FC Ural Yekaterinburg

FC Ural Yekaterinburg (Russian: ФК Урал) is a Russian professional association football club based in Yekaterinburg that plays in the Russian First League.^[1]

Ural Yekaterinburg

Full name	Football Club Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast or FC Ural Yekaterinburg
Nickname(s)	Shmeli (Bumblebees) Oranzhevo-chornyye (Orange and Black) Uraltsy (Ural men)
Founded	September 1, 1930; 94 years ago (1930-09-01)
Ground	Ekaterinburg Arena
Capacity	35,061
Owner	Sverdlovsk Oblast
Chairman	Grigori Ivanov
Manager	Miroslav Romaschenko
League	Russian First League
2024–25	4th of 18
Website	fc-ural.ru
Current season

History

The club was founded in 1930 and was known as Avangard (1930–1948, 1953–1957), Zenit (1944–1946), Mashinostroitel (1958–1959), and Uralmash (1949–1952, 1960–2002).^{[citation needed]} The club is currently named after the Russian region of Ural, where Yekaterinburg is the capital.

The club participated in the Soviet championships beginning in 1945. They mostly played in the higher leagues, with the exception of the 1969 season spent in the lowest league. They were the easternmost Russian SFSR club to compete in the third Soviet division (the easternmost Soviet club overall was FC Kairat from Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR).^{[citation needed]}

Uralmash reached the quarterfinals of the Soviet Cup in 1965/66, 1967/68, and 1990/91.^{[citation needed]}

After the dissolution of the USSR, Uralmash were entitled to enter the Russian Top Division and played there for five seasons, from 1992 to 1996. Their best result was eighth position in 1993 and 1995. Despite reaching the semifinal of the Intertoto Cup in 1996, Uralmash finished 16th out of 18 in the league and were relegated. In 1997 another relegation followed, now to the Second Division. From 1998 to 2002 Uralmash played in the Second Division. After winning promotion, the club was renamed Ural. In 2003, the team were relegated from the Russian First Division, but were promoted again after the 2004 season. The team's best finish in the First Division was third in 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Robertas Poškus joined FC Ural in 2009

FC Ural reached the Russian cup final in 2017 for the first time in their history. They lost the final against Lokomotiv Moscow. In 2019, FC Ural faced Lokomotiv Moscow again in their second Russian cup final. Lokomotiv Moscow defeated FC Ural in that final.

In the 2023–24 season, Ural finished 13th, qualifying for the relegation play-offs.^[2] They lost 2–3 to Akron Tolyatti on aggregate and were relegated to the Russian First League after 11 seasons at the top tier.^[3]

In the 2024–25 season, Ural finished 4th in the First League and qualified for the promotion play-offs.^[4] They lost to Akhmat Grozny with an aggregate score of 2–3 and remained in the First League.^[5]

Domestic

Season	League									Russian Cup	Top goalscorer		Manager
	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P		Name	League
2008	2nd	4th	42	22	9	11	69	39	75	Fourth Round			Aleksandr Pobegalov
2009	2nd	8th	38	15	15	8	40	32	60	Round of 16	Vladimir Shishelov	16	Aleksandr Pobegalov Vladimir Fedotov
2010	2nd	7th	38	14	16	8	38	28	58	Fifth Round	Predrag Sikimić	7	Vladimir Fedotov Boris Stukalov
2011–12	2nd	6th	52	19	21	12	71	52	78	Round of 32	Branimir Petrović	8	Dmitry Ogai Yuri Matveyev
2012–13	2nd	1st	32	19	11	2	61	18	68	Round of 32	Spartak Gogniyev	17	Aleksandr Pobegalov Sergei Bulatov Pavel Gusev
2013–14	1st	11th	30	9	7	14	28	46	34	Fifth Round	Spartak Gogniyev	9	Pavel Gusev Oleg Vasilenko Aleksandr Tarkhanov
2014–15	1st	13th	30	9	3	18	31	44	30	Round of 32	Fyodor Smolov	8	Aleksandr Tarkhanov
2015–16	1st	8th	30	10	9	11	39	46	39	Round of 16	Spartak Gogniyev	8	Viktor Goncharenko Vadim Skripchenko
2016–17	1st	11th	30	8	6	16	24	44	30	Runners-Up	Vladimir Ilyin Roman Pavlyuchenko	4	Vadim Skripchenko Yuri Matveyev (caretaker) Aleksandr Tarkhanov
2017–18	1st	12th	30	8	13	9	31	32	37	Round of 32	Eric Bicfalvi	8	Aleksandr Tarkhanov
2018–19	1st	10th	30	10	8	12	33	45	38	Runners-Up	Eric Bicfalvi Andrei Panyukov	6	Dmytro Parfenov
2019–20	1st	11th	30	9	8	13	36	53	35	Semi-final	Eric Bicfalvi	8	Dmytro Parfenov
2020–21	1st	12th	30	7	13	10	26	36	34	Round of 16	Eric Bicfalvi	7	Yuri Matveyev
2021–22	1st	12th	30	8	9	13	27	35	33	Round of 32	Eric Bicfalvi	10	Yuri Matveyev Igor Shalimov

Current squad

First team

As of 18 July 2025^[6]

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  RUS Mikhail Oparin 2 DF  BIH Silvije Begić 4 DF  RUS Matvey Bardachyov (on loan from Zenit St. Petersburg) 5 MF  RUS Timur Ayupov 6 MF  RUS Fanil Sungatulin 7 FW  RUS Aleksei Kashtanov 10 FW  CRO Martin Sekulić 13 MF  RUS Roman Akbashev 14 MF  RUS Yuri Zheleznov 15 MF  BLR Valery Bocherov 16 DF  BRA Ítalo 18 MF  RUS Nikita Morozov 20 FW  RUS Yevgeni Markov 24 DF  BLR Yegor Filipenko 31 MF  RUS Maksim Sergeyev

No. Pos. Nation Player 34 DF  RUS Timofei Margasov 35 DF  BLR Dmitry Prishchepa 37 MF  RUS Vitaly Bondarev 39 MF  RUS Artyom Galkin 42 MF  RUS Yegor Mosin 44 MF  BLR Vladislav Malkevich 46 DF  RUS Artyom Mamin 50 FW  RUS Maksim Voronov 57 GK  RUS Aleksandr Selikhov 59 MF  RUS Yevgeni Kharin 71 GK  RUS Aleksei Mamin 77 GK  RUS Maksim Aleksandrov 86 GK  RUS Ivan Kuznetsov 97 MF  RUS Ilya Ishkov

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  RUS Nikita Alekseyev (at Pyunik until 30 June 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  RUS Dmitry Burkin (at Veles Moscow until 30 June 2026)

Reserve team

Further information: FC Ural-2 Yekaterinburg

Retired numbers

• 23 – Pyotr Khrustovsky, forward (2003) – posthumous honor

Coaching staff

• Head coach – Yuri Matveyev
• Assistant coach – Vladimir Kalashnikov, Andrei Danilov, Ivan Jovanovski
• Goalkeeping coach – Andrei Shpilyov

Notable players

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

Russia/USSR Viktor Shishkin Arsen Adamov Nikita Chernov Yury Gazinsky Aleksei Ionov Yuri Matveyev Roman Pavlyuchenko Aleksandr Podshivalov Ilya Pomazun Aleksandr Ryazantsev Oleg Shatov Igor Smolnikov Fyodor Smolov Oleg Veretennikov Dmitry Yefremov Artyom Yenin Aleksandr Yerokhin Aleksandr Yushin Artur Yusupov Anton Zabolotny Denis Zubko Former USSR countries Armenia Artak Aleksanyan Edgar Manucharyan Artur Sarkisov Varazdat Haroyan Belarus Andrey Chukhley Alyaksandr Hrapkowski Alyaksandr Martynovich Nikolay Zolotov Aleh Shkabara Yuri Zhevnov

Estonia Aleksandr Dmitrijev Georgia Giorgi Chanturia Kazakhstan Vitaliy Abramov Sergei Anashkin Renat Dubinskiy Vitaliy Kafanov Konstantin Ledovskikh Aleksandr Sklyarov Georgy Zhukov Lithuania Arūnas Klimavičius Robertas Poškus Moldova Igor Bugaiov Serghei Rogaciov Tajikistan Vitaliy Levchenko Igor Vityutnev Anatoli Volovodenko Shamsiddin Shanbiev Ukraine Denys Kulakov Oleksandr Pomazun Dmytro Topchiev Uzbekistan Vladimir Radkevich Yevgeni Safonov

Vladimir Shishelov Oston Urunov Europe Hungary Vladimir Koman Iceland Sölvi Ottesen Israel Toto Tamuz Norway Stefan Strandberg Poland Rafał Augustyniak Michał Kucharczyk Maciej Wilusz Romania Eric Bicfalvi South America Chile Gerson Acevedo Africa Cameroon Petrus Boumal Congo Emmerson Zambia Chisamba Lungu

Managers

^{[citation needed]}

• Pavel Gusev (2003–04)
• Aleksandr Pobegalov (2005–09)
• Vladimir Fedotov (2009–10)
• Boris Stukalov (2010)
• Dmitriy Ogai (2011)
• Yuri Matveyev (2011)
• Aleksandr Pobegalov (2012)
• Sergei Bulatov (2012)
• Pavel Gusev (2012–13)
• Oleg Vasilenko (2013)
• Aleksandr Tarkhanov (2013–15)
• Viktor Goncharenko (2015)
• Vadim Skripchenko (2015–2016)

Honours

Domestic

• Soviet Second League / Russian Football National League
  • Champions (2): 1990, 2012–13
• Russian Second Division
  • Champions (2): 2002, 2004
• Russian Cup
  • Runners-up (2): 2016–17, 2018–19

Invitational

• ANFA Cup
  • Champions (1): 1989^[7]