Football Club Metalist Kharkiv, also known as Football Club Metalist Kharkov or FC Metalist Kharkov ( ), 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.
The club won the Soviet Cup once, and were also runners-up once. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, they have also won silver medals in the 2012–13 Ukrainian Premier League and six bronze medals in the Ukrainian Premier League, starting from the 2006–07 season. Their home was the Metalist Stadium, a multi-use facility with a capacity of 40,003. The stadium was originally built in 1926 and was expanded to host Euro 2012 football matches. Metalist ceased operations in 2016 due to insolvency. Metalist owed in salary to its players €32 million with €5 million to Cleiton Xavier in particular.Металіст заборгував гравцям 32 млн євро . champion.com.ua. 23 September 2021 It was removed from the Ukrainian Premier League after owner Serhiy Kurchenko absconded in February 2014, following the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.
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, whose owner is Metalist owner Serhiy Kurchenko. In August 2016, another club named "FC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv" began to operate in the Ukrainian Amateur Football League with the stated intention of competing in the (professional) Ukrainian Second League as soon as possible. In Kharkov, presented the team "Metalist 1925" , SQ (25 August 2016) "FC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv" is owned by a company not linked with the original FC Metalist Kharkiv.
In October 2017, a Ukrainian court confiscated (the original) Metalist Kharkiv from Kurchenko and placed it under state property. At the time the club did not participate in any official sanctioned competitions. The court returned the Metalist FC to the state property , The Ukrainian Week (3 October 2017) 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.Циганик розповів, яким чином Ярославський хоче повернути Металіст . sport.ua. 5 May 2020Справжній Металіст. Що вже зараз робить Ярославський, щоб повернути клуб собі? . footballhub.com.ua. 4 May 2020Ярославський планує викупити борги "Металіста" і воскресити клуб . lb.ua. 5 May 2020Yevhenia Motorevska. Антикризовик Ярославський: що відомо про харківського бізнесмена . www.slidstvo.info. 23 March 2020 The return of Yaroslavskyi to football arose some criticism connected with politics of the city of Kharkiv.Деолігархізація навпаки: як Харків хочуть перетворити на "заповідник" олігархів . 24tv.ua. 7 June 2021 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.
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.Может прекратить существование? У Металлиста проблемы с долгами . sport.ua. 9 November 2023
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) Avanhard/Avangard (1956–1967) – Republican Avanhard sports society (until 1957 All-Union Avangard sports society) 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."Metalist" celebrates anniversary , SQ (12 December 2015) The first factory team however played under the name of "Parovoznik" since 1922.ХПЗ, "ДЗЕРЖИНЕЦ", "АВАНГАРД" И "МЕТАЛЛИСТ" – ВЕХИ ИСТОРИИ КЛУБА! . metalist-kh-stat.net.ua 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. The stadium was built on a directive of Anastas Mikoyan (Minister of Foreign and Home Trade).История стадиона. metallist.kharkov.ua It was built by workers of the Lokomotive Factory and became the biggest in the city. 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. In August 1927, the stadium was hosting the Ukrainian Spartakiade final stage.
Ten years later in 1935, the club won the city of Kharkiv championship, which allowed the club to enter the USSR Cup in the following season. 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 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 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 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. 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. 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.
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.New owner of FC Metalist intends to win Ukrainian Cup, ready to buy city's share in stadium , Kyiv Post (25 December 2012)Kernes:Yaroslavsky sold Metalist in anticipation of court's decision on fixed matches , Kyiv Post (25 December 2012)Akhmetov shocked to learn of Metalist sale , Kyiv Post (27 December 2012) Kurchenko left Ukraine in February 2014 following the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and his current whereabouts are unknown.EU imposes assets freeze on Yanukovich and 'family' , Financial Times (March 6, 2014)Russia's Rosneft might buy Ukraine's Odessa refinery: newspaper , Reuters (March 3, 2014)
European competitions
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.
Stoppage in 2016 and the new club