FC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi

Zirka Kropyvnytskyi

Full name	FC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi
Nickname(s)	"Zirka" – Star
Founded	1911
Ground	"Zirka" Stadium, Kropyvnytskyi
Capacity	14,628
Chairman	Maksym Berezkin
Manager	Samir Hasanov[1]
League	Ukrainian Amateur League
2023–24	Ukrainian Amateur League, Group 2, 6th of 12
Website	fczirka.com.ua
Home colours Away colours

FC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi (Ukrainian: ФК "Зірка Кропивницький") is a Ukrainian amateur football club from Kropyvnytskyi, Kirovohrad Oblast, with its team currently playing in the Ukrainian Amateur League.

The club traces its history of a football team that existed at the British factory of Elvorti (Elworthy) since 1911. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the factory was nationalized and converted into Soviet factory "Chervona Zirka", and likewise, the former team was dissolved, and the Soviet football team Chervona Zirka was formed in 1922. The club's professional football history started in 1958 when it was admitted to the Class B competitions.

History

Newspaper article of 1911 about a game between the Sports Society Elvorti and the 1st Team of Male Gymnasium

The club traces its history back to the former Russian sports club Elvorti Yelizavetgrad that was founded in 1911 at the Elvorti Factory. The factory was later nationalized with establishment of the Soviet power and changed its name to "Chervona Zirka" (Red Star). After start of World War I and the Ukrainian-Soviet War, most sports events in the region were suspended and in 1917 the club dissolved. Sports competitions were resumed in Lyzavetghrad in 1921 that saw participation of a team.

Zirka Kropyvnytsky in 2016-17

In 1922, based on the former sports club Elvorti Yelizavetgrad were created two Soviet clubs Chervona Zirka and Chervony Profintern that participated in Soviet competition. Some of Zirka's club shields contain 1922 as the club's year of establishment. In 1928 Chervona Zirka changed its name to Metallist Zinovyevsk (Metalist Zinovyivsk) and in 1934 – Selmash Kirovo (Silmash Kirove). During the World War II the team was dissolved once again.

It was not revived until 1948 when by being a member of the former Volunteer Sports Society Selmash, it was reorganised as Traktor Kirovograd (Traktor Kirovohrad) and after 1953 – Torpedo.

In first post-War years 1946–47 Kirovograd (Kirovohrad) was represented in football competitions by a law enforcement team "Dynamo".

In 1958, the club was renamed into Zvezda Kirovograd (Zirka Kirovohrad) when it advanced to the professional level of Soviet competitions, the B Class. As Zirka the club existed until 2006 when it went bankrupt. In 1962 the club temporarily did not participate in Soviet competitions and Kirovohrad was once again represented by Dynamo. From 1993 to 1997 the club carried a name of its title sponsor NIBAS as Zirka-NIBAS. In 2007 the club was revived in amateur regional competitions. On July 15, 2008 the Professional Football League of Ukraine approved exchange names between Zirka and another club from Kirovohrad, FC Olimpik Kirovohrad, that competed at professional level to yield its place in the Ukrainian Second League.^[2]

Previously, Zirka debuted at a top level for the 1994–95 season, where they finished 6th. In the 1999–2000 season they finished in last place and were relegated to the Ukrainian First League. They were promoted immediately as champions once again for the 2003–04 season, but finished in last place and were demoted again.

In July 2016, the name of Zirka's hometown was renamed to Kropyvnytskyi.^[3] The next day the club announced it had changed its name to FC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi and its logo accordingly.^[4]

Team names and crest

Emblem
2008–11

Emblem
Zirka NIBAS

Emblem before 2008

Year	Name	Meaning
1922–27	Chervona Zirka	Red Star
1928–35	Metalist	Steeler
1935–40	Silmash	portmanteau for Mechanised agriculture
1941–45	club was dissolved due to the World War II
1946–52	Traktor	Tractor
1953–57	Torpedo
1958–61	Zirka	Star
1962	Dynamo
1963–93	Zirka	Star
1993–97	Zirka NIBAS	Star [NIBAS]
1998–present	Zirka	Star

Crest

Great coat of arms of Kropyvnytskyi

Current club's crest (logo) was adopted in 2012. In 2016 as part of decommunisation process, the club changed its city's name and year of establishment claiming its heritage of the previously existing team of British factory "Elvorti".

In 2008-2011 the club's crest contained the Red Star (the club's former name and the name of factory which owned the club) and most of elements of coat of arms of the city of Kropyvnytskyi.

Owners (sponsors)

• 1911–1993: Elvorti factory (Chervona Zirka), Kirovohrad
• 1993–1998: Agrarian company Nibas, Petropavlivka (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast)^[5]
• 1998–2011: City authorities, Kirovohrad^[5]
• 2011–present: Creative Industrial Group, Kropyvnytskyi

Current squad

As of 1 February 2019^[6][7]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 4 DF  UKR Kyrylo Lysenko 7 MF  UKR Maksym Averyanov 9 FW  UKR Danylo Kondrakov 10 MF  UKR Ivan Rudnytskyi 14 FW  UKR Mykhaylo Bozdahanyan 15 MF  UKR Andriy Savitskyi 17 MF  UKR Artem Syomka 23 DF  UKR Oleksandr Matkobozhyk 24 MF  UKR Kyrylo Pavlyuk 29 FW  UKR Maksym Pryadun

No. Pos. Nation Player 37 MF  UKR Dmytro Nerubenko 41 GK  UKR Roman Lyopka 74 GK  UKR Mark Medvedyev 77 MF  UKR Dmytro Kasimov 81 FW  UKR Oleksandr Tarasyuk 85 MF  UKR Mykyta Khodorchenko 90 MF  UKR Ihor Lopushenko 93 MF  UKR Stanislav Pysaryev 96 GK  UKR Mykyta Zelenskyi 97 DF  UKR Maksym Konovalenko

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player

Coaches and administration

Administration[8]	Coaching[9] (senior team)	Coaching (youth teams)
President: Maksym Berezkin Executive director: Andriy Perevoznyk	Head coach: Samir Hasanov	Coach (U-17): Dmytro Donchenko Coach (U-16): Mykola Lapa Coach (U-15): Vadym Darenko

Honors

• Cup of the Ukrainian SSR
  • Winner (3): 1953, 1973, 1975
• Ukrainian First League
  • Winner (3): 1995, 2003, 2016
• Ukrainian Second League
  • Winner (1): 2009

Football kits and sponsors

Years[10]	Football kit	Shirt sponsor
2003–2009	lotto/nike	–
2009–2013	nike/joma	–
2013–present	joma	–

League and cup history

Soviet competitions
The republican football competitions in Ukraine during the Soviet period is poorly documented, so there is little information available about the Zirka's competition record before 1958.

Ukrainian competitions

  Tier 1

  Tier 2

  Tier 3

  Tier 4

  Amateurs

Soviet Union

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Domestic Cup	Europe		Notes
1971		6 (26)	50	21	17	12	52	33	59
1972		14 (24)	46	13	18	15	40	51	44	1/16 final Cup of Ukrainian SSR
1973		12 (23)	44	16	10	18	63	57	36	Winner Cup of Ukrainian SSR
1974		17 (20)	38	11	9	18	34	46	31	1/16 final Cup of Ukrainian SSR
1975		5 (17)	32	13	10	9	37	22	36	Winner Cup of Ukrainian SSR
1976		7 (20)	38	18	6	14	42	34	42	1/4 final Cup of Ukrainian SSR
1977		5 (23)	44	21	15	8	52	27	57
1978		7 (23)	44	17	15	12	42	33	49
1979		9 (24)	46	20	10	16	44	40	50
1980		6 (23)	44	20	13	11	52	44	53
1981		17 (23)	44	10	19	15	36	36	39
1982		15 (24)	46	17	5	24	43	63	39
1983	3rd (Vtoraya Liga)	17 (26)	50	15	14	21	48	56	44
1984		8 (13)	24	8	7	9	31	29	23
		18 (26)	14	5	4	5	23	20	14
1985		2 (14)	26	12	7	7	35	27	31
		10 (28)	14	5	1	8	21	33	11
1986		10 (14)	26	9	4	13	28	51	22
		21 (28)	14	7	1	6	20	28	15
1987		23 (27)	52	13	13	26	44	77	39
1988		23 (26)	50	13	15	22	39	60	41
1989		14 (27)	52	16	17	19	44	52	49
1990	4th (Vtoraya Nizshaya Liga)	19 (19)	36	7	7	22	32	61	21	1/8 final Cup of Ukrainian SSR			Relegated
1991		25 (26)	50	12	13	25	55	90	37	1/4 final Cup of Ukrainian SSR			admitted to Ukrainian Second League

Ukraine (1992–2007)

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Domestic Cup	Europe		Notes
1992	3rd (Druha Liha)	4	16	8	3	5	35	24	19	Did not qualify
1992–93		4	34	16	9	9	50	33	41	1⁄32 finals
1993–94		3	42	25	7	10	60	41	57	1⁄32 finals			Promoted
1994–95	2nd (Persha Liha)	1	42	27	10	5	68	26	91	1⁄32 finals			Promoted
1995–96	1st (Vyshcha Liha)	6	34	14	8	12	37	33	50	1⁄16 finals
1996–97		10	30	11	3	16	31	55	36	1⁄8 finals
1997–98		11	30	9	6	15	27	48	33	1⁄16 finals
1998–99		11	30	9	7	14	31	40	34	Semi finals
1999-00		16	30	0	9	21	16	66	9	Semi finals			Relegated
2000–01	2nd (Persha Liha)	15	34	10	10	14	27	34	40	1⁄16 finals
2001–02		9	34	11	13	10	29	28	46	4th round
2002–03		1	34	22	5	7	45	22	71	1⁄16 finals			Promoted
2003–04	1st (Vyshcha Liha)	16	30	3	8	19	16	43	14[11]	1⁄32 finals			Bankrupt
2004–05	3rd "B"[12] (Druha Liha)	12	26	7	6	13	29	38	27	1⁄32 finals
2005–06		9	28	11	4	13	23	37	37	1⁄32 finals			Bankrupt[13]
2007	4th (Amatory)	2	8	4	1	3	12	12	13

After 2008

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Domestic Cup	Europe		Notes
2007–08	3rd "B" (Druha Liha)	as FC Olimpik Kirovohrad
2008–09		1	34	23	3	8	56	26	72	1⁄16 finals			Promoted[14]
2009–10	2nd (Persha Liha)	12	34	11	13	10	38	40	43	1⁄32 finals			–3[15]
2010–11		12	34	12	7	15	43	44	43	1⁄32 finals
2011–12		11	34	13	5	16	53	49	44	1⁄16 finals
2012–13		8	34	14	10	10	46	37	52	1⁄32 finals
2013–14		6	30	12	8	10	36	34	44	1⁄16 finals
2014–15		4	30	14	7	9	42	27	49	1⁄16 finals
2015–16		1	30	20	5	5	49	22	65	1⁄8 finals			Promoted
2016–17[16]	1st (Premier League)	9	32	9	7	16	29	43	34	1⁄16 finals
2017–18[17]		10	32	7	10	15	22	40	31	1⁄16 finals			Relegated[18]
2018–19	2nd	15	17	1	1	15	10	49	4	1⁄16 finals			Withdrawn
2019–20	4th (Amateur)	6	18	9	3	6	30	19	30	Did not qualify
2020–21		12	22	0	0	22	9	86	0	Did not qualify
2021–22		8th								Did not qualify

Notes

1. Samir Hasanov: "Zirka" will build its plans for the Ukrainian championship among amateurs (Самір Гасанов: "Зірка" буде будувати плани під чемпіонат України серед аматорів"). Footboom. 18 May 2019
2. The PFL of Ukraine Bureau decision No.2 (ПОСТАНОВА № 2 Бюро ПФЛ України). Professional Football League of Ukraine. 15 July 2008
3. Sweeping out Soviet past: Kirovohrad renamed Kropyvnytsky, UNIAN (14 July 2016)
4. (in Ukrainian) Official statement of FC "Zirka" to change the name of the city, FC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi official website (15 July 2016)
5. Zirka and other stars of the Kirovohrad region. FFU website.
6. "Гравці | Офіційний сайт ФК "Зірка" Кропивницький".
7. "Професіональна футбольна ліга України".
8. Management
9. Coaches
10. Jerseys of Ukrainian clubs Archived September 25, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
11. PFL deducted 3 points for violations
12. The club sought administration and became solvent. Club requested to be relegated to the Ukrainian Second League
13. Club is bankrupt and is dissolved July 11, 2006
14. Club name changed to FC Zirka, the name of the team that has represented Kirovohrad historically
15. "PFL Disciplinary committee decision № 24" (PDF) (in Ukrainian). PFL. January 28, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 10, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2010. Deducted 3 points for failure of payment to contracted players. (January 28, 2010)
16. Competition was played in two phases. Official final league standings are cumulative from both phases. Zirka competed in the Relegation Group in Phase II.
    "Ліга Парі-Матч Сезон 2016/17" [League Pari-Match 2016–17 Season]. Ukrainian Premier League. 31 May 2017. Archived from the original on 31 May 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
17. Competition was played in two phases. Official final league standings are cumulative from both phases. Zirka competed in the Relegation Group in Phase II.
    Fussball, Fedya (13 June 2018). "Ukrainian Premier League 2017/18". Rsssf.
18. Lost 1–5 to Desna Chernihiv in playoffs

External links

• Official website