FC Karpaty Lviv

Early years (1963–68)

The team of Karpaty was founded on January 18, 1963. In 1962 Silmash Lviv won the championship and cup of the Lviv Oblast (see Lviv Oblast Football Federation) and, thus, obtained 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 independent from military a civilian team.

In December 1962 in the building of Regional Council of trade unions (prospekt Shevchenka) the head of the council and the regional federation Hlib Klymov gathered coaches of Silmash^[1] Yuri Zubach (former player of Ukraina Lwów) and Vasyl Solomonko as well as the director of city plant "Lvivsilmash"^[2] Ivan Kalynychenko to discuss the new name for a club. The name Silmash was recognized as inadequate for participation on such level. Among variants were Spartak, Dynamo, Halychyna, while at the end they agreed upon the regional toponym (Carpathians) Karpaty which would the best to represent the region.

In the Soviet times all sport teams were "tied" to certain industrial unions or sport societies therefore Karpaty has joined the republican sport society of trade unions "Avanhard", while the Lviv television producing 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 April 14, 1964 against Zenit Izhevsk at the Dynamo Stadium (today – the building of regional Tax Administration) winning it 1–0. The goal was scored by the club's captain Aleksandr Filyaev. The first official game was against Lokomotiv Gomel on April 23, 1963, which Karpaty won 1–0 (goal scored by Anatoliy Kroshchenko).

Karpaty debuted in Group B in 1963 and had 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 August 17, 1969, Karpaty became the first (and the only) club in the USSR football history which won 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 the Soviet heavy-weights such as Ararat Yerevan and Chornomorets Odesa. The quarterfinal round matched them with Trud Foronezh that in the prior round eliminated Spartak Moscow. After the minimal score victory Karpaty were faced with the Mykolaiv's Shipbuilders. The game was perceived by the Lvivians as the chance to avenge for the last year loss to the Mykolaivans, which cost them a ticket to the Soviet Premiers. 2–0 score was enough to secure the trip to Moscow.

In the final, Karpaty played against the Army team from Rostov-on-Don at the Lenin's 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 the Karpaty's captain Ihor Kulchytsky traditionally shacked hands with every referee... except the side-liner Eugen Harms. The reason was that the Estonian referee in their last year game against Uralmash Sverdlovsk counted a goal from an obvious offside that eventually contributed to the 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.

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-men scored another goal, but from offside. The main referee without even looking to his assistants has counted the goal and the Russians ran joyfully towards the center of the field. However a moment later he noticed the Harms' signal. The linesman clearly identified the offside. The Lvivians led the game to the victory.

In the following season, Karpaty's first opponent in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was Romanian Steaua Bucureşti, that led by István Kovács advanced on 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 take silver that season, but an unexpected loss in the 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 Dinamo Moscow in the USSR Cup semi-final. The match which was played in Moscow, went into overtime with a 1–1 score. Dinamo however prevailed, scoring on a penalty kick in extra time.

SKA Karpaty (1981–1989)

In 1981, Karpaty were merged with another Lviv team, SKA Lviv. The new team, SKA Karpaty, continued playing in the Soviet First League, almost achieving promotion in 1986 when CSKA Moscow was promoted ahead of Karpaty on goal differences. In 1989 the original name of the club was restored.

Ukrainian League (1991–present)

Since Ukraine gained its independence, Karpaty have primarily participated in Ukrainian Premier League competitions. They have taken 3rd place once and were Ukrainian Cup runners-up twice, losing both times to Dynamo Kyiv in the final.

The thirteen’s season in Ukrainian Premier League became an unfortunate one for Karpaty and in 2003–04 season the team was relegated to 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 allowed them to participate in the Vyscha Liha the following year.

Football kits and sponsors

Galician–Volhynian rivalry

Karpaty–Dnipro rivalry

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) and FC Lviv (in 2008-09 season) (both clubs were 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's club was relegated in 2001.

UEFA club coefficient ranking

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

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

Domestic

• Soviet Cup
  • Winners (1): 1969
• Ukrainian Cup
  • Runners-up (2): 1993, 1998–99
• Soviet First League
  • Winners (2): 1970, 1979
• Soviet Second League
  • Winners (1): 1991 (Zone West)
• Ukrainian First League
  • Runners-up (1): 2004–05

Non-official

• Copa del Sol
  • Winners (1): 2011

Current squad

As of 16 September 2018^[7][8]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Maksym Kuchynskyi 5 DF Andriy Nesterov 7 FW Yhonatan Bedoya 8 MF Nazar Verbnyi 9 DF Oleksiy Hutsulyak 10 MF Jorge Carrascal 11 FW Kevin Méndez 17 MF Oleh Holodyuk 18 FW Rodrigo Vargas Castillo 20 FW Francisco Di Franco 21 MF Cristian Erbes 29 FW Cristian Ponde 30 GK Mykyta Shevchenko (on loan from Shakhtar)

No. Position Player 31 GK Roman Pidkivka 32 FW Catriel Sánchez 33 MF Serhiy Myakushko 35 FW Maryan Shved 44 DF Artem Fedetskyi (captain) 48 MF Dmytro Klyots 50 DF Oleksiy Kovtun 54 DF Orest Lebedenko 57 DF Oleh Boroday 71 GK Herman Penkov 77 FW William De Camargo (on loan from Leganés) 94 DF Denys Miroshnichenko 99 DF Adi Mehremić

U21 team squad

As of 24 July 2018^[9]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 47 DF Petro Kharzhevskyi 49 DF Roman Slyva 51 GK Vadym Yuschyshyn 52 GK Andriy Artym 55 DF Bohdan Veklyak 56 FW Yuriy Cherepuschak 61 FW Artur Dima 62 GK Anton Zadereyko 63 FW Serhiy Dudynskyi 64 DF Oleh Veremiyenko 65 DF Maksym Derman 67 FW Dmytro Sautin 68 MF Roman Tolochko

No. Position Player 69 MF Ivan Zhelizko 73 FW Rostyslav Lyakh 74 DF Oleksandr Nesteruk 75 MF Orest Panchyshyn 76 MF Ostap Prytula 78 FW Oleh Kos 79 DF Bohdan Kurtyak 80 DF Roman Oprysk 82 FW Oleksandr Rybachuk 83 MF Volodymyr Rudyuk 85 MF Vasyl Runich 86 DF Lyubomyr Stepanchuk 97 MF Vitaliy Silchenko

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player DF Andriy Markovych (at Nõmme Kalju) DF Nika Sandokhadze (at RFS) DF Nazar Stasyshyn (at Volyn Lutsk) MF Andriy Busko (at Rukh Vynnyky) MF Maksym Hrysyo (at Rukh Vynnyky)

No. Position Player MF Yuriy Tkachuk (at Levadia Tallinn) FW Roman Debelko (at Levadia Tallinn) FW Ihor Karpenko (at Volyn Lutsk) FW Andriy Remenyuk (at Rukh Vynnyky) FW Volodymyr Voytovych (at Rukh Vynnyky)

Soviet Union

Ukraine

Soviet Union

Ukraine

Notable managers

• Ernest Yust, Soviet Cup, Class A (pervaya gruppa) winner, Soviet Top League fourth place
• Ishtvan Sekech, Soviet First League winner
• Stepan Yurchyshyn, Soviet Second League winner
• Myron Markevych, Ukrainian Top League third place