History of FC "Mordovia"

"Mordovia" is a football club of the Russian Premier League from the city of Saransk. Champion of the championship of the FNL 2012 and 2014.

Dossier

The full name is the football club Mordovia. The founding date is May 2, 1961. Spends matches at the stadium "Start". Capacity - 11,600 spectators. Club colors - red, blue, white. Executive Director - Vladimir Bibikov, head coach of FC Mordovia - Andrey Gordeev, captain - Alexei Ivanov. The place of participation in the competition is the Russian Premier League. The highest achievement is the 8th place in the season of 2014/2015.

History of the club

The team of FC "Mordovia" was founded on May 2, 1961. The current name is from April 2005. In previous years, the club was called:

• 1961 - "The Builder";
• 1962-1971 - "Spartacus";
• 1972 - Electrosvet;
• 1980-2003 - Lighting Engineering;
• 2003-2005 - Lisma-Mordovia;
• 2005-present time - "Mordovia".

Performance in the championship and the USSR Cup

From 1961 to 2012 FC "Mordovia" performed exclusively in the lowest football leagues (both the championship of the USSR and Russia). His team played its first match in the Soviet Union Championship on May 2, 1961 in the city of Saransk against the club "Geologist" (Tyumen). From 1961 to 1991 Mordovia took part in the 23 championships of the USSR Championship.

The debut match for the club took place on July 11, 1961, in the USSR Cup. On this day the team again met with the club "Geologist" and was defeated - 1: 3. In total, FC Mordovia took part in the trophy drawing 9 times. The highest achievement - 1/32 finals of the 1985 season.

In parallel, the club participated in the drawing of the Cup of the RSFSR. The first match was held on April 28, 1980 against the club "Steel" (Cheboksary) and lost with a score - 0: 1. In this contest there were 9 participations. The highest achievement was reaching the semifinals in 1990.

Championship and Cup of Russia

In the Russian championship the team made its debut on April 25, 1992 against the club "Dynamo" (Kirov). Home match ended with a score - 1: 1. From 1992 to 2012 FC "Mordovia" with varying success performed in the first and second leagues of the championship of Russia. In the season 2011/2012 the team took first place in the championship of the FNL and made its way to the Premier League for the first time, where it was extremely unsuccessful, finishing 15th.

A year later the club again returns to the elite competition of the best Russian teams. The second approach was much more successful. As a result of the drawing of the championship 2014/2015 the team took the eighth place. In the current season, the club is very unsuccessful. After 18 rounds the team takes the last line in the standings, gaining only 14 points. From the saving 12th place the club separates 5 points.

Most likely, following the results of the championship, the team from Saransk will again be in the League of FNL. For this there are all prerequisites. The composition of FC Mordovia did not become stronger. The club lost seven players. Maxim Budnikov, Akaky Khubutia, Ismail Ediev and Sergei Vaganov left as free agents, Viktor Vasin returned to Moscow's "CSKA" as a leased player, Alexander Dimidko and Maxim Rogov moved to richer clubs.

As an increase in the team for the club "Krasnodar" was bought by Eugene Shipitsin. The other four players came to FC Mordovia as free agents. The tournament position of the Saransk club can indirectly indicate their playing level. It is unlikely that strong players will come to the team that occupies the last place in the Premier League.

The team held the first match of the Cup of Russia on June 13, 1992 against the club "Titan" (Reutov). It was an away match in which Titan was defeated for failing to maintain proper order at the stadium. In total, 21 attempts were made by the club to win a prestigious trophy. The best achievements in this tournament so far are three quarters in the quarterfinal stage of the tournament.

For FC Mordovia there were five players who played 300 or more matches in the championship and the Cup of the country. All of them played during the 80's, 90's. The list of "guards" of the club includes: Alexei Bessonov - 421 match, Vitaliy Nikulin - 403 matches, Valery Strokov - 317, Sergei Dikarev - 304, Oleg Antonov - 301.

The best scorer in the history of the club is Vitaly Nikulin, who scored in all matches 110 goals. 70 and more goals were scored: Valery Guba (88), Alexei Bessonov (78), Ruslan Mukhametshin (71).

FC "Mordovia" is a team, which included players who played for the national team of Russia. In different years, the ranks of the main team of the country involved: Anton Bober, Oleg Veretennikov, Yevgeny Aldonin, Dmitry Smirnov. In addition, five players of the club played for the Russian national team, 9 more players, legionaries of the team defended the honor of the first national teams of their countries.

And, of course, it is worth mentioning the coaches who worked in FC Mordoviya in recent years and applied all their knowledge and skills to achieve the status of the Premier League team. They are Fedor Shcherbachenko, Dorinel Munteanu, Yuri Maksimov, Yuri Semin.

Stadium

FC "Mordovia" matches at the stadium "Start". It was built in 2004 as an alternative to the old arena, which was called "Lighting Technology".

In 2018, Russia will host the FIFA World Cup. This event does not pass Saransk either. In view of this, the construction of a new modern facility for 45 thousand spectators has been started in the city. It is planned that after the tournament ends, the dismountable constructions of the stands will be dismantled, after which the capacity of the stadium will be 25,000 seats. The construction of the arena should be completed by early 2018. In the future, this will be the home arena of FC Mordovia.