FC Shakhtar Donetsk Reserves and Youth Team - History Overview

History Overview

Football came to the Donetsk region in the time of the Russian Empire when the industrialization of the country began. Numerous foreigners, particularly British workers, were forming their own football teams. In September 1911, at the factory of Novorossiysk Association (currently Donetsk Steel Works Factory – DMZ) owned by John Hughes was created the Yuzovka Sports Association which contained a football club as well. The football team existed until 1919. In the 1920s, the club was reorganized into the one of Vladimir Lenin's club. One of the most prominent players of that period was Viktor Shylovsky who became famous, however, playing for Dynamo Kyiv.

The club Shakhtar was originally formed in May 1936 and was initially named Stakhanovets, meaning "the participant of Stakhanovite movement," which derived from Aleksei Stakhanov, a coal-miner in the Donets basin and propaganda celebrity in 1935. The first team was based upon two other local teams, the participants of the All-Ukrainian Spartakiads: Dynamo Horlivka and Stalino. The first game was unofficial against Dynamo Odessa and took place on 12 May 1936 at Balitsky Stadium. The team lost it 3–2 after scoring the first goal. Its first official game with Dynamo Kazan was even more disappointing, which they lost 4–1. Nonetheless, the selective job conducted constructively by the clubs administration allowed the club to compete successfully at the top level by the end 1930s. During the war championship of 1941, which was interrupted unexpectedly, the club defeated Soviet champions Dynamo Moscow and after about ten games were placed in fifth position. In the last game of that championship, they played on 24 June, two days after the start of the Great Patriotic War, which they lost at home to Traktor Stalingrad.

The All-Union coal mining society of Stakhanovite had changed its name in July 1946 to Shakhtyor. The first success for the team was in 1951, when it achieved third place in the USSR Championship. In the 1960s, Shakhtar, under Oleg Oshenkov’s coaching, were three-time USSR Cup finalists, winning it twice in 1961 and 1962. The club was nicknamed “The Cup Team” due to Shakhtar’s success in vying for the trophy every year. The Miners’ more notable achievements, however, occurred later from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s.

In 1975, Shakhtar earned second place in the USSR Championship and received the right to represent the Soviet Union in European competition. In 1978, Shakhtar finished third in the USSR Championship. A year later, the team finished second in the league campaign and its captain — striker Vitaliy Starukhin — was named the best player and the best forward in the USSR Championship with 26 goals scored.

Shakhtar twice, in 1980 and 1983, brought home the crystal USSR Cup to Donetsk and in 1983, it won the USSR Super Cup over then-domestic league champions Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. In October 1995, a bombing-assassination took place at the team's stadium, killing team President Akhat Bragin. In the year that followed, Rinat Akhmetov took over as President and subsequently invested heavily in the club. In the 1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, Shakhtar were eliminated after a 5–2 aggregate loss to Italian club Vicenza, losing the first and second legs.

In the newly independent Ukraine, Shakhtar, along with Dynamo Kyiv, became perennial first place competitors. In 1999, a Shakhtar football academy was opened and now hosts football training for roughly 3,000 children. The club won their first ever Ukrainian Premier League title in the 2001-02 season, winning by a single point over Dynamo Kyiv. They were also victorious in the 2001-02 Ukrainian Cup, defeating Dynamo 3–2 after extra time in the Final. They won their second Premier League title in the 2004-05 season. They lost to Dynamo Kyiv in the inaugural Ukrainian Super Cup tournament in 2004. They finished as runners up in the 2004-05 Ukrainian Cup, losing to Dynamo in a penalty shoot-out the Final.

They retained the Premier League crown in the 2005–06 season and managed to avenge the defeat to Dynamo in the previous season's Super Cup by defeating them on penalties to win their first ever Super Cup title. Shakhtar appeared in all three editions of the Channel One Cup, winning the 2006 edition and finishing runners up in 2008. Having missed out on the league title in the 2006–07 season, Shakhtar regained the title in the 2007–08 season. They were also victorious in the Ukrainian Cup, defeating Dynamo Kyiv 2–0 in the final. Shakhtar's attendance levels at league matches have continually risen over the years to a point where they averaged 36,983 spectators over the 2011–12 Premier League season.

In 2009, they became only the second Ukrainian team to win a European competition (and the first since independence), and the first to win the UEFA Cup, beating Werder Bremen in the final, with goals from Brazilians Luiz Adriano and Jádson. This also made them the last UEFA Cup winners before the tournament was rebranded as the UEFA Europa League. Shakhtar won the Premier League title in the 2009–10 season. The 2010–11 season was a very successful one for Shakhtar. They reached the quarter-final stage of the Champions League, their best ever performance in the competition at that time. They also won a domestic treble with victory in the Premier League, Ukrainian Cup, and the Super Cup. They then went on to win the Premier League and Ukrainian Cup in the 2011–12 season. Shakhtar player Yevhen Seleznyov topped the goal scoring charts in the league, with 14 goals.