FC Karpaty Lviv

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 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[1] – Yuri Zubach (former player of Ukraina Lwów) and Vasyl Solomonko, as well as the director of the city plant "Lvivsilmash"[2] 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 April 14, 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 April 23, 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.

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 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 slight victory over Voronezh, Karpaty faced 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 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 the Karpaty's captain Ihor Kulchytskyi traditionally shacked hands with every referee, 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 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.

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.

...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...

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 from offside. The main 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 hand signal 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 Bucureşti, that led by István Kovács advanced on 4–3 aggregate.

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.

In 1981, Karpaty were merged with another city team, SKA Lviv belonging to the Carpathian Military District. The new team, SKA Karpaty, continued playing in the Soviet First League, getting close to promotion in 1986, when CSKA Moscow was promoted ahead of Karpaty on goal difference. In 1989, the original name of the club was restored.

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.

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.

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

• Soviet Cup
  • Winners (1): 1969
• Soviet First League
  • Winners (2): 1970, 1979
• Soviet Second League
  • Winners (1): 1991 (Zone West)

• Ukrainian Premier League U–21
  • Winners (1): 2009–10
• Ukrainian Cup
  • Runners-up (2): 1993, 1998–99
• Ukrainian First League
  • Runners-up (1): 2004–05

• Copa del Sol
  • Winners (1): 2011

As of 24 June 2020[14][15]

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

No. Position Player 7 MF Dmytro Klyots (Captain) 8 MF Oleksiy Khakhlyov 10 FW Matar Dieye (on loan from Olimpik Donetsk) 13 FW Yaroslav Deda 14 MF Artem Kozak 17 FW Alexandru Boiciuc 19 FW Hisham Layous 20 MF Volodymyr Tanchyk 21 MF Abukar Mohamed (on loan from Lazio) 24 DF Vladyslav Dubinchak (on loan from Dynamo Kyiv) 30 DF Andro Giorgadze 31 GK Oleh Kudryk (on loan from Shakhtar)

No. Position Player 32 GK Anton Kanibolotskiy 33 MF Volodymyr Yakimets 41 MF Hennadiy Pasich 44 DF Vasyl Pryima 48 DF Petro Kharzhevskyi 49 DF Roman Slyva 64 DF Oleh Veremiyenko 73 FW Rostyslav Lyakh 74 MF Oleksiy Sych 76 MF Ostap Prytula GK Volodymyr Makhankov

As of 23 July 2019[16]

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

No. Position Player 28 GK Nazar-Stefan Sass 41 DF Oleksandr Avramenko 42 DF Roman Danilovskyi 43 DF Oleh Bereza 45 FW Maksym Hirnyi 46 DF Artem Danylyuk 53 DF Tymofiy Kalynchuk 54 FW Yuriy Radelytskyi 56 MF Yuriy Tlumak 58 DF Vladyslav Mudryk 59 DF Stepan Slichnyi 60 FW Yaroslav Karabin 61 FW Joseph Enete Kosisochukwu 62 GK Anton Zadereyko 64 MF Kostyantyn Bychek 65 FW Taras Kud 70 MF Maksym Khlan

No. Position Player 75 MF Orest Panchyshyn 78 DF Bohdan Kurtyak 80 FW Andriy Bey 82 DF Denys Slyusar 83 MF Volodymyr Rudyuk 84 FW Nazar Sushchak 85 MF Vasyl Runich 86 DF Lyubomyr Stepanchuk 87 MF Mykola Romanik 88 FW Maksym Ivanyuk 89 MF Bohdan Kozak 90 MF Vadym Hudzinskyi 91 GK Valentyn Horokh 92 FW Vadym Melniychuk 93 FW Roman Lisovyk 97 MF Vitaliy Silchenko

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

No. Position Player GK Andriy Artym (at Ahrobiznes Volochysk until 30 Jun 2020) MF Ihor Karpenko (at Volyn Lutsk until 30 Jun 2020)

No. Position Player MF Andriy Remenyuk (at FC Kalush until 30 Jun 2020) MF Roman Tolochko (at FC Kalush until 30 Jun 2020)

• 2001– May 2020: Petro Dyminskyi
• since May 2020: Oleh Smaliychuk

• 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