FC Luch-Energiya Vladivostok

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Luch-Energiya
Luch-Energia logo
Full name Football Club
Luch-Energiya Vladivostok
Founded 1958
Ground Dynamo Stadium,
Vladivostok
(Capacity 10,500)
Chairman Flag of Russia Aleksandr Kostenko
Manager Flag of Croatia Zoran Vulić
League Russian Premier League
2007 Russian Premier League, 14th
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away colours

FC Luch-Energiya (Russian: Футбольный клуб "Луч-Энергия" Владивосток) is a Russian football club based in Vladivostok. In 2005, Luch-Energia won the Russian First Division and played in the Premier League in 2006 and 2007, although was almost relegated in the latter year.

The club was called Luch before 2003, when it was renamed Luch-Energia due to sponsorship from Dalenergo, an energy distribution company.

[edit] History

Luch has been playing in the USSR championship since 1958. The club played in the Far East regional tournament of "B-class" teams and eventually won it in 1965, earning promotion to "A-class". Luch played in this regional tournament until league reorganization in 1972.

From 1972 to 1991, Luch played in the Eastern zone of Soviet Second League. The club's best result was a runner-up position in 1984.

In 1992, after the dissolution of Soviet Union, Luch was entitled to play in the Eastern zone of Russian First League and won that tournament. Luch played in Russian Top League in 1993 and was relegated, having finished 15th.

Luch played in Russian First Division from 1994 until relegation in 1997, and in Russian Second Division from 1998 to 2003. In 2003, Luch-Energia finished 1st in the Eastern zone and earned promotion. The club spent another 2 years in First Division, earning promotion to Premier League in 2005.

Situated in the far east of the country, their location poses a significant problem for away teams. When playing FC Zenit Saint Petersburg at home, a trio of Zenit fans (Evgeny Stepanov, Aleksandr Zaraysky and Veronika Davidova) drove 15,000km across the country only for their car to break down when in Vladivostok, leaving them unable to drive home. These fans thus took the Trans-Siberian Railway back to Saint Petersburg, upon which the club rewarded them with a new car on October 1, 2006. In addition to this, Igor Akinfeev, the CSKA Moscow goalkeeper, said that "they should play in the Japanese League", after his team lost 4-0 after a seven hour flight.[1]

[edit] Current squad

As of 10 February 2008.

No. Position Player
1 Flag of Russia GK Aleksandr Chikhradze
2 Flag of Côte d'Ivoire DF Da Costa Goore
3 Flag of Ukraine DF Dmytro Semochko
4 Flag of Serbia DF Rade Novković
5 Flag of the Republic of Macedonia DF Igor Kralevski
6 Flag of the Czech Republic DF Marian Palát
7 Flag of Russia MF Yevgeni Kuznetsov
8 Flag of Russia MF Aleksey Ivanov
9 Flag of Belarus FW Vitali Lanko
10 Flag of Russia FW Aleksandr Tikhonovetsky
11 Flag of Russia FW Maksim Astafyev
12 Flag of Russia FW Igor Strelkov
14 Flag of Russia FW Semyon Melnikov
No. Position Player
15 Flag of Russia MF Beslan Adzhindzhal
17 Flag of Russia DF Aleksandr Sheshukov
20 Flag of Russia FW Andrei Ospeshinsky
21 Flag of Russia MF Ruslan Adzhindzhal
23 Flag of the Czech Republic GK Marek Čech
24 Flag of Russia MF Dmitry A. Smirnov
27 Flag of Russia MF Georgi Bazayev
29 Flag of Russia MF Aleksey Arkhipov
30 Flag of Russia MF Dmitry N. Smirnov
77 Flag of Russia MF Roman Voidel
90 Flag of Russia GK Kirill Muzyka
7 Flag of Georgia (country) MF Levani Gvazava
TBA Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina MF Dario Damjanović

The following players are listed by Luch-Energia's website as reserve players. They are eligible to play for the first team.

No. Position Player
31 Flag of Russia FW Vladimir Merkulov
32 Flag of Russia FW Viktor Fomichyov
35 Flag of Russia DF Pavel Gannesen
56 Flag of Russia FW Maksim Kazakov
58 Flag of Russia MF Sergey Litvinov
No. Position Player
60 Flag of Russia DF Sergei Fisenko
63 Flag of Russia FW Anton Kasatkin
69 Flag of Russia GK Andrei Fisenko
87 Flag of Russia MF Artyom Mikheyev
99 Flag of Russia MF Yevgeni Ivanov

[edit] External links