FK Metalist Kharkiv - last updated on 15 December 2008
(Courtesy of Johnny Beaufays)
Club name: FK Metalist Kharkiv
(ФК Металіст Харків
)
Foundation: 1925
City: Kharkiv
(Харків
)
Colours: Yellow and blue
Website: www.metallist.kharkov.ua
Honours:
Soviet Cup - 1 (1988)
Ukrainian SSR Championship - 1 (1978)
A bit of history:
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 in 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 resumed 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 at first to Soviet First League in 1958 later to the Soviet Top League in 1960. She stayed in Top League for 4 seasons and demoted to First League in 1963. She continued her decline and demoted to 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 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 by a score of 2-0. As a result, Metalist Kharkiv earned a trip to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Metalist would only advance to the 1/16 finals of the competition, beating Yugoslavian side Borac Banja Luka and losing to the Dutch club Roda JC.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the formation of an independent Ukraine, 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
[2]. 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, their only second ever European appearance. The competition drew Metalist against English club Everton. The first leg, away at Goodison Park, resulted in a 1-1 draw, but Everton won the second leg 3-2 eliminating Metalist. Year 2008-09 FC metalist also played in 1st round UEFA Cup With Besiktas (Istanbul). First match resulted in 1-0, Besiktas won. In domestic game Metalist won 4-1 and by the results of the 2 matches came to the group stage of UEFA Cup.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
FK Metalist Kharkiv
