FC Sokol Saratov

Sokol

Full name	Professional Football Club Sokol Saratov
Founded	1930
Ground	Lokomotiv Stadium, Saratov
Capacity	15,000
Chairman	Andrey Potapov
Manager	Valeri Burlachenko
League	FNL
2014–15	12th
Home colours Away colours

PFC Sokol (Russian: ПФК "Сокол") is a Russian association football club based in Saratov. In 2001 and 2002, Sokol played in the Russian Premier League. Currently the club plays in the second-level Russian National Football League.

History

The club was founded as Dynamo. It was known by this name until 1930 and in 1946-1953. Other club's names include Lokomotiv (1956–1960), Energiya (1954–1955), Sokol (1961–1994 and 1998–2005), and Sokol-PZD (1995–1997). "Sokol" is Russian for "falcon".

Dynamo did not enter the Soviet league until 1946, when they debuted in the Third Group and were promoted to the Second Group at the first time of asking. Dynamo played in the Second Group until 1949. After a period of absence in the league, the club entered Class B in 1954 under new name, Energia. After a considerable time spent in Class B, Sokol were eventually promoted to Class A, Group 2 in 1965. Sokol played there until 1970. In 1971-1991, they played in the Second League.

In 1992 Sokol entered the newly formed Russian First Division. They played in this division until 2000, never finishing lower than 10th, and eventually won it. The 2001 season was the best in club's history. Sokol were leading in mid-season, but could not keep up and finished 8th in the Top Division. Andrey Fedkov, Sokol's striker, was capped for Russia national team. The next year Sokol were relegated after finishing last in the league.

The club continued playing in the First Division since 2003. In 2005 Sokol finished last thanks to a points deduction for failing to pay for player transfer. Instead of starting in the Second Division in 2006, Sokol chose to play in the Amateur League. In addition, the club was renamed Sokol-Saratov.

Sokol reached the semifinals of the Soviet Cup in 1966/67 and of the Russian Cup in 2000/01.

Current squad

As of 11 January 2016, according to the FNL website.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 3 DF Ivan Lozenkov 5 DF Aleksandr Gorbatyuk 6 MF Dmitri Borisov 7 MF Serhiy Shevchuk 8 MF Maksim Burchenko 9 FW Kamil Mullin 10 MF Vladimir Romanenko 11 MF Aleksandr Degtyaryov 13 MF Aleksandr Korotayev 14 MF Aleksandr Perchenok 16 GK Artyom Fyodorov

No. Position Player 17 DF Artyom Molodtsov 19 MF Maksim Andreyev 20 DF Aleksandr Stolyarenko 21 MF Renat Rakhmatulin 27 DF Nikita Khokhlov 30 MF Maksym Trusevych 31 GK Denis Pchelintsev 34 MF Renat Sabitov 35 GK Vladimir Sugrobov 75 DF Aleksandr Seraskhov

Reserve squad

Sokol's reserve squad played professionally as FC Sokol-d Saratov in the Russian Third League in 1994.

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Sokol.

USSR/Russia Viktor Samokhin Dmitri Kuznetsov Vladimir Tatarchuk Dmitri Khlestov Andrei Piatnitski Albert Borzenkov Andrei Fedkov Aleksei Kosolapov Vladimir Lebed Andrei Semyonov Aleksandr Sheshukov Oleg Teryokhin Oleg Veretennikov Former USSR countries Karapet Mikaelyan

Deni Gaisumov Gennadi Bliznyuk Artem Chelyadinsky Alyaksandr Hrapkowski Petr Katchouro Vladimir Sheleg Vital Valadzyankow Zviad Jeladze Mikheil Jishkariani Ruslan Baltiev Vitaliy Kafanov Dmitriy Lyapkin Oleg Musin Maksim Nizovtsev Yevgeni Tarasov Sergey Timofeev

Raimondas Vainoras Serghei Epureanu Yuri Baturenko Andriy Annenkov Yuriy Hrytsyna Oleksandr Koval Hennadiy Orbu Vladyslav Prudius Dmytro Tiapushkin Victor Karpenko Maksim Shatskikh Europe Senad Repuh Edin Šaranović

External links

• Official website (Russian)