FC Chornomorets Odesa

Chornomorets Odesa

Full name	Футбольний Клуб «Чорномо́рець» Одеса Football Club Chornomorets Odesa[1]
Nickname(s)	Моряки (The Sailors)
Short name	FCCO
Founded	26 March 1936; 88 years ago (1936-03-26)
Ground	Chornomorets Stadium
Capacity	34,164
Owner	Vertex United[2][3]
General Director	Anatoliy Misiura[4][5][6]
Head coach	Oleksandr Babych
League	Ukrainian Premier League
2023–24	Ukrainian Premier League, 12th of 16
Website	chornomorets.football
Home colours Away colours
Current season

FC Chornomorets Odesa (Ukrainian: Футбо́льний Клуб Чорномо́рець Оде́са [tʃornoˈmɔretsʲ oˈdɛsɐ]) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Odesa, Ukraine.

According to the club's website, it was formed in 1936 as Dynamo,^[7] but until 2002 it carried a logo with 1958 and 1959^[8][9] listed as the club's years of foundation on its shield, which is when the club received its current name. The club's shield is very similar to the shield of Romanian FC Farul Constanța.^[10]

For over 30 years, the club was sponsored by the Black Sea Shipping Company (1959–1991).^[11] The club was among top 20 Soviet clubs that competed in Soviet Top League. The club's home ground is Chornomorets Stadium and has been opened in 2011.

At the beginning of the 20th century, in Odesa, within limits of Alexander Park (today Shevchenko Park), a construction started of what was supposed to become a pond. However, after the pit for the pond was dug out, the funding stopped and so did the construction. Soon the hole began to serve as a field for one of city's non-league teams. As the hole resembled a shape of the Black Sea, that was the nickname given to the field, and the team was named "Чорне море" Chorne more. And although that team is unrelated to the today's club, it was the first team in Odesa to play under that name.

The official date of foundation of Chornomorets Odesa is considered to be 26 March 1936 as Dynamo Odesa. Dynamo Odesa, however, participated before that in the city championship since 1923 (the year of establishment of the Ukrainian football competitions)^[9] winning it in 1933. Dynamo Odesa itself was first called Spartak Odesa until 1926.^[9] In 1940, after relegating from the Top level, the club was merged with Kharchovyk Odesa that participated in the republican competitions (Championship of Ukrainian SSR) and replaced Dynamo in next competitions.^[9][12] In 1941, the club was reformed again when it was included into the War Championship (Top division) under the name of Spartak Odesa.^[12]

Concurrently in league competitions of the Ukrainian SSR, since 1936 in Odesa played another team Kharchovyk Odesa.

Until Chornomorets Odesa was bought out by Leonid Klimov sometime in 2001, the club's foundation was considered to be 1958.^[9]

After World War II the club was reestablished as Kharchovyk Odesa in the lower Soviet division (Class B).^[12] In 1950, the club lost its place in the play-offs to Spartak Uzhhorod (Zakarpattia Uzhhorod) and was dissolved. In 1953, upon the enlargement of the "Class B" competitions (Second division), the city of Odesa was represented by Metalurh (in Class B 1953, 1954) which soon was replaced again with already more familiar Kharchovyk Odesa.^[12] In 1957–58, there was established Avanhard sports society which adopted number of other smaller societies in Ukraine under its umbrella.^[12] In 1958, the Odesa city team adopted the name Chornomorets and represented the city's Rope Factory.^[12]

In 1959, Chornomorets was handed over to the Black Sea Shipping Company which was a member of Vodnik sports society. Since then its emblem corresponded with the main emblem of Vodnik society.

In the last season of the Soviet Top League, Chornomorets earned fourth place, the only time it ever placed above the big clubs in Ukraine, Dynamo Kyiv, Shakhtar Donetsk and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

The club was a founding member of the Ukrainian Premier League, winning the Ukrainian Cup and finishing 5th in the inaugural 1992 season. Chornomorets finished 3rd the next two seasons and 2nd during the following two seasons. They also won another domestic Cup in 1994. The club's most successful spell was achieved under the guidance of Viktor Prokopenko, and later under Leonid Buryak. At the end of the 1997–98 season, following big financial troubles and the sale of a number of leading players, the club was relegated to the First League.

They won promotion the following 1998–99 season, but finished in the second last place next year and were relegated again. Sometimes in 2001, the Klimov's Primorie company which owned SC Odesa along with Imexbank acquired the city's main team.^[13] In 2002 SC Odesa was merged with Chornomorets. Chornomorets came back up again for the 2002–03 season and enjoyed several decent seasons in the Premier League. They finished third in the 2005–06 season and took part in the 2006–07 UEFA Cup tournament.

Chornomorets were deducted 6 points by FIFA on 6 November 2008. It was confirmed by Ukrainian Premier League on 2 March 2009.^[14] The club managed to finish the 2008–09 season in 10th place despite the deduction. The 2009–10 season started badly with a 5–0 loss to Dynamo Kyiv and a poor run of form that saw the team finish the first half of the season in 13th place, just two spots away from the relegation zone. The club was relegated to the First League at the end of the season. It took, however, just a year for Chornomorets to return to the Ukrainian top flight for the 2011–12 season.

Following a loss in relegation playoffs on 27 May 2018 Chornomorets fans attacked the head coach of the club.^[15]

The main stadium of club is traditionally considered Chornomorets Stadium that until 2012 was called as the Central Stadium of the Black Sea Shipping Company. The stadium is located in the Shevchenko Park.

Among other stadiums Chornomorets also used Stadion "Dnister" imeni V.Dukova (2004–2005, reserves) in Ovidiopol at the Dnister Liman, Spartak Stadium (2005–2006, reserves) in Odesa, Chornomorets Training Base in Sovinyon (2006–2007, reserves) in Odesa.

Period Shirt sponsor 1958–1989 BLASCO 1989–1990 Nisso Boeki 1990–1991 BLASCO 1992–1994 Pony 1994–1997 Reusch 1997–1999 Puma 2001–2014 Imexbank 2015 Euphoria Trading FZE 2015–2017 2+2 2017–2021 Gefest 2021–2022 Parimatch 2022–2023 Allrise Capital 2023– vbet

Period Football kit sponsor 1936–1970 no kit sponsor 1970–1980 Adidas 1992–1994 Pony 1994–1997 Reusch 1997–1999 Puma 1999–2002 Adidas 2002–2010 Umbro 2010–2016 Nike 2016–2021 Legea 2021– Kelme

Chornomorets Odesa participates in European competitions since 1975 after playing its first game against S.S. Lazio in the UEFA Cup 1975/76.

• Ukrainian Premier League
  • Runners-up (2): 1994–95, 1995–96
  • Third place (3): 1992–93, 1993–94, 2005–06
• Ukrainian First League
  • Runners-up (4): 1998–99, 2001–02, 2010–11, 2020–21
• Ukrainian Cup
  • Winners (2): 1992, 1993–94
  • Runners-up (1): 2012–13
• Ukrainian Super Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2013
• Soviet Top League
  • Third place (1): 1974
• Soviet First League
  • Winners (3): 1961,^[16] 1973, 1987
  • Runners-up (1): 1962
• Soviet League Cup
  • Winners (1): 1990

• UEFA Intertoto Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2007

Officially in the Soviet Union Ukrainian teams carried both names in Russian and Ukrainian.

• 1926: Club formed FC Dynamo Odesa (out of Sparta Odesa)
• 1936: Dynamo was admitted to the All-Union competitions
• 1936: KinAp Odesa entered league competitions at republican level (Ukraine)
• 1938: Pischevik / Kharchovyk Odesa entered league competitions at republican level (Ukraine)
• 1940: Dynamo football team dissolved, its players joined Kharchovyk which admitted to the All-Union competitions
• 1941: Club renamed Spartak Odesa
• 1942: World War II (club was dissolved)
• 1944: Club revived as Dynamo Odesa which qualified for final stage of the Cup of the Ukrainian SSR
• 1945: Club reformed as Kharchovyk Odesa admitted to the All-Union competitions
• 1950: Kharchovyk relegated and dissolved
• 1951: Metallurg / Metalurh Odesa (team of Kim Fomin) promoted to the All-Union competitions
• 1955: Club split reviving Kharchovyk Odesa in the All-Union competitions (in place of Metalurh, while Metalurh continued to play at republican level)
• 1958: Club renamed Chernomorets / Chornomorets Odesa as part of the Odesa Rope Factory

As of 15 September 2024^[17][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  UKR Artur Rudko 2 DF  UKR Bohdan Butko 3 DF  UKR Vitaliy Yermakov 4 DF  UKR Borys Lototskyi 5 DF  UKR Roman Savchenko (on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk) 6 DF  BRA Caio Gomes 7 MF  UKR Ivan Petryak (on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk) 8 MF  SVN Jon Šporn 9 FW  UKR Oleksiy Khoblenko 11 FW  UKR Kiril Popov 12 GK  NGA Chijioke Aniagboso 14 MF  UKR Kyrylo Siheyev (on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk) 16 DF  UKR Bohdan Biloshevskyi 17 MF  UKR Denis Yanakov 19 MF  UKR Mykhaylo Khromey (on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk)

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 MF  UKR Vladyslav Kalyn (on loan from Dynamo Kyiv U19) 22 DF  BIH Vladimir Arsić 27 MF  UKR Oleksandr Vasylyev 28 MF  UKR Artem Habelok 32 MF  UKR Artem Prysyazhnyuk 33 MF  UKR Oleksandr Pshenychnyuk 34 DF  GEO Luka Latsabidze (on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk) 39 DF  UKR Yevhen Skyba 44 DF  GAM Moses Jarju 70 FW  BRA João Neto 71 GK  UKR Yan Vichnyi 77 DF  UKR Yaroslav Kysil 86 DF  UKR Danylo Udod (on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk) 88 MF  UKR Yevhen Yanovich (on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk) 90 MF  UKR Illya Shevtsov

• Semen Altman
• Oleksiy Antonov
• Oleksandr Babych
• Oleh Bazylevych
• Leonid Buryak
• Ihor Belanov
• Anatoliy Didenko
• Ivan Hetsko
• Viktor Hryshko
• Vasyl Ishchak
• Georgy Kondratyev
• Serhiy Kovalets
• Vyacheslav Leshchuk
• Valeriy Lobanovskyi
• Viktor Pasulko
• Valeriy Porkuyan
• Yuriy Romenskyi
• Anatoliy Shepel
• Vitaliy Shevchenko
• Oleksandr Skrypnyk
• Oleh Suslov

The scheme below shows performance of a team which carried names Kharchovyk (Pischevik) and Chornomorets (Chernomorets) only.

* UPL – Ukrainian Premier League

• Oleksandr Skrypnyk (2004 – 2005)
• Vladyslav Zubkov (2005)

• 1989–1992 Yuriy Zabolotnyi
• 1992–1995 Vyacheslav Leshchuk
• 1996–1997 Hryhoriy Biberhal
• 1998–1998 Petro Naida
• 1998–2002 Leonid Klimov (honorary president ever since)
• 2002–present Oleh Marus (acting)

• FC Chornomorets-2 Odesa
• SK Odesa
• Black Sea Shipping Company

• Official website
• Fan's website (archived 28 August 2008)