Orenburg is a Russian professional football club from the city of the same name. In recent years, the "townspeople" have increasingly begun to appear in the Premier League, but so far they have not been able to stay in the top division for a long time.

The history of the development of Orenburg football dates back to 1960. Since that time, the ancestors of the "townspeople" strove to break into the Higher League of the Soviet Union, but they did not cope with this task. In the Russian championship, the team also did not go well, but Orenburg achieved the cherished goal and did what his predecessors could not do - he made his debut in the elite division.

In the first half of the twentieth century, teams from Orenburg participated in local regional competitions, but the city did not have a representative at the all-Union level. The situation changed in the late 50s, when the team of the Physical Education Society of the locomotive depot Lokomotiv received professional status and in 1960 began to perform in the fourth zone of class "B".

To participate at this level, Lokomotiv selected the best players among all teams from the regional championship, which allowed the Orenburg club to gain a foothold in its division. Since its debut, Lokomotiv has played in class B for 11 consecutive seasons. The best achievement of the team at that time was the fourth place. Perhaps the Orenburg residents would have achieved great success, but their leaders were constantly taken away by more status clubs playing in the Major League.

In 1976, Lokomotiv was disbanded, and its players were transferred to the new football representative of the city - the Gazovik club, the main sponsor of which was the gas production company Orenburggazprom. But, despite the big name of the main sponsor, the team's results began to gradually deteriorate and at the end of the 1982 season, the “townspeople” were relegated from the third division, dropping to the level of regional competitions. The period of stagnation lasted seven years, after which Gazovik returned to the second group of class "A", where he managed to spend three more seasons before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Throughout its long history, Orenburg has striven to join the elite of Russian football. In rather limited financial conditions, the “citizens” overcame many obstacles on their way and eventually made their way to the top division, which is undoubtedly considered the main achievement for the club.

Orenburg made its debut in the Premier League in the 2016/17 season. “Citizens” played to their limits and were close to retaining their residence in the top division. Orenburg scored an equal number of points with the Urals and Anzhi, but due to the worst statistics in head-to-head confrontations with these clubs finished on the 13th line in the zone of transitional matches. In a butt fight for the right to play in the RPL, the "townspeople" met with the Khabarovsk SKA. Both meetings ended in a draw 0: 0, but in the penalty shootout, the red and blue ones were more accurate, as a result of which the Orenburg team went to the FNL.

In the second league, Orenburg did not stay long and a year later returned to the top division. In the 2018/19 season, the "townspeople" became the main discovery of the championship. The RPL rookie demonstrated quality competitive football and finished in a record seventh place in its history, losing only 3 points to Arsenal in the UEFA Cup.

However, Orenburg was not enough for a long time. The next RPL draw "the townspeople" completely failed and finished the championship in the last position, again going to the second division. At the end of the 2020/21 season, the Orenburg club took second place in the FNL and returned to the Premier League.

The most productive player in Orenburg is midfielder Marat Shogenov, who has scored 84 goals in 240 games between 2006 and 2017.
The record holder in terms of the number of matches played for the club is the current right-back of the “townspeople” Andrey Malykh. Since his debut for Orenburg in 2010, the footballer has participated in 305 meetings (as of 05/15/2021).

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