Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg will not benefit from an increase in the number of foreign players allowed on the pitch to seven, coach Luciano Spalletti said Thursday.
The decision to increase the quota from six foreigners was announced by the Russian Football Union on Wednesday, and motivated by the desire to make clubs more competitive.
Some critics say it will favor the big-spending clubs and punish those who have plowed funds into nurturing Russian players.
But Zenit, backed by state gas giant Gazprom, claim they won't benefit because 16 members of their 24-man squad are Russian.
"From my point of view, the previous rule was, probably better for us," Spalletti said on the club's website.
"Because among the championship leaders we are the team that has been using the most Russian players. Before April we had six foreign players on the pitch only 11 percent of time."
The six-player quota was introduced in 2005 to prevent a wave of cheap foreign imports from squeezing the Russian players out, theoretically hurting the chances of the national team.
Spalletti, joined Zenit from AS Roma in 2009, and has led the team to back-to-back league titles in the last seasons, plus a first appearance in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
The 53-year-old Italian signed a contract extension in February that keeps him at Zenit until 2015.
