Krasnodar is the youngest Russian top club. Despite its short history, the club from Kuban has already managed to loudly declare itself both domestically, having won several bronze medals in the championship, and abroad - having shone a couple of times in the Europa League.

Until 2016, Krasnodar shared the Kuban stadium with the team of the same name, but Galitsky understood that European competitions were on the way, and to host matches of this level at the stadium, which knew only reconstruction in 1980, did not correspond to the club's ambitions. In two years, Galitsky invested $ 40 million to build a new stadium of the highest fourth UEFA category, designed for 35 thousand spectators. The main feature of the Krasnodar arena is the lack of a scoreboard. All information about the match is displayed on a giant 3D-screen stretched across the top of the stadium along the stands.

Few clubs in Russia can boast of a stable budget for a long-term project. Until 2008, there were only six of them: CSKA, Lokomotiv, Zenit, Spartak, Dynamo Moscow and partly Rubin. But since 2008, it has arrived in the regiment of the strongest clubs in Russia. In February 2008, the Kuban businessman and billionaire Sergei Galitsky had an idea to create a club that would loudly declare itself in the RPL and glorify Kuban football. Less than two weeks later, as soon as the created Krasnodar received a license from the PFL to participate in the lower leagues of Russia.

Not having time to outline the first tasks for the next year, Krasnodar received the first invitation to register in the First Division of the country. First, because in the near future Krasnodar will be invited again, only this time to the RPL. The reason for the promotion of "citizens" in the class is simple - several FNL clubs refused to participate due to financial problems.

Krasnodar had to languish for two years and play up "appetite" in the First Division, as in its debut season the club from Kuban took only tenth place in the league. Instead of the dismissed Nurbiy Khakunov, the head coach's chair was taken by Sergey Tashuev, whose task was to bring Krasnodar to the Premier League. His place in the middle of the season was taken by the Serbian coach Slavoljub Muslin (he worked with Lokomotiv and Khimki), whose name is associated with the first serious achievements of the Kuban club in the RPL.

Saturn, who won the Russian championship in 1998, in December 2010, as expected, announced his voluntary retirement from the RPL. The Ramensky club simply did not have enough money for new equipment, let alone a debt of 1 billion rubles to the players and the team's staff. The Premier League decided to exclude Saturn and began looking for a replacement. Nizhny Novgorod, Alania and KAMAZ were considered the first priority candidates for promotion. But all these clubs refused to invite the RFPL due to financial problems, and the choice fell on Krasnodar, which took fifth place in the past football year. In the middle of the season, on January 25, 2011, Krasnodar took the place of Saturn in the RPL. Thus, in the three years since its inception, the club has already played in the country's top football division.

For 13 years Krasnodar has already won more medals than many Russian clubs in 60-90 years of existence. Achievements are facilitated by the competent management of the bulls, as well as a stable financial situation in the club, which allows Krasnodar to maintain one of the best academies in the CIS and buy good legionnaires by the standards of Eastern European football.

Having taken the fifth place in the RPL in the 2013/2014 season, Krasnodar with Kononov at the head got the opportunity to play in European competitions for the first time. In the first Euroseason, the bulls, having overcome three qualifying rounds and, along the way, defeating Real Sociedad 3: 0, advanced to the group stage of the Europa League. There Krasnodar expected strong middle peasants of their championships - Lille, Everton, Wolfsburg. Naturally, Kononov and the company had no special chances to get out of such a group, but, having shown quality football with Lille (1: 1) and beating Everton 1: 0, Krasnodar took third place in the first Eurotournament for itself.

Until 2018, the entire region lived in one confrontation - the Kuban derby - the youngest rivalry in the Premier League. Krasnodar and Kuban fought in it, without any obvious initiative. However, Russian football realities are harsh, and the football fame is followed by disbandment. 90-year-old Kuban ended its existence in 2018. At the time of the liquidation of the club, 13 matches were played between the teams. Krasnodar won five victories in them, despite the fact that the Kuban has one more.

From 2013 to the present day, Yuri Gazinsky, a midfielder who has played for the bulls in a record number of matches (265), has been playing for Krasnodar. The team's top scorer was the former ambitious striker Yuri Smolov, who scored 64 goals in 101 matches for Krasnodar from 2015 to 2018.

Coach: Musaev Murad (Russia) Age: 36

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