FC Ufa

Ufa

Full name	Football Club Ufa
Nickname(s)	The Citizens (Горожане)
Founded	23 December 2010; 13 years ago (2010-12-23)[1]
Ground	Neftyanik Stadium
Capacity	15,234
Executive director	Sergey Feldman
Head coach	Yevgeni Kharlachyov
League	Russian First League
2023–24	Russian Second League Division A Gold Group, 1st of 10 (Promoted)
Website	http://fcufa.pro
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

FC Ufa (Russian: ФК «Уфа», Bashkir: Өфө футбол клубы, romanized: Öfö futbol kluby) is a Russian football club based in Ufa that plays in the Russian First League.^[2]

During the summer of 2010, Rustem Khamitov, the second President of the Republic of Bashkortostan, began considering the establishment of a football club with the intention to represent the city of Ufa and also the Republic in the Russian Premier League.

On 23 December 2010, FC Ufa was formed on the base of FC Bashinformsvyaz-Dynamo Ufa, which then plied their trade in the Russian Professional Football League, the third tier of the Russian football league system. The head coaching position of the team was first assigned to Andrei Kanchelskis, who was tasked with leading the club to the Russian First Division. The club also inherited Dynamo Stadium from the former team. The name of the club was at first decided in a contest with "Sarmat", named after the ancient Sarmatians were considered, but a name that would more clearly emphasize the status and geographical location, "Ufa" after the city was selected.^[3]

The first official match of the club was against FC Syzran-2003 in the second round of the Russian Cup, which after extra time Ufa lost on penalties.

Ufa made their debut in the Russian league system on 24 April 2011 with a home match against FC Tyumen. Ufa ran out winners, 3–1, with Konstantin Ionov scoring a hat-trick for the hosts.

Ufa continued to build on their initial success to the extent that, coming to the end of the season, they were equal with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk at the top of the table with 86 points. However, Ufa's loss away to Nefthekhimik following the draw at Dynamo Stadium meant that Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk had a better head-to-head record; Ufa had to postpone promotion to the Russian First Division for another year.

However, Dynamo Bryansk's failure to meet the licensing requirements for the 2012–13 Russian First Division opened up a slot in the said division, which Ufa took, enabling their promotion from the Second Division into the First Division.

In their first season in the First Division Ufa finished in sixth, four points off the last promotion playoff spot.

The following season showed improvement by Ufa, as the club had built on the previous year's showing and managed to end up in fourth, thus enabling them to contest the promotion playoff against Tom Tomsk, who finished their campaign in the Russian Premier League in 13th.

On 18 May 2014, Ufa welcomed Tom Tomsk in Dynamo for the first leg of the playoff and Ufa managed to overpower Tom 5–1, with club captain Dmitri Golubov scoring four goals. The return leg was played four days later in Tomsk, and despite going down early in the match, Ufa managed to hold on to their aggregate lead; a 3–1 loss to Tom was moot. Ufa therefore claimed a historic promotion to the top-flight Russian Premier League after just three seasons playing in the Russian league system.

Italian singer and composer Maria Luisa Pensabene composed an anthem for Ufa in English and Italian, coinciding with the club's Russian Premier League debut.^[4]

Ufa moved from Dynamo Stadium to Neftyanik Stadium after the latter's completed renovation in 2015.

During the 2015–16 season, the team's head coach Igor Kolyvanov was dismissed due to unsatisfactory results, and was replaced by Yevgeny Perevertaylo on October 21, 2015. The change of coach helped Ufa, but in spring the team lost several decisive matches and before the last round of the league found itself in 15th place in the relegation zone, making Perevertaylo leave. Sergei Tomarov was appointed acting head coach for the last match, with whom Ufa managed to beat Moscow Spartak with a score of 3:1 and retain its place in the Premier League, avoiding even the relegation play-offs.^[5]

On 4 July 2016, Ukrainian midfielder and international player Oleksandr Zinchenko was transferred from Ufa to Manchester City in England for the transfer amount of £1.7 million, becoming the first transfer of a football player to an English top club in the history of Ufa.^[6]

At the end of the 2017–18 season, they secured 6th spot in the Russian Premier League, which qualified them for the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League due to FC Tosno, the Russian Cup winner, not applying for the UEFA license in time.

Ufa played their first ever European game at home against Slovenian side NK Domžale. The game finished in a goalless draw. Domžale dominated the return leg in Slovenia but Ufa did not give up and a late goal saw them draw 1–1 and progress on away goals. Next was Progrès Niederkorn for the Russian side, and another late goal in the return leg in Luxembourg send Ufa through 4–3 on aggregate and set them up against Scottish side Rangers in the play-off round. They lost 1–0 at Ibrox, and drew 1–1 at their stadium, which caused them to be eliminated from the play-off rounds of the Europa League, short from entering the group stage.^[7]

For the 2020–21 season, the club changed its colour scheme from red to purple and mint green.

In the 2021–22 season, Ufa avoided direct relegation by winning a dramatic away game against FC Rubin Kazan on the last matchday of the regular season, Dilan Ortiz scored a go-ahead goal in the 90th minute and Rubin's Vitaly Lisakovich missed the added-time penalty kick for Rubin, which would mean Ufa's direct relegation if scored, instead Rubin was relegated directly and Ufa qualified for the relegation play-offs.^[8] In the subsequent play-offs against FC Orenburg, Ufa was ahead 2–0 in the first leg away game before Orenburg came back and equalized 2–2. In the return leg on Ufa's home field, the score was 1–1 (which would keep Ufa's Premier League spot on away goals rule) before Orenburg's Andrei Malykh scored the winning goal in 4th added minute to ensure Ufa's relegation to FNL.^[9]

In July 2022, FC Ufa stopped cooperation with its sponsor, BetBoom and the team's home stadium, BetBoom Arena, has returned to its former name - Neftyanik.^[10] With the financial situation uncertain, by 18 October 2022 Ufa planned the lay-off of 250 employees.^[10] However, on 19 October 2022, the Ministry of Sports of the Republic of Bashkortostan agreed to become a sponsor and cover the club's financial needs with the order signed by Head of the Republic Radiy Khabirov.^[10] At the end of the 2022–23 season, Ufa suffered second consecutive relegation to the Russian Second League.^[11]

At the start of the 2023–24 season at the Russian Second League, Sergei Gurenko was appointed head coach. Under the leadership of the Belarusian coach, Ufa played eight official matches in which they won two victories, drew three times and suffered three defeats before his dismissal on 28 August 2023.^[12] Yevgeni Kharlachyov who was assistant manager from the same season was appointed head coach in place.^[13] With Kharlachyov's leadership, Ufa managed to consistently stay in Group Gold. In Stage 1, Ufa finished in second place, keeping its place in the group for Stage 2. In Stage 2, Ufa finished in first place of the group, winning the first automatic promotion back to the First League for the season.^[2] Initially the licence for the 2024–25 First League was denied by the Russian Football Union.^[14] On 4 June 2024 after a successful appeal, the licence was granted by the Russian Football Union.^[15] The board of FC Ufa also extended the contract with Kharlachyov into the next season.^[16]

Season	League									Cup	Top goalscorer		Manager	Kit Manufacturer	Sponsor
	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P		Name	League
2011–12	3rd	2nd	39	25	11	3	54	19	86	Second round	Vitali Galysh	9	Andrei Kanchelskis Andrei Malay Igor Kolyvanov	Puma	Bashinformsvyaz
2012–13	2nd	6th	32	13	9	10	31	30	48	Fourth round	Mikhail Markosov	9	Igor Kolyvanov	Joma
2013–14	2nd	4th	36	17	10	9	46	35	61	Fourth round	Dmitri Golubov	14
2014–15	1st	12th	30	7	10	13	26	39	31	Round of 16	Marcinho	6
2015–16	1st	12th	30	6	9	15	25	44	27	Quarterfinal	Sylvester Igboun	4	Igor Kolyvanov Yevgeny Perevertaylo Sergei Tomarov (caretaker)
2016–17	1st	7th	30	12	7	11	22	25	43	Semifinal	Kehinde Fatai	6	Viktor Goncharenko Sergei Semak
2017–18	1st	6th	30	11	10	9	34	30	43	Round of 32	Sylvester Igboun	7	Sergei Semak
2018–19	1st	14th	30	5	11	14	24	34	26	Round of 32	Sylvester Igboun	9	Sergei Tomarov Dmitri Kirichenko Vadim Evseev
2019–20	1st	9th	30	8	14	8	22	24	38	Round of 16	Daniil Fomin	6	Vadim Evseev		Terra Bashkiria
2020–21	1st	13th	30	6	7	17	26	46	25	Quarterfinal	Timur Zhamaletdinov Vladislav Kamilov Filip Mrzljak	4	Vadim Evseev Rashid Rakhimov Nikolai Safronidi (Caretaker) Aleksei Stukalov
2021–22	1st	14th	30	6	12	12	29	40	30	Group Stage	Gamid Agalarov	19	Aleksei Stukalov

Ufa made their UEFA competition debut in July 2018, entering the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round.

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Domžale	0–0	1–1	1–1 (a)
		3Q	Progrès Niederkorn	2–1	2–2	4–3
		PO	Rangers	1–1	0−1	1–2

Ufa was a participant of the Korantina Homes Cup in Cyprus for 2017 and 2018, coming 1st place in both competitions.^[17]

As of 12 September 2024^[18]

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  TJK Oleg Baklov 4 DF  RUS Daniil Kornyushin 5 DF  RUS Denis Kutin 7 DF  RUS Aleksandr Perchenok 8 MF  RUS Shamil Isayev (on loan from Dynamo Makhachkala)] 9 MF  RUS Vladislav Adayev 10 MF  RUS Rasul Gystarov 11 FW  BLR Vladislav Lozhkin 15 MF  BLR Valery Bocherov (on loan from Ural Yekaterinburg) 17 DF  RUS David Ozmanov 18 DF  BLR Artyom Gurenko 21 MF  RUS Nikita Matskharashvili 22 MF  RUS Alikhan Shavayev

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 GK  RUS Rem Saitgareyev 24 GK  RUS Bulat Bakirov 27 MF  RUS Andrey Anisimov 38 DF  RUS Gleb Zakharov 40 GK  RUS Aleksey Chernov 45 DF  RUS Aleksandr Tenyayev 48 MF  RUS Aleksandr Lukyanov 62 DF  RUS Vadim Karpov 72 FW  RUS Kamil Mullin 88 FW  RUS Migran Ageyan 89 DF  RUS Dmitry Stotsky 93 DF  RUS Viktor Garayev 97 MF  BLR Roman Pasevich

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  RUS Konstantin Troyanov

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  RUS Danil Akhatov (at Amkar Perm until 31 August 2024) — FW  RUS Ivan Khleborodov (at Kaluga until 30 June 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  RUS Oleg Oznobikhin (at Dynamo Kirov until 31 December 2024)

Role	Name
Head coach	Aleksei Stukalov
Assistant coaches	Nikolai Safronidi
	Dmitri Beznyak
Goalkeeping coach	Anatoli Zarapin
President	Marat Magadeev
Sporting Director	Ildus Biglov
Director	Shamil Gazizov

• Andrei Kanchelskis (2010–2012)
• Andrei Malay (2012, acting)
• Igor Kolyvanov (2012–2015)
• Yevgeny Perevertaylo (2015–2016)
• Sergei Tomarov (2016, acting)
• Viktor Goncharenko (2016)
• Sergei Semak (2016–2018)
• Sergei Tomarov (2018)
• Dmitri Kirichenko (2018–2019)
• Vadim Yevseyev (2019–2020)
• Rashid Rakhimov (2020–2021)
• Nikolai Safronidi (2021, acting )
• Alexei Stukalov (2021–2022)
• Sergei Tomarov (2022)
• Denis Popov (2022)
• Arslan Khalimbekov (2022–2023)
• Sergei Gurenko (2023)
• Yevgeni Kharlachyov (2023 —present)

WFC Ufa, a female football club, plays in the Russian First Division, the second tier of the Women Russian football system.^{[citation needed]}

Had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Ufa.

Sponsors

Period	Partner
2010—2015	OJSC "Bashinformsvyaz"
2012—present	Fund for Social Targeted Programs
2018—2022	BetBoom
2022—present	Republic of Bashkortostan

Technical partners

Period	Partner
2011—2012	Puma
2012 —present	Joma

• Official website (in Russian)