FC Karpaty Lviv

Karpaty Lviv
Full nameФутбольний клуб "Карпати" Львів
Nickname(s)The Lions, Zeleno-Bili (The Green-Whites)
Founded1963; 61 years ago (1963)
GroundUkraina Stadium, Lviv
Capacity28,051
Owner
DirectorStepan Yurchyshyn
Head coachVladyslav Lupashko
LeagueUkrainian Premier League
2023–24Ukrainian First League, 2nd of 16 (promoted)
Websitehttps://fckarpaty.org.ua/
Current season
Former crest (2020–2021)

Football Club Karpaty Lviv (Ukrainian: Футбольний клуб "Карпати" Львів [kɐrˈpɑtɪ ˈlʲwiu̯]) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Lviv.

In 2020–21 the club was reorganized and changed owner. During that period there existed two clubs with the same name, one at professional level competitions, another at amateur.

History

Early years (1963–68)

The team of Karpaty was founded on 18 January, 1963. In 1961 Silmash Lviv won the championship of Lviv Oblast but lost its promotional play-off against Naftovyk Drohobych to qualify for the Soviet Class B championship.[5] In 1962 Silmash Lviv won the championship and cup of the Lviv Oblast (see Lviv Oblast Football Federation) and won the promotional play-offs against Naftovyk,[6] obtaining the rights to participate in the Soviet Class B championship (Soviet First League). However, in 1963 the Football Federation of USSR conducted another reorganization in football national tournaments creating the Second Group of Class A and Class B became the third tier where a berth was reserved for a team from Lviv. At that time the best city team was SKA Lvov, players of which did not stay there for long, leaving it at the end of their military service, while the best would be drafted to CSKA Moscow. In light of that the city administration decided to create a civilian team, independent from the Soviet military.

In December 1962, in the building of Regional Council of Trade Unions (at prospekt Shevchenka), the head of the council and the regional football federation, Hlib Klymov, invited coaches of Silmash[7] – Yuri Zubach (former player of Ukraina Lwów) and Vasyl Solomonko, as well as the director of the city plant "Lvivsilmash"[8] Ivan Kalynychenko to discuss a new name for the club. The name Silmash was recognized as inadequate for participation on such a level. Among the proposed names were Spartak, Dynamo, Halychyna, while at the end they agreed upon the regional toponym Karpaty (Carpathians).

In the Soviet times all sport teams were "tied" to certain industrial unions or sport societies, therefore Karpaty joined the republican sport society of trade unions "Avanhard", while the Lviv Television Production Plant "Elektron" became its sponsor. Out of "Silmash" only two joined Karpaty: Ihor Kulchytskyi and Josef Fales. Karpaty also adopted the same jersey colors of Silmash. Also the club was reinforced with several players from SKA Lvov and transfers. The club played its first game on 14 April 1964 against Zenit Izhevsk at the Dynamo Stadium (today – the location of the building of the Regional Tax Administration) winning it 1–0. The goal was scored by the club's captain Oleksandr Filiayev. The first official game was against Lokomotiv Gomel on 23 April 1963, which Karpaty won 1–0 (goal scored by Anatoliy Kroshchenko).

Karpaty debuted in Group B in 1963 and remained there for four seasons, until in 1968 they were promoted to Soviet First League.

Winning the USSR Cup

The banner "The Cup for Lviv!"

On 17 August 1969, Karpaty became the first (and the only) club in the USSR football history to win the USSR Cup while playing in the Soviet First League. The road to the cup was no less exciting as the final itself. On the way there the Lions were challenged by such Soviet heavy-weights as Ararat Yerevan and Chornomorets Odesa. The quarterfinal round matched them with Trud Voronezh that in the prior round had eliminated Spartak Moscow. After a narrow victory over Voronezh, Karpaty faced Mykolaiv's Shipbuilders. The game was perceived by the Lvivians as the chance to avenge the previous year's loss to the Mykolaivans, which cost them a ticket to the Soviet Premiership. A score of 2–0 was enough to secure a trip to Moscow.

In the final, Karpaty faced the Red Army team from Rostov-on-Don at the Lenin Stadium. The Rostov army-men were one of the best Soviet clubs in the mid-1960s and for that game they were considered as the favorites being the representatives of the Soviet Top League. Before the start of the game Karpaty's captain Ihor Kulchytskyi shook hands in the traditional manner with every match official, except the assistant referee, Eugen Härms. The reason was that Härms, the Estonian referee in charge of their game a year earlier against Uralmash Sverdlovsk, allowed a goal from what was regarded as an obvious offside position that eventually contributed to Karpaty's denial of a promotion. Karpaty were trailing 0–1 already after the first 20 minutes and to the end of the half were not able to equalize, but numerous Karpaty's fans drove their team forward.

The torches are being inflamed on stadium stands. Afar a banner is sparkling: "The Cup for Lviv!" On it the traditional Lviv's lion holds the highest of the national football awards. And now, after the reception of the Cup, the winners are walking around the green field of the Luzhniki...

"Lvivsky Zaliznychnyk" newspaper (21 August 1969)

When we went out for a warm up, there sat a sector of Lviv fans, some four thousand people. And the "Cheremshyna" was played on the accordion.

(Petro Danylchuk, "Karpaty" defender)

...That song [with the lyrics] – "again the cheremshyna will be blooming...", that sounded over the stadium, did something incredible to us – from that excitement my tears came up...

(Ihor Kulchytsky, "Karpaty" captain)

In the second half the Ukrainians broke the course of the game flow and two goals from Lykhachov and Bulhakov put the Lions ahead. Near the end of the game the Rostov team scored another goal, but it was given offside. The match referee, without consulting his assistants, initially allowed the goal and the Russians ran joyfully towards the center of the field. However, a moment later, he noticed the raised flag from Härms who had identified an offside and reversed his decision, awarding the victory to Lviv.

In the following season, Karpaty's first opponent in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was Romanian Steaua București that, led by István Kovács, advanced on a 4–3 aggregate.

Soviet Top League (1970–1977)

In 1970–77 and 1980, Karpaty played in the Soviet Top League. Karpaty's best achievement was 4th place in 1976. Karpaty placed 4th twice that year since the season was split into 2 separate championships (spring and fall). Karpaty were primed to win silver that season, but an unexpected loss in their last home game to Zenit Leningrad pushed Karpaty back into 4th place.

While playing in the Soviet First League in 1979, Karpaty were close to repeating their 1969 achievement, when they met Dynamo Moscow in the USSR Cup semi-final. The match, which was played in Moscow, went into overtime with a 1–1 score with Dynamo prevailing in the end, scoring a penalty kick in extra time.

Merger and period of SKA Karpaty (1981–1989)

In 1981, Karpaty were merged with another city team, SKA Lviv belonging to the Carpathian Military District and part of the Soviet Union Sports Society of the Armed Forces. In 1980 Karpaty were relegated from the Soviet Top League (Vysshaya Liga) and in the 1981 Soviet First League placed only 11th.[9] Already before the season's finish there appeared rumors about possible merger.[9] The logic of authors of that decision was in following, the city is receiving one, but strong and competitive team.[9] In January 1982 the leaders of regional football ultimately decided to unite to clubs.[9] It was motivated by the fact that it is difficult to finance two teams.[9] As a result, Karpaty were liquidated and their place in the Soviet First League was taken by army team SKA Karpaty that was established in place of SKA Lvov.[9] The new team was gathered from players of SKA, Karpaty, and several other who have recently arrived.[9] The head coach became Russian Nikolay Samarin.[9] It is believed that Ukrainian and Soviet coach Valeriy Lobanovskyi commented on liquidation of Karpaty, that it is a disaster of football in all western region of the republic.[9] That it would take not single decade before they realize the whole tragedy of this merger.[9]

The newly created SKA Karpaty were playing in red and white colors, and traditional green and white colors were banned.[9] Militsiya were watching that fans would not bring to stands any green markings.[9] The club's attendance fell immediately.[9] Back in 1980 the Karpaty's home games were visited on average by 20-25 thousands spectators.[9] In the first season after merging of the Lviv teams at stadium were gathering about 5-6 thousands spectators.[9] The newly arrived footballers also did not stay long with the army club and were leaving as soon as their military service was terminated.[9]

SKA Karpaty continued playing in the Soviet First League until 1989,[9] getting close to promotion in 1986, when CSKA Moscow was promoted ahead of Karpaty on goal difference. As their highest achievement, SKA Karpaty placed third place twice while being coached by Volodymyr Bulhakov.[9] After that their performance worsened.[9] If in 1987 the club managed to place the fifth place, after two more years it literally hit the hard bottom placing dead last.[9] It lost 18 of its 21 away games and its losing streak reached 15 games.[9] To one of home games came to watch only 54 spectators, which was the absolute anti-record of the season.[9]

Revival

The Karpaty's revival started with publication in a newspaper.[9] In 1983 journalist and writer Ivan Salo wrote a critical article "Football... outside of play"[9] (Ukrainian: Футбол...поза грою, in Ukrainian "outside of play" phrase is actually used for football term of offside). Now due to censorship in the Soviet Union, it dared to be printed only in four years in newspaper "Leninska molod" (The Lenin's Youth).[9] The author was demanding to separate SKA Karpaty into two teams as it was earlier.[9] The subject was expanded by "Sportyvna Hazeta" (The Sports Gazette).[9] In November–December 1988 the publisher held a rally "Ya, mama, tato – za komandu Karpaty" (Mother, father and I – for the Karpaty team).[9] The newspaper succeeded to gather 70,000 signatures from the whole Ukraine.[9] After that the case actually moved from standstill.[9] The Lviv delegation departed to Kyiv for negotiations with republican football federation (Ukrainian SSR, precursor of UAF).[9] Negotiations also were held with Moscow.[9]

Finally on 5 January 1989 at 15:00 in office No.290 of the State Committee on Sports of the Soviet Union at Luzhniki Embankment in Moscow was signed the certificate about revival of the Karpaty football team.[9] His signature placed the future president of the Football Federation of the Soviet Union Vyacheslav Koloskov.[9] And on 10 January in "Sportyvna Hazeta" was printed a text titled "The birthday of the club".[9] It has been seven years from the moment of the Karpaty's liquidation.[9] The Lions began to play from the Second League (Zone 5, not Zone 6 with the rest "Ukrainian" teams), and SKA continued to play in the First.[9]

The revival of the club was taken over by leadership of the Elektron Factory (television manufacturer), at facilities of which in 1963 Karpaty were actually created.[9] In 2019 already the late Yuriy Dyachuk-Stavytskyi was telling, "At that time I worked as a head coach of Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk.[9] To Lviv I was invited along with Rostyslav Zaremba (at that time he headed a club of the Karpaty football fans).[9] We were told: The club must be moved ahead [with establishment]", said Dyachuk-Stavytskyi.[9] "For office we were given a space at vulytsia Dudaieva.[9] On the third story there were two rooms.[9] We found couple of chairs and a coffee table for magazines.[9] I brought my personal typewriter as many people remember it.[9] My friends laughed at me telling "Why do you need all this?"[9] The same thing they said to Rostyslav as both of us came to an empty lot de facto".[9]

"However", continued Dyachuk-Stavytskyi, "in renewed Karpaty was gathered a battle-ready team since to Lviv returned a good number of local "fosterlings" (former recruits) such as Stepan Yurchyshyn, Serhiy Kvasnykov, Viktor Rafalchuk, Hryhoriy Batych, Vasyl Leskiv, Bohdan Bandura and others.[9] A squad chief (nachalnik komandy) became Ihor Kulchytskyi, as a head coach was appointed Borys Rossykhin, while his assistant became Rostyslav Potochniak.[9] Companies were transferring us their funds, and people were simply bringing in their caps their money that they gathered at the city's streets.[9] So, I ask you not to be confused, the football team was created in 1963, and the club – in 1989", said Dyachuk-Stavytskyi.[9] (Many football teams were forced to adopt the Soviet policy of khozraschyot during that period, some earlier than others.) "Those are two important historical dates".[9]

Ukrainian League (1991–present)

Since Ukraine gained its independence, Karpaty have primarily participated in Ukrainian Premier League competitions. They reached 3rd place in 1997–98, their highest Ukrainian top division finish to date, and were Ukrainian Cup runners-up twice, losing both times to Dynamo Kyiv in the final.

The thirteenth season in Ukrainian Premier League became an unfortunate one for Karpaty and in the 2003–04 season the team was relegated to the Persha Liha. However, Karpaty remained there only for two seasons and in the 2005–06 season, the club was successful in taking second place in the Persha Liha, which promoted them to the Vyscha Liha the following year.

In August 2017 the president of the club Petro Dyminskyi while driving near Lviv ran into another car killing a younger lady. Few days later he left Ukraine on a private jet as the police started investigation. In December 2017 the district court in Kyiv gave an order to detain him and asked Interpol for assistance. In 2018 Dyminskyi appealed to Interpol to ignore the request. Dyminskyi is still at large and hiding.

It was then Oleh Smaliychuk became among main executives of the club as a vice-president. Karpaty avoided relegation in previous 2016–17 season due to administrative sanctions that were imposed against FC Dnipro. In June 2017 Karpaty replaced its head coach with foreign specialist Sergio Navarro, while Argentinian Dario Drudi who recently worked in FC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi became the club's executive director. To the club were also brought several Spanish speaking players.

The club poorly started its 2017–18 season losing at home to the newly promoted NK Veres Rivne that temporarily moved to Lviv (1:6) which led fans requesting players to undress their uniform and stop to disgrace the club's colors. Following the loss Navarro resigned and was replaced with Serhiy Zaytsev, but that did not help a lot. The club still struggled and after the away cup game loss against the Second League FC Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk (1:2), the club's hooligans began mass riots at the stadium, brawl with the local police and stopped the bus with the returning Karpaty near Lviv. Following another home loss to FC Mariupol and remaining at the 11th place (out of 12), Zaitsev left the post and was replaced Oleh Boychyshyn. The new coach managed improve the club's table standing during the second half and the club cleared the relegation zone.

Following somewhat poor start in the 2018–19 with two home losses in four games Boychyshyn was replaced with José Morais. The club's form did not improve much and after view surprising away wins against FC Dynamo Kyiv and FC Chornomorets Odesa, Karpaty still continued to struggle to clear the relegation zone. At the end of November 2018 the Portuguese head coach left for Korea and Boychyshyn took over as interim. However, before the end of the half the club following this coach swap returned to the relegation zone. During the winter break to the club was brought another Spanish specialist Fabri González who was supposed to refresh the club, however his efforts were meager and the club remained at its 10th place. Fabri also failed to win against FC Inhulets Petrove in the domestic quarterfinals that played in a tier lower. Just before the finish Fabri was replaced with Oleksandr Chyzhevskyi who managed to win against the struggling FC Arsenal Kyiv and relegation play-off against FC Volyn Lutsk. An excellent season had a prospect player Marian Shved who just turned 22 and finished the season third on the top scorers list with 14 tallies. He also was traded away to the Scottish Celtic F.C., but remained with Karpaty on loan until the season's end.

The 2020 crisis

As in the previous season, the club again struggled to get out of the relegation zone in 2019–20. Although the league was scheduled to expand the following season, which would reduce the number of relegated teams, this did not help Karpaty. After 6 games the club remained 11th out of 12 and Chyzhevskyi was replaced with Roman Sanzhar. The change of coaches was not successful as the club by the midway point of the season hit bottom of the table and also suffered elimination from the domestic cup in the first round against FC Inhulets Petrove. As the club was leaving for the winter break, COVID-19 pandemic started to develop in Chinese Wuhan. The competitions resumed before introduction of quarantine and the UPL managed to finish the competition's first stage where Karpaty finished dead last. Soon after the UPL started its second stage of competitions all sports events in Ukraine were placed on halt on 18 March following the worldwide crisis. Sometime in May it was announced that Oleh Smaliychuk bought out a control package from Petro Dyminskyi who continued to hide from the law. After two months of quarantine, the UPL competitions renewed on 30 May. However, The UPL administration decided not to conduct the game Karpaty – Mariupol on 31 May 2020 as in the Lviv's team camp were found positive test results on COVID-19.[10] FC Mariupol that was already on the way to the game was forced to turn around.[11] On 2 June 2020 FC Karpaty Lviv released its official statement announcing that the club goes on 2 weeks self-isolation due to mass spread of the illness among players.[12] The upcoming games with SC Dnipro-1 and Vorskla Poltava will not take place as previously scheduled.[13] On 26 June 2020 were announced new rescheduled dates for the Karpaty's games against Mariupol and Dnipro-1.[14] About a month later on 27 June they finally met in derby game against FC Lviv and promised to finish all their games they owed to other clubs before the new end of season on 19 July. But later Karpaty started to complain that the schedule is too tight and they won't be able to comply with the new schedule and refused to travel to any other games at all leaving on early vacations on 10 July.[15] On 30 June 2020 the Ukrainian Premier League filed a document to the UAF Control and Disciplinary Committee informing that FC Karpaty Lviv were not able to show up for the game in Mariupol on 1 July 2020.[16] The Mariupol–Karpaty game scheduled on 4 July will not take place.[17] As it was the second failure to appear to the match for FC Karpaty Lviv, according to regulations the club was expelled from the championship by the UAF Control-Disciplinary Committee on 9 July 2020.[18] The club was counted two technical defeats for two matches against FC Mariupol as 3:0 and 0:3. For all other remaining games that were due to play the club was counted -:+.[19] On 22 July the UAF decision became final as the club did not appeal it.[20]

On 31 July 2020 Smaliychuk announced that Karpaty would play in the Second League.[21] In the beginning of August 2020 there surfaced information that Karpaty might even be able to play in the First League.[22] On 14 August 2020 it was announced that the club never submitted registration for either the First or Second leagues.[23] On 20 August 2020 it became confirmed that Karpaty will be actually playing in the Second League.[24]

The 2021 club reorganization

The club underwent a considerable transformation in the summer of 2021. Owned by Petro Dyminskyi between 2001 and 2020, the Karpaty ownership was claimed either partially or entirely by Oleh Smaliychuk. In 2020 the club announced its bankruptcy and was expelled from the Ukrainian Premier League, yet allowed to enter competitions in lower leagues and maintain professional status. In the autumn of 2020, veteran Karpaty Lviv players Stepan Yurchyshyn, Andriy Tlumak and others created another club by the same name that entered the national amateur competitions.[4]

The next season the Smaliychuk's Karpaty were relegated and finally announced to be dissolved - Yurchyshyn's Karpaty were promoted to take their place in the league. During the 2020–21 Ukrainian Second League Karpaty temporarily played with a different logo.

On 14 July 2021 Smaliychuk announced that the club was dissolved and would not participate in the amateur championship after relegating from the Second League. He promised to continue the work by repaying club's old debts.[25]

Stadiums

Ukraina Stadium

Main articles: Ukraina Stadium and Arena Lviv

FC Karpaty play their home games at the Ukraina Stadium. The stadium was built in 1963 as Druzhba ('Friendship") Stadium and renamed into Ukraina Stadium in 1992. The stadium was renovated on several occasions since, the latest one taking place in 2001. Currently the arena has a capacity of 29,004 spectators.

The stadium was also the venue hosting the final match of the first Ukrainian Premier League season in 1992, in which Tavriya Simferopol defeated Dynamo Kyiv.

It has also been one of the venues for Ukraine national football team matches, the most recent being a 1–0 win over Belarus on 6 September 2008 during 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying.

Reserves and the Academy

Karpaty-2

Karpaty-3

Karpaty-3 was a second reserve team of a Ukrainian football club Karpaty Lviv from Lviv, Ukraine. Created in 1997, until 2001 it played as Karpaty-2 Lviv.

In 2001 due to the merger between FC Karpaty Lviv and FC Lviv, Karpaty preserved the place of FC Lviv in the First League and transformed the former FC Lviv into the new Karpaty-2. The other Karpaty-2 Lviv that competed in the Second League was renamed to Karpaty-3.

In 2003 Karpaty-3 Lviv was renamed into Karpaty-Halychyna Lviv, coincidentally FC Halychyna Drohobych relegated that year from the professional ranks. In 2004 Karpaty-Halychyna Lviv was taken out of competitions due to relegation of its senior squad from the Ukrainian Premier League. Since then, the team was not revived.

Season Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Domestic Cup[26] Europe Notes
2001–02 3rd "A" 9 36 14 11 11 38 31 53
2002–03 3rd "A" 10 28 8 8 12 24 33 32
2003–04 3rd "A" 14 30 7 7 16 22 36 28 as Halychyna-Karpaty[27]
Relegated

Logo history

Since the club has been named after the Carpathian Mountains, the image of the forest and mountains has been present on team's logo for many years. However, the logo has since been updated, inspired by coat of arms of Lviv with a segment of a fortress and lion shown on the new crest. The club's nickname 'The Green Lions' also originated from their new logo.

The club also has a ceremonial logo, however, it is very rarely used, mostly during TV broadcasts or video packages.

Football kits and sponsors

Years[28] Football kit Shirt sponsor
1998–99 adidas
2000–01 adidas
2001–04 НПК Галичина[29]
2006–07 adidas
2007–09 cdma Ukraine
2008–10 Joma zik[30]
2010–11 zik/електрон
2011–12 лімо
2012–14 FAVBET
2014–present лімо

Colours

Traditionally the club colours have been white and green. Throughout the club's history its kit has always been designed in green and white colours; other colours are almost never used and are usually highly criticized by fans.

Green is considered to be the dominant of the two in club nicknames like "Green Lions" and "Green-Whites". For some time black was also used and was even displayed on one of the club's former logos.

Rivalries

Karpaty's biggest rivals today are Volyn Lutsk and FC Lviv. The match against FC Volyn Lutsk is called the Galician-Volhynian rivalry (derby) which is the main football event in western Ukraine. Derby with FC Lviv has shorter history (six matches by the end of 2019)

Galician–Volhynian rivalry

Galician–Volhynian rivalry
Year Tournament Home Away Score
1990 Soviet Second League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 2:2
1990 Soviet Second League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 1:0
1991 Soviet Second League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 0:1
1991 Soviet Second League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 0:1
13.09.1992 Ukrainian Top League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 3:2
23.05.1993 Ukrainian Top League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 2:1
05.09.1993 Ukrainian Top League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 1:0
28.05.1994 Ukrainian Top League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 1:2
22.07.1994 Ukrainian Top League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 1:0
19.06.1995 Ukrainian Top League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 3:0
05.11.1995 Ukrainian Top League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 2:1
13.03.1996 Ukrainian Top League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 1:0
01.09.2002 Ukrainian Top League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 0:2
04.05.2003 Ukrainian Top League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 0:1
25.10.2003 Ukrainian Top League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 1:0
27.03.2004 Ukrainian Top League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 0:1
30.08.2010 Ukrainian Premier League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 1:0
03.04.2011 Ukrainian Premier League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 0:3
01.10.2011 Ukrainian Premier League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 0:2
16.04.2012 Ukrainian Premier League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 1:0
13.07.2012 Ukrainian Premier League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 1:1
18.11.2012 Ukrainian Premier League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 2:0
19.08.2013 Ukrainian Premier League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 1:1
15.03.2014 Ukrainian Premier League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 0:1
17.08.2014 Ukrainian Premier League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 0:2
13.03.2015 Ukrainian Premier League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 0:2
27.09.2015 Ukrainian Premier League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk 0:2
17.04.2016 Ukrainian Premier League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 0:0
02.10.2016 Ukrainian Premier League FC Volyn Lutsk FC Karpaty Lviv 1:1
11.03.2017 Ukrainian Premier League FC Karpaty Lviv FC Volyn Lutsk

Former rivalries

Karpaty became the longest surviving city's professional football club and over the years participated in Lviv city derbies with SKA Lvov (in 1966–1969) before the club was dissolved.

In the beginning of the 1990s a rivalry with FC Nyva Ternopil became overshadowed by the rivalry with FC Volyn Lutsk as the Ternopil club was relegated from the top division in 2001.

Supporters

Fans of the FC Karpaty Lviv football club honoring the Waffen-SS Galizien division, in Lviv, Ukraine, 2013
The Banderstadt Ultras group in 2008

Karpaty Lviv is among the most popular clubs in Ukraine and according to social polls of local polling organizations such as "RATING" and KIIS that were conducted in 2013 it was claimed that 2.7% to 5.6%[31][32] of all football fans in Ukraine support the club (sharing the 3rd-5th place in the country).

Just before being appointed a director of the Moscow studio of Deutsche Welle,[33] German journalist Markus Reher wrote an article in which he claimed that Ukraine is not ready to hold an event such as 2012 UEFA Euro, because there are too many "nationalist thugs" and neo-Nazis, particularly referring to Karpaty supporters. In the article an interviewed Karpaty supporter claims that supporters of the club "don't start fights" and are "just giving their team support". The supporter went on to say that "everything'll be fine" if supporters of other clubs don't provoke him or other supporters of Karpaty Lviv, and if they had foreign players at the club, they would send them back home if they could. The article claimed that the club protects its players from its nationalist fans, and Danilo Avelar, a player from Brazil, stated that he "hasn't heard of nationalist fans and hopes it isn't true". The article goes on to report that authorities have had problems in the past with violent fans in Lviv, citing a riot in Lviv's old town when ultranationalist Karpaty supporters clashed with supporters of German side Borussia Dortmund with injuries on both sides.[34] Detailing the pre-independence history of the team, British correspondent Manuel Veth notes that the nickname Banderstadt later adopted by football ultras was given by "Soviet anti-terrorist forces" for the city's role in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's nationalist guerrilla campaign.[35] The American journalist Michael Goldfarb pointed out that demonstration of antisemitism and xenophobia among the Karpaty Lviv fans could be politically influenced and is not uncommon in region including similar instances in neighboring Poland.[36]

FC Karpaty Lviv in European competitions

Karpaty made its debut in European tournaments at the 1970–71 European Cup Winners' Cup, being eliminated by FC Steaua București in the first round. Karpaty became the second Ukrainian club in history to qualify for the European club competitions ahead of such other Ukrainian clubs like Shakhtar and Dnipro. Just four visits to European competition have followed, the most successful being a run to the Group Stage of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League.

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
1970–71 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup First round Romania FC Steaua București 0–1 3–3 3–4
1993–94 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Qualifying round Republic of Ireland Shelbourne F.C. 1–0 1–3 2–3
1999–00 UEFA Cup First Round Sweden Helsingborgs IF 1–1 (a.e.t.) 1–1 2–2 (2–4 p)
2010–11 UEFA Europa League Second Qualifying Round Iceland KR Reykjavík 3–2 3–0 6–2
Third Qualifying Round Georgia (country) FC Zestaponi 1–0 1–0 2–0
Playoff Round Turkey Galatasaray S.K. 1–1 2–2 3–3 (a)
Group Stage (Group J) France Paris Saint-Germain F.C. 1–1 0–2 4th
Spain Sevilla FC 0–1 0–4
Germany Borussia Dortmund 3–4 0–3
2011–12 UEFA Europa League Third Qualifying Round Republic of Ireland St Patrick's Athletic F.C. 2–0 3–1 5–1
Playoff Round Greece PAOK FC 1–1 0–2 1–3

UEFA club coefficient ranking

As of 06.06.2016 (no ranking for 2017), Source: [1]

Rank Team Points
158 Czech Republic FK Jablonec 10.585
159 Moldova FC Sheriff Tiraspol 10.575
160 Ukraine FC Karpaty Lviv 10.476
161 Cyprus Apollon Limassol FC 10.435
162 Denmark Aalborg BK 10.220

Honours

Domestic

Soviet Union

Ukraine

Non-official

Players

Current squad

As of 6 September 2024[37][38]

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
1 GK Ukraine UKR Yakiv Kinareykin
3 DF Ukraine UKR Volodymyr Adamyuk
4 DF Moldova MDA Vladislav Baboglo
5 DF Ukraine UKR Andriy Buleza
7 MF Ukraine UKR Yevhen Pidlepenets
8 MF Ukraine UKR Ambrosiy Chachua
9 MF Ukraine UKR Yuriy Tlumak
10 FW Brazil BRA Igor Neves
11 DF Ukraine UKR Denys Miroshnichenko (captain)
13 FW Ukraine UKR Denys Ustymenko (on loan from Kryvbas)
16 MF Ukraine UKR Artur Riabov
17 MF Ukraine UKR Orest Kuzyk
18 MF Ukraine UKR Vladyslav Klymenko
20 MF Ukraine UKR Oleh Ocheretko (on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk)
22 DF Ukraine UKR Bohdan Veklyak
No. Pos. Nation Player
23 MF Spain ESP Pablo Álvarez
26 MF Ukraine UKR Yan Kostenko
27 DF Ukraine UKR Tymofiy Sukhar
28 DF Ukraine UKR Pavlo Polehenko
31 GK Ukraine UKR Oleksandr Ilyushchenkov
33 MF Ukraine UKR Artur Shakh
35 GK Ukraine UKR Oleksandr Kemkin
37 MF Brazil BRA Bruninho (on loan from Atlético-MG)
38 FW Ukraine UKR Oleksandr Fetko
39 DF Ukraine UKR Vitaliy Katrych
41 GK Ukraine UKR Nazar Domchak
43 MF Brazil BRA Stênio
44 MF Ukraine UKR Taras Sakiv
47 DF Brazil BRA Jean Pedroso
71 MF Ukraine UKR Maksym Chekh

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
MF Ukraine UKR Kyrylo Matvyeyev (at Nyva Buzova until 31 December 2024)
MF Ukraine UKR Maksym Melnychenko (at Polissya Zhytomyr until 30 June 2025)
No. Pos. Nation Player
FW Ukraine UKR Vadym Sydun (at Nyva Ternopil until 30 June 2025)

Staff and management

Administration Coaching (senior team) Coaching (second team)[39][40]

Administration history

President

General director

League and Cup history

Soviet Union

Ukraine

Divisional movements

League Years Last Promotions Relegations
Top 8 1980 1 time to Europe Decrease 2 (1980)
First 11 1981 Increase 2 (1979) Decrease 1 (1981)
Second 3 1991 never never
22 years of professional football in Soviet Union since 1963
Premier 27 2019–20 4 times to Europe Decrease 2 (2019–20)
First 3 2022–23 Increase 1 (2005–06) never
Second 1 2021–22 Increase 1 (2021–22) never
31 years of professional football in Ukraine since 1992

Coaches

First team

Reserve team

Notable managers

See also

References

  1. ^ Місцевий бізнесмен та легендарні футболісти відроджують львівські "Карпати". zahid.espreso.tv. 16 October 2020
  2. ^ Цукор, політика, футбол, а тепер книги? Новий бізнес цукрового магната Матківського. galinfo.com.ua. 3 December 2020
  3. ^ a b c Нові Карпати дебютують у професіоналах – бюджет 20 млн доларів, повернення колишніх зірок і наполеонівські плани. football24.ua. 16 July 2021
  4. ^ a b У Львові відроджується ФК «Карпати». zaxid.net. 16 October 2020
  5. ^ 1961. Первенство УССР. Archived 6 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine. football.lg.ua
  6. ^ 1962. Первенство УССР. Archived 7 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine. football.lg.ua
  7. ^ Silhospmash Stadium. Interactive Lviv.
  8. ^ Pauk, O. Silmash Stadium as a stumbling stone. Halychyna Sportive.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az Apelsynova Kava (13 July 2020). ""Карпати" вже помирали і відроджувалися. Як це було" ["Karpaty" have being dying and being revived. How it has been]. tribuna.com (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  10. ^ The game Karpaty — Mariupol won't take place (Матч "Карпати" — "Маріуполь" не відбудеться) Archived 16 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Ukrainian Premier League. 30 May 2020
  11. ^ Yegor Danilov. The UPL confirmed cancelation of the game between Karpaty and Mariupol (УПЛ подтвердила отмену матча между Карпатами и Мариуполем) Archived 1 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Sport Arena. 30 May 2020
  12. ^ Arkadiy Kapelka. "Karpaty" go on 2 weeks quarantine and cancel its trainings ("Карпати" ідуть на двохтижневий карантин та скасовують тренування) Archived 25 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Footboom. 2 June 2020
  13. ^ The games of the 25th round Vorskla – Karpaty and the 26th Karpaty – Dnipro-1 will not take place! (Матчі 25-го туру "Ворскла" — "Карпати", та 26-го "Карпати" — "Дніпро-1" не відбудуться!) Archived 11 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Ukrainian Premier League. 2 June 2020
  14. ^ There have been set dates for rescheduled games with participation of Karpaty (Визначено дати проведення перенесених матчів за участі "Карпат") Archived 11 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Ukrainian Premier League. 26 June 2020
  15. ^ Arkadiy Kapelka. Karpaty left for early vacation (Карпаты" ушли в досрочный отпуск) Archived 25 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Footboom. 10 July 2020
  16. ^ Arkadiy Kapelka. The game Karpaty – Mariupol won't take place (Поєдинок "Карпати" – "Маріуполь" не відбудеться) Archived 11 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Footboom. 30 June 2020
  17. ^ The Round 29 game Mariupol–Karpaty will not take place (Матч 29 туру "Маріуполь" — "Карпати" не відбудеться) Archived 11 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Ukrainian Premier League. 3 July 2020
  18. ^ On Thursday Karpaty may be left without their professional status (В четверг Карпаты могут лишить профессионального статуса) Archived 18 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Sport.ua. 8 July 2020
  19. ^ Офіційно. КДК УАФ виключив ФК "Карпати" (Львів) зі змагань УПЛ Archived 13 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine UAF. 9 July 2020
  20. ^ Oleh Semenchenko. The UPL received a letter from UAF CDC stating that the decision in regards to Karpaty came into force today (УПЛ отримала лист від КДК УАФ: рішення щодо "Карпат" сьогодні набули чинності) Archived 24 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Footboom. 22 July 2020
  21. ^ Sergei Oleksiuk. Smaliychuk announced that Karpaty will be playing at the Second League (Смалийчук объявил, что Карпаты будут играть во Второй лиге) Archived 11 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Sport Arena. 31 July 2020
  22. ^ Karpaty yet may enter the First League for the next season (Карпаты все еще могут выступить в Первой лиге в следующем сезоне) Archived 9 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Sport Arena. 5 August 2020
  23. ^ Sergei Oleksiuk. Karpaty did not submit registration for First or Second leagues (Карпаты не подали заявку на аттестацию в Первую и Вторую лиги) Archived 26 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Sport Arena. 14 August 2020
  24. ^ Karpaty received their registration to play in the Second League (Карпаты получили аттестат для участия во Второй лиге) Archived 12 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Sport Arena. 20 August 2020
  25. ^ Oleh Smaliychuk on Karpaty's fate (Олег Смалійчук – про долю «Карпат») Archived 15 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine. FC Karpaty Lviv. 14 July 2021
  26. ^ Since the 2000–01 season 2nd clubs or reserve clubs could not enter the Ukrainian Cup competition
  27. ^ Club disbands at the completion of the season
  28. ^ Jerseys of Ukrainian clubs Archived 25 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ "Halychyna Oil Refinery website". Archived from the original on 2 September 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  30. ^ "West Information Corporation website". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  31. ^ "Прес-релізи та звіти - Популярність українських футбольних клубів та оцінка матчу "Шахтар" — "Динамо"". Archived from the original on 10 November 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  32. ^ Archived copy Archived 9 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  33. ^ (Markus Reher new head of DW Moscow studio) Archived 19 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Deutsche Welle. 15 July 2012
  34. ^ Reher, Markus (24 May 2012). "Could Ukrainian hooligans hamper EURO 2012?". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  35. ^ Manuel Veth. Karpaty Lviv – the Pride of Galicia Archived 19 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine. 30 March 2013
  36. ^ Michael Goldfarb. Euro 2012: antisemitic echoes that threaten celebration of football Archived 19 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine. The Guardian. 2 June 2012
  37. ^ "Карпати".
  38. ^ https://pfl.ua/team/view/1558 – Professional Football League website
  39. ^ FC Karpaty U21 Archived 16 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine
  40. ^ FC Karpaty U19 Archived 8 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  41. ^ Помер експрезидент Карпат - при ньому команда вигравала бронзові медалі. www.ua-football.com. 5 April 2024