FC Dnipro

"Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk" redirects here. For other uses, see Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (disambiguation).

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

Full name	Football Club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
Nickname(s)	Warriors of light
Founded	1918 (1918)
Ground	Dnipro-Arena, Dnipropetrovsk
Capacity	33,993
Owner	Ihor Kolomoyskyi
President	Ihor Kolomoyskyi
Head coach	Dmytro Mykhaylenko (caretaker)
League	Ukrainian Premier League
2015–16	3rd
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Football Club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukrainian: Футбо́льний Клуб «Дніпро́» Дніпропетро́вськ IPA: [dnʲiˈprɔ dnʲiprɔpɛˈtrɔβ̞sʲk]) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Dnipropetrovsk.

Dnipro, which is the Ukrainian name of the Dnieper river in Ukraine, is a popular sports name in Dnipropetrovsk. Beside the association football club there also is a bandy team under the same name, basketball team and others. However, FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk is not a multi-sport club. The club is owned by the Privat Group that also owns BC Dnipro and Budivelnyk Kyiv.

During the Soviet Union the club was a member of the Soviet Volunteer Sports Society "Metallurg" (therefore it carried names Metallurg/Metalurh and Stal) and until 1961 was under sponsorship of the Petrovsky Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Plant. After that the club was sponsored by the Southern Machine-building Plant Yuzhmash and carried both names Russian Dnepr and Ukrainian Dnipro, while Dnepr was also used for international competitions. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, the club was the second most successful club of Ukraine that participated in the Soviet Top League, winning in 1983 and 1988. Sometime after the fall of the Soviet Union, the club was privatized.

History

BRIT

The club's franchise traces its history all the way back when the first team that was formed in 1918 by the Petrovsky factory and was called as BRIT (Brianskyi Robitnychyi Industrialnyi Tekhnikum). The team participated in the regional competition (Katerynoslav championship). With the four other teams BRIT played its games on small stadium "Sokil" which was located at the corner of Pushkin street and Yuriy Savchenko street.

Petrovets – Stal – Metalurh

Due to World War I, BRIT was disbanded, but on 9 May 1925 a new team was formed in Dnipropetrovsk (coincidentally, later the day became to be known as the Victory Day). The team participated under a generic name as football team of Petrovsky factory. The official name it received in 1926 when it became to be known as "Petrovets". The team entered the first Soviet competition under the name of Stal (steel, En) in 1936 in one of the lower divisions. The team participated in the three championship before World War II. After the war, in 1947, the team reentered the Soviet competition and was merged with another club from Dnipropetrovsk, FC Dynamo Dnipropetrovsk. From 1949 until 1961, the team was called Metalurh (from English metal worker). During this time the team participated for three seasons, 1950–1952, among the amateurs due to poor results. In 1954, Metalurh Dnipropetrovsk reached the semi-finals of the USSR Cup, where it lost to Spartak Yerevan.

Dnepr

In 1961, the team was handed over to its new sponsor, the Yugmash (the Southern machine-producing factory), which at that time was one of the most powerful factories in the entire Soviet Union and was funded by the Ministry of Defense. It was part of the Zenit volunteer sports society. The new sponsor changed the team's name to the Russian name of Dnepr, Dnieper, as the Russian was the accepted language of the Soviet Union and the Soviet government. The team's performance did not change much until after 1968, when Dnepr obtained Andriy Biba and the new coach – Valery Lobanovsky. After that it took the team three years to get promoted to the Soviet Top League and eventually took sixth place in 1972.

Golden generation

In 1973 and 1976 Dnepr reached the semi-finals of the USSR Cup competition. In 1978 the team was relegated to the lower league for two years. Their next return to the top flight was not as inviting as their first one and the team languished at the bottom of the table for several years. In the following years, the governing body of the team hired new promising coaches – Volodymyr Yemets and Hennadiy Zhizdik. After those changes, Dnepr became a strong contender for the Soviet championship winning it twice: once with Yemets and Zhizdik in 1983, and another one with Yevhen Kucherevsky in 1988. Also, in 1989 Dnepr became the first professional football club in the Soviet Union. During those years, the team featured many notable players such as Oleg Protasov, Hennadiy Lytovchenko, Oleksiy Cherednyk, and Oleh Taran.

Dnipro

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the club took on the Ukrainian version name of Dnipro, the name of the biggest river and one of the major symbols of Ukraine. The club joined the football federation of the native country and remained one of the top contenders in the newly formed Ukrainian Premier League. The team received silver medals in 1993 as well as the bronze in 1992, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2004. The team also reached the Ukrainian Cup finals in 1995, 1997 and 2004, but lost all three to Shakhtar Donetsk. FC Dnipro is currently controlled by the Privat Group.

Success and demise

On 14 May 2015, following a historical 1–0 victory over Napoli after a 1–1 draw in Italy in the semi-finals, Dnipro qualified for their first ever European final, the 2015 UEFA Europa League Final where they played defending champions Sevilla on 27 May at the Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw, Poland. Despite going up 1–0 on the 6th minute, Dnipro lost 3–2. This was one of the club's greatest successes, not just in terms of records and trophies; they were also able to inspire the residents who were suffering in war torn territories. The situation was such that during the entire course of the campaign, FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk had to play all of their home matches some 400 kilometres away in Kyiv due to the war. On 31 March 2016, the club was excluded by UEFA from participating in the next UEFA club competition for which it would otherwise qualify in the next three seasons (i.e. the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons) for violating the Financial Fair Play regulations.

Late June 2016 rumours appeared that club owner Ihor Kolomoyskyi had stopped funding the club. Kolomoyskyi immediately denied this but did state "The club will not exist in the same form as before" and that it was "not normal to spend crazy amounts of money" on the then current squad.

Stadium

Main articles: Stadium Meteor and Dnipro Arena

Old Stadium Meteor

File:Panoramio - V&A Dudush - Днепр Арена 2009.jpg

Current Dnipro Arena

Since 1966 Dnipro's home was Stadium Meteor in Dnipropetrovsk. Prior to that the club played at the Matalurh Stadium (formerly Stal Stadium). Meteor Stadium was built by the Soviet rocket company Yuzhmash on the original site and has undergone several renovations since, the last one being in 2001. However, in 2002 after several spells in European competitions, it became clear that the club needed a new modern venue. Thus, in 2005 Pryvat Group started construction of Dnipro Arena in the centre of Dnipropetrovsk. The club played its last game at Meteor on 2 September 2008, against Metalist Kharkiv.

In April 2005 the club's new arena broke ground. It was constructed by Germany's largest construction company Hochtief. The construction itself took 3 years and 4 months, but a nine-month delay occurred due to a land dispute over a site where the stadium's car park was planned. The stadium's final capacity is 31,003 people and the initial estimated cost of the construction was set at €40,000,000.

The stadium was opened on 15 September 2008. The opening ceremony featured a speech by Ukrainian president Victor Yushchenko, a concert performance by a number of famous Ukrainian musicians and two football matches: Veterans of Dynamo Kyiv vs Spartak Moscow veterans, and Dnipro against Dynamo Kyiv. As a present to the club from the city the street that the stadium is situated on was renamed into Kucherevskyi Boulevard, in honour of Dnipro's late coach Yevhen Kucherevskyi. Dnipro played their first official game on 29 September 2008 against their local rivals FC Metalurh Zaporizhya, but Dnipro lost 1–2. They set a new attendance record for the Ukrainian Premier League 2008–09 season, at 31,000 spectators.

Since the beginning of conflict in Eastern Ukraine, Dnipro have played their European matches at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv at the behest of UEFA, although there has been comparatively less conflict in Dnipropetrovsk than other areas.

Supporters and rivalries

The formation of the fan movement in Dnipropetrovsk began in the early 1980s, which saw the appearance of the first representatives of Dnipro ultras at the stadium. Later was established one of the largest fans unions – the Braty po Zbroyi (English: Brothers in Arms) – involving Dnipro, Dynamo Kyiv and Karpaty Lviv.

Most of the fans hold right-wing ideological views (Ukrainian nationalism). Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk is considered the third most popular club in Ukraine, and home and away matches are attended by large crowds. The largest Dnipro ultras groups are the Voice of the North Stand (Ukrainian: Рупор Північної Трибуни) and Ultras'83 (Ukrainian: Ультрас'83).

The most famous derby in eastern Ukraine is the Skhidne Derby (English: Eastern Derby) between FC Dnipro and FC Metalist Kharkiv. The game at the stadium is very hard and almost every game ends in a fight between football fans from Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv. There is also a city derby in Dnipropetrovsk between FC Dnipro and FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih.

Dnipro maintains friendly relations with Karpaty Lviv, Dynamo Kyiv (the fan union Braty po Zbroyi) and Veres Rivne. Dnipro has strained relations to Shakhtar Donetsk, Metalurg Zaporizhya, Chornomorets Odesa, Metalist Kharkiv, Kryvbas Kryvyy Rih and Arsenal Kyiv. However, all fans have currently declared a truce because of the war in Eastern Ukraine.

Sponsors

Football kits and sponsors

Years	Football kit	Shirt sponsor
1998–2001	Adidas	TM Biola
2001–2005		TM Biola
2005–2008	Umbro
2008–	Nike

• No information is known for the 2000–01 season.

Home colours

1983

1988

1991

1992

1992

1993

2000

2000

2011

2013

2014

Honours

Domestic

• Soviet Top League / Ukrainian Premier League
  • Winners: 1983, 1988
  • Runners-up: 1987, 1989, 1992–93, 2013–14
• Soviet First League
  • Winners: 1971
• Soviet / Ukrainian Cup
  • Winners: 1989
  • Runners-up: 1995, 1997, 2004
• Soviet League Cup
  • Winners: 1986, 1989
  • Runners-up: 1990
• USSR Super Cup
  • Winners: 1989
  • Runners-up: 1984

European

• UEFA Europa League
  • Runners-up: 2014–15

Invitational

• Marbella Cup
  • 2011
• Costa del Sol Trophy
  • 2013
• Casino Marbella Cup
  • 2014
• AdF Diamonds Cup
  • 2014

Other

• USSR Championship 3rd place in 1984, 1985
• Ukrainian Championship 3rd place in 1992, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2004, 2015, 2016
• Best Ukrainian club in the USSR Championship in 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989
• Progress Cup in 1983, 1987

Players

As of 17 September 2016

First team squad

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

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	UKR	Oleksiy Bashtanenko
2	DF	ROU	Alexandru Vlad
3	DF	UKR	Volodymyr Adamyuk
4	MF	UKR	Serhiy Kravchenko
7	MF	UKR	Andriy Bliznichenko
8	DF	UKR	Volodymyr Polyovyi
9	MF	UKR	Yuriy Vakulko
10	MF	UKR	Vladyslav Kocherhin
11	FW	UKR	Yevhen Bokhashvili
12	GK	UKR	Andriy Lunin
13	GK	UKR	Danylo Kucher
14	DF	UKR	Yevhen Cheberyachko
15	FW	UKR	Artem Dovbyk
17	FW	UKR	Denys Balanyuk
23	MF	UKR	Yevhen Cheberko

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
24	MF	UKR	Valeriy Luchkevych
25	MF	UKR	Ihor Kohut
27	MF	UKR	Oleksandr Vasylyev
28	MF	UKR	Serhiy Nazarenko
29	MF	UKR	Ruslan Rotan (Captain)
33	DF	AZE	Dmytro Nagiev
36	DF	BRA	Anderson Pico
39	DF	UKR	Oleksandr Svatok
71	DF	UKR	Maksym Lopyryonok
77	GK	UKR	Denys Shelikhov
87	MF	UKR	Oleh Kozhushko
89	MF	UKR	Serhiy Politylo
91	GK	UKR	Ihor Vartsaba
99	MF	UKR	Maksym Lunyov

U-21 team squad

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

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	GK	UKR	Ivan Ponomarenko
—	DF	UKR	Dmytro Bondar
—	DF	UKR	Mykyta Bondarenko
—	DF	UKR	Volodymyr Kirychuk
21	DF	UKR	Oleksiy Larin
5	DF	UKR	Serhiy Palyukh
—	DF	UKR	Oleksandr Safronov
—	DF	UKR	Tymofiy Sukhar
—	DF	UKR	Vladyslav Veremeyev

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	UKR	Oleksiy Bandurin
—	MF	UKR	Oleh Ilyin
—	MF	UKR	Yaroslav Khomenko
19	MF	UKR	Kamil Khuchbarov
—	MF	UKR	Denys Kostyshyn
—	MF	UKR	Yehor Nazaryna
—	MF	UKR	Dmytro Verhun
20	FW	UKR	Vitaliy Kireyev

Coaches and administration

Administration	Coaching (senior team)	Coaching (U-21/U-19 teams)
President – Ihor Kolomoysky General director – Andriy Stetsenko Executive director – Andriy Rusol	Acting Head coach – Dmytro Mykhaylenko (caretaker) Assistant coach – Artem Kusliy Assistant coach – Serhiy Diryavka Goalies coach – Valeriy Horodov Fitness coach – Kostiantyn Holub	U-21 team assistant coach – Volodymyr Bahmut U-21 team goalies coach – Mykola Medin U-19 team coach – Oleksandr Poklonskyi U-19 team assistant coach – Ihor Plotko U-19 team assistant coach – Volodymyr Herashchenko

League and Cup history

Soviet Union

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Domestic Cup	Europe		Notes
Stal – Petrovsky Factory
1936	No participation									1/32
Stal
1937	4th (Group G)	9	11	3	4	4	20	27	21	1/64
club was idle in 1938
1939	2nd (Group B)	15	22	6	7	9	27	37	19	1/16
No competitions 1940-45, World War II
1946	2nd (Second Group)	12	24	4	2	18	29	76	10
1947		4	24	11	8	5	54	35	30	1/16
1948		2	14	9	2	3	34	24	20
		2	4	2	1	1	6	4	5
Metallurg / Metalurh
1949	2nd (Second Group)	8	14	2	2	10	14	35	6	1/16
1950	4th (Fitness teams)	10	9	3	0	6	11	22	6				withdrew
club was idle in 1951 - 1952
1953	2nd (Class B)	8	14	2	2	10	14	35	6	1/16
		22	2	2	0	0	5	0	4
1954		4	22	8	9	5	30	27	25	1/2
1955		10	30	14	2	14	53	47	30	1/16
1956		14	34	10	9	15	40	58	29	–
1957		4	34	17	8	9	65	43	42	1/32
1958		9	30	14	5	11	52	45	33	1/32
1959		4	28	14	6	8	47	37	34	1/128
1960		8	36	14	9	13	53	44	37
1961		14	36	11	10	15	35	40	32	1/128
Dnepr / Dnipro
1962	2nd (Class B)	6	24	7	12	5	35	29	26	1/256
		11	10	4	3	3	10	11	10
1963	2nd (Class A)	8	34	13	10	11	36	34	36	1/32
1964		10	26	8	8	10	25	28	24	1/32			(2 subgroup)
		22	12	4	3	5	10	13	11				(relegation group)
1965		5	30	13	10	7	31	23	36	1/32			(2 subgroup)
		8	16	6	5	5	15	15	17				(promotion group)
1966		8	34	11	12	11	33	27	34	1/64			(2 subgroup)
1967		4	38	18	10	10	49	36	46	1/128			(2 subgroup)
1968		3	40	19	16	5	50	27	54				(2 subgroup)
1969		1	42	24	9	9	73	59	57	1/64			(3 subgroup)
		2	3	1	1	1	2	3	3				(finals)
1970		3	42	26	9	7	58	25	61	1/64
1971	2nd (First League)	1	42	27	9	6	83	30	63	1/16			Promoted
1972	1st (Top League)	6	30	12	10	8	37	37	34	1/8
1973		8	30	9	9	12	36	40	26	1/2
1974		10	30	9	11	10	31	39	29	1/4
1975		7	30	10	11	9	33	30	31	1/16
1976		11	15	6	2	7	18	18	14	1/2			spring half
		13	15	6	2	7	12	17	14				fall half
1977		12	30	9	9	12	24	31	27	1/8
1978		16	30	9	3	18	25	39	21	1/16			Relegated
1979	2nd (First League)	17	46	16	14	16	57	60	44	Group stage
1980		2	46	27	8	11	60	47	62	Group stage			Promoted
1981	1st (Top League)	8	34	12	8	14	42	53	32	Group stage
1982		9	34	11	12	11	34	38	32	1/2
1983		1	34	22	5	7	63	36	49	1/4
1984		3	34	17	8	9	54	40	42	1/8	ECL	1/4
1985		3	34	16	11	7	71	41	42	1/4	UC	1/8
1986		11	30	8	12	10	41	41	28	1/16	UC	1st round
1987		2	30	15	9	6	42	22	39	1/16
1988		1	30	18	10	2	49	23	46	1/2	UC	1st round
1989		2	30	18	6	6	47	27	42	Winner	ECL	1/4
1990		6	24	11	6	7	39	26	28	1/16 finals	UC	1st round
1991		9	30	9	10	11	31	36	28	1/8 finals
1992	No championship									1/8 finals

Ukraine

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Domestic Cup	Europe		Notes
Dnipro
1992	1st (Top League)	3	18	10	3	5	26	15	23	1/4 finals			Won playoff game for the third place over Shakhtar
1992–93		2	30	18	8	4	51	20	44	1/8 finals
1993–94		4	34	16	9	9	53	35	41	1/4 finals	UC	2nd round
1994–95		3	34	19	8	7	60	33	65	Runner-up
1995–96		3	34	19	6	9	65	34	63	1/4 finals
1996–97		4	30	14	13	3	48	19	55	Runner-up
1997–98		4	30	17	4	9	47	27	55	1/4 finals	UC	2nd qual round
1998–99		12	30	9	5	16	28	46	32	1/8 finals
1999–00		11	30	8	9	13	26	52	33	1/8 finals
2000–01		3	26	17	4	5	37	18	55	1/2 finals
2001–02		6	26	11	7	8	30	20	40	1/2 finals	UC	1st round
2002–03		4	30	18	5	7	48	27	59	1/2 finals
2003–04		3	30	16	9	5	44	23	57	Runner-up	UC	3rd round
2004–05		4	30	13	9	8	38	34	48	1/2 finals	UC	Round of 32
2005–06		6	30	11	10	9	33	23	43	1/8 finals	UC	Group stage
2006–07		4	30	11	14	5	32	24	47	1/4 finals
2007–08		4	30	18	5	7	40	27	59	1/16 finals	UC	1st round
2008–09	1st (Premier League)	6	30	13	9	8	34	25	48	1/8 finals	UC	2nd qual round
2009–10		4	30	15	9	6	48	25	54	1/4 finals
2010–11		4	30	16	9	5	46	20	57	1/2 finals	EL	Play-off Round
2011–12		4	30	15	7	8	52	35	52	1/8 finals	EL	Play-off Round
2012–13		4	30	16	8	6	54	27	56	1/2 finals	EL	Round of 32
2013–14		2	28	18	5	5	56	28	59	1/8 finals	EL	Round of 32
2014–15		3	26	16	6	4	47	17	54	1/2 finals	EL	Runner-up
2015–16		3	25	16	4	5	49	21	52	1/2 finals	EL	Group stage
2016–17										1/2 finals	N/A		Excluded from the continental football competitions

European history

Main article: FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in European football

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk participates in European competitions since 1984 after playing its first against Trabzonspor. Since 2001, however, the club participates almost on annual basis with variable successes. However, this was interrupted in 2016, when, despite finishing third place, Dnipro was forbidden to play in the European competitions by UEFA.

Season	Stage	Notes
European Cup / UEFA Champions League
1984–85	Quarter-Finalist	eliminated by Bordeaux 1–1 in Bordeaux, 1–1 in Dnipropetrovsk
1989–90	Quarter-Finalist	eliminated by Benfica 0–1 in Lisbon, 0–3 in Dnipropetrovsk
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League
2014–15	Finalist	defeated by Sevilla 2–3 in Warsaw

Managers

• Jules Limbeck (1936)
• Nikolai Morozov (1956)
• Valeriy Lobanovskyi (1969–73)
• Viktor Kanevskyi (1973–77)
• Yozhef Sabo (1978–79)
• Volodymyr Yemets (July 1, 1981 – Dec 31, 1986)
• Yevhen Kucherevskyi (Jan 1, 1987 – March 22, 1992)
• Mykola Pavlov (March 19, 1992 – Dec 31, 1994)
• Bernd Stange (April 20, 1995 – June 30, 1996)
• Vyacheslav Hroznyi (July 1, 1996 – Dec 31, 1997)
• Vadym Tyshchenko (Jan 1, 1998 – Oct 5, 1998)
• Mykola Fedorenko (July 13, 1999 – Oct 11, 2001)
• Yevhen Kucherevskyi (Jan 1, 2002 – Oct 18, 2005)
• Vadym Tyshchenko (interim) (Oct 18, 2005 – Dec 19, 2005)
• Oleh Protasov (Dec 19, 2005 – Aug 29, 2008)
• Volodymyr Bezsonov (Aug 29, 2008 – Sept 18, 2010)
• Vadym Tyshchenko (interim) (Sept 18, 2010 – Oct 1, 2010)
• Juande Ramos (Oct 3, 2010 – May 22, 2014)
• Myron Markevych (May 26, 2014 – June 30, 2016)
• Dmytro Mykhaylenko (caretaker) (June 30, 2016 – present)

External links

• Official website