Football Club Metalist Kharkiv, also known as Football Club Metalist Kharkov or FC Metalist Kharkov (Ukrainian: Футбо́льний Клуб Металі́ст Ха́рків[metɐˈl(j)istˈxɑrkiu̯]), is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kharkiv that plays in the Ukrainian First League during the 2023–24 season. It was revived five years after the original FC Metalist Kharkiv ceased operations. Founded in 1925, FC Metalist Kharkiv had worked its way up the rungs of the Soviet football system, eventually being promoted to the Soviet Top League in 1960. After a difficult period which included relegation, Metalist was promoted to the Top League again in 1982, where it remained until the league's dissolution.
Following the demise of Metalist Kharkiv in 2016, two new clubs were created in Kharkiv with variations of the Metalist club name. Since July 2016, a team named "SK Metalist Kharkiv" has been playing in the Kharkiv Oblast Championship,[4] whose owner is Metalist owner Serhiy Kurchenko.[5] In August 2016, another club named "FC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv" began to operate in the Ukrainian Amateur Football League[6] with the stated intention of competing in the (professional) Ukrainian Second League as soon as possible.[6] "FC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv" is owned by a company not linked with the original FC Metalist Kharkiv.[7][6]
In October 2017, a Ukrainian court confiscated (the original) Metalist Kharkiv from Kurchenko and placed it under state property.[8] At the time the club did not participate in any official sanctioned competitions.[8] Also in July 2020, former FC Metalist sports director Yevhen Krasnikov created FC Metal Kharkiv which has since participated in the Ukrainian Second League. Earlier on 5 May 2020, Oleksandr Yaroslavskyi announced that he wishes to take care of the debts of the liquidated Metalist.[9][10][11][12] The return of Yaroslavskyi to football arose some criticism connected with politics of the city of Kharkiv.[13] After winning the Second League in June 2021, it was confirmed that Metal will be renamed to Metalist and the old FC Metalist Kharkiv logo will be returned to the club, along with its brand and history.[14]
Following a season in the Ukrainian Premier League, in 2023 the revived Metalist was relegated back to the second tier where it struggled in performance as well as dealing with legal proceedings to claim back the Metalist heritage by paying off old debts.[15]
History
USSR competitions
The team has played under the following names:
KhPZ (1925–1937, 1941) – factory team
Zenit (1938–1940)
Dzerzhinets (1947–1952) – All-Union Dzerzhinets sports society (merger into Avangard in 1956)
Metalist/Metallist (since 1967) – All-Union Zenit sports society (part of reinstating and separating from Avanhard)
FC Metalist Kharkiv was initially founded on 11 December 1925 as KhPZ (Kharkovskiy Parovoznyi Zavod – Kharkiv Steam Locomotive Factory), when a local locomotive construction facility (Kharkiv Steam-locomotive Factory, today the Malyshev Factory) provided funding and allowed use of its land to start a football club.[16] The first factory team however played under the name of "Parovoznik" since 1922.[17] A big impulse to development of football among factory teams was construction of the Traktor Stadium (today Metalist Stadium) which was opened in September 1926.[17] The stadium was built on a directive of Anastas Mikoyan (Minister of Foreign and Home Trade).[18] It was built by workers of the Lokomotive Factory and became the biggest in the city.[18] After the opening a team of KhPZ met with the city team of Dnipropetrovsk (renamed in previous month from Yekaterinoslav) tying the match in 2:2 with 8,000 spectators observing the match.[18][17] In August 1927, the stadium was hosting the Ukrainian Spartakiade final stage.[17]
Ten years later in 1935, the club won the city of Kharkiv championship,[16] which allowed the club to enter the USSR Cup in the following season.[16] Until the World War II, the team was completely in shadow of some other Kharkiv teams such as FC Dynamo Kharkiv, FC Silmash Kharkiv, and others. Among notable players of the early period, it should be mentioned Mykola Krotov who in 1927 moved to KhPZ from the Dynamo's predecessor Shturm Kharkiv.
Following World War II, the factory team joined the Dzerzhinets sports society assuming its name and resumed playing in local competitions, promoting itself to the Second Group (Soviet Second Division) in 1947[16] only to be demoted three seasons later. In the first post-war decade the club was completely overshadowed by its another city rival FC Lokomotyv Kharkiv which was member of the Soviet Lokomotiv sports society.
In 1956, Metalist as Avanhard returned to the Soviet Second League B[16] replacing its city rivals Lokomotyv Kharkiv. Many players from Lokomotyv joined the Avanhard factory team among which were Heorhiy Borzenko, Mykola Uhraitskyi, Vitaliy Zub and others. Soon thereafter Avanhard was promoted first to Soviet First League in 1958, and later to the Soviet Top League in 1960. The club stayed in Top League for 4 seasons, but was demoted to First League in 1963, continuing its decline with demotion to Second League. In 1978, the club was promoted to the Soviet First League[16] and two years later, the club finished third in the competition narrowly 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.[16] The club sustained 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 2–0.[16] As a result, Metalist Kharkiv earned a trip to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Metalist only advanced to the last sixteen of the competition, beating Yugoslavian side Borac Banja Luka and losing to the Dutch club Roda JC.
Ukrainian Premier League
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formation of an independent Ukraine, Metalist joined the inaugural season of the Ukrainian Premier League in 1992. The club finished in fifth place, an achievement it would never top until the 2006–07 season, finishing in fifth place three more times since, the most notable coming during the 2001–02 season. The club finished with 40 points, on a par with Metalurh Zaporizhzhya and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk for a three-way tie. Metalist was expected to take fourth 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 Metalurh Zaporizhzhya and an arbitrary decision by PFL (the administrative body of the UPL), Metalurh Zaporizhzhya was awarded fourth place on the grounds that it had better head-to-head records independently against either side.[19]
Following unsuccessful protests from Metalist, a disheartened management, team and fan base would see the club finish bottom in the following season and earning a demotion to the Ukrainian First League. However, the club would return to the UPL after one season and following a financial crisis and a takeover of the club by UkrSibbank owner Oleksandr Yaroslavsky, steady investment would see Metalist show improvement and balanced performance. Yaroslavsky sold the club to new owner Serhiy Kurchenko late in December 2012.[20]Kurchenko left Ukraine in February 2014 following the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and his current whereabouts are unknown.[21]
In the 2006–07 season, Metalist finished third place in the league, qualifying for the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, their second appearance in a UEFA competition. They were drawn against English club Everton. The first leg, away at Goodison Park, ended in a 1–1 draw while Everton won the second leg 3–2, eliminating Metalist.
Metalist's next European competition was the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. The club beat Beşiktaş 4–2 on aggregate in the first round to qualify for the group stage, where they were grouped with Galatasaray, Olympiacos, Hertha BSC and Benfica. Metalist finished top of the group, beating Galatasaray, Olympiacos and Benfica, whilst drawing 0–0 with Hertha. In the round of 32, Metalist defeated Italian club Sampdoria 3–0 on aggregate, setting up for an all-Ukrainian round of 16 tie against Dynamo Kyiv. After losing in Kyiv 1–0, Metalist won the return leg 3–2, but were eliminated on the away goals rule.
When the competition was re-branded as the Europa League for the 2009–10 season, Metalist beat Croatian side HNK Rijeka 4–1 on aggregate in the third qualifying round before losing 2–1 on aggregate to Austrian side Sturm Graz, despite holding them 1–1 in Graz. The following season, they finished second in Group I behind Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven, thus qualifying for the round of 32 where they were thrashed 6–0 on aggregate by Bayer Leverkusen. They reached the quarter-finals the following season, beating Olympiacos on away goals in the round of 16, but falling to Sporting CP. The following season, they then faced Bayer Leverkusen again—after beating Leverkusen 2–0 on 22 November 2012, Metalist finished above the side on head-to-head points (13), as they both finished on 13 points and had played out a goalless draw at the BayArena. In the round of 32, Metalist then faced English club Newcastle United. After holding them to a goalless draw at St James' Park in the first leg on 14 February, Shola Ameobi scored a penalty sent Newcastle through 1–0 on aggregate.
In August 2013, UEFA disqualified Metalist from all 2013–14 UEFA competitions.[22][nb 1]
Stoppage in 2016 and the new club
It is believed that Serhiy Kurchenko bought the club from Yaroslavskyi at the end of 2012 for $100 million, supposedly.[3] According to Kurchenko, he invested into the club around $270 million,[3] but ran out of Ukraine in 2014.[3] Since then, financing of the club was stopped.[3]
On 22 April 2016, the FFU Committee announced that Metalist would not be allowed to participate in professional competitions because of its debts to its players.[25][26] On 16 May 2016, the FFU Appeal Committee left in force the decision of the FFU Football Clubs Attestation Committee of 22 April 2016 and refused in issuing attestation for the next season for the club by declining its appeals.[27] Metalist owed in salary to its players 32 million Euros with 5 million to Cleiton Xavier in particular.[1] In June 2016 Nashi Groshi were informing that National Police of Ukraine opened criminal proceedings and asked the court on access to the Metalist salaries data.[3] According to the Kominternivskyi District Court of Kharkiv, Metalist debt to its players and personnel exceeds over ₴30 million.[3]
In July 2016, a team named SK Metalist Kharkiv started playing in the Kharkiv Oblast Championship.[4] "SK Metalist Kharkiv" is owned by the same man under whose watch Metalist Kharkiv was expelled from the professional leagues: Serhiy Kurchenko.[5] In 2016 Kharkiv Oblast Championship, the club competed under the name UPhC Olimpik – SC Metalist and placed the last place.[28] UPhC Olimpik is a team of the Kharkiv State College of Physical Culture 1.
On 28 April 2017 the FFU Control and Disciplinary Committee (CDC) implemented sanctions against 14 players of the FC Metalist Kharkiv on petition of the FFU Committee on ethics and fair play. Most players were restricted from conducting any activity related to football between six months to a year. Sanctions of three out of those 14 players exceeded that period up to three years and included such players as Yevhen Malyk (2yrs), Dmytro Skarzhynskyi (3yrs), and Oleksandr Medvedev (3yrs).[33]
(The original) Metalist Kharkiv was in October 2017 confiscated by a Ukrainian court from Kurchenko and placed under state property.[8] At the time the club did not participate in any official sanctioned competitions.[8] In August 2017, all assets of the late Metalist including its non-material assets and corporate rights of PAT "FC Metalist", TOV "Metalist Holding", and TOV "Metalist-Arena" were transferred to the state property when to the assets of Viktor Yanukovych associates on petition of the Prosecutor General was implemented the procedure of special confiscation.[2] The approximate value of the assets accounted for about $220 million, $65 million of which is the actual property of FC Metalist.[2] Decision about the confiscation was adopted by the Sosnivskyi District Court of Cherkasy, while its public promotion was carried out by Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko.[2]
On 22 December 2017 it became known that among creditors who filed claims against the club are Kharkivoblenerho, Kharkivgaszbut, town of Vysochansk, Metalist Stadium, Cyprus off-shore company Hensley Capital Limited (a founding company of the club), State Fiscal Service in Kharkiv Oblast. In addition, the club indebted about ₴846 million to its former playing and non-playing staff.[34]
For undetermined reason the Metalist property was never transferred to the Assets Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) which is a state agency in management of recovered property.[2] Instead, on 11 April 2018 the Cabinet of Ukraine ordered the property to be transferred under administration of the Kharkiv Oblast State Administration (see Governor of Kharkiv Oblast).[2]
On 18 October 2023, a former player of Metalist David Caiado filed a new case with CAS against the revived club to recover his salary compensation (CAS 2022/A/9288).[39] David Caiado played for Metalist in 2015. The club has appealed denying its relationship to the original club in hope to avoid paying owed compensations.[40]
As Metalist Stadium was one of the venues for UEFA Euro 2012, the management decided to reconstruct and expand the arena and turn it into a modern recreational and leisure facility. In May 2008, Metalist Arena was the venue for 2008 Ukrainian Cup Final.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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
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.
Metalist Kharkiv participates in European competitions since 1988, when they played their first game against Borac Banja Luka. From 2007 to 2014, however, the club continuously participated on annual basis with variable successes. This ended when Metalist failed to qualify.
^On 14 August 2013 UEFA announced that Metalist was banned from the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League due to an ongoing match fixing investigation related to match fixing arising from a game played against FC Karpaty Lviv in April 2008.[23] The club appealed the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but it rejected Metalist's request, disqualifying the club from European 2013–14 competitions on 16 August 2013.[23] The club was on the verge of competing in the qualifying phase of the tournament at the time of the decision.[24] The CAS announced its final decision on Metalist's complaint on 28 August 2013 (thus one day after the club's final match in the qualifying phase of the tournament would have taken place); it upheld UEFA's decision to disqualify Metalist from European competitions.[22][24]
^The club was renamed from FC Metal Kharkiv to FC Metalist Kharkiv
.jpg)
