FC Fakel Voronezh (Russian: Футбольный клуб "Факел" Воронеж) is a Russian professional football club based in Voronezh. Founded in 1947, the club has played in the Soviet Top League and the Russian Premier League. The club returned to the Russian Premier League in the 2022–23 season. The club holds the record for fan attendance in Eastern Europe.
History
The club was founded in 1947 at a then classified airplane plant. For reasons of secrecy, the team was not officially given a name and was referred to as the Voronezh city team. In 1959 the team became a part of Trud sports society and was renamed Trud Voronezh. In 1977 the team was renamed Fakel, meaning "Torch".
The best finish achieved by Fakel in the Premier League was 11th in 2023/2024. The club has won 3 Second Division titles.
Fakel has also experienced several short-lived name changes: to Fakel-Profsoyuz in 1992, Voronezh in 2002 and Fakel-Voronezh in 2002–2003.
Fakel and FC Yelets were excluded from the Russian Second Division for attempts to bribe and threaten the referee on 18 July 2009.[1] At the time of exclusion (21 August), Fakel were sixth with 31 points from 19 games, while Yelets were 16th with 9 points from 19 games.
A new club called FC Fakel Voronezh technically independent from the club that played in 2009 as FC Fakel-Voronezh Voronezh was founded in 2010 and played in the Russian Second Division (FSA Voronezh failed licensing for 2010 and the new Fakel was the only Voronezh professional team for 2010). It employed the manager and 6 players from the 2009 FC Fakel-Voronezh roster. The reserve team FC Fakel-d Voronezh played in the Amateur Football League in 2010 (view – FC Fakel-M Voronezh).
Before the 2011–12 season FC Saturn Moscow Oblast dropped out of Russian Premier League due to financial problems. FC Krasnodar replaced them in the Premier League, creating a vacancy in the Russian First Division. Despite only coming in 4th in their Russian Second Division zone in 2010, Fakel volunteered to take the First Division spot, and the Russian Football Union decided to promote the team. They were relegated back to the third level in the same 2011–12 season. They returned to the Russian Football National League in the 2015–16 season. Despite finishing in the relegation zone at the end of the 2017–18 season, the club was not relegated as other clubs ahead in the standings failed to obtain the league license for 2018–19.[2]
The 2019–20 season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia with Fakel once again in relegation spot. However, due to the pandemic, none of the teams, including Fakel, were relegated.
The club's return to the top division was marked by high attendance levels at home matches, fiery support from the stands and loud crowd singing of the biggest hits of Sektor Gaza, a famous local punk rock band. Fakel came 3rd by average attendance in the 2022–23 Russian Premier League just behind FC Zenit Saint Petersburg and FC Krasnodar.
Fakel finished their first season upon return in 14th place, qualifying for relegation play-offs against FC Yenisey Krasnoyarsk.[6] They managed to keep their Premier League spot after defeating Yenisey 3–0 on aggregate.[7]
Fakel's reserve squad played professionally as FC Fakel-d Voronezh in the Russian Third League in 1997. It re-entered professional football as FC Fakel-M Voronezh for the 2020–21 season.
Notable players
Had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Fakel.
