Club Profile

FOOTBALL CLUB KRASNODAR

Founded on 22 February 2008

Club colors – black-green

Ground since 2009 until 2016 – Kuban Stadium

Ground since 2016 until now – FC Krasnodar Stadium

BEST RESULTS

2008 – 3^rd position in the Russian Second Division, South zone

2010 – 5^th position in the Russian First Division

2013/14 – Russian Cup runner-up

2014/15 – 3^rd position in the Russian Premier League (bronze medals)

2015/16 – 1^st position in the UEFA Europa League group, qualification for the Round of 32

2016/17 – qualification for the Round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League

2018/19 – 3^rd position in the Russian Premier League (bronze medals), qualification for the Round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League

2018/19 – 3^rd position in the Russian Premier League (bronze medals), play-off qualification of the UEFA Champions League

CLUB HISTORY

In the beginning of 2008 FC Krasnodar successfully completed the licensing procedure, and on 22 February 2008 it was issued with a license granting the Club a right to participate in the competitions of the professional teams in the Russian Second Division. This day is considered the birthday of the Club. The originator of the Football Club Krasnodar creation is a Russian businessman Sergey Nikolayevich Galitsky.

FC Krasnodar made its debut in the Russian Premier League in the season 2011/12 and immediately took the 9^th place among 16 teams. The championship that followed was finished by the black-greens at the 10^th position, although they obtained more points and scored more goals than in the two rounds of a previous tournament.

In the season of 2013/14 FC Krasnodar, led by Oleg Kononov who became the Head Coach in the beginning of September 2013, ranked fifth in the top national league championship and received a right to make its debut in the UEFA Europa League. In addition, the black-greens managed to reach the final of the Russian Cup where they lost only in the penalty shootout.

The debut of FC Krasnodar in the European arena can be in general regarded as successful. In the UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds the Bulls by turns beat JK Sillamäe Kalev from Estonia, Diósgyőri VTK from Hungary and quite eminent Real Sociedad from Spain. The black-greens were unable to advance past the group stage, but the team fought with dignity against such famous European clubs as Everton F.C. from England, VfL Wolfsburg from Germany and LOSC Lille from France.

Following the results of the Season 2014/15 FC Krasnodar won its first medals of the Russian Football Championship, the bronze ones. It should be noted that the team obtained the same amount of points as the runner-up PFC CSKA did (60 points) and conceded the second place to the Moscow team only due to an inferior number of total games won. This result allowed the Bulls to compete in the UEFA Europa League for the second consecutive year.

Season 2015/16 became the best one for the Bulls according to the overall performance results in all tournaments. The team finished Russian Football Championship in the fourth position that allowed it to take part in the UEFA Europa League again. At the same time, the Bulls scored more goals than ever (54 goals) and conceded fewer goals that ever (25 goals) in the Russian Premier League. FC Krasnodar striker Fyodor Smolov became the RPL top scorer with his record of 20 scored goals. The black-greens went as far as the semifinals in the Russian Cup, and in the UEFA Europa League they managed to advance to the knockout phase from the first position in the group leaving Borussia Dortmund, a formidable opponent at any rate, behind. Alas, FC Krasnodar failed to move past the Round of 32 after losing to Sparta Prague on aggregate after two legs.

Season 2016/17 was almost entirely conducted under the leadership of Igor Shalimov who replaced Oleg Kononov as a Head Coach in August 2016. FC Krasnodar successfully advanced past the group stage in the UEFA Europa League for the second time running. Then in the Round of 32 the Bulls beat Fenerbahçe, an experienced UEFA tournament fighter from Turkey, in a two-leg clash. In the Round of 16 however, Celta Vigo became an insurmountable barrier for the Krasnodar team. The black-greens finished the Russian Premier League in the fourth position that allowed them to qualify for the UEFA Europa league again, for the fourth consecutive time. On the contrary, performance in the Russian Cup became the major disappointment that season, since in the quarterfinals the Bulls lost to FC Ural Yekaterinburg on a penalty shootout even though they had been 3-0 ahead in the first half.

In the season 2017/18 the team failed to qualify for the UEFA Europa League group stage for the first time, when Red Star Belgrade became an insurmountable thing in the play-offs. The Bulls won the first leg 3-2 at home, but they lost 2-1 in Belgrade and thus were left out of the main stage due to a lesser number of away goals.

In the Russian Premier League FC Krasnodar aspired after one of the top three positions and a part in the UEFA Champions League until the very end. And yet, the Bulls ultimately finished fourth again, but for once this result qualified the black-greens directly for the UEFA Europa League group stage. Six matchdays to the end of the season 2017/18 Igor Shalimov was dismissed after a series of bad games, and the 34-year-old caretaker manager Murad Musayev took charge of the team. This specialist had been working at the FC Krasnodar Academy for more than six years, where he trained players born in 1999 and 2000 and won many tournaments and quite a few trophies with them. In the last two years Murad Musayev had been successfully leading FC Krasnodar U21 team.

It was the U21 squad that became the principal black-green prizewinner in the season 2017/18. The Young Bulls gave an adequate performance in the UEFA Youth League under the leadership of Murad Musayev, where they reached the play-offs and lost to Real Madrid on a penalty shootout only. The world’s best attendance record for the U21 tournaments was set at the home game of FC Krasnodar U21 against Los Blancos of the same age, as 32510 spectators watched this game from the stands of the Krasnodar Stadium. Moreover, the players led by Murad Musayev (and by Igor Picușceac when Musayev moved to the first team late in the season) won the Youth Championship of the Russian Premier League for the first time in Club history.

Following the results of the season 2018/19 FC Krasnodar with Murad Musayev at its head became the bronze winners of the RPL for the second time in Club history. Yet again, same way it had happened four years prior, the team accumulated the same number of points as the runner-up, but finished third instead of second on a tie-breaker. This time the amount of away goals scored in games played among the teams in question proved crucial. The final third position in the standings allowed our team to take part in the UEFA Champions League for the first time. The black-greens will begin their European career from the UCL third qualifying round in August 2019.

FC Krasnodar also showed more than adequate performance in the UEFA Europa League 2018/19. The Bulls finished second in their group, where they met Sevilla FC from Spain, Standard Liège from Belgium and Akhisar Belediyespor from Turkey, and thus advanced past the group stage. The black-greens then beat the mighty Bayer Leverkusen from Germany in the Round of 32 and were eliminated in the Round of 16 after losing to Valencia CF on aggregate. Unfortunately for the Bulls, the decisive goal in the second leg that made the score equal again (1-1) and brought the Spanish team to the next stage, was conceded by the Krasnodar team late at the death, a few seconds to the full-time…

IMPORTANT MILESTONES OF THE CLUB HISTORY:

First official match and first obtained point:

12 April 2008. Taganrog. Torpedo Stadium. FC Nika Krasny Sulin 0-0 (0-0) FC Krasnodar

First win in the official matches:

16 April 2008. Sochi. Yug-Sport Stadium. Russian Cup 2008/09. Round of 1024. FC Zhemchuzhina-Sochi 0-1 (0-0) FC Krasnodar

First runaway victory in the official matches:

19 April 2008. Krasnodar. Trud Stadium. FC Krasnodar 3-0 (1-0) FC Avtodor Vladikavkaz

First goal in the official matches:

16 April 2008. Sochi. Yug-Sport Stadium. Russian Cup 2008/09. Round of 1024. FC Zhemchuzhina-Sochi 0-1 (0-0) FC Krasnodar. Goal: Denis Dorozhkin (66′)

First brace in the official matches:

19 April 2008. Krasnodar. Trud Stadium. FC Krasnodar 3-0 (1-0) FC Avtodor Vladikavkaz. Goals: Denis Dorozhkin (48′ and 71′)

First hat-trick in the official matches:

30 April 2008. Krasnodar. Trud Stadium. FC Krasnodar 5-1 (2-0) FC Astrakhan. Goals: Andrei Gatsko (17′, 55′ and 65′)

First double brace in the official matches:

10 April 2016. Krasnodar. Kuban Stadium. FC Krasnodar 6-0 (2-0) FC Ural Yekaterinburg. Goals: Fyodor Smolov (17′, 45+1′, 57′ and 61′)

First official match, first obtained point and first goal in the First Division:

28 March 2009. Yaroslavl. Shinnik Stadium. FC Shinnik Yaroslavl 1-1 (1-1) FC Krasnodar. Goal: Maksim Demenko, 25′ (1-1)

First win in the First Division:

22 April 2009. Novorossiysk. Tsentralniy Stadium. MD 6. FC Chernomorets Novorossiysk 1-2 (1-1) FC Krasnodar

First match and first obtained point in the Premier League:

12 March 2011. Makhachkala. Dynamo Stadium. FC Anzhi Makhachkala 0-0 (0-0) FC Krasnodar

First win and first scored goal in the Premier League:

19 March 2011. Krasnodar. Kuban Stadium. FC Krasnodar 2-0 (1-0) FC Spartak Nalchik. Goal: Igor Picușceac, 34′ (1-0)

A win in the first non-capital derby at the Premier League level:

18 June 2011. Krasnodar. Kuban Stadium. 26 000 spectators. FC Kuban Krasnodar 0-1 (0-0) FC Krasnodar. Goal: Drinčić, 67′ (1-0)

First hat-trick in the Premier League match:

31 March 2013. Krasnodar. Kuban Stadium. FC Krasnodar 4-0 (1-0) FC Anzhi Makhachkala. Francisco Wánderson (33′, 59′ and 89′)

First Russian Cup final in the history of Krasnodar clubs:

8 May 2014. Russian Cup 2013/14. Kaspiysk. Anzhi Arena. FC Krasnodar 0-0 (5-6 on pen.) FC Rostov (Rostov-on-Don)

First goal scored by the Club Academy-trained player in an official match for FC Krasnodar first team:

25 September 2014. Russian Cup. Round of 32. Saratov. Lokomotiv Stadium. FC Sokol Saratov 0-5 (0-2) FC Krasnodar. Goal: Aleksandr Ageyev, 76′ (0-5)

First match of the UEFA Cups in Club history, first goal and first win:

17 July 2014. Estonia. Tallinn. A. Le Coq Arena. UEFA Europa League 2014/15. 2^nd Qualifying Round. JK Sillamäe Kalev (Estonia) 0-4 (0-2) FC Krasnodar. Goal: Ari, 8′ (0-1).

First win in the main (group) stage of the EUFA Europa League in Club history:

11 December 2014. England. Liverpool. Goodison Park. Everton F.C. (England) 0-1 (0-1) FC Krasnodar (Russia)

First advance past the group stage to the knockout phase of the UEFA tournaments in Club history:
UEFA Europa League 2015/16. 1^st position in Group C. Teams: FC Krasnodar (Russia), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), PAOK Thessaloniki (Greece), Gabala FK (Azerbaijan)

First goal scored by the Club Academy-trained player in a UEFA Europa League match:
27 July 2017. UEFA Europa League. 3^rd Qualifying Round. First leg. Krasnodar. FC Krasnodar Stadium. FC Krasnodar 2-1 (0-0) Lyngby (Denmark). Goal: Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov, 90+3′ (2-1)

First bronze RPL medals in the history of FC Krasnodar:
Russian Premier league. Season 2014/15. 3^rd position. 60 points

Second bronze RPL medals in the history of FC Krasnodar:
Russian Premier league. Season 2018/19. 3^rd position. 56 points