FC Fakel Voronezh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
FC Fakel Voronezh
Logo of FC Fakel Voronezh.png
Full nameFootball club «Fakel» Voronezh
Nickname(s)Факелоны
(Fakelony)
Founded1947; 75 years ago (1947)
GroundTsentralny Profsoyuz Stadion, Voronezh
Capacity32,750
PresidentRoman Askhabadze
Head CoachOleg Vasilenko[1]
CoachDmitry Pyatibratov
Alexander Dutov
LeagueRussian Football National League
2020–219th
WebsiteClub website
Guest colours

FC Fakel Voronezh (Russian: Футбольный клуб "Факел" Воронеж) is a Soviet and Russian professional football club based in Voronezh. Founded in 1947. The club played in the Soviet Top League and the Russian Premier League. Currently the club plays in the Russian Football National League. The club holds the record for fan attendance in Eastern Europe.

History[]

The club was founded in 1947 at a then classified airplane plant. For secrecy reasons, the team was not officially given a name and was referred to as the Voronezh city team. In 1959 the team became a part of Trud sports society and was renamed Trud Voronezh. In 1977 the team was renamed Fakel.

The team played in the Soviet League since 1954:

The best result of Trud/Fakel was a place in the Top Division in 1961 (finished 15th) and 1985 (finished 17th). Fakel reached the semifinal of the Soviet Cup in 1984.

In the Russian league, Fakel played in various divisions, only on two occasions staying in the same division for more than two consecutive seasons:

The best result achieved by Fakel in Premier League was a 13th position in 2000.

Fakel has also experienced several short-lived name changes: to Fakel-Profsoyuz in 1992, Voronezh in 2002 and Fakel-Voronezh in 2002–2003.

Fakel and FC Yelets were excluded from the Russian Second Division for attempts to bribe and threaten the referee on 18 July 2009.[2] At the time of exclusion (21 August), Fakel were sixth with 31 points from 19 games, while Yelets were 16th with 9 points from 19 games.

A new club called FC Fakel Voronezh technically independent from the club that played in 2009 as FC Fakel-Voronezh Voronezh was founded in 2010 and played in the Russian Second Division (FSA Voronezh failed licensing for 2010 and the new Fakel was the only Voronezh professional team for 2010). It employed the manager and 6 players from the 2009 FC Fakel-Voronezh roster. The reserve team FC Fakel-d Voronezh played in the Amateur Football League in 2010.

Before the 2011–12 season FC Saturn Moscow Oblast dropped out of Russian Premier League due to financial problems. FC Krasnodar replaced them in the Premier League, creating a vacancy in the Russian First Division. Despite only coming in 4th in their Russian Second Division zone in 2010, Fakel volunteered to take the First Division spot, and the Russian Football Union decided to promote the team. They were relegated back to the third level in the same 2011–12 season. They returned to the Russian Football National League in the 2015–16 season. Despite finishing in the relegation zone at the end of the 2017–18 season, the club was not relegated as other clubs ahead in the standings failed to obtain the league license for 2018–19.[3]

They finished in the relegation zone once again in the 2018–19 season, but due to failure of FC Sakhalin Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and FC Anzhi Makhachkala to acquire a 2019–20 license, they were not relegated.[4][5]

The 2019–20 season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia with Fakel once again in relegation spot. However, due to the pandemic, none of the teams, including Fakel, were relegated.

Current squad[]

As of 25 January 2022, according to the FNL website.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF Russia RUS Vasili Cherov
4 DF Russia RUS Aslan Dashayev
6 MF Russia RUS Denis Shepilov
7 MF Russia RUS Roman Akbashev
8 MF Russia RUS Alikhan Shavayev
9 FW Russia RUS Maksim Maksimov
10 DF Serbia SRB Nemanja Pejčinović
11 FW Russia RUS Andrey Nikitin (on loan from Lokomotiv Moscow)
14 FW Russia RUS Khyzyr Appayev
15 DF Russia RUS Kirill Suslov
18 MF Russia RUS Andrei Mendel
22 FW Russia RUS Andrei Razborov
No. Pos. Nation Player
25 DF Russia RUS Mikhail Smirnov
28 MF Russia RUS Ruslan Magal
34 MF Russia RUS Oleg Dmitriyev
50 MF Russia RUS Denis Faizullin (on loan from Lokomotiv Moscow)
79 GK Russia RUS Danila Yermakov
80 MF Russia RUS Valeri Tsarukyan
88 MF Russia RUS Vladislav Masternoy
92 DF Russia RUS Sergei Bryzgalov
— GK Russia RUS Aleksei Gorodovoy
— GK Russia RUS Sergei Yeshchenko (on loan from Krasnodar)
— FW Russia RUS Vladimir Dyadyun

Out on loan[]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF Russia RUS Ilya Mazurov (at SKA Rostov-on-Don)

Reserve squad[]

Fakel's reserve squad played professionally as FC Fakel-d Voronezh in the Russian Third League in 1997. It re-entered professional football as FC Fakel-M Voronezh for the 2020–21 season.

Notable players[]

Had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Fakel.

References[]

  1. ^ "Официальный сайт ФК «Факел» Воронеж".
  2. ^ "ФАКЕЛ-ВОРОНЕЖ" И "ЕЛЕЦ" ИСКЛЮЧЕНЫ ИЗ ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЙ ЛИГИ. НО ИХ "ДЕЛО" НЕ ЗАКРЫТО (in Russian). Sport-Express. 22 August 2009. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
  3. ^ Клубы ФНЛ получили лицензии (in Russian). Russian National Football League. 30 May 2018.
  4. ^ "Сахалин" выиграл первенство ПФЛ в зоне "Восток", но не сыграет в ФНЛ [Sakhalin won the PFL East zone, but will not play in the FNL] (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 28 May 2019.
  5. ^ "Анжи" не будет выступать в ФНЛ в следующем сезоне [Anzhi will not play in the FNL next season] (in Russian). Sport Express. 29 May 2019.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""