When France Football magazine announced the shortlist from the top 50 European players last month, there was no room for a single member of the CSKA Moscow team, which won the UEFA Cup last May. CSKA coach Valery Gazzayev rightly complained that the publication passed over Brazilian midfielder Daniel Carvalho and goalkeeper Igor Akinfeyev. But their absence says a lot about a league that, despite its new-found riches, is considered a European outsider for many reasons. CSKA won the Russian Premier League on Saturday by beating Dynamo Moscow 2-1. It was a match between two teams with budgets worthy of the top European leagues, but played at a stadium more akin to those found in Europe`s lower divisions. The season saw CSKA gain outstanding success in Europe when it became the first Russian club to win a European trophy, beating Sporting Lisbon 3-1 in May. But it also saw Russia fail to qualify for the World Cup, Lokomotiv Moscow fail in the Champions League and fan violence continue to grow. On the pitch, the season was one of the most competitive in recent years, with four clubs having realistic chances to win the league as the season came to a close. Foreign referees were brought in for important games to avoid the scandal and suspicion linked to Russian referees. It seemed to work, with less scandal this season than previously plagued the establishment, apart from the plaintive appeals of Terek Grozny. Money-wise, the Russian Premier League is the fastest-growing league in Europe. Russia may not double its GDP by 2010 and overtake Portugal, but President Vladimir Putin can at least take heart from the fact that on the football field, Russia has sped past Portugal and Holland in its annual budget and is now closing in on France, which is one of the five richest in Europe. The Premier League`s budget has doubled in less than two years to around $400 million this year, according to local media reports and interviews with club officials. Big business has pumped more and more money into Russian football, but still the game remains years behind European leagues, with its crumbling infrastructure and problems with attitudes toward fans, corruption and club management. The league has attracted better-quality foreign players, such as Carvalho, with high wages, at a time when other clubs in Europe are trying to reduce their wage bills. There are now 11 players in the league earning more than $1 million per year, according to ProSport magazine, and even the less-illustrious players can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. However, most of these players are either young and underdeveloped or looking for a good retirement package. Russian clubs have failed this season, despite much searching, to attract truly world-class players to Russia. "No world-class player is ever going to come and play at Dynamo or Torpedo," said Igor Shalimov, a former Spartak and Inter Milan player and football pundit, referring to the dilapidated stadiums rather than the teams. The billionaire owner of Dynamo Moscow, Alexei Fedorychev, has provided a perfect example of how money does not necessarily bring success. Although Fedorychev spent more than $50 million on buying a series of Portuguese players for Dynamo Moscow, as well as a series of coaches -- he sacked the most recent, Ivo Wortman, on Monday -- his side will still finish no higher than eighth. Terek Grozny, the Kremlin`s pet project, is another example of wasted money. The Chechen club made its debut in the Premier League with a budget of between $10 million and $30 million and huge political backing as a symbol of the rejuvenation of Chechen sport. A year later, it was relegated, despite appealing directly, and unsuccesfully, to Putin over unfair refereeing. The influx of cash and undoubtedly better players notwithstanding, infrastructure remains poor, as do attendance levels, which have stagnated at an average of about 13,000 fans over the past four years. Only when stadiums are modernized can Russian teams expect to come close to making a football club a profitable venture and to attract more fans. There are signs of promise. Dynamo is set to begin its $150 million reconstruction of Dynamo Stadium next year, and Spartak has finally got the go-ahead to build its long-awaited stadium. Also, the Russian Football Union is set to build a national stadium in the capital, and Roman Abramovich`s National Academy of Football is laying artificial pitches throughout the country. Next season, the Premier League will restrict the number of foreign players to eight per side, following the huge outcry when Dynamo fielded a team without a single Russian player earlier this season. Other positive signs include the investments that clubs are finally making in their youth affiliates. CSKA`s youth team won the reserve championships, and many of its youth squad have made the jump to the first team. Russian football authorities are considering, for the umpteenth time, whether or not move the season to the European schedule, which begins in the fall and stretches to the summer. That way, maybe Europe will start to take more notice of Russian football. The Moscow Times