FC Zorya Luhansk

Zorya Luhansk

Full name	Football Club Zorya Luhansk
Founded	1923
Ground	Avanhard Stadium
Capacity	22,288
Chairman	Yevhen Heller
Head Coach	Yuriy Vernydub
League	Ukrainian Premier League
2014–15	4th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

FC Zorya Luhansk (Ukrainian: ФК «Зоря» Луганськ [zoˈrʲɑ luˈɦɑnsʲk]), formerly known as Zorya Voroshilovgrad and Zorya-MALS, is a Ukrainian football team. Zorya Luhansk is based in the city of Luhansk (formerly known as Voroshilovgrad), Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine. However, because of the war in Eastern Ukraine, the team is currently playing its games at Slavutych-Arena in Zaporizhia.

History

The history of the club takes place at the dawn of the 20th century right after in the city of Luhansk was built the first stadium. The stadium was built in 1922 under the personal order of Vladimir Lenin and later was named after him. The first games that involved participation of the Luhansk's teams first mentioned in 1911 and in 1913 in Kostyantynivka was created the regional football league of Donets basin. During the World War I and the following Soviet and German aggressions the league was suspended until 1920 when the situation in the region had stabilized.

The first Luhansk team was created in the Russian Empire in 1908 when the workers of the Russischen Maschinenbaugesellschaft Hartmann created the "Society of wise recreations". The football section was headed by the Czech specialist Henrich Drževikovski from Prague who was an instructor of gymnastics of the factory's ministerial school. That team played its games and conducted its training on the empty lot near the factory where today is located the sport hall "Zorya".

In 1923 the workers of the Luhansk steam train factory of the October Revolution (hence – the club's logo with a locomotive) organized their football team "Metalist" which became the forerunner of today's Zorya. The following year there was organized a championship of the newly created Luhansk okrug. In the final game the collective city team of Luhansk was victorious against its rival from the city of Snizhne winning it in overtime 1:0. In 1926 the All-Ukrainian Committee of the Mining Workers' council organized a team of Donbass miners that was based on the football players from Kadiyevka for tour games in Germany (Weimar Republic). There the Donbass team won four of their eight games. The following year in Luhansk took place an international game when the city team was challenged by their rivals from Austria. The Donbas players lost the game. In 1936 the football teams "Metalist" and "Dynamo" united into the united Luhansk city team which next year was given the name Dzerzhynets.^[1] The name "Dzerzhynets" derives from the steam locomotive that was produced at the steam train factory FD – "Felix Dzerzhinsky".^[1] That year "Dzerzhynets" got the 3rd place in the Ukrainian second league.

In 1937 "Dzerzhynets" won the 1st place in the Ukrainian second league and was promoted to the Ukrainian first league. Moreover, it reached 1/8 final of the Ukrainian Сup and 1/16 final of the Soviet Cup. The team consisted of the following players: Klad'ko (coach), Grebenyuk, Svidyns'ky, Mazanov, Morozov, Krasyuk, Nosko, Movchan, Brovenko, Chernyavs'ky, Voloschenko, Lokotosh, Sytnikov, Evdokymov, Myroshnikov, Ischenko.

In 1938 "Dzerzhynets" became the champion of Ukraine after having won 9 games and having played 2 games in a draw. It was admitted to the Soviet First League.

In 1972 Zorya did not only win its only Soviet championship, but also represented, re-enforced with only three players from other clubs, the USSR at the Brazilian Independence Cup (Taça Independência) mid-year. However only Volodymyr Onyshchenko represented the club at the Final of the European Football Championship few weeks earlier.

In the season 2005–06 the team won the first place in the Persha Liha, and has been promoted to the Vyscha Liha. Zorya was one of the original twenty teams to debut for the first season of the Ukrainian Premier League. The team played for five seasons until the 1995–96 season in which they finished eighteenth and where sent down to the Persha Liha. Zorya relegated to Druha Liha in 1996–97 season but she returned to Persha Liha in 2003–2004 season.

As Zorya Voroshilovgrad, the club had won the USSR Championship in 1972.

Reserve team

The reserve team of Zorya, Zorya Luhansk Reserves (Ukrainian: ФК «Зоря» Луганськ дубль) are playing in the Ukrainian Premier Reserve League.

Sponsors

MediaMix Concept, D & M, Lir, and also Steel Symphony.

Football kits and sponsors

Years[2]	Football kit	Shirt sponsor
2006–2007	umbro	–
2007–2009	puma
2009–2010		dm bank[3]
2010–2011	nike	–
2011–2014		Holsten

Honours

Domestic competitions

Soviet competitions

• Soviet Top League
  • (1): 1972
• Soviet Cup
  • (2): 1974, 1975
• Republican championship
  • (3): 1938, 1962, 1986

Ukrainian competitions

• Ukrainian Persha Liha
  • (1): 2005
  • (1): 2004–05

Current squad

Squad is given according to the club's official site,^[4] and composed from players who playing in the main squad team as of 25 February 2016.

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Oleksiy Shevchenko 2 DF Artem Sukhotskyi 3 DF Mikhail Sivakov 4 MF Ihor Chaykovskyi 5 DF Artem Hordiyenko 6 MF Mykyta Kamenyuka (captain) 8 MF Vyacheslav Tankovskyi (on loan from Shakhtar) 10 FW Jaba Lipartia 11 FW Paulinho 12 DF Rafael Forster 16 DF Hryhoriy Yarmash 17 FW Yaroslav Kvasov 20 MF Oleksandr Karavayev (on loan from Shakhtar) 22 MF Željko Ljubenović

No. Position Player 23 MF Kyrylo Doroshenko 24 MF Dmytro Hrechyshkin (on loan from Shakhtar) 27 DF Yevhen Tkachuk 28 FW Pylyp Budkivskyi (on loan from Shakhtar) 29 MF Andriy Totovytskyi (on loan from Shakhtar) 30 GK Mykyta Shevchenko (on loan from Shakhtar) 34 MF Ivan Petryak (on loan from Shakhtar) 39 DF Yevhen Opanasenko 42 DF Dennis Emmanuel Bonaventure 44 DF Vyacheslav Checher 49 FW Dmytro Lukanov 59 FW Denys Bezborodko (on loan from Shakhtar) 91 GK Ihor Levchenko

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player GK Andriy Poltavtsev (on loan to Guria Lanchkhuti) MF Oleksandr Batyschev (on loan to Belshina Bobruisk)

No. Position Player MF Mykhaylo Shershen (on loan to Kremin Kremenchuk) MF Maksym Banasevych (on loan to Desna Chernihiv)

Most capped players

No.	Name	Playing period	League	Cup	Europe	Total
1	Anatoliy Kuksov	1969-1985	424	89	4	517
2	Yuriy Kolesnikov	1977-1992 (w/breaks)	382	81	0	461
3	Oleksandr Tkachenko	1967-1987 (w/breaks)	370	33	4	407
4	Oleksandr Zhuravlyov	1965-1979	316	34	2	352
5	Oleksandr Malyshenko	1978-1996	318	18	0	336
6	Vitaliy Tarasenko	1982-1990	323	10	0	333
7	Valeriy Galustov	1959-1968	326	4	0	330
8	Viktor Kuznetsov	1968-1979	272	42	4	318
9	Yuriy Yaroshenko	1982-1990	304	11	0	315
10	Serhiy Yarmolych	1984-1996 (w/breaks)	306	5	0	311

Top scoring players

No.	Name	Playing period	League	Cup	Europe	Total
1	Oleksandr Malyshenko	1978-1996	121	3	0	124
2	Anatoliy Kuksov	1969-1985	89	7	1	97
3	Yuriy Kolesnikov	1977-1992 (w/breaks)	81	7	0	88
4	Timerlan Guseinov	1985-1993 (w/breaks)	66	2	0	68
5	Aleksandr Gulevsky	1957-1961	61	0	0	61
6	Viktor Kuznetsov	1968-1979	40	10	1	51
7	Yuriy Yaroshenko	1982-1990	47	1	0	48
8	Ihor Balaba	1960-1968	42	2	0	44
9	Yuriy Yeliseyev	1970-1977	36	7	0	43
7	Yevgeniy Volchenkov	1961-1964	40	1	0	41

Coaches

Ivan Kladko (Jan 1936 – Dec 39) Aleksandr Abramov (Jan 1957 – Sept 57) Alexey Vodyagin (Sept 1957 – Dec 59) Mikhail Antonevich (Jan 1960 – July 60) Hryhoriy Balaba (Aug 1960 – Dec 61) German Zonin (Jan 1962 – May 64) Oleksandr Alpatov (May 1964 – Dec 64) Konstantin Beskov (Jan 1965 – Dec 65) Yevgeny Goryansky (Jan 1966 – Dec 67) Petro Stupakov (Jan 1968 – June 68) Viktor Gureyev (July 1968 – Sept 69) German Zonin (Sept 1969 – Dec 72) Vsevolod Blinkov (Jan 1973 – June 74) Yevgeny Pestov (June 1974 – Dec 74) Yuriy Zakharov (Jan 1975 – Dec 75) Yevgeny Pestov (Jan 1976 – Dec 76) Yozhef Sabo (Jan 1977 – Dec 77) Yuriy Zakharov (Jan 1978 – Dec 79) Vadym Dobyza (Jan 1980 – Dec 81)

Yuriy Rashchupkin (Jan 1982 – Dec 83) Oleh Bazilevich (Jan 1984 – Dec 84) Oleksandr Zhuravlyov (Jan 1985 – Dec 85) Vadym Dobyza (Dec 1985 – July 88) Anatoly Baidachny (Aug 1988 – Dec 89) Viktor Nosov (Jan 1990 – Aug 90) Anatoliy Kuksov (Aug 1990 – June 93) Anatoliy Shakun (June 1993 – March 94) Volodymyr Kobzarev (March 1994 – Dec 94) Yuriy Sevastyanov (Jan 1995 – March 95) Anatoliy Korshykov (March 1995 – April 95) Oleksandr Zhuravlyov (April 1995 – Oct 95) Anatoliy Korshykov (Oct 1995 – Nov 95) Viktor Aristov (Jan 1996 – June 96) Anatoliy Kuksov (Aug 1996 – Nov 96) Oleksandr Shakun (March 1997 – Nov 97) Vadym Dobyza (March 1998 – July 98) Oleksandr Shakun (interim) (Aug 1998) Vadym Dobyza (Aug 1998 – April 00)

Yuriy Yeliseyev (April 2000 – Nov 00) Serhiy Pohodin (March 2001 – Nov 01) Yuriy Yeliseyev (March 2002 – June 2) Volodymyr Kobzarev (July 2002 – July 3) Oleksiy Chystyakov (Aug 2003 – Sept 03) Yuriy Sevastyanov (interim) (Sept 2003) Oleksandr Dovbiy (Sept 2003 – June 4) Yuriy Koval (July 2004 – Aug 10, 2006) Yuriy Malyhin (interim) (Aug 2006) Volodymyr Bezsonov (Aug 25, 2006 – Nov 3, 2006) Yuriy Malyhin (interim) (Nov 2006 – Jan 07) Oleksandr Kosevych (Jan 1, 2007 – March 24, 2008) Anatoliy Volobuev (March 24, 2008 – May 18, 2009) Yuriy Dudnyk (interim) (May 18, 2009 – Sept 23, 2009) Yuriy Koval (Sept 23, 2009 – Dec 31, 2009) Anatoly Chantsev (Jan 1, 2010 – Nov 27, 2011) Yuriy Vernydub (Nov 28, 2011–)

Longest serving coaches

Last Updated after 2014/15 season

No.	Name	Time period	G	W	D	L	GS	GA	Achievement
1	Vadym Dobizha	1980-1988 (w/breaks)	259	114	55	90	358	331	10/24 (1987 Second Division)
2	German Zonin	1962-1972 (w/breaks)	178	77	62	39	241	149	Champion (1972 First Division)
3	Anatoliy Kuksov	1990-1997 (w/breaks)	105	52	18	35	154	117	12/20 (1992 First Division)
4	Yuriy Vernydub	2011-	100	37	30	33	130	128	4/14 (2014/15 First Division)
5	Yuriy Zakharov	1975-1979 (w/breaks)	94	25	30	39	111	143	9/16 (1975 and 1978 First Division)
6	Yuriy Rashchupkin	1982-1983	84	33	20	31	131	119	6/22 (1982 Second Division)
7	Yuriy Koval	2004-2009 (w/breaks)	81	48	18	15	137	55	3/18 (2004/05 Second Division)
8	Anatoly Baidachny	1988-1989	78	34	20	24	119	93	20/22 (1988 Second Division)
9	Yevgeny Goryansky	1966-1967	74	26	27	21	64	58	16/19 (1967 First Division)
10	Alexey Vodyagin	1957-1959	65	29	17	19	95	68	4/14 (1959 Second Division)

League and Cup history

The statistics is based on information from the club's official website.^[5]

Soviet competitions

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Domestic Cup	Europe		Notes
1975	1st (Top League)	9	30	10	11	9	32	37	31
1976		16	15	2	4	9	9	24	8
1976		12	15	6	2	7	12	17	14
1977		9	30	8	12	10	28	24	26
1978		9	30	9	8	13	38	44	26
1979		17	34	6	11	17	41	62	20				Relegated
1980	2nd (First League)	10	46	19	8	19	68	60	46
1981		15	46	16	13	17	44	53	44
1982		6	42	19	9	14	65	52	47
1983		13	42	14	11	17	66	67	39
1984		20	42	13	11	18	54	61	37				Relegated
1985	3rd (Second League)	6	26	11	7	8	37	25	29
		13	14	3	3	8	9	15	9				Ukrainian Championship
1986		2	26	13	8	5	40	26	34	1/64 finals
		1	14	12	2	0	29	9	26				Ukrainian Champions
		1	3	2	0	1	8	5	4				Promoted
1987	2nd (First League)	16	42	13	15	14	46	60	38	1/64 finals
1988		20	42	11	10	21	44	59	32	1/64 finals			Relegated
1989	3rd (Second League)	4	52	27	14	11	94	59	68	1/64 finals			Ukrainian Championship
1990		7	42	20	9	13	72	44	49	1/32 finals
1991		2	42	26	5	11	69	34	57	1/64 finals
1992		withdrew from competitions								1/32 finals

Ukrainian competitions

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Domestic Cup	Europe		Notes
1992	1st	12	18	6	5	7	23	23	17	1/16 finals
1992–93		15	30	10	4	16	26	46	24	1/8 finals
1993–94		14	34	10	5	18	24	46	26	1/8 finals
1994–95		16	34	10	5	19	35	70	35	1/16 finals
1995–96		18	34	4	4	26	16	80	16	1/16 finals			Relegated
1996–97	2nd	20	42	11	6	25	43	84	39	1/32 finals 2nd Stage
1997–98		19	46	16	5	25	58	84	53	1/32 finals			Relegated
1998–99	3rd "C"	2	26	18	2	6	55	17	56	1/32 finals
1999–00		3	26	17	2	7	42	21	53	1/8 finals 2nd League Cup
2000–01		5	30	15	5	10	49	35	50	1/8 finals 2nd League Cup
2001–02		9	34	15	6	13	61	51	51	Round 1
2002–03		1	28	23	2	3	62	17	71	1/32 finals			Promoted
2003–04	2nd	15	34	8	13	13	28	42	37	1/16 finals
2004–05		3	34	19	9	6	54	21	66	1/16 finals
2005–06		1	34	27	6	1	74	13	87	1/32 finals (forfeit)			Promoted
2006–07	1st	11	30	9	7	14	23	43	34	1/16 finals
2007–08		11	30	9	4	17	24	43	34	1/16 finals
2008–09		13	30	8	7	15	29	45	31	1/8 finals
2009–10		13	30	7	7	16	23	47	28	1/16 finals
2010–11		12	30	7	9	14	28	40	30	1/4 finals
2011–12		13	30	6	8	16	34	58	26	1/4 finals
2012–13		10	30	10	7	13	32	43	37	1/16 finals
2013–14		7	28	11	9	8	35	30	42	1/16 finals
2014–15		4	26	13	6	7	40	31	42	1/8 finals	EL	Play-off round
2015–16										1/2 finals	EL	Play-off round

European record

Its first European competition participation occurred in 1973–74 season in UEFA European Cup as the Soviet representative. Zorya played its first game as Zaria at its home stadium Avanhard (Avangard) on September 19, 1973 hosting the Cypriot club APOEL FC. After that season the club did not participate in continental competitions for over 40 years until 2014–15 season.

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
1973–74	UEFA European Cup	1R	APOEL FC	2–0	1–0	3–0
		2R	FC Spartak Trnava	0–1	0–0	0–1
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	2Q	KF Laçi	2–1	3–0	5–1
		3Q	Molde FK	1–1	2–1	3–2
		PO	Feyenoord	1–1	3–4	4–5
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	3Q	Charleroi	3–0	2–0	5–0
		PO	Legia Warsaw	0–1	2–3	2–4

Notes

• 1R: First round
• 2R: Second round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round
• 3Q: Third qualifying round
• PO: Play-off round

References

1. Luhansk football at the Our Luhansk football portal.
2. Jerseys of Ukrainian clubs
3. "Äèàïàçîí-Ìàêñèìóì Áàíê – Òîï-8 áàíêîâ ñ ðàçäóòûìè àêòèâàìè – Áèçíåñ – Forbes Óêðàèíà". Forbes.ua. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
4. "Официальный сайт ФК "Заря" – Луганск". Retrieved February 15, 2015.
5. Club's history. Zorya website.

External links

• Official website
• (Russian) zarya.lg.ua – Information site of fans of FC Zarya Lugansk
• (Ukrainian) Unofficial website
• (Ukrainian) "Zorya" (Dawn) of the football Luhansk-land
• (Russian) Luhansk Our Football. Statistics, historical trivia, regional competitions overview