Kuban Krasnodar were promoted back to the premier league in 2010. They are managed by former top Romanian player Dan Petrescu, who had a very good playing career, which included spells in both the Serie A and the Premier League, with Tottenham. There are 16 clubs in the Russian top flight, and they also have a play off system for that league. The first 8 clubs go in to the upper house, while the clubs between 9-16 play off to avoid relegation. Our opponents on Saturday morning finished up in 8th place, so they will play off in the upper house, along with clubs like Anzsi, Dinamo Moscow, Rubin Kazany, CSZKA Moscow and league leaders Zenit. The strength of the club shows that in the first part of the championship, they managed to beat Anzsit 1-0, and drew with CSZKA, Zenit and Spartak Moscow. They have so far played a total of 4 pre-season friendlies, with only Steaua Bucharest beating them 3-0. They won all the other 3 games in the process. Those included 3-1 wins over both Győri ETO and Litex Lovec, while Romanian side Vaslui won 1-0. 

	FC Kuban in action against Hungarian side Győri ETO

The most valuable player for FC Kuban is 21 year old Ivory Coast forward, Lacina Traore, who made his debut in the Romanian first division at the young age of 18 for Kolosvar. He played 44 times for them, scoring 14 goals during that spell. He joined the Russian side last year, and has so far scored 15 in 27 games.