FC Sodovik Sterlitamak

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Sodovik

Full name	Football Club Sodovik Sterlitamak
Founded	1961
Ground	Sodovik Stadium, Sterlitamak (Capacity 5,180)
Chairman	Aleksandr Zhivayev
Manager	Gennady Gridin
League	Russian First Division
2007	21st

FC Sodovik Sterlitamak (Russian: ФК «Содовик» Стерлитамак) are a Russian football club based in Sterlitamak. Currently the club plays in the Russian Second Division.

[edit] History

FC Sodovik (literally: "soda worker") is a team owned by OAO Soda. The team played in the Bashkortostan championship, winning it three times in 1967, 1979, and 1991. In 1992 Sodovik replaced Kauchuk, another team from Sterlitamak, in the newly formed Russian Second League. Kauchuk had played in the Soviet Class B in 1966–1969, and in the Soviet Second League B in 1990–1991.

In 1994 Sodovik were moved to the Third League after restructuring of the leagues, and in 1996 they finished first in their zone to win promotion to the Second League. In 2001 and 2002 Sodovik were the runners-up in their Second Division zone.

In 2004 Sodovik were on course to become the winners of their zone, but one of their players, Zviad Dzheladze, was proved to have false Russian citizenship. Foreign players are not allowed to play in the Second Division, and all games in which Dzheladze had taken part were declared forfeited by Sodovik. As a result, Sodovik lost 57 points and moved from first position in the league to the last one. However, the team managed to escape the relegation.

In 2005 Sodovik finished first in the Ural-Povolzhye zone and were promoted to the First Division. In 2006 the team finished sixth, recording the best result in history. They were then relegated to the Second Division fromm 21st place.