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FC Slutsk

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SFC Slutsk
Full nameAthletic Football Club Slutsk[1]
Founded1998;27 years ago(1998)
GroundCity Stadium,Slutsk
Capacity1,896
ChairmanVitaliy Bunos[2]
Head CoachAleksandr Gurinovich
LeagueBelarusian Premier League
2024Belarusian Premier League,9th of 15
Websitesfc-slutsk.by

SFC Slutsk(Belarusian:ФК Слуцк;Russian:СФК Слуцк) is aBelarusianassociation footballclub based inSlutsk,Minsk Oblast.

History

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Origins and predecessor clubs

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There was competitive football inSlutskas early as 1913,[3]with a Slutsk team entering the third season of therepublicancompetition in 1926, but it did not enter a BSSR competition again until 1936. From the 1940s, the city of Slutsk was represented at a very low level by a team called Slutsk Spartak.[4]

DuringWorld War 2,the city's football pitch was the site of "fierce battles" and extensive trench construction. In 1948, the city's executive committee decided to promote and fund football. The same year, thecity stadium,originally built in 1935, was rebuilt. In addition to government funding, the city team was funded by the "trade union voluntary sports society and individual enterprises." Despite this, by 1974, the Slutsk team faced financial difficulties and dropped out of the BSSR republican championship. There were short-lived revivals in 1980 and the late 1980s before the city registered a self-supporting club in 1990. The name of the Slutsk team changed frequently in the 1990s, based on sponsorship.[3]

In 1997, there was a new sports center in Slutsk funded by Nikolai Prudnik, of the local sugar refinery. The sports complex created a football team funded by Oleg Karanevsky, aphysical educator.It was initially effectively a company team for the sugar plant,[5]with all the players working for the plant, but later players from previous Slutsk representative teams joined. The coach was Alexander Dubitsky.[3]

Current team

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The current team was founded in 1998 asSlutsksakhar Slutskafter success in localfutsaland financial guarantees from the sugar refinery.[3]Between 1998 and 2007, they played in the Minsk Oblast championship. In 2008, they joined theBelarusian Second League.In 2010, they finished in second place and were granted a promotion to theFirst Leaguein 2011. In early 2011, the team changed its name toSlutsk.After becoming a "city club", initially all home matches were played at a stadium inSalihorsk.[6]Starting in 2012, after the expansion of theSlutsk city stadium,with a new administrative building, new stands, and a pitch extension, the team began playing at their proper home ground. The pitch had initially been too small, as a running track around the field had been only 360 meters instead of the standard 400.[3]In 2013, Slutsk became the league leader in home attendance.[4]The town stadium would be further renovated in the 2014 season.

In 2014, the club signed Japanese playerYōsuke Saitō,who would score 7 goals in 17 games in his debut season.

In the 2015 off-season, Slutsk was one of the few Belarusian teams to play friendlies abroad, facing Danish and Russian clubs in Turkey.

In the following seasons, the club went through a series of management changes. In 2015, long-time head coachYuriy Krotwas fired, and replaced byVyachaslaw Hryharaw,who was also a player. In 2017,Vitaliy Pavlovwas appointed head coach.

The same year, Oleg Karanevsky, club chairman, was detained for allegedly taking a bribe.[7]

In 2018, forwardYevgeny Shikavkawas the first FC Slutsk player to represent Belarus at the national level.

2020 season

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In 2020, the club suffered a financial setback when the major sponsor, a local sugar refinery, withdrew after suffering losses.[4]The decision was made by new management, since the former head was imprisoned.[8][9]

FC Slutsk gained global media attention during theCOVID-19 pandemic.As the Belarusian league was one of the few in the world still playing (along with Nicaragua and Tajikistan – and as of April 2020, Taiwan), an online following began around FC Slutsk, started by Australians who found the name funny.[10][11][12][13][2][14][15]This led to coverage of the club by international media outlets including theBBC,The New York Times,NBC,theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation,Russia Today,and theSüddeutsche Zeitung.The new fandom also had financial benefits: when the club's financial problems came to light, online fans raised "over $3,000 in less than two weeks" to help the club, and led to new sponsorship fromParimatch,a Ukrainian betting company.[16][17][5]The movement also led to the adoption of a club song, "We love our Slutsk", composed by Andy Bajana and performed by Yury Trubila,[18][19]which was played at home games starting in April 2020.[20][8]

As of 2020, despite the reduction in financial support from the sugar factory, a majority of players continued to live "on the second floor of the sugar factory dormitory allocated for them".[21]

On 30 June 2020, Slutsk manager Vitaly Pavlov was fired after an extended period of poor performances in the league. His replacement was Alexander Konchits.[22]In October 2020, Konchits was replaced byAlexander Brazevichafter the club slipped into the relegation zone.[23]

On November 27, 2020, before the last game of the season againstFC Smolevichi,Slutsk announced that most of the team had been diagnosed withCOVID-19.Since the result would not affect the league standings, both teams agreed to cancel the game.[24]

Current squad

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As of February 2025[25]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules;some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK BelarusBLR Daniil Perov
4 MF BelarusBLR Artem Andriyevskiy
5 MF BelarusBLR Ivan Mikhnyuk
8 MF CameroonCMR Arthur Bougnone
9 MF BelarusBLR Vladislav Sychev
13 MF BelarusBLR Ivan Butenas
14 FW BelarusBLR Andrey Salawyow
15 DF BelarusBLR Andrey Rum
16 DF BelarusBLR Alyaksey Syamyonaw
17 MF BelarusBLR Ilya Tishurov
18 DF BelarusBLR Grigoriy Martyanov
19 FW BelarusBLR Roman Gritskevich
23 DF BelarusBLR Yaroslav Yarotsky
No. Pos. Nation Player
27 MF BelarusBLR Vadim Kurlovich
30 GK BelarusBLR Ilya Branovets
71 MF BelarusBLR Andrey Kren
78 MF BelarusBLR Vladislav Kovalevich
— MF BelarusBLR Aleksandr Zayats
— DF BelarusBLR Matvey Dubatovka
— GK BelarusBLR Syarhey Chernik
— DF BelarusBLR Artem Tolkin
— DF RussiaRUS Maksim Zhumabekov
— DF BelarusBLR Aleksandr Poznyak
— DF BelarusBLR Igor Tymonyuk
— MF UzbekistanUZB Amirbek Bakayev

League and Cup history

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Season Level Pos Pld W D L Goals Points Domestic Cup Notes
2008 3 5th 30 15 6 9 53–37 51
2009 3 4th 26 14 3 9 48–37 45 Round of 64
2010 3 2nd 34 25 6 3 79–30 81 Round of 32 Promoted
2011 2 5th 30 13 10 7 44–33 49 Round of 32
2012 2 5th 28 15 7 6 59–27 52 Round of 32
2013 2 1st 30 19 9 2 54–19 66 Round of 32 Promoted
2014 1 9th 32 11 7 14 26–34 40 Round of 16
2015 1 11th 26 6 7 13 26–30 25 Round of 16
2016 1 12th 30 6 12 12 22–34 30 Quarter-finals
2017 1 7th 30 12 8 10 30–34 44 Quarter-finals
2018 1 8th 30 11 3 16 26–36 36 Quarter-finals
2019 1 11th 30 9 7 14 29–46 34 Quarter-finals
2020 1 14th 29 8 3 18 31–55 27 Round of 16
2021 1 9th 30 9 8 13 36–44 35 Round of 16
2022 1 11th 30 7 11 12 26–41 32 Quarter-finals
2023 1 8th 28 9 8 11 38–40 35 Round of 16

Honours

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Managers

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References

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  1. ^"Общественное объединение" Спортивный футбольный клуб "Слуцк"".Sfc-slutsk.by.СФК "Слуцк".Retrieved1 February2016.
  2. ^ab"In Belarus, unlike most places, soccer plays on despite virus".NBC News.April 20, 2020.RetrievedApril 24,2020.
  3. ^abcde"История слуцкого футбола".Наследие Слуцкого края(in Russian).RetrievedApril 25,2020.
  4. ^abc"Centennial Timeline of Slutsk Football • Слуцк • Газета" Інфа-Кур'ер "".Слуцк • Газета «Інфа-Кур’ер».April 10, 2020.RetrievedApril 25,2020.
  5. ^abParimatch Press, "We Love Our Slutsk | Parimatch Press about FC Slutsk (ФК Слуцк)",April 28, 2020.
  6. ^"Горки:: Портал города".Regiony.BY(in Russian).RetrievedApril 25,2020.
  7. ^"Председателя СФК" Слуцк "задержали. Предположительно, за получение взятки • Слуцк • Газета" Інфа-Кур'ер "".Слуцк • Газета «Інфа-Кур’ер»(in Kyrgyz). September 7, 2017.RetrievedApril 25,2020.
  8. ^abLusted, Peter, "Saving Slustk",ABC News Australia,aired April 25, 2020.
  9. ^Kalinovskaia, Tatiana; Marchand, Thibaut (April 27, 2020)."Belarusian Football Wins Fans Abroad as Locals Boycott Matches".The Moscow Times.RetrievedApril 27,2020.
  10. ^"FC Slutsk finds unexpected fame with 1,500 fans worldwide".«Белсат ТВ» онлайн.March 22, 2020.RetrievedApril 24,2020.
  11. ^"Belarus football's new global following as Belarusian Premier League continues unabated".BBC Sport.April 2, 2020.RetrievedApril 24,2020.
  12. ^Dunne, Jessica (April 5, 2020)."What Sports Are Still Being Played Around The World?".10 daily.RetrievedApril 24,2020.
  13. ^"Belarus' Global League: Sport during the coronavirus era",SBS Dateline,April 24, 2020.
  14. ^Post, South China Morning (April 7, 2020)."Coronavirus: football stands firm in Belarus, Tajikistan, Burundi, Nicaragua".LINE TODAY.RetrievedApril 24,2020.
  15. ^"How a Band of Australians Made Belarus Soccer an Internet Smash".The New York Times.May 12, 2020.RetrievedMay 13,2020.
  16. ^Lusted, Peter (April 24, 2020)."How Australians in shutdown suddenly became a Belarusian soccer club's number one fans".ABC News.RetrievedApril 24,2020.
  17. ^Fundraiser by Shane Robinson: FK Slutsk Worldwide Official Donation Fund,Apr 24, 2020.
  18. ^Trubila, Yury, "FK SLUTSK WORLDWIDE ANTHEM – WE LOVE OUR SLUTSK (Гимн ФК Слуцк)", YouTube,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91axfV3yiY.
  19. ^Young Climate Activists vs. Clive Palmer,Hack,Triple J,Wednesday 13 May 2020.
  20. ^Reich, Stephan (April 24, 2020)."Fleisch pökeln, Tampons verzieren".SZ Magazin(in German).RetrievedApril 24,2020.
  21. ^""Slutsk" is a like a warm-hearted Soviet movie. Some words about "Slutsk" from within ".Sports.ru(in Russian).RetrievedMay 14,2020.
  22. ^Announcement by SFC Slutsk,June 30, 2020.
  23. ^Announcement by SFC Slutsk,October 6, 2020.
  24. ^NEXT MATCH CANCELED!,SFC Slutsk, November 27, 2020.
  25. ^FC Slutsk squad
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