FC Luch Vladivostok explained

Clubname:Luch
Upright:0.8
Fullname:Football Club
Luch Vladivostok
Ground:Dynamo Stadium,
Vladivostok
Capacity:10,200
Chairman:Yevgeni Strizhichenko
Manager:Vacant
Season:2019–20
Position:FNL, 16th (relegated)
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FC Luch Vladivostok (Russian: Футбольный клуб "Луч" Владивосток) was an association football club based in Vladivostok, Russia. In 2005, Luch won the Russian First Division and played in the Premier League from 2006 to 2008.

The club was called Luch-Energiya from 2003 to 2018, when it was renamed due to sponsorship from Dalenergo, an energy distribution company.

History

Luch has been playing in the Soviet Union championship since 1958. The name Luch means Ray. The club played in the Far East regional tournament of "B-class" teams and eventually won it in 1965, earning promotion to "A-class". Luch played in this regional tournament until league reorganization in 1972.

From 1972 to 1991, Luch played in the Eastern zone of Soviet Second League. The club's best result was a runner-up position in 1984.

In 1992, after the dissolution of Soviet Union, Luch was entitled to play in the Eastern zone of Russian First League and won that tournament. Luch played in Russian Top League in 1993 and was relegated, having finished 15th.

Luch played in Russian First Division from 1994 until relegation in 1997, and in Russian Second Division from 1998 to 2003. In 2003, Luch-Energia finished 1st in the Eastern zone and earned promotion. The club spent another 2 years in First Division, earning promotion to Premier League in 2005. In 2008 Luch finished in the last position and was relegated to the Russian First Division. The club had some financial problems and were forced to sell some of their key players making the club vulnerable at home, formerly considered a fortress on the remote Pacific coast.In November 2017, Luch's home game against Khimki was delayed by 15 minutes due to a protest by the club's players over delays in wages and the running of the club. Due to four months without pay some of the players had been evicted from their accommodation and a Luch supporters group supplying food to the players.[1]

Despite finishing in the relegation zone at the end of the 2017–18 season, the club was not relegated as other clubs ahead in the standings failed to obtain the league license for 2018–19.[2]

On 16 July 2018, the club was renamed back to FC Luch.[3]

On 1 April 2020, the government of Primorsky Krai announced that all professional contracts with sports clubs in their region had been cancelled to provide funds to combat the spread the COVID-19 pandemic, with Luch Vladivostok dropping to the Russian Amateur Football League once football returns.[4]

Domestic

SeasonDiv.Pos.Pl.WDLGSGAPCupEuropeTop Scorer (League)Head Coach
19922nd, "East"align=center bgcolor="lightgreen"1302046441423align=center colspan="2" Kasyanenko – 9
Dubovik – 9
Burchalkin
Ivchenko
align=center rowspan="2"19931st153411716295629align=center rowspan="2"R256align=center colspan="2" rowspan="2" Ruslyakov – 7align=left rowspan="2" Ivchenko
Releg.
tourn.
align=center bgcolor="pink"452211196 Galimov – 4
1994align=center rowspan="4"2nd1242151116445341align=center colspan="2" I. Protasov – 9 Ig. Saenko
199564220616514866R256align=center colspan="2" Selenkov – 16 Burchalkin
19961542141216394954R128align=center colspan="2" Shkilov – 9 Szekecs
1997align=center bgcolor="pink"224231227237621align=center colspan="2" Selenkov – 5 Kobersky
1998align=center rowspan="6"3rd, "East"73014610422448R64align=center colspan="2" Melnik – 8 Fedyakin
19997301479433249R128align=center colspan="2" Melnik – 11 Fedyakin
20004241239412639R512align=center colspan="2" Tikhonovetsky – 9 Karamyan
Zhuravlyov
20018289109312937R128align=center colspan="2" Tikhonovetsky – 8 Lukyanov
20026301569513451R512align=center colspan="2" Kisurin – 10 Tolkin
Zhuravlyov
2003align=center bgcolor="lightgreen"1241644532352R512align=center colspan="2" A. Smirnov – 11 Zhuravlyov
Antikhovich
2004align=center rowspan="2"2nd1442151116505056R128align=center colspan="2" Sokolov – 11
Atangana – 11
Antikhovich
Pavlov
2005align=center bgcolor="lightgreen"14227114813292R64align=center colspan="2" D.A. Smirnov – 19 Pavlov
2006align=center rowspan="3"1st73012513373941R16align=center colspan="2" A. Ivanov – 5 Pavlov
200714308814263832R32align=center colspan="2" Strelkov – 5 Pavlov
2008align=center bgcolor="pink"163031215245321R32align=center colspan="2" Bulyga – 5
I. Shevchenko – 5
Vulić
Altman
2009align=center rowspan="3"2nd1438131114424350R32align=center colspan="2" Dedechko – 9 Yemelyanov
Pobegalov
20101238131312424252QFalign=center colspan="2" Satalkin – 9 Nazarenko
Arcos
2011–12align=center bgcolor="pink"1748112116373954R16align=center colspan="2" Alkhazov – 10 Arcos
Pavlov
2012–133rd, "East"align=center bgcolor="lightgreen"1301884482762R2align=center colspan="2" Tikhonovetsky – 14 Yemelyanov
2013–14align=center rowspan="7"2nd836151011402555SFalign=center colspan="2" Asildarov – 5
Mikhalyov −5
Yemelyanov
Grigoryan
2014–15103411914404642R32align=center colspan="2" Myazin −11 Grigoryan
Ushahin
2015–16153812917314645R4align=center colspan="2" Nivaldo −6 Veretennikov
Perednya
2016–17163891514274142R4align=center colspan="2" Stolbovoy −5 Perednya
2017–18183891316405240QFalign=center colspan="2" Geloyan −7
Myazin −7
Ivanauskas
Grigoryan
2018–191338101711292847R64align=center colspan="2" Pavlenko −4
Khleborodov −4
Viznovich −4
Khuzin
2019–20align=center bgcolor="pink"16276912284027R16align=center colspan="2" Aliyev −8 Khuzin
Ushakhin
Petrakov

Complications

Situated in the Far East of the country, their location poses a significant problem for away teams, for example being 9 hours by flight from Moscow. When playing FC Zenit Saint Petersburg at home, a trio of Zenit fans drove 15,000 km across the country only for their car to break down when in Vladivostok, leaving them unable to drive home. These fans thus took the Trans-Siberian Railway back to Saint Petersburg, upon which the club rewarded them with a new car on 1 October 2006.[5]

There has been much controversy about whether the Russian league should be split into Western and Eastern leagues; however, this is yet to happen. Igor Akinfeev said "They should join football league in Japan." after CSKA Moscow lost 0–4 away from home against Vladivostok on 10 June 2007. In addition to this, even their own players admitted it was awkward as they had to travel long distances for away games. Matija Kristić said "It's not as bad for other teams because they only need to travel this distance once a year whereas we have to do it for all away matches". Srđan Radonjić said "It is just crazy, they should have two Russian premier leagues, one for the European teams and another for Asian teams. Vladivostok is 4,000 miles from Moscow."

Notable players

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

USSR/Russia
Former USSR countries
Europe
Africa

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Luch Energiya Vladivostok's Crisis Deepens. russianfootballnews.com. Russian Football News. 10 November 2017. 9 November 2017.
  2. Web site: Russian National Football League. http://1fnl.ru/news/7458. ru:Клубы ФНЛ получили лицензии. 30 May 2018. ru.
  3. Web site: FC Luch Vladivostok. http://fc-luch.com/glavnaya-komanda-primorya-vernula-sebe-istoricheskoe-imya.html. ru:Главная команда Приморья вернула себе историческое имя. 16 July 2018. ru.
  4. Web site: ЗАКЛЮЧЕНИЕ КОНТРАКТОВ С ИГРОКАМИ В ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНЫХ СПОРТКЛУБАХ ПРИМОРЬЯ В СЕЗОНЕ 2020-2021 ПРИОСТАНАВЛИВАЕТСЯ . primorsky.ru/ . . 13 April 2020 . ru . 1 April 2020 . 3 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200403073524/https://www.primorsky.ru/news/186400/ . dead .
  5. Web site: Far East and far out: Russia's remotest derby, on the Sea of Japan. Four Four Two. 23 March 2012 . 9 December 2015.