FC Rotor Volgograd facts for kids
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| Full name | ГАУ ВО «Спортивный клуб «Ротор» | |||
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| Nickname(s) | Сине-голубые (Blue-cyan) | |||
| Founded | 1929 | |||
| Ground | Volgograd Arena | |||
| Capacity | 45,316 | |||
| Chairman | Pavel Nikitin | |||
| Coach | Denis Boyarintsev | |||
| League | Russian First League | |||
| 2023–24 | Russian Second League, Division A, Group Gold, 5th (promoted) |
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SC Rotor Volgograd (which is СK Ротор in Russian) is a professional football club from the big city of Volgograd, Russia. This city used to be called Stalingrad. The team currently plays in the Russian First League, which is the second-highest football league in Russia.
Rotor Volgograd is the biggest and most popular football club in Volgograd. For most of its history, it has been the only team from the city to play in Russia's national football leagues.
The club has played at the top level of Soviet and Russian football for many years. This includes periods from 1989 to 1990, 1991 to 2004, and again in the 2020–21 season. In the 1990s, Rotor was one of the strongest teams in Russia. They even played in European competitions four times!
Recently, the club has faced money problems, which sometimes threatened its professional status. Because of this, they have often played in lower regional leagues. Since 2018, the team plays its home games at the Volgograd Arena.
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Club History: From Traktor to Rotor
The club's current name, "Rotor," and its old name, "Traktor," both refer to the Stalingrad Tractor Factory. This factory was very important for making tractors. It was also a place where a lot of fighting happened during World War II in the Battle of Stalingrad.
The Early Soviet Years
Before World War II, Traktor Stalingrad became famous in Russian football. They won the fourth-level Group G league in 1937. After that, they moved straight up to the highest league, Group A. They stayed in the top league until 1950.
For the next 30 years, Rotor played in the top regional leagues. In the 1970s, the team got better and better. They won their zone of the Soviet Second League (which was the third level) in 1980 and 1981. After their second win, they were promoted to a higher league.
In 1988, Rotor finished second in the Soviet First League. This earned them a spot in the Soviet Top League, which was the highest league. They were relegated in 1990, but quickly bounced back. In 1991, they won the First League. This meant they became one of the first teams in the new Russian Top Division after the Soviet Union ended.
Playing in the Top League and Europe
In the middle of the 1990s, Rotor was one of the best clubs in Russia. They were strong rivals to Spartak Moscow for the championship. Rotor finished as league runners-up (second place) in 1993 and 1997.
Rotor played in European competitions for five years in a row, from 1994–95 to 1998–99. They qualified for the UEFA Cup almost every year because of their high league position. In 1996–97, they chose to play in the UEFA Intertoto Cup instead.
Teams from Western Europe often had more money than teams from Eastern Europe at that time. Rotor was usually knocked out by French and Italian clubs. However, there was one famous exception! In 1995–96, they played against England's famous club, Manchester United.
Rotor drew their home game 0–0. In the away game at Old Trafford, Rotor quickly scored two goals! Manchester United then scored their first goal. Rotor was just seconds away from being the first European club to win at Old Trafford. But then, Manchester United's goalkeeper, Peter Schmeichel, scored a goal! The game ended 2–2. But because of the away goals rule, Rotor moved on to the next round! They were later defeated by Bordeaux.
Here are Rotor's results in European competitions:
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994-95 | UEFA Cup | 1R |  Nantes |
3–2 | 0–3 | 3–5 |  |
| 1995–96 | UEFA Cup | 1R |  Manchester United |
0–0 | 2–2 (a) | 2–2 |  |
| 2R | Bordeaux |
1–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | |
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| 1996–97 | Intertoto Cup | Group 7 |  Ataka-Aura |
4–0 | |||
 Shakhtar |
4–1 | ||||||
 Antalyaspor |
1–2 | ||||||
 Basel |
3–2 | |
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| SF |  Linz |
5–0 | 2–2 | 7–2 | |
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| F | Guingamp |
2–1 | 0–1 (a) | 2–2 | |
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| 1997–98 | UEFA Cup | QR |  Odra Wodzislaw |
2–0 | 4–3 | 6–3 | |
| 1R |  Örebro |
2–0 | 4–1 | 6–1 | |
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| 2R |  Lazio |
0–0 | 0–3 | 0–3 | |
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| 1998–99 | UEFA Cup | QR |  Red Star Belgrade |
1–2 | 1–2 | 2–4 | |
- QR: Qualifying round
In the 2000s, Rotor's performance went down. In 2004, the team finished last in the Russian Premier League. The club's owner tried to save Rotor from being relegated. But in 2005, Rotor could not get the money they needed and lost their professional license.
Financial Challenges and Comebacks (2005–Present)
After losing its professional license, Rotor's reserve team became the main team in 2006. They were renamed Rotor. The club continued to have money problems, and their performance in the Second Division got worse.
In 2009, Russia was bidding to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Volgograd was hoping to get a new stadium for the tournament. But the city needed a professional football club to use it after the World Cup. Rotor was having legal and money issues, so they weren't a good choice.
The government created a new team called FC Volgograd. They planned for this new team to take over the Rotor name. Eventually, the two clubs joined together. The new Rotor Volgograd was then promoted to the second-level Russian Football National League.
The regional government invested a lot of money in the club for the 2010 season. However, Rotor was relegated again. A former player, Sergei Nechay, became the manager. He helped the team win their Second Division zone in 2011–12, and they were promoted again. This time, they managed to stay in the National League for a while.
But money problems kept happening. The government stopped supporting Rotor financially. The club dropped back to the third level in 2014. Then, they moved to the fourth level, the Russian Amateur Football League, in 2015.
Rotor's Recent Revival
In 2015, Rotor won their Amateur League division easily. A new 45,000-seat stadium, the Pobeda Stadium, was being built where their old stadium used to be. The team wanted to play there after the 2018 World Cup. This made getting a higher league status very important.
They got a license for the third-tier Russian Professional Football League for the 2016–17 season. They won their zone and were promoted to the second-level Russian National Football League for 2017–18.
Even though they finished in a relegation spot in 2017–18, Rotor stayed in the league. This was because another team above them could not get a league license.
On May 15, 2020, the FNL season was stopped because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia. Rotor was in first place, so they were promoted to the Russian Premier League for the 2020–21 season. This was their return to the top league after 16 years!
However, in the 2020–21 Russian Premier League season, Rotor struggled. They only scored 15 goals in 30 games and finished 15th. This meant they were relegated back to the FNL after just one season. They also lost two games because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the team. In the 2021–22 Russian Football National League, Rotor finished 18th and was relegated for the second time in a row.
In the 2023–24 season, Rotor played in the Second League promotion play-offs. They beat FC Novosibirsk and earned promotion back to the Russian First League.
Club Achievements
League Titles
- Soviet Top League/Russian Premier League (First Tier)
- Runners-up: 1993, 1997
- Soviet/Russian First League (Second Tier)
- Winners: 1991, 2019–20
- Runners-up: 1988
- Soviet/Russian Second League (Third Tier)
- Winners: 1981, 2011–12
- Runners-up: 1979, 1980
- Soviet Second League B/Russian Amateur Football League (Fourth Tier)
- Winners: 1937, 2015 (Chernozemye Region)
Cup Wins
- Russian Cup
- Runners-up: 1995
- King's Cup (Thailand)
- Winner: 1995
- Far East Club Championship (Held only once in China)
- Winner: 1998
Current Team Players
As of September 11, 2024, here are the players on the team, according to the First League website.
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Players on Loan
These players are currently playing for other teams for a set period.
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Reserve Team
Rotor also has a reserve team. You can find more information about them here:
Club Name Changes Over Time
The club has had several names throughout its history:
- Traktorostroitel Stalingrad (1929~1936)
- Dzerzhinets-STZ Stalingrad (1936)
- Traktor Stalingrad (1937~47)
- Torpedo Stalingrad (1948~57)
- Traktor Stalingrad (1958~60)
- Traktor Volgograd (1961~69)
- Stal Volgograd (1970~1971)
- Barrikady Volgograd (1972~1974)
- Rotor Volgograd (1975~2004)
- Rotor-2 (2005)
- Rotor (2006~2009,2010~2014)
- Rotor Volgograd (2015~2018)
- Rotor (2018~)
Famous Players of Rotor Volgograd
Many talented players have played for Rotor Volgograd. Some of them have even played for their national teams while at Rotor. Players whose names are in bold played for their country while playing for Rotor.
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See also
In Spanish: FC Rotor Volgogrado para niños
