FC Volgar Astrakhan

Volgar FC (Russian: Футбольный Клуб "Волгарь") is an association football club based in Astrakhan, Russia. They will play in the Russian Second League in the 2024–25 season.

Volgar FC
Full nameVolgar Football Club
Founded1960 (1960)
GroundCentral Stadium,
Astrakhan
Capacity21,500
OwnerAstrakhan Oblast
CEOAndrey Nikitin[1]
ManagerDenis Klyuyev
LeagueRussian Second League
Division A
2023–24Russian First League, 17th of 18 (relegated)
WebsiteClub website

History

The club has been known under following names:

  • Pishchevik (food industry worker) (1925−1958)
  • Trud (labour) (1958–59)
  • Volgar (1960–94) (2012–)[2]
  • Volgar-Gazprom (1995–2007), (2010–2012)
  • Volgar-Gazprom-2 (2007–10)

Pishchevik played in the Second Group of the Soviet League. Trud (and later Volgar) played in the Class B (1958, 1960–1967), in Class A, Group 2 (1968–1969), in Class A, Group 1 (1970), Soviet First League (1971), Soviet Second League (1972–1990), Soviet Second League B (1991). In 1992 Volgar entered the Russian Second League, played in the Third League in 1994 (finished top and were promoted), returned to the Second League in 1995 and stayed until 1998. In 1998 Volgar-Gazprom were promoted and in 1999 they started playing in the Russian First Division. With the exception of the relegation for the 2004 season, Volgar-Gazprom had been in the First Division until 2006. The club was denied the professional licence and thus relegated to amateur level in 2007. Another club was organized called FC Volgar-Gazprom-2. The new club advanced to the Russian First Division for the 2009 season.

After the 2017–18 season, the club experienced financial difficulties and decided to be voluntarily relegated to the third-tier PFL.[3]

On 15 May 2020, the 2019–20 PFL season was abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic in Russia. As Volgar was leading in their PFL zone at the time, they were promoted to the second-tier FNL for the 2020–21 season.[4]

On 20 May 2024, Volgar was relegated to the Russian Second League.[5]

Current squad

As of 29 June 2024, according to the Russian First League website.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  RUS Vladislav Yampolsky
6 DF  RUS Yelisey Krivokhizhin
7 MF  RUS Aleksei Pavlishin
17 FW  RUS Dmitri Lesnikov
20 MF  RUS Danila Smirnov
28 DF  RUS Yegor Proshkin
55 DF  RUS Yevgeni Shlyakov
No. Pos. Nation Player
58 DF  RUS Ilya Zuyev
70 MF  RUS Nikita Malyarov
99 GK  RUS Oleg Smirnov
— DF  RUS Sergey Loskutov (on loan from Ural Yekaterinburg)
— MF  RUS Igor Druzhinin
— FW  RUS Aleksandr Shcherbakov
— FW  RUS Yevgeni Tatarinov

Notable past players

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

References
  1. "У астраханского "Волгаря" новый руководитель" (in Russian). 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
  2. Sergey Sergeyev: Return the name of "Volgar" Archived 2012-05-02 at the Wayback Machine
  3. «Волгарь» не будет играть в ФНЛ, его может заменить «Ротор-Волгоград» (in Russian). Russian National Football League. 28 May 2018.
  4. ""Волгарь" официально в ФНЛ" (in Russian). FC Volgar Astrakhan. 19 June 2020. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  5. ""ДИНАМО" И "ХИМКИ" ДОСРОЧНО ВЫШЛИ В РПЛ. "ВОЛГАРЬ" ВЫЛЕТАЕТ ВО ВТОРУЮ ЛИГУ А" (in Russian). Russian First League. 20 May 2024.
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