FC Mariupol

Mariupol

Full name	Football Club Mariupol
Founded	1960 (1960)
Ground	Illichivets Stadium, Mariupol
Ground Capacity	12,680
President	Pavlo Rozumnyi
Head coach	Oleksandr Sevidov
League	Ukrainian Premier League
2016–17	1st (promotion)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Logo of the original owner Azovstal iron and steel works

Logo of Azovmash, the owner of SC Novator in 1974-1992

Logo of the Illich Steel and Iron Works

Old logo as Illichivets

Football Club Mariupol (Ukrainian: Футбо́льний клуб «Маріу́поль» [mɐri'upolʲ], Russian: Футбо́льный клуб «Мариу́поль» [mərʲɪˈupəlʲ]) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Mariupol.

History

Metalurh Zhdanov

Previously the city of Mariupol hosted a football team that competed consistently in Ukrainian republican competitions among teams of physical culture (amateur teams). The first mentioning of a Mariupol team could be traced to 1936 when it lost to Dynamo Kryvyi Rih 0:5 as part of the 1936 Soviet Cup. Next season in 1937 it was seeded to play against another team from Berdyansk as part of the Ukrainian championship, but did not appear for the game and was eliminated. After that there is no evidence a team that represented the city until after the World War II. After the war, Mariupol sometimes was represented by two teams, but usually the main was named Metalurh Zhdanov. At the end of 1958 it was renamed into Avanhard Zhdanov.

Azovstal and Azovets

Football Club Mariupol traces its history to 1960 when it was established as Azovstal based on a former two teams of physical culture (a type of Soviet amateur clubs) FC Avanhard Zhdanov and FC Shakhtar Rutchenkove. The new team of masters Azovstal Zhdanov sponsored by the local Azovstal iron and steel works was admitted to Soviet competitions for teams of masters in Class B (at that time the second division). It was eliminated soon in 1964. After skipping one season the club again was admitted for the 1966 Soviet competitions for teams of masters in Class B, now as Azovets. During that time the club stayed in professional competitions a little bit longer and in 1971 changed its name to more recognizable Metalurh. However soon after changing its name in 1973 the club again was relegated and now for much longer period of time.

Illichivets

Soon before the final collapse of the Soviet Union, the club was reestablished as Novator in 1989 and competed in Ukrainian amateur competitions. In 1991 Novator became a champion of the Ukrainian football championship among amateur clubs. Due to reformation of the Ukrainian football competitions, the new amateur champion was admitted to the newly formed Ukrainian First League.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1992, the club changed its name to old one Azovets (part of the Azovmash's SC Novator). In summer of 1995 it merged with FC Dynamo Luhansk and during following spring changed its name again to Metalurh.

FC Metalurh Mariupol changed its name to Illichivets during the winter break of the 2002–2003 season when the club was acquired by the Illich Steel and Iron Works.

Illichivets were relegated to Ukrainian First League in the 2006–07 season after finishing 15th (out of 16). However, they returned to the Ukrainian Premier League the following season after finishing as champions in the 2007–08 Ukrainian First League.

FC Mariupol

In 2017 as part of decommunization process of Ukraine, the club changed its name of Illichivets to simply FC Mariupol, officially adopting on 14 June 2017^[1] for the 2017–18 Ukrainian Premier League season.^[2]

Name change

• 1960–1966: Azovstal
• 1966–1971: Azovets
• 1971–1974: Metallurg
• 1974–1989: club status is uncertain
• 1989–1992: Novator
• 1992–1996: Azovets (in 1995 merged with FC Dynamo Luhansk)
• 1996–2002: Metalurh
• 2002–2017: Illichivets
• Since 2017: FC Mariupol

Honours

• Ukrainian First League
  • Winners (2): 2007–08, 2016–17
• Ukrainian Second League
  • Winners (1): 1995–96
• Ukrainian amateur championship
  • Winners (1): 1991

Football kits and sponsors

Players

Current squad

As of 31 July 2017^[4][5]

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 Yevhen Halchuk 4 DF Yevhen Neplyakh 6 MF Vitaliy Vitsenets 7 MF Ruslan Kisil 8 MF Vitaliy Koltsov 9 MF Dmytro Myshnyov 11 MF Vyacheslav Churko (on loan from Shakhtar) 12 GK Rustam Khudzhamov (captain) 13 DF Serhiy Yavorskyi 17 MF Roger Gomis 19 MF Ihor Tyschenko 20 DF Ihor Kyryukhantsev

No. Position Player 22 MF Artur Avahimyan 23 DF Oleksandr Nasonov 29 MF Denys Kozhanov 30 DF Maksym Bilyi 31 MF Eriks Santos 39 FW Andriy Boryachuk (on loan from Shakhtar) 50 MF Serhiy Bolbat (on loan from Shakhtar) 79 DF Serhiy Vakulenko (on loan from Shakhtar) 86 FW Ruslan Fomin 88 MF Serhiy Rudyka 94 MF Serhiy Horbunov MF Serhiy Prykhodko

Out on loan

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

Coaches and administration

League and Cup history

Soviet Union

Ukraine

European record

Mariupol managed to qualify for European competitions only once in 2004 for the UEFA Cup through the special UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking award.

Season	Competition	Round	Opponents	Home	Away	Aggregate
2004–05	UEFA Cup	1Q	Banants	2–0	2–0	4–0
		2Q	Austria Wien	0–0	0–3	0–3

Managers

• Mykola Pavlov (1 July 1997 – 12 Nov 2004)
• Ivan Balan (13 Nov 2004 – 22 April 2007)
• Semen Altman (1 July 2007 – 14 Dec 2007)
• Oleksandr Ishchenko (2 Jan 2008 – 2 Sep 2008)
• Ilya Blyznyuk (2 Sep 2008 – 1 Nov 2010)
• Oleksandr Volkov (interim) (1 Nov 2010 – 27 Nov 2010)
• Valeriy Yaremchenko (27 Nov 2010 – 5 Oct 2011)
• Ihor Leonov (interim) (6 Oct 2011 – 29 May 2012)
• Mykola Pavlov (29 May 2012 – 30 May 2015)
• Valeriy Kriventsov (22 June 2015 – 10 June 2016)
• Oleksandr Sevidov (10 June 2016 – present)

See also

• FC Illichivets-2 Mariupol
• FC Illichivets Mariupol Reserves and Youth Team
• BC Azovmash, basketball team of the former SC Novator

Notes

References

External links

• Official website