FC Kharkiv

Kharkiv
Full nameФутбольний клуб Харків
Football Club Kharkiv
NicknameBahriano-zoloti (Burgundy-goldens)
Founded2016; 10 years ago (2016)
GroundOSC Metalist (pre-war)
Arena Livyi Bereh (currently)
Capacity41,307 (pre-war)
4,700 (currently)
OwnerVolodymyr Nosov
ChairmanAnton Ivanov
Head coachMladen Bartulović
LeagueUkrainian Premier League
2025–26Ukrainian Premier League, 5th of 16
Websitehttps://fckharkiv.com/

Football Club Kharkiv (Ukrainian: Футбольний клуб Харків), formerly FC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv (Ukrainian: ФК Металіст 1925 Харків) is a professional football club from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Founded in 2016, the club plays in the Ukrainian Premier League, the top tier of Ukrainian football after promotion from the Ukrainian First League in 2024–25. Their home stadium is the Metalist State Sports Complex, with 40,003 capacity.

Metalist Kharkiv was promoted to the Ukrainian Premier League after finishing in third place in the 2020–21 Ukrainian First League. They earned promotion on two previous occasions: placing second in the 2016–17 Ukrainian Football Amateur League and placing third in the 2017–18 Ukrainian Second League.

History

The club was established in the summer of 2016 after the original club, FC Metalist Kharkiv, was refused a license by the Football Federation of Ukraine and expelled from national competitions. The process of creation of the club started the former first vice-president of the Football Federation of Ukraine, Serhiy Storozhenko. In his interview in May of 2017, Storozhenko emphasized that the club is created to be governed by local fans, for whom was created the Metalist 1925 fan club. The members of the club could be part of the governing body and governing committees of the FC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv. Storozhenko said straightforwardly that the new club has no relations to FC Metalist Kharkiv.

At first, the club was registered as Avanhard Kharkiv and had two teams, Metalist 1925 participating in the national amateur championship and Metalist Yunior in the Kharkiv Oblast championship. During the certification with the Professional Football League of Ukraine, on May 15, 2017, the club was re-registered as FC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv. Concerning naming, Serhiy Storozhenko stated that the name of Metalist is a tribute to Kharkiv as a city of workers, while the number of 1925 has two versions of how they came up with it. The first version is that 19 participants created FC Avanhard Kharkiv, while 25 is the number of footballers who can be listed for the team. The second version is that until 1925 there was a championship of cities in Ukraine, and Kharkiv was among the first champions of the Soviet Union. And it is in 1925 that the first football clubs appeared in Ukraine.

Former Metalist player like Volodymyr Linke, who is one of the founders of FC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv, became the club's general director.

In 2016, FC Metalist 1925 entered the Ukrainian Football Amateur League for the 2016–17 season where it reached the league's final. Later in the summer of 2017, it was admitted to the Ukrainian Second League.

In 2018, the club was promoted to the Ukrainian First League and, from 2021, it has played in the highest tier of Ukrainian association football – the Ukrainian Premier League.

On 1 June 2025, Metalist 1925 secured promotion to the Ukrainian Premier League from next season after a win against Livyi Bereh Kyiv on a 2–0 aggregate in the promotion-relegation play-off, and returned to the top tier after a one-year absence.

On 15 June 2026, Metalist 1925 announced an official rebranding and renaming to FC Kharkiv, starting the following season.

Crest and colour

Club logo used from 2016 to 2026

FC Kharkiv colour is Maroon and Yellow previously Yellow and Dark Blue.

Infrastructure

FC Kharkiv plays its games at Metalist Stadium. It has its own training site in the town of Vysokyi.

Squad

Players

As of 12 September 2026

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 Heorhiy Yermakov
5 MF  UKR Ivan Kalyuzhnyi (captain)
6 MF  ARG Rafael Profini
7 FW  KOS Baton Zabërgja
8 MF  UKR Oleksandr Yatsyk
9 FW  UKR Denys Antyukh
10 FW  VEN Carlos Paraco [uk]
11 FW  VEN Sebastián Castillo (on loan from Deportivo La Guaira)
13 DF  UKR Volodymyr Salyuk
14 FW  UKR Ramik Hadzhyiev
16 MF  COL Nicolás Arévalo
17 MF  UKR Ihor Kohut
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 DF  UKR Yevhen Pavlyuk
19 MF  ALB Ermir Rashica
23 GK  UKR Yaroslav Protsenko
24 DF  UKR Oleksandr Martynyuk
27 DF  UKR Illya Krupskyi
29 DF  UKR Artem Smolyakov (on loan from Los Angeles)
30 GK  UKR Danylo Varakuta
31 DF  UKR Artem Shabanov
37 DF  UKR Valeriy Dubko
77 MF  ITA Cauan Baptistella
91 MF  UKR Matviy Panchenko
98 FW  NGR Peter Itodo

Other players under contract

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

Out on loan

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
— GK  UKR Maksym Kovalenko (at Probiy Horodenka until 30 June 2026)
— MF  UKR Oleksandr Smityukh (at Dinaz Vyshhorod until 30 June 2026)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF  UKR Denys Nahnoynyi (at Kudrivka until 30 June 2026)
— FW  GHA Raymond Owusu (at Kudrivka until 31 December 2026)

International players

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

Administration and coaches

Administration

Current staff (senior team)

General Directors

Presidents and vice-presidents

Managers

Honours

Seasons

Season Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Domestic Cup Other Notes
2016–17 4th
(Championship among amateurs)		 1 20 13 4 3 46 18 43 - LF Lost final Group winner, Promoted
2017–18 3rd "B"
(Second League)		 2 33 21 4 8 77 27 67 1⁄64 finals - - Promoted
2018–19 2nd
(First League)		 4 28 15 6 7 35 20 51 1⁄16 finals - - -
2019–20 7 30 15 6 9 44 34 51 1⁄32 finals - - -
2020–21 3 30 16 8 6 36 22 56 1⁄64 finals - - Promoted
2021–22was terminated 1st
(Premier League)		 10 18/30 6 1 11 17 29 19 1⁄8 finals - - began on 24.02.2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
2022–23 12 30 6 14 10 23 42 32 Not played - - -
2023–24 16 30 5 8 17 32 57 23 1⁄8 finals - - Relegated to FL
2024–25 2nd Gr"B" (First League) 2 /8 16 8 5 3 21 10 29 3rd round - - Admitted to Promotion Group
2nd "Promotion" (First League) 3/8 22 10 6 6 29 20 36 - - Promoted to PL win play-off Livyi Bereh Kyiv 1:0 1:0
2025–26 1st
(Premier League)		 5 30 13 12 5 36 19 51 1⁄2 finals - - -
2026–27 9 3 1 0 2 2 4 3 1⁄4 finals - - Rename from Metalist 1925 Kharkiv

Women, reserves teams and academy

Metalist 1925-2

The club created their second squad as early as 2016. At first, they were competing as Metalist Yunior.

It was announced that Metalist 1925 will be fielding its second squad in the 2024–25 Ukrainian Second League. Metalist 1925-2 would be formed based on Metalist 1925 under-19 team that competed at the UPL U-19 competitions.

Metalist 1925 (women)

Created in 2006 as Zhilstroi-1 Kharkiv (Zhytlobud-1), in 2024 the women's team from Kharkiv was fully integrated by Metalist 1925 as their women's team. Zhilstroi-1/Zhytlobud-1 is a leader of the women club's football in Ukraine.

References

  1. 1 2 Кому официально принадлежат украинские клубы. ukrrudprom.com. 12 November 2021
  2. ↑ Неделин: Околофутбольное чудо произошло, угроза исчезновения Металлиста 1925 прошла. sportarena.com. 31 August 2023
  3. ↑ ТОВ ФК МЕТАЛІСТ 1925 ХАРКІВ - Інформація про юридичну особу ТОВ "ФК "МЕТАЛІСТ 1925". opendatabot.ua. 31 October 2025
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Reshnyuk, Mykola (29 May 2017). ""Ми більше не хочемо президента-олігарха". Сергій Стороженко про Металіст 1925" ["We do not want anymore a president-oligarch." Serhiy Storozhenko about Metalist 1925]. www.ua-football.com (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 17 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  5. ↑ "Fans created our club for fans". In Kharkiv they went the other way ("Наш клуб создали болельщики для болельщиков". В Харькове пошли другим путем). UA-Football. 5 August 2017.
  6. ↑ "Металлист 1925 стал профессиональным футбольным клубом". 16 May 2017.
  7. ↑ "Склад команди".
  8. ↑ "Metalist 1925".
  9. ↑ "Професіональна футбольна ліга України". Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  10. ↑ "Металіст 1925 став професійним футбольним клубом". ua-football.com (in Ukrainian). 16 May 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  11. ↑ "Гендиректор Металіста 1925: Зауважень до тренерського штабу Кривенцова немає". ua-football.com (in Ukrainian). 30 December 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  12. ↑ "Ярослав Вдовенко залишає "Металіст 1925"". metalist1925.com (in Ukrainian). 22 November 2023. Archived from the original on 3 October 2024. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  13. ↑ "Нові лідери, нові перспективи: Володимир Носов стає президентом ФК "Металіст 1925"". metalist1925.com (in Ukrainian). 23 November 2023. Archived from the original on 3 October 2024. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  14. ↑ Oleksandr Pryzetko is a head coach of Metalist 1925
  15. ↑ "Патрік ван Леувен - головний тренер "Металіста 1925"" (in Ukrainian). metalist1925.com. 4 September 2024. Archived from the original on 5 September 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  16. ↑ "У нього був провал і в «Шахтарі». «Металіст 1925» відсторонив від роботи головного тренера". ua-football.com (in Ukrainian). 18 May 2025. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
  17. ↑ "Олександр Чижов готуватиме «Металіст 1925» до матчу проти «Агробізнесу»". metalist1925.com (in Ukrainian). 20 May 2025. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  18. ↑ "У Другій лізі нового сезону виступлять 8 нових резервних команд: ми дізналися, хто їх очолить і де вони будуть грати – є сюрпризи" [In the new season's Second League 8 new reserve teams will participate: we discovered who will manage them and where they will play, there are surprises]. ukrfootball.ua (in Ukrainian). 13 June 2024. Archived from the original on 30 June 2024. Retrieved 30 June 2024.