FC METALIST KHARKIV

'FC Metalist Kharkiv' () is a football team from Kharkiv, Ukraine currently playing in the Ukrainian Premier League.

Contents

History

USSR Competitions

Ukrainian Premier League

Stadium

Honors

Squad

Transfers In 2007/2008

Famous players

Former coaches

League and Cup History

References

External links

History

USSR Competitions

FC Metalist Kharkiv was initially founded in December 1925, when a local train construction facility provided funding and allowed use of its territory to start a football club. Ten years later, the club won the city of Kharkiv championship, which allowed the club to enter the USSR Cup in the following season. Following World War II, the club resumes its play in local competitions, promoting itself to the Soviet Second League B in 1947 only to be demoted three seasons later.
In 1956, Metalist returned to Soviet Second League B and would be promoted 4 years later to the Soviet Second League. In 1978, the club was promoted to Soviet First League and two years later, the club finished third in the competition barely missing promotion to the top flight. The following season, the club improved on their previous performance and won the Soviet First League outright to earn a spot in Soviet Top League. The club would appear in the remaining 10 seasons of the Soviet Top League with several successes on the domestic front. In 1983, Metalist was a runner-up in the USSR Cup (losing 1-0 to Shakhtar Donetsk) and few years later in 1988 would win the cup, beating Torpedo Moscow by a score of 2-0. As a result, Metalist Kharkiv earned a trip to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup--their only European appearance to date. Metalist would only advance to the 1/16 finals of the cup, beating Yugoslavia side Borac Banja Luka and losing to the Dutch club Roda JC.

Ukrainian Premier League

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Metalist would take part in the premier season of the Ukrainian Premier League in 1992. That season, Metalist took 5th place, an achievement it would never top until the 2006-07 season, finishing in 5th place three more times since, the most notable coming during the 2001-02 season. The club finished with 40 points, on par with FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhya and FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk for a three-way tie. Metalist was expected to take 4th place (and subsequently compete in the UEFA Cup) by virtue of having the best three-way head-to-head record among the three teams (which is the official tie-breaker to be used in domestic competitions), but following a protest by FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhya and an arbitrary decision by PFL (the administrative body of the UPL), FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhya was awarded 4th place on grounds that they had better head-to-head records independently against either side ^[1]. Following unsuccessful protests from Metalist, a disheartened management, team and fan base would see the club finish last the following season and earning a demotion to the Persha Liha. However, the club would return to the UPL after one season and following a financial crisis and a takeover of the club by UkrSibbank co-owner Oleksandr Yaroslavsky, steady investment would see Metalist show improvement and balanced performance. In the 2006-07 season, the club secured third place in the UPL and a spot in the UEFA Cup 2007-08. The draw was on the 31st of August and they were drawn to play English Premier League side Everton F.C..

Stadium

''Main articles: Metalist Stadium''


Club's main ground is Metalist Stadium, it was constructed in 1926 and currently holds 30 000 spectators, it was reconstructed on several occasions, with the latest one starting in 2006 and ongoing to the present day. The first match to take place in the new stadium was ''Metalist'' against Dnipropetrovsk, the game finished with a draw 2:2. During the 1960s the stadium gained notoriety in USSR for having the best lawn and first drainage system in the country.^[2]
As Metalist Stadium is scheduled to be one of the venues for Euro 2012, it was decided to reconstruct and expand the arena and turn it into a modern recreational and leisure facility. Capacity of the stadium is planned to increase by 13 thousand, with final capacity being around 43 000. The restoration works commenced in autumn 2006 and are due to be finished by the end of 2008.the metalist fans are well known for giving away fans a good anal sex session before getting on the train , some fans have been fisted!!

Honors

★ 'USSR Cup: 1'
:: 1988
'Runner-Up'

★ 'USSR Cup: 1'
:: 1983

★ 'USSR Super Cup: 1'
:: 1988

★ 'USSR Federation Cup: 1'
:: 1987

★ 'Ukrainian Cup'
'Runner-Up'
:: 1992

Squad

Squad is given according to the club's official website [1], as of July 27, 2007.

Transfers In 2007/2008

★

★

★

Famous players

★ Sergei Baltacha ★ Leonid Buriak

★ Pavel Yakovenko ★ Volodymyr Bessonov

★ Serhiy Kandaurov ★ Serhiy Skachenko

Former coaches

★ A. Bem (1947-1948) ★ I. Zolotukhin (1957-1958) ★ V. Zub (1959) ★ A. Ponamaryov (1960-1961) ★ V. Zub (1962) ★ V. Zhilin (1962-1963) ★ V. Novikov (1963-1964) ★ E. Eliseev (1965-1966) ★ V. Kanevsky (1966-1971) ★ V. Zub (1974-1975) ★ O. Oshenkov (1975-1976) ★ E. Lemeshko (1977-1988) ★ L. Tkachenko (1989-1992) ★ V. Kamarzaev (1994-1995) ★ V. Udovenko (1996) ★ Mykhailo Fomenko (1996-2000) ★ Mykhailo Fomenko (2001-2003) ★ Gennadiy Litovchenko (2003-2004) ★ Aleksandr Zavarov (2005) ★ Miron Markevich (2005-)

League and Cup History

:

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Domestic Cup	Europe		Notes
1992	1st	'6'	18	8	5	5	21	16	'21'	Runner-up
1992-93	1st	'5'	30	12	7	11	37	34	'31'	1/2 finals
1993-94	1st	'18'	34	6	8	20	22	63	'20'	1/16 finals			Relegated
1994-95	Appeared in lower levels									1/64 finals
1995-96	Appeared in lower levels
1996-97	Appeared in lower levels
1997-98	Appeared in lower levels									1/16 finals			Promoted
1998-99	1st	'6'	30	14	5	11	31	32	'47'	1/4 finals
1999-00	1st	'5'	30	12	8	10	41	35	'44'	1/16 finals
2000-01	1st	'9'	26	8	7	11	27	37	'31'	1/8 finals
2001-02	1st	'5'	26	11	7	8	35	36	'40'	1/4 finals
2002-03	1st	'16'	30	6	5	19	19	43	'23'	1/16 finals			Relegated
2003-04	Appeared in lower levels									1/16 finals			Promoted
2004-05	1st	'11'	30	9	7	14	25	37	'34'	1/16 finals
2005-06	1st	'5'	30	12	7	11	35	42	'43'	1/8 finals
2006-07	1st	'3'	30	18	7	5	40	20	'61'	1/2 finals

References

1. Ukraine 2001/02
2. OSK Metalist official website

External links

★ Official website

★ Unofficial website

★ Ukrainian Soccer Team Metalist

★ Ukrainian Soccer news article