Krylia Sovetov is a Russian professional football club from Samara. Despite the fact that the “wings” do not have big titles, they are considered one of the most extraordinary and interesting teams, which, if not constantly, then quite often, was at the center of various events in both Soviet and Russian football.

The fans, without hesitation, nicknamed their team a diminutive-affectionate derivative from the club's main name - "wings". However, during the disastrous 80s, fans christened the team with a more crude name - "feathers", which allegedly flew from the Wings after frequent defeats. Also, the club has two geographical nicknames: Samara - from the name of the city and Volzhan - from the famous Volga River, which flows in this very city.

Like many other popular Russian clubs, Krylia Sovetov was no exception and received their offensive nickname from fans of rival teams. Haters nicknamed the Samarans "rats" because of the coincidence of the first letters with the official name. The club's management did not disown this supposedly offensive nickname and turned the situation on the positive side, releasing as an advertising campaign small plush toys in the form of rat pups, which gained wide popularity among fans.

The Samara club was created partly by chance. In 1942, during the Second World War, the chairman of the central committee of the aviation industry union, Wasserman, wrote to the People's Commissar of the aviation industry, Shakhurin, with a request to organize the transfer to Moscow of 27 former footballers who were evacuated in Molotov and Kuibyshev. However, the People's Commissar considered that there were already enough football clubs in the capital and ordered to form a team in Kuibyshev (modern Samara).

The official date of the foundation of the club is considered to be May 3, 1943. It was on this day that Krylia Sovetov played their first match against Kuibyshev Lokomotiv, in which they lost 3: 5. A year later, the Volzhans made their debut in the USSR Cup, where at the 1/16 finals they suffered a crushing defeat 1:5 from the capital Lokomotiv.

Since the founding of the separate Russian championship, the Samara club has established itself as a strong middle peasant in the top division, which lacks stars from the sky, but always chops to the end, regardless of the situation.

As mentioned earlier, after the collapse of the USSR, Krylia Sovetov became one of the founding clubs of the Russian Higher League (now the Premier League) and since 1992 have spent 22 seasons in a row in the elite division. The Volzhans made a real breakthrough in 2001, finishing the championship in fifth place and thus getting their debut ticket to European cups. A year later, the "wings" repeated this achievement, but, as it turned out, for Samara residents this was not the limit.

Krylia Sovetov made their debut on the European arena in 2002. As part of the Intertoto Cup, the Samarans defeated the Latvian Dinaburg in the second round with a total score of 4: 0, but in the next stage they lost offensively to Willem II. After the home victory 3: 1, the Volzhans lost to the Dutch 0: 2 on the road and, according to the away goal rule, were eliminated from the tournament.

In the 2005/06 season, the Wings played in a more prestigious European tournament - the UEFA Cup (now the Europa League). Samara confidently passed the qualification, beating BATE twice by 2: 0, but in the main draw they were eliminated in the first round. The stumbling block of the "wings" was AZ Alkmaar, which at that time was headed by the famous coach Louis van Gaal. And again the goals scored on the road were decisive. The Volzhans outplayed their opponent.

Throughout the history of the Volzhan, many talented specialists stood at the head of the club, but if we take into account the achievements and the level of the team's play, then Haji Gadzhiev can be considered the most successful coach. Under his leadership, Krylia made it to the top three of the Premier League winners for the only time, reached the Russian Cup final, and also made their debut in the UEFA Cup. Hajiyev headed Samartsev from 2003 to 2006 and from 2012 to 2013.

The club's top scorer in Soviet history is striker Ravil Aryapov, who spent his entire professional career for Krylia Sovetov, scoring 105 goals in 362 matches between 1967 and 1978.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the most productive player of the Samara team is the current forward of the team, Sergei Kornilenko, who hit the opponents' goal 57 times in 207 matches in all tournaments (as of 05/15/2021).

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