Volgar FC (Russian: Футбольный Клуб "Волгарь") is an association football club based in Astrakhan, Russia. They play in the Russian Second League Division A (third tier).

Volgar FC
Full nameVolgar Football Club
Founded1960; 64 years ago (1960)
GroundCentral Stadium,
Astrakhan
Capacity21,500
OwnerAstrakhan Oblast
CEOAndrey Nikitin[1]
ManagerDenis Klyuyev
LeagueRussian Second League
Division A
Gold Group
2024–25First stage: 5th
Websitehttps://www.volgar-fc.ru/

History

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The club has been known under following names:

  • Pishchevik (food industry worker) (1925−1958)
  • Trud (labour) (1958–59)
  • Volgar (1960–94) (2012–)[2]
  • Volgar-Gazprom (1995–2007), (2010–2012)
  • Volgar-Gazprom-2 (2007–10)

Pishchevik played in the Second Group of the Soviet League. Trud (and later Volgar) played in the Class B (1958, 1960–1967), in Class A, Group 2 (1968–1969), in Class A, Group 1 (1970), Soviet First League (1971), Soviet Second League (1972–1990), Soviet Second League B (1991). In 1992 Volgar entered the Russian Second League, played in the Third League in 1994 (finished top and were promoted), returned to the Second League in 1995 and stayed until 1998. In 1998 Volgar-Gazprom were promoted and in 1999 they started playing in the Russian First Division. With the exception of the relegation for the 2004 season, Volgar-Gazprom had been in the First Division until 2006. The club was denied the professional licence and thus relegated to amateur level in 2007. Another club was organized called FC Volgar-Gazprom-2. The new club advanced to the Russian First Division for the 2009 season.

After the 2017–18 season, the club experienced financial difficulties and decided to be voluntarily relegated to the third-tier PFL.[3]

On 15 May 2020, the 2019–20 PFL season was abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic in Russia. As Volgar was leading in their PFL zone at the time, they were promoted to the second-tier FNL for the 2020–21 season.[4]

On 20 May 2024, Volgar was relegated to the Russian Second League.[5]

Current squad

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As of 12 September 2024, according to the Russian Second 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
1 GK   RUS Vladislav Yampolsky
3 DF   RUS Aly Tagiyev
6 DF   RUS Yelisey Krivokhizhin
7 MF   RUS Aleksei Pavlishin
9 FW   RUS Yevgeni Tatarinov
10 MF   RUS Danila Smirnov
11 MF   KAZ Akmal Bakhtiyarov
13 MF   RUS Aydin Iskindirov
17 FW   RUS Dmitri Lesnikov
18 DF   RUS Vladislav Volkov (on loan from Akhmat Grozny)
19 FW   RUS Nikolai Prudnikov
23 DF   RUS Sergei Zuykov
No. Pos. Nation Player
24 FW   RUS Artyom Pogosov
27 MF   RUS Daniil Gorovykh
28 DF   RUS Yegor Proshkin
56 DF   RUS Sergey Loskutov (on loan from Ural Yekaterinburg)
58 DF   RUS Ilya Zuyev
69 MF   RUS Danil Anosov (on loan from Sochi)
77 MF   RUS Igor Druzhinin
78 DF   RUS Daniil Melnikov (on loan from Arsenal Tula)
86 GK   RUS Sergey Dmitriyev
88 FW   RUS Denis Mironov (on loan from Kuban-Holding)
90 FW   RUS Aleksandr Shcherbakov
99 GK   RUS Oleg Smirnov

Notable past players

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

References

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  1. ^ "У астраханского "Волгаря" новый руководитель" (in Russian). 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
  2. ^ Sergey Sergeyev: Return the name of "Volgar" Archived 2012-05-02 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ «Волгарь» не будет играть в ФНЛ, его может заменить «Ротор-Волгоград» (in Russian). Russian National Football League. 28 May 2018.
  4. ^ ""Волгарь" официально в ФНЛ" (in Russian). FC Volgar Astrakhan. 19 June 2020. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  5. ^ ""ДИНАМО" И "ХИМКИ" ДОСРОЧНО ВЫШЛИ В РПЛ. "ВОЛГАРЬ" ВЫЛЕТАЕТ ВО ВТОРУЮ ЛИГУ А" (in Russian). Russian First League. 20 May 2024.
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