Premier League," Reingold said.
"Football is a show," he said. "They come to football to watch this or that performer. But now these are average footballers who play, and the people, apparently, prefer sitting at home to going to football."
Reingold is best known for seven seasons at Spartak Moscow from 1960, becoming Soviet champion and a two-time cup winner. He left Spartak to join Shinnik after a season at Trud Voronezh. He finished his career in Yaroslavl in 1974.
The second-leg of playoffs, hosted by the first-division teams, are Tuesday.
