FC Metalist Kharkiv

Metalist Kharkiv

Full name	Football Club Metalist Kharkiv
Nickname(s)	Hor'ky (The Weasels)
Founded	11 December 1925 (1925-12-11)
Ground	OSC Metalist
Ground Capacity	40,003
Owner	Serhiy Kurchenko
President	Serhiy Kurchenko
Head coach	Oleksandr Sevidov
League	Ukrainian Premier League
2014–15	6th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Football Club Metalist Kharkiv (Ukrainian: Футбо́льний Клуб Металі́ст Ха́рків [mɛtɐ'list 'xɑrkiw]) is a Ukrainian and a former Soviet professional football club based in Kharkiv.

It competes in the Ukrainian Premier League, the top football league in the country. Founded in 1925, the team worked its way up the rungs of the Soviet football system, eventually being promoted to the Soviet Top League in 1960. After a difficult period which included relegation, Metalist was promoted to the Top League again in 1982, where it remained until the league's dissolution. The club won the Soviet Cup once, and were also runners-up once. They have also won the bronze title of the Ukrainian Premier League six times in a row, starting in the 2006–07 season.

Metalist's home is the 40,003 capacity multi-use Metalist Stadium. The stadium was originally built in 1926 and was recently reconstructed to its current capacity to host Euro 2012 football matches.

History

USSR competitions

The team has played under the following names: KhPZ (1936–1946), Dzerzhinets (1947–1956), Avangard (1956–1965), Metallist (1965–1991) and FC Metalist (since 1992).

FC Metalist Kharkiv was initially founded on 11 December 1925, when a local locomotive construction facility (today the Malyshev Factory) provided funding and allowed use of its land to start a football club.^[1] Ten years later, the club won the city of Kharkiv championship,^[1] which allowed the club to enter the USSR Cup in the following season.^[1] Following World War II, the club resumed playing in local competitions, promoting itself to the Soviet Second League B in 1947^[1] only to be demoted three seasons later.

In 1956, Metalist as Avanhard returned to the Soviet Second League B^[1] replacing its city rivals Lokomotyv Khakriv. Soon thereafter it was promoted first to Soviet First League in 1958, and later to the Soviet Top League in 1960. The club stayed in Top League for 4 seasons, but was demoted to First League in 1963, continuing its decline with demotion to Second League. In 1978, the club was promoted to the Soviet First League^[1] and two years later, the club finished third in the competition narrowly 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.^[1] The club sustained 10 seasons of the Soviet Top League with several successes on the domestic front. In 1983, Metalist was the runner-up in the USSR Cup (losing 1–0 to Shakhtar Donetsk) and a few years later in 1988 would win the cup, beating Torpedo Moscow 2–0.^[1] As a result, Metalist Kharkiv earned a trip to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Metalist only advanced to the last sixteen of the competition, beating Yugoslavian side Borac Banja Luka and losing to the Dutch club Roda JC.

Ukrainian Premier League

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the formation of an independent Ukraine, Metalist joined the inaugural season of the Ukrainian Premier League in 1992. The club finished in 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 a 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.^[2] Following unsuccessful protests from Metalist, a disheartened management, team and fan base would see the club finish bottom in the following season and earning a demotion to the Ukrainian First League. However, the club would return to the UPL after one season and following a financial crisis and a takeover of the club by UkrSibbank owner Oleksandr Yaroslavsky, steady investment would see Metalist show improvement and balanced performance. Yaroslavsky sold the club to new owner Serhiy Kurchenko late December 2012.^[3] Kurchenko left Ukraine in February 2014 and his current whereabouts are unknown.^[4]

European Competitions

In the 2006–07 season, Metalist finished third place in the league, qualifying for the UEFA Cup 2007–08, for their second appearance in a UEFA competition. They were drawn against English club Everton. The first leg, away at Goodison Park, ended in a 1–1 draw. Everton won the second leg 3–2, eliminating Metalist.

Metalist's next European competition was the UEFA Cup 2008–09 season. Metalist beat Beşiktaş 4–2 on aggregate in the first round to qualify for the group stage. Here they were grouped with Galatasaray, Olympiacos, Hertha Berlin, and Benfica. Metalist finished top of the group, beating Galatasaray, Olympiacos, and Benfica, and drawing 0–0 with Hertha. In the Round of 32 Metalist defeated Italian club Sampdoria 3–0 on aggregrate, setting up for an all-Ukrainian Round of 16 tie versus Dynamo Kyiv. After losing in Kiev 1–0, Metalist won the return leg 3–2, but were eliminated on the away goals rule.

When the competition was re-branded as the Europa League for the 2009–10 season, Metalist beat Croatian side HNK Rijeka 4–1 on aggregate in the third qualifying round before losing 2–1 on aggregate to Austrian side SK Sturm Graz despite holding them 1–1 in Graz. The following season they finished 2nd in Group I behind Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven, thus qualifying for the Round of 32 where they were thrashed 6–0 on aggregate by German side Bayer Leverkusen. They reached the quarter-finals the following season beating Greek side Olympiacos on away goals in the round of 16. However Sporting Lisbon eliminated Myron Markevych's side. The following season they faced Bayer Leverkusen again two seasons on from the Germans' 6–0 aggregate hammering of Myron Markevych's team in the round of 32 in the 2010–11 competition. After beating Leverkusen 2–0 on 22 November 2012, Metalist finished above Sami Hyypiä's team on head-to-head points as they both finished on 13 points and had played out a goalless draw at the BayArena. Next, they faced English club Newcastle United in the round of 32. After holding them to a goalless draw at St James' Park in the 1st leg on February 14 in which Magpies striker Papiss Cisse had two goals wrongly disallowed for off-side, Shola Ameobi's penalty sent Alan Pardew's team through 1–0 on aggregate.

In August 2013 UEFA disqualified Metalist Kharkiv from UEFA 2013/2014 competitions.^{[5][nb 1]}

Stadium

As Metalist Stadium was one of the venues for Euro 2012, the management decided to reconstruct and expand the arena and turn it into a modern recreational and leisure facility. In May 2008, Metalist Arena was the venue for 2008 Ukrainian Cup Final.

Honours and achievements

Domestic

Ukrainian Premier League:

• Runners-up (1): 2012–13
• Third placed (6): 2006–07, 2007–08 (stripped^[5]), 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14

Soviet / Ukrainian First League:

• Winners (1): 1981
• Runners-up (1): 2003–04

Championship of the Ukrainian SSR:

• Winners (1): 1978^[1]

Soviet / Ukrainian Cup:

• Winners (1): 1988
• Runners-up (2): 1983, 1992^[1]

Soviet League Cup:

• Runners-up (1): 1987

Soviet / Ukrainian Super Cup:

• Runners-up (1): 1989

International

United Tournament:

• Runners-up (1): 2014

Football kits and sponsors

Rivalry

Metalist Kharkiv supporters biggest rival today is Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.^[13] Despite this fans of both clubs marched in support of a "united Ukraine" in Kharkiv during the April 2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine.^[13]

Players

Current squad

As of 13 February 2016^[14][15]

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 Denys Sydorenko 2 MF Oleksiy Polyanskyi (on loan from Shakhtar) 7 MF Ivan Bobko 8 MF Serhiy Barylko 12 GK Rustam Khudzhamov (on loan from Shakhtar) 13 DF Ivan Zotko 15 DF Dmytro Ryzhuk (on loan from Dynamo Kyiv) 18 MF Oleksandr Noyok 21 FW Artem Besyedin (on loan from Dynamo Kyiv) 23 GK Serhiy Pohorilyi (captain) 29 GK Oleksandr Horyainov

No. Position Player 42 DF Yevhen Zubeyko 43 MF Yuriy Tkachuk 44 MF Oleh Synytsya 46 MF Maksym Averyanov 48 FW Bohdan Boychuk 55 FW Ivan Rodić 80 FW Volodymyr Pryyomov 88 DF Oleksiy Kurylov 95 DF Eduard Sobol (on loan from Shakhtar) MF Artem Kasyanov 21 MF Ihor Kharatin (on loan from Dynamo Kyiv)

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 MF Artem Putivtsev (at Termalica Bruk-Bet Nieciecza)

No. Position Player FW Volodymyr Barilko (at Chornomorets)

Player records

Still active players in bold.

Top goalscorers

As of 25 May 2014^[16]

#	Name	Years	League	Cup	Europe	Other	Total
1	Marko Dević	2006–12 2013–14	084 !84	004 !4	010 !10	000 !0	098 !98
2	Nikolai Korolyov	1956–66	070 !70	003 !3	008 !8	000 !0	086 !86
3	Vladimir Linke	1976–85 1994–96	077 !77	004 !4	000 !0	000 !0	081 !81
4	Yuri Tarasov	1983–91 1993–94	061 !61	011 !11	002 !2	000 !0	074 !74
5	Nodar Bachiashvili	1978–82	067 !67	001 !1	000 !0	000 !0	068 !68
6	Yuri Tsymbalyuk	1973–77 1981	052 !52	004 !4	000 !0	000 !0	056 !56
7	Oleksandr Karabuta	1991–00	046 !46	005 !5	000 !0	000 !0	051 !51
8	Cleiton Xavier	2010–14	038 !38	010 !10	000 !0	000 !0	048 !48
9	Stanislav Bernikov	1977–83	037 !37	004 !4	0 !0	0 !0	041 !41
10	Sergey Melko	1974–75 1978–82	038 !38	002 !2	000 !0	000 !0	040 !40

• Other – National Super Cup

Most appearances

As of 25 May 2014^[17]

#	Name	Years	League	Cup	Europe	Other	Total
1	Oleksandr Horyainov	1993–95 1997–03 2005–	422 !422	032 !32	037 !37	000 !0	491 !491
2	Vladimir Linke	1976–85 1994–96	351 !351	025 !25	000 !0	000 !0	376 !376
3	Nikolai Korolyov	1956–66 1969	353 !353	008 !8	000 !0	000 !0	361 !361
4	Ivan Panchishin	1985–90 1992–94 1996–98	282 !282	035 !35	004 !4	000 !0	321 !321
5	Evgeniy Panfilov	1958–69	312 !312	008 !8	000 !0	000 !0	320 !320
6	Yuri Sivuha	1976 1979–88	268 !268	038 !38	002 !2	000 !0	308 !308
7	Aleksandr Savchenko	1965–73	260 !260	015 !15	000 !0	000 !0	275 !275
8	Viktor Aristov	1967–73	254 !254	016 !16	000 !0	000 !0	270 !270
9	Papa Gueye	2006–15	206 !206	014 !14	049 !49	000 !0	269 !269
10	Alexander Kosolapov	1974–78 1980–83	249 !249	017 !17	000 !0	000 !0	266 !266

• Other – National Super Cup

League and Cup history

Soviet Union

Ukraine

Metalist in Europe

UEFA Team ranking

Rank	Country	Team	Points
45		Fiorentina	49.387
46		Salzburg	46.185
47		Fulham	45.949
48		Metalist Kharkiv	59.693
49		Lille	45.300
50		Copehagen	45.260
51		Hannover 96	42.328

Last update: September 15, 2014
Source: xs4all.nl

European history

Metalist Kharkiv participates in European competitions since 1988 after playing its first against Borac Banja Luka. Since 2007, however, the club continuously participates on annual basis with variable successes.

Best results:

Season	Achievement	Notes
UEFA Cup / Europa League
2011–12	Quarter-Finalist	eliminated by Sporting CP 1–2 in Lisbon, 1–1 in Kharkiv

Games of Metalist in UEFA competitions
Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1988–89	Cup Winners' Cup	First round	Borac Banja Luka	4–0	0–2	4–2
		Second round	Roda JC	0–0	0–1	0–1
2007–08	UEFA Cup	First round	Everton	2–3	1–1	3–4
2008–09	UEFA Cup	First round	Beşiktaş J.K.	4–1	0–1	4–2
		Group B	Hertha BSC	0–0	—	1st
			Galatasaray	—	1–0
			Olympiacos	1–0	—
			Benfica	—	1–0
		Round of 32	Sampdoria	2–0	1–0	3–0
		Round of 16	Dynamo Kyiv	3–2	0–1	3–3 (a)
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	Third qualifying round	Rijeka	2–0	2–1	4–1
		Play-off round	Sturm Graz	0–1	1–1	1–2
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	Play-off round	Omonia	2–2	1–0	3–2
		Group I	PSV Eindhoven	0–2	0–0	2nd
			Sampdoria	2–1	0–0
			Debrecen	2–1	5–0
		Round of 32	Bayer Leverkusen	0–4	0–2	0–6
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	Play-off round	Sochaux	0–0	4–0	4–0
		Group G	AZ Alkmaar	1–1	1–1	1st
			Austria Vienna	4–1	2–1
			Malmö FF	3–1	4–1
		Round of 32	Red Bull Salzburg	4–0	4–1	8–1
		Round of 16	Olympiacos	0–1	2–1	2–2 (a)
		Quarter-finals	Sporting CP	1–1	1–2	2–3
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	Play-off round	Dinamo București	2–1	2–0	4–1
		Group K	Bayer Leverkusen	2–0	0–0	1st
			Rosenorg	3–1	2–1
			Rapid Wien	2–0	0–1
		Round of 32	Newcastle United	0–1	0–0	0–1
2013–14	UEFA Champions League	Third qualifying round	PAOK	1–1	2–0	3–1
		Play-off round	Schalke 04	Disqualified due to match-fixing[19]
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	Play-off round	Ruch Chorzów	0–0	1–0	1–0
		Group L	Legia Warsaw	0–1	1–2	4th
			Trabzonspor	1–2	1–3
			KSC Lokeren	0–1	0–1

Managers

• Yuriy Voynov (1972–73)
• Mykhaylo Fomenko (July 1996 – June 00), (July 2001 – Nov 02)
• Hennadiy Lytovchenko (July 2003 – Dec 04)
• Oleksandr Zavarov (Jan 2005 – June 5)
• Myron Markevych (July 2005–24 Feb 2014)
• Ihor Rakhayev (24 Feb 2014– 4 Jun 2015)
• Oleksandr Sevidov (4 Jun 2015– )

See also

• FC Metalist Kharkiv Reserves and Youth Team

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FC Metalist Kharkiv.

• Official website
• Vadim Shevyakin. Первый «Металлист» Маркевича (The first Metalist of Markevych). "mediaport". 7 September 2013.