Uralochka-NTMK (Russian: «Уралочка-НТМК») is a Russian professional women's volleyball club based in Yekaterinburg and currently plays in the Super League, the top Russian league. It was established in 1966 and is the most successful club in the USSR and Russian women's volleyball combined history with 25 national championship titles (11 Soviet and 14 Russian).[citation needed]
Previous names
Uralochka Sverdlovsk (1966–1991)
Uralochka Yekaterinburg (1991–2001)
Uralochka-NTMK (2001–present)
History
Soviet years
In 1966 the Transport Engineering Sverdlov plant (now Uraltransmash) decided to create a women's volleyball team to represent Sverdlovsk Oblast. It was named Uralochka (an endearment form for Ural woman) and in December that same year it was allowed to compete at the national championship, Alexander Kilchevsky became the club's first coach.[1]
During its first years, the results were inconsistent with the team being relegated and promoted and in 1969, Nikolay Karpol was appointed head coach and it was only by the end of the 1973 season when the club gained promotion to the highest USSR championship that results begin to become consistent.[2] During the early and mid-1970s Dinamo Moscow was the dominant force in Soviet women's volley but Uralochka become very competitive and begin to challenge Dinamo's dominance. By the late 1970s the club won its first national title (in 1978) and went on to win the national titles for another four consecutive seasons (1979, 1980, 1981, 1982). European success came next, the club started to assert itself as a European force by winning the CEV Champions League for three consecutive years (1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83) and the Cup Winners Cup of 1985–86. A first national Cup title came in 1986, during the same season another national championship was won, with another five consecutive ones arriving in the following seasons (1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991). Two more cups (in 1987 and 1989) and three CEV Champions league (in 1986–87, 1988–89 and 1989–90) were added and by the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the club had established itself as one of the strongest teams in the continent.[3]
Russian years
When Sverdlovsk became Yekaterinburg, the club name changed from Uralochka Sverdlovsk to Uralochka Yekaterinburg. The club would dominate the newly created Russian Women's League winning the tournaments first 14 seasons (from 1991–92 to 2004–05), which when added to the titles of the last 6 seasons of the USSR makes the club the national championship winner for 20 consecutive years. In the European competitions, the club has reached the semifinal or later stages of the CEV Champions league in six consecutive seasons (from 1991–92 to 1996–97) winning the title in two occasions (1993–94 and 1994–95).[1]
In 1983 the club created another team, which on its own right became competitive, winning the USSR Cup in 1988, finishing second once in the USSR Championship and finishing the Russian Championship five times in second and five times in third places. In 2003, Uralochka 2 effectively became the second team to support youth players and provide players to the main team.[1]
Over the years it has played under various names (Yunezis, Uraltransbank, Aeroflot-Malachite, Aeroflot-Uraltransbank, Uralochka 2 - Ural State Technical University, Uralochka 2 - USUE).[citation needed]
References
^ abcИстория. Uralochka-vc (in Russian). Retrieved 28 December 2016.
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