FC Arsenal Tula

Arsenal Tula
Full name	АНО «Профессиональный футбольный клуб «Арсенал», Тула»
Nickname(s)	Red-yellows; Canoneers; "Pryaniki" (Gingercakes); "Pushkari" (The Gunners); "Oruzheyniki" (Gunsmiths); Samovars
Founded	1946; 78 years ago
Ground	Arsenal Stadium
Capacity	19,241
Owner	Rosneft
Chairman	Alexander Zotov
Manager	Aleksandr Storozhuk
League	Russian First League
2023–24	4th of 18
Website	https://arsenaltula.ru
	Current season

FC Arsenal Tula (Russian: ФК Арсенал Тула) is a Russian professional football club from Tula playing in the second-tier Russian First League.

Originally founded in 1923, FC Arsenal Tula was promoted to the Russian Premier League in 2014 for the first time in its history after finishing as runners-up in the 2013–14 Russian National Football League. This achievement marked three successive promotions for the club. On its debut season in the 2014–15 Russian Premier League, it finished in last place and was relegated back to the FNL. The club spent one season in the FNL before returning to the Premier League for the 2016–17 season, in which they have competed until the 2021–22 Russian Premier League season, when they were relegated again after finishing last.^[3]^[4]

The team currently plays its home games in Arsenal Stadium, which has a capacity of 19,241.

History

Team name history

1946–58: FC Zenit Tula
1959–61: FC Trud Tula
1962–63: FC Shakhtyor Tula
1964–74: FC Metallurg Tula
1975–79: FC Mashinostroitel Tula
1980–83: FC TOZ Tula
1984–2006: FC Arsenal Tula
2007: FC Oruzheynik Tula (formed based on the squad and staff of FC Arsenal Tula, but was not a legal successor to Arsenal)
2008–11: FC Arsenal-Tula (formed based on the squad and staff of FC Oruzheynik Tula, but was not a legal successor to Oruzheynik)
2011–: FC Arsenal Tula

Early years

Arsenal Tula played their first season in the USSR Championship in 1946 under the name Zenit Tula, competing in the Central Division of the RSFSR Championship and finished 5th in their debut season. The precursors to Arsenal Tula played mainly in the Soviet Second League and never played in the Soviet Top League. The club was the champions of Zone West of the Russian Professional Football League in 1997 and 2003 and competed in the Russian Football National League from 1998 until 2001 and in 2004. In 2005, Arsenal Tula did not receive an FNL license due to financial difficulties and once again competed in Zone West in the PFL. In 2006 the team FC Arsenal Tula was liquidated and FC Oruzheynik Tula was formed in its place, playing in the Amateur Division. In 2011, it was announced that the team FC Arsenal Tula would be reformed.^[5]

Recent history

The present day team FC Arsenal Tula was formed at the end of 2011, replacing the former team FC Arsenal-Tula. The first coach of Arsenal was the famous Russian footballer Dmitri Alenichev and the coaching staff included Dmitri Ananko, Oleg Samatov, and famous goalkeeper Aleksandr Filimonov. The club's initial squad also had several famous players such as midfielder Yegor Titov and defender Dmytro Parfenov. Over the course of the 2011/12 season, Arsenal finished in 8th place in the Russian Amateur Football League and all of the famous footballers left the club. Trainer Dmitri Alenichev decided to replace them with young players.

On June 18, 2012, Arsenal received a license to compete in Zone Center in the 2012–13 Russian Second Division. Arsenal won promotion at their first attempt, finishing the season with 73 points and 22 wins, 7 draws, and just 1 loss. In the 2013–14 season, FC Arsenal Tula were promoted once again, finishing as runners-up and being promoted to the Russian Premier League for the first time in their history. Over the course of the 2014–15 Russian Premier League, Arsenal finished in last place with 25 points and were relegated back to the FNL. During this season, on April 9, 2015, Arsenal had a sensational 1–0 victory over Spartak Moscow. In this match, the fans of Spartak climbed onto the roof of Arsenal Stadium despite it being unsafe and one fan was hospitalized. This match resulted in the club being fined 500,000 rubles and being forced to play their next match against Krasnodar at a neutral venue. In the 2014–15 Russian Cup, Arsenal reached the quarterfinals, beating Zenit Saint Petersburg in their home stadium.

Before the beginning of the 2015–16 season, trainer Dmitri Alenichev left for Spartak Moscow and was replaced by Viktor Bulatov. Viktor Bulatov was sacked after 24 games, with the club having won 14, drawn 4, and lost 6 games under his tenure. Bulatov was replaced by Sergei Pavlov, who led Arsenal back to the Premier League, with the club finishing as runners-up with 82 points. In the 2016–17 Russian Premier League, Arsenal started poorly, and in October 2016, Pavlov was sacked and replaced with Sergei Kiriakov. Arsenal finished in 14th place and advanced to the relegation play-offs against Yenisey Krasnoyarsk, which Arsenal survived and stayed in the Premier League because of the away goals rule, as Arsenal had won 1–0 in Tula and lost 2–1 in Krasnoyarsk. In the 2017–18 season Arsenal hired Miodrag Božović, who led them to their highest ever position of 7th in the Premier League. Božović left Arsenal after one year. Oleg Kononov took over as the manager, but also left after 5 months at the helm. Igor Cherevchenko eventually led them to 6th place in the 2018–19 season, which qualified them for the very first time for the European competition, 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.^[6]

In the 2023–24 Russian First League season, Arsenal qualified for the Russian Premier League promotion play-offs.^[7] Arsenal lost to Pari Nizhny Novgorod 2–3 on aggregate and remained in the First League.^[8]

League and Cup history

Soviet Union

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup
1946	3rd, "Center"	5	16	8	0	8	38	49	16
1947–1948
1949	2nd, RSFSR-4	13	26	6	5	15	36	66	17
1950–1958
1959	2nd, Zone 2	13	28	5	8	15	26	44	18
1960	2nd, RSFSR-Zone 1	8	30	11	6	13	39	43	28	R64
1961		6	24	11	6	7	36	22	28	R128
1962		10	32	11	8	13	32	45	30	R256
1963		11	30	9	8	13	30	35	26	R512
1964	3rd, RSFSR-Zone 2	12	32	8	12	12	31	38	28	R64
1965	3rd, RSFSR-Zone 1	9	34	11	13	10	38	24	35	R1024
1966	3rd, RSFSR-Zone 1	2	32	15	13	4	33	15	43	R512
	3rd, Semi-final	1	4	2	1	1	3	2	5
	3rd, Final	3	3	1	0	2	4	5	2
1967	2nd (Group 2)	13	38	9	18	11	26	35	36	R512
1968		14	40	9	16	15	31	40	34	R256
1969		5	38	12	19	7	36	25	43	R128
1970		4	42	21	11	10	80	38	53	R16
1971	3rd, Zone 2	2	38	23	8	7	58	28	77
1972	3rd, Zone 2	12	38	12	10	16	47	51	46
1973	3rd, Zone 3	16	34	7	8	19	37	61	19
1974	3rd, Zone 2	10	40	15	11	14	42	51	41
1975	3rd, Zone 3	19	38	9	10	19	29	51	28
1976	3rd, Zone 3	18	40	6	12	22	26	57	24
1977	3rd, Zone 1	10	40	16	9	15	51	34	41
1978	3rd, Zone 3	24	46	8	11	27	39	70	27
1979	3rd, Zone 1	19	46	8	18	20	41	72	34
1980		8	36	19	5	12	66	43	43
1981		17	32	4	5	23	25	67	13
1982		15	30	6	6	18	24	56	18
1983		11	30	9	9	12	27	31	27
1984		3	32	19	5	8	56	29	43
1985		4	32	15	12	5	50	34	42	R32
1986		2	30	17	7	6	39	19	41	R64
1987		12	32	8	9	15	29	40	25	R64
1988		16	38	12	7	19	56	61	31
1989		15	42	15	6	21	41	46	36
1990	4th, Zone 5	15	32	8	8	16	31	48	24
1991	4th, Zone 5	12	42	19	7	16	54	41	45

Russia

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup
1992	3rd, Zone 2	7	42	22	7	13	56	45	51	R16
1993	3rd, Zone 3	2	34	21	7	6	58	15	49
1994	3rd, Zone Center	9	32	14	7	11	47	33	35
1995		6	40	19	10	11	61	43	67	R256
1996		4	42	29	5	8	79	36	92	R256
1997	3rd, Zone West	1	38	28	7	3	91	26	91	R16
1998	2nd	5	42	18	11	13	65	53	65	QF
1999		9	42	19	7	16	61	51	64	R32
2000		11	38	13	13	12	45	39	52	QF
2001		16	34	10	10	14	27	35	40	R32
2002	3rd, Zone West	2	38	23	8	7	66	29	77	R256
2003	3rd, Zone West	1	36	26	5	5	83	18	83	R32
2004	2nd	13	42	15	13	14	39	32	58	R32
2005	3rd, Zone West	13	32	8	8	16	26	31	32	R256
2006	3rd, Zone West	18	34	7	4	23	26	58	25	R512
2007	4th, Zone Central - Black Earth Region	2	32	18	9	5	71	21	63
2008		5	34	21	8	5	75	27	71
2009		7	24	12	3	9	40	24	39
2010		5	22	11	2	9	27	25	35
2011–12		8	42	18	10	14	58	43	64
2012–13	3rd, Zone Center	1	30	22	7	1	74	20	73	R256
2013–14	2nd	2	36	21	6	9	62	39	69	R64
2014–15	1st	16	30	7	4	19	20	46	25	QF
2015–16	2nd	2	38	25	7	6	64	36	82	R64
2016–17	1st	14	30	7	7	16	18	40	28	R32
2017–18		7	30	12	6	12	35	41	42	R32
2018–19		6	30	12	10	8	40	33	46	SF
2019–20		8	30	11	5	14	37	41	38	R16

European record

As of 1 August 2019

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Agg.
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	2QR	Neftçi	0–1	0–3	0–4

Notes

QR: Qualifying round

Feeder club

Arsenal's feeder club Arsenal-2 Tula participated in the third tier of professional Russian football, Russian Professional Football League, beginning with the 2014–15 season. The club was dissolved after the 2016–17 season.^[9] Another team was called Arsenal-2 and competed professionally from 1998 to 2002, it last competed as Dynamo Tula.

Supporters

Arsenal Ultras

Arsenal Fans

Traditionally, the games of Arsenal have drawn great interest from the local football loving population. In the 2011–12 season, when Arsenal was still an amateur team, over 13,500 fans showed up for a match between Arsenal and Rusichi, which is an attendance record for a Russian amateur game.^[10] In the second division, FC Arsenal Tula's attendance was over 8,000 people on average. According to data collected by the Russian Football Union in 2013, Arsenal's attendance was 15th out of 106 professional clubs in Russia.^[11] In the FNL, the average attendance of Arsenal was 10,844, with over 16,500 people showing up for the key game against Torpedo Moscow. In Arsenal's first season in the Premier League, the average attendance was 12,154.

There are several ultras groups among Arsenal fans including the well-known Red-Yellow Cannoneers.^[12] The shirt number 12 has been permanently retired by the club management in honor of the fans.

Current squad

As of 12 September 2024, according to the First League website. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
3	DF	RUS	Erving Botaka
4	MF	NGA	Ifeanyi David Nduka (on loan from Krasnodar)
5	MF	RUS	Nikita Razdorskikh
6	DF	RUS	Nikita Pechyonkin
7	MF	RUS	Andrey Nikitin (on loan from Lokomotiv Moscow)
8	MF	RUS	Artyom Popov
9	FW	RUS	Maksim Turishchev
10	MF	ARM	Ishkhan Geloyan
11	MF	RUS	Sergei Tkachyov
13	MF	RUS	Maksim Kaynov
14	FW	NGA	Malik Odeyinka (on loan from Botev Plovdiv)
18	MF	RUS	Vladislav Levin
20	MF	RUS	Ansor Khabibov
21	MF	BLR	Yevgeny Shevchenko
22	MF	RUS	Alan Tsarayev
23	DF	RUS	Aleksandr Korotkov (on loan from Alania Vladikavkaz)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
24	FW	RUS	Ilya Azyavin
25	DF	BLR	Zakhar Volkov (on loan from Khimki)
27	FW	RUS	Artyom Arutyunov
28	DF	RUS	Grigory Zhilkin (on loan from Krasnodar)
31	DF	RUS	Kirill Bolshakov
34	MF	RUS	Oleg Dmitriyev
36	GK	RUS	Mikhail Levashov
40	DF	RUS	Dmitry Li-Sa
42	MF	RUS	Aleksandr Grebenshchikov
44	DF	RUS	Aleksei Berdnikov
53	DF	RUS	Denis Grigoryev
60	GK	RUS	Timofey Kashintsev
64	DF	RUS	David Semenchuk
72	GK	RUS	Yegor Sidorov
78	MF	RUS	Danil Lipovoy
90	GK	RUS	Vladimir Sugrobov

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	RUS	Daniil Melnikov (at Volgar Astrakhan until 30 June 2025)
—	DF	RUS	Artyom Sukhanov (at KAMAZ until 30 June 2025)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	BLR	Aleksey Vakulich (at Dinamo Brest until 31 December 2024)

Coaching staff

Head coach – Aleksandr Storozhuk
Assistant coach – Georgy Sakhvadze
Goalkeeping coach – Denis Pchelintsev
Conditioning coach – Anton Antonov

Honours

Russian National Football League:
- Runners-up (2): 2013–14, 2015–16
Russian Professional Football League:
- Winners Zone West (2): 1997, 2003
- Winners Zone Center (1): 2012–13

Notable players

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