FC Ural Yekaterinburg () is a Russian professional association football club based in Yekaterinburg that plays in the Russian First League.
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). 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).
Uralmash reached the quarterfinals of the Soviet Cup in 1965/66, 1967/68, and 1990/91.
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.
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. They lost 2–3 to Akron Tolyatti on aggregate and were relegated to the Russian First League after 11 seasons at the top tier.
In the 2024–25 season, Ural finished 4th in the First League and qualified for the promotion play-offs. They lost to Akhmat Grozny with an aggregate score of 2–3 and remained in the First League.
In the 2025–26 season, Ural qualified for the promotion play-offs once more, they lost to Dynamo Makhachkala 0–3 on aggregate and stayed in the First League.
Domestic
Season League Russian Cup Top goalscorer Manager Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Name League20082nd4th4222911693975Fourth RoundAleksandr Pobegalov20092nd8th3815158403260Round of 16Vladimir Shishelov16Aleksandr Pobegalov Vladimir Fedotov20102nd7th3814168382858Fifth RoundPredrag Sikimić7Vladimir Fedotov Boris Stukalov2011–122nd6th52192112715278Round of 32Branimir Petrović8Dmitry Ogai Yuri Matveyev2012–132nd1st3219112611868Round of 32Spartak Gogniyev17Aleksandr Pobegalov Sergei Bulatov Pavel Gusev2013–141st11th309714284634Fifth RoundSpartak Gogniyev9Pavel Gusev Oleg Vasilenko Aleksandr Tarkhanov2014–151st13th309318314430Round of 32Fyodor Smolov8Aleksandr Tarkhanov2015–161st8th3010911394639Round of 16Spartak Gogniyev8Viktor Goncharenko Vadim Skripchenko2016–171st11th308616244430Runners-UpVladimir Ilyin Roman Pavlyuchenko4Vadim Skripchenko Yuri Matveyev (caretaker) Aleksandr Tarkhanov2017–181st12th308139313237Round of 32Eric Bicfalvi8Aleksandr Tarkhanov2018–191st10th3010812334538Runners-UpEric Bicfalvi Andrei Panyukov6Dmytro Parfenov2019–201st11th309813365335Semi-finalEric Bicfalvi8Dmytro Parfenov2020–211st12th3071310263634Round of 16Eric Bicfalvi7Yuri Matveyev2021–221st12th308913273533Round of 32Eric Bicfalvi10Yuri Matveyev Igor Shalimov
Current squad
First team
Out on loan
Reserve team
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 Mingiyan Beveyev 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
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
References
External links