FC Luch Vladivostok

FC Luch Vladivostok (Russian: Футбольный клуб "Луч" Владивосток) is 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.

Luch
Full nameFootball Club
Luch Vladivostok
Founded1958 (1958)
GroundDynamo Stadium,
Vladivostok
Capacity10,200
OwnerPrimorsky Krai/Vladivostok
ChairmanYevgeni Strizhichenko
ManagerVacant
LeagueThird Division
2019–20FNL, 16th (relegated)

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.

Luch-Energia logo

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]

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. 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."

League and Cup history

Russia
Season Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Cup Europe Top Scorer (League) Head Coach
1992 2nd, "East" 1 30 20 4 6 44 14 23 — — Kasyanenko – 9
Dubovik – 9		 Burchalkin
Ivchenko
1993 1st 15 34 11 7 16 29 56 29 R256 — Ruslyakov – 7 Ivchenko
Releg.
tourn.		 4 5 2 2 1 11 9 6 Galimov – 4
1994 2nd 12 42 15 11 16 44 53 41 — — I. Protasov – 9 Ig. Saenko
1995 6 42 20 6 16 51 48 66 R256 — Selenkov – 16 Burchalkin
1996 15 42 14 12 16 39 49 54 R128 — Shkilov – 9 Szekecs
1997 22 42 3 12 27 23 76 21 — — Selenkov – 5 Kobersky
1998 3rd, "East" 7 30 14 6 10 42 24 48 R64 — Melnik – 8 Fedyakin
1999 7 30 14 7 9 43 32 49 R128 — Melnik – 11 Fedyakin
2000 4 24 12 3 9 41 26 39 R512 — Tikhonovetsky – 9 Karamyan
Zhuravlyov
2001 8 28 9 10 9 31 29 37 R128 — Tikhonovetsky – 8 Lukyanov
2002 6 30 15 6 9 51 34 51 R512 — Kisurin – 10 Tolkin
Zhuravlyov
2003 1 24 16 4 4 53 23 52 R512 — A. Smirnov – 11 Zhuravlyov
Antikhovich
2004 2nd 14 42 15 11 16 50 50 56 R128 — Sokolov – 11
Atangana – 11		 Antikhovich
Pavlov
2005 1 42 27 11 4 81 32 92 R64 — D.A. Smirnov – 19 Pavlov
2006 1st 7 30 12 5 13 37 39 41 R16 — A. Ivanov – 5 Pavlov
2007 14 30 8 8 14 26 38 32 R32 — Strelkov – 5 Pavlov
2008 16 30 3 12 15 24 53 21 R32 — Bulyga – 5
I. Shevchenko – 5		 Vulić
Altman
2009 2nd 14 38 13 11 14 42 43 50 R32 — Dedechko – 9 Yemelyanov
Pobegalov
2010 12 38 13 13 12 42 42 52 QF — Satalkin – 9 Nazarenko
Arcos
2011–12 17 48 11 21 16 37 39 54 R16 — Alkhazov – 10 Arcos
Pavlov
2012–13 3rd, "East" 1 30 18 8 4 48 27 62 R2 — Tikhonovetsky – 14 Yemelyanov
2013–14 2nd 8 36 15 10 11 40 25 55 SF — Asildarov – 5
Mikhalyov −5		 Yemelyanov
Grigoryan
2014–15 10 34 11 9 14 40 46 42 R32 — Myazin −11 Grigoryan
Ushahin
2015–16 15 38 12 9 17 31 46 45 R4 — Nivaldo −6 Veretennikov
Perednya
2016–17 16 38 9 15 14 27 41 42 R4 — Stolbovoy −5 Perednya
2017–18 18 38 9 13 16 40 52 40 QF — Geloyan −7
Myazin −7		 Ivanauskas
Grigoryan
2018–19 13 38 10 17 11 29 28 47 R64 — Pavlenko −4
Khleborodov −4
Viznovich −4		 Khuzin
2019–20 16 27 6 9 12 28 40 27 R16 — Aliyev −8 Khuzin
Ushakhin (Caretaker)
Petrakov

Notable players

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

gollark: "Internet" and "on your own" don't particularly fit together though?
gollark: I see.
gollark: Wonderful.
gollark: Oh, and even if you're on your own, basically everything still has instrumental value because you might want to make things of some kind.
gollark: Tesla coils?

References
  1. "Luch Energiya Vladivostok's Crisis Deepens". russianfootballnews.com. Russian Football News. 9 November 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  2. Клубы ФНЛ получили лицензии (in Russian). Russian National Football League. 30 May 2018.
  3. Главная команда Приморья вернула себе историческое имя (in Russian). FC Luch Vladivostok. 16 July 2018.
  4. "ЗАКЛЮЧЕНИЕ КОНТРАКТОВ С ИГРОКАМИ В ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНЫХ СПОРТКЛУБАХ ПРИМОРЬЯ В СЕЗОНЕ 2020-2021 ПРИОСТАНАВЛИВАЕТСЯ". primorsky.ru/ (in Russian). Primorsky Krai. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  5. "Far East and far out: Russia's remotest derby, on the Sea of Japan". Four Four Two. 23 March 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
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