FC Zorya Luhansk ( ) is a Ukrainian football team. Zorya Luhansk is based in the city of Luhansk, Ukraine. However, because of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the team plays its games at Slavutych-Arena in Zaporizhzhia.
The modern club as a team of masters was established on 10 April 1964 by the Football Federation of the Soviet Union merging the October Revolution Plant (Luhanskteplovoz) sports club Zorya and the Luhansk regional branch of the "Trudovye Rezervy" sports society. In 1972, as Zaria Voroshilovgrad, the club became the first provincial Soviet club to win the Soviet Top League title. Today, the modern club considers its predecessor the football team of the Luhansk Steam Locomotive Plant (October Revolution Steam Locomotive Plant, today Luhanskteplovoz) that was established back in 1923, however due to poor performance of the factory team in 1950s which played at republican level, the playing record of "Trudovye Rezervy" which played at all-Union level is also considered part of the club's history.
The club is a flagman club in Luhansk Oblast and one of three Ukrainian football "teams of masters" that won the Soviet Top League. The name Zorya means "dawn" in Ukrainian.
History
The modern professional team of Zorya Luhansk, during its Soviet period known also as Zaria Voroshilovgrad/Lugansk and for a short period Zorya-MALS, was created in 1964 as the city's team of masters by merging the factory team with another team of masters "Trudovye Rezervy". Before 1964, the factory team played mostly in republican competitions of the Ukrainian SSR.
The history of football in the city of Luhansk begins in the early 20th century.
The first Luhansk team was created in the Russian Empire in 1908 when the workers of the Russischen Maschinenbaugesellschaft Hartmann (today "Luhansk Locomotive") created the "Society of Rational Recreations". One of the disciplines was a game of kickball headed by the Czech specialist Henrich Drževikovski from Prague, who originally was an instructor of gymnastics of the factory's ministerial school. That team played its games and conducted its training on the empty lot near the factory where today the sport hall "Zorya" is located.
The first mention of games involving the Luhansk team dates back to 1911. In 1913 in Kostyantynivka the first regional football league of Donets basin was created. During World War I and the subsequent Soviet and German hostilities, the league was suspended until 1920, by which time the situation in the region had stabilized.
In 1922 in the city of Luhansk was built a new stadium, possibly "on the personal order" of Vladimir Lenin and later named after him. In 1923 the workers of the Luhansk steam train factory of the October Revolution (hence – the club's logo with a locomotive) organized their football team "Metalist" which became the forerunner of today's Zorya. The following year there the championship of the newly created Luhansk okruha (district) was created. In the final game the collective city team of Luhansk was victorious against their rivals from the city of Snizhne, winning the title after extra time 1–0. In 1926, the All-Ukrainian Committee of the Mining Workers' council organized a team of Donbass miners, players from Kadiivka, for a tour in Germany (Weimar Republic). There the Donbass team won four of their eight games. The following year an international game took place in Luhansk, in which the city team was challenged by their rivals from Austria. The Donbas players lost the game.
In 1936 the football teams "Metalist" and "Dynamo" (KGB team) merged to form the united Luhansk city-team which the following year was named Dzerzhynets. The name "Dzerzhynets" derives from the steam locomotive that was produced at the steam train factory FD – "Felix Dzerzhinsky". That year "Dzerzhynets" reached 3rd place in the Ukrainian second league.
In 1937 "Dzerzhynets" won Ukrainian's second league and was promoted to the first. Moreover, it reached the 1/8 final of the Ukrainian Сup and the 1/16 final of the Soviet Cup. The team consisted of the following players: Klad'ko (coach), Hrebenyuk, Svidyns'kyi, Mazanov, Morozov, Krasyuk, Nosko, Movchan, Brovenko, Chernyavs'kyi, Voloschenko, Lokotosh, Sytnikov, Yevdokymov, Myroshnikov, Ishchenko.