FC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi (Ukrainian:ФК "Зірка Кропивницький") is aUkrainian amateur football club fromKropyvnytskyi,Kirovohrad Oblast, with its team currently playing in theUkrainian Amateur League.

Zirka Kropyvnytskyi

Full name	FC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi
Nickname(s)	"Zirka" –Star
Founded	1911
Ground	"Zirka" Stadium, Kropyvnytskyi
Capacity	14,628
Chairman	Maksym Berezkin
Manager	Samir Hasanov[1]
League	Ukrainian Amateur League
2023–24	Ukrainian Amateur League, Group 2, 6th of 12
Website	fczirka.com.ua
Home colours Away colours
Current season

The club traces its history of a football team that existed at the British factory of Elvorti (Elworthy) since 1911. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the factory was nationalized and converted into Soviet factory "Chervona Zirka", and likewise, the former team was dissolved, and the Soviet football team Chervona Zirka was formed in 1922. The club's professional football history started in 1958 when it was admitted to the Class B competitions.

The club traces its history back to the former sports club Elvorti Yelizavetgrad that was founded in 1911 at the Elvorti Factory owned byRobert Pearce Elworthy. Since 1907 the factory had its own football field.

After start ofWorld War I and theUkrainian-Soviet War, most sports events in the region were suspended and in 1917 the club dissolved. Sports competitions were resumed in Lyzavetghrad in 1921 that saw participation of a team.

In 1922, based on the former sports club Elvorti Yelizavetgrad were created two Soviet sports clubs Chervona Zirka (Red Star) and Chervony Profintern (RedProfintern) that participated in Soviet competition. The sports club Zirka was a multi-athletic club which beside football included volleyball, gymnastics, track and field, wrestling, fitness and others. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, some of Zirka's club shields contained 1922 as the club's year of establishment as well as a sketch of thefortress of St. Elizabeth which was built as astar fort. In 1924 there were established local competitions of Zinovyivsk Okruha and they were accounted for some 16 teams.

In 1928 Chervona Zirka changed its name to Metallist Zinovyevsk (Metalist Zinovyivsk) and in 1934 – Selmash Kirovo (Silmash Kirove). To expand its operations and development, the sports club obtained the building of the factory theater which was transformed into a physical culture center with halls for sports competitions, wrestling, boxing, gymnastics. In 1928 the Zinovyivsk city team took part at the republican competitions among city teams for the first time. In 1931 in the Soviet Union was introduced the GTO athletic standards.

In 1934 the local athletic cell of the Dynamo sports society and NKVD organized construction of the city stadium by a method ofsubbotnik. It was headed by the NKVD officerDmitry Medvedev who during theWorld War II became a notableSoviet partisan. The stadium was built in the city park that was recently opened in summer of 1933. The stadium began its operations in 1935 and was awarded to the sports club Silmash, former Metalist.

During theWorld War II the team was dissolved once again. The stadium was ruined almost entirely, at 84%.

The sports club was reestablished in 1945, but its football team was not revived until 1948 when by being a member of the former Volunteer Sports Society Selmash, it was reorganised as Traktor Kirovograd (Traktor Kirovohrad) and after 1953 – Torpedo. In 1953 Torpedo Kirovohrad won its first republican trophy, the Ukrainian SSR football cup. In the final Torpedo defeatedLokomotyv Poltava.

In first post-War years 1946–47 Kirovograd (Kirovohrad) was represented in football competitions by a law enforcement team "Dynamo".

In 1958, the club was renamed into Zvezda Kirovograd (Zirka Kirovohrad) when it advanced to the professional level of Soviet competitions, the B Class. On 22 November 1961 the sports club, which Zirka represented, followed the suit and adopted the name of its football team. In 1961 Zirka established its own sports school, DYuSSh. Also, that year the Zirka football team obtained another republican trophy, the Ruby Cup that was awarded to the team with the most goals scored. The next year, 1962, Kirovohrad was once again represented by the NKVD/KGB team of Dynamo in place of the factory team. In 1963 Zirka was reinstated.

In 1973 and 1975 Zirka obtained the Ukrainian SSR football cup among the "teams of masters". In the 1973 final Zirka defeatedSpartak Ivano-Frankivsk, while in the 1975 final it wasTavriya Simferopol. Note that since 1957 the original Ukrainian Cup competitions were degraded and became a regional competition of theSoviet Amateur Cup, so for short period in 1970 there existed two parallel competitions. However, the competition among the teams of masters was discontinued.

On the initiative of the athletes who were war veterans on 8 May 1985 in Kirovohrad (todayKropyvnytskyi) at theStadion Zirka was installed a memorial benchmark to the warrior-athletes who perished during the World War II.

In 1992, the Zirka football team reorganized into a separate organization as FC Zirka Kirovohrad. Also, the factory owned sports club Zirka liquidated its sports school.

From 1993 to 1997 the club carried a name of its title sponsor NIBAS as Zirka-NIBAS. Already in 1994 Zirka debuted at a top level for the1994–95 season, where they finished 6th. In the1999–2000 season they finished in last place and were relegated to theUkrainian First League. They were promoted immediately as champions once again for the2003–04 season but finished in last place and were demoted again. The football club Zirka existed until 2006 when it went bankrupt.

In 2007 the club was revived in amateur regional competitions. On July 15, 2008, theProfessional Football League of Ukraine approved exchange names between Zirka and another club from Kirovohrad,FC Olimpik Kirovohrad, that competed at professional level to yield its place in theUkrainian Second League.^[2]

In July 2016, the name of Zirka's hometown was renamed toKropyvnytskyi.^[3] The next day the club announced it had changed its name toFC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi and its logo accordingly.^[4]

Year	Name	Meaning
1922–27	Chervona Zirka	Red Star
1928–35	Metalist	Steeler
1935–40	Silmash	portmanteau forMechanised agriculture
1941–45	club was dissolved due to theWorld War II
1946–52	Traktor	Tractor
1953–57	Torpedo
1958–present	Zirka	Star (in 1993-97 as Zirka NIBAS)

Current club's crest (logo) was adopted in 2012. In 2016 as part ofdecommunisation process, the club changed its city's name and year of establishment claiming its heritage of the previously existing team of British factory "Elvorti".

In 2008-2011 the club's crest contained the Red Star (the club's former name and the name of factory which owned the club) and most of elements of coat of arms of the city ofKropyvnytskyi.

• 1911–1993: Elvorti factory (Chervona Zirka), Kirovohrad
• 1993–1998: Agrarian company Nibas, Petropavlivka (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast)^[5]
• 1998–2011: City authorities, Kirovohrad^[5]
• 2011–present: Creative Industrial Group, Kropyvnytskyi

• Football Cup of the Ukrainian SSR
  • Winner (1): 1953
• Football Cup of the Ukrainian SSR (teams of masters)
  • Winner (2): 1973, 1975
• Ukrainian First League
  • Winner (3): 1995, 2003, 2016
• Ukrainian Second League
  • Winner (1): 2009

Soviet competitions
The republican football competitions in Ukraine during the Soviet period is poorly documented, so there is little information available about the Zirka's competition record before 1958.

Ukrainian competitions

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Domestic Cup	Europe		Notes
1971		6 (26)	50	21	17	12	52	33	59
1972		14 (24)	46	13	18	15	40	51	44	1/16 final Cup of Ukrainian SSR
1973		12 (23)	44	16	10	18	63	57	36	Winner Cup of Ukrainian SSR
1974		17 (20)	38	11	9	18	34	46	31	1/16 final Cup of Ukrainian SSR
1975		5 (17)	32	13	10	9	37	22	36	Winner Cup of Ukrainian SSR
1976		7 (20)	38	18	6	14	42	34	42	1/4 final Cup of Ukrainian SSR
1977		5 (23)	44	21	15	8	52	27	57
1978		7 (23)	44	17	15	12	42	33	49
1979		9 (24)	46	20	10	16	44	40	50
1980		6 (23)	44	20	13	11	52	44	53
1981		17 (23)	44	10	19	15	36	36	39
1982		15 (24)	46	17	5	24	43	63	39
1983	3rd (Vtoraya Liga)	17 (26)	50	15	14	21	48	56	44
1984		8 (13)	24	8	7	9	31	29	23
		18 (26)	14	5	4	5	23	20	14
1985		2 (14)	26	12	7	7	35	27	31
		10 (28)	14	5	1	8	21	33	11
1986		10 (14)	26	9	4	13	28	51	22
		21 (28)	14	7	1	6	20	28	15
1987		23 (27)	52	13	13	26	44	77	39
1988		23 (26)	50	13	15	22	39	60	41
1989		14 (27)	52	16	17	19	44	52	49
1990	4th (Vtoraya Nizshaya Liga)	19 (19)	36	7	7	22	32	61	21	1/8 final Cup of Ukrainian SSR			Relegated
1991		25 (26)	50	12	13	25	55	90	37	1/4 final Cup of Ukrainian SSR			admitted toUkrainian Second League

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Domestic Cup	Europe		Notes
1992	3rd (Druha Liha)	4	16	8	3	5	35	24	19	Did not qualify
1992–93		4	34	16	9	9	50	33	41	1⁄32 finals
1993–94		3	42	25	7	10	60	41	57	1⁄32 finals			Promoted
1994–95	2nd (Persha Liha)	1	42	27	10	5	68	26	91	1⁄32 finals			Promoted
1995–96	1st (Vyshcha Liha)	6	34	14	8	12	37	33	50	1⁄16 finals
1996–97		10	30	11	3	16	31	55	36	1⁄8 finals
1997–98		11	30	9	6	15	27	48	33	1⁄16 finals
1998–99		11	30	9	7	14	31	40	34	Semi finals
1999-00		16	30	0	9	21	16	66	9	Semi finals			Relegated
2000–01	2nd (Persha Liha)	15	34	10	10	14	27	34	40	1⁄16 finals
2001–02		9	34	11	13	10	29	28	46	4th round
2002–03		1	34	22	5	7	45	22	71	1⁄16 finals			Promoted
2003–04	1st (Vyshcha Liha)	16	30	3	8	19	16	43	14[9]	1⁄32 finals			Bankrupt
2004–05	3rd "B"[10] (Druha Liha)	12	26	7	6	13	29	38	27	1⁄32 finals
2005–06		9	28	11	4	13	23	37	37	1⁄32 finals			Bankrupt[11]
2007	4th (Amatory)	2	8	4	1	3	12	12	13

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Domestic Cup	Europe		Notes
2007–08	3rd "B" (Druha Liha)	asFC Olimpik Kirovohrad
2008–09		1	34	23	3	8	56	26	72	1⁄16 finals			Promoted[12]
2009–10	2nd (Persha Liha)	12	34	11	13	10	38	40	43	1⁄32 finals			–3[13]
2010–11		12	34	12	7	15	43	44	43	1⁄32 finals
2011–12		11	34	13	5	16	53	49	44	1⁄16 finals
2012–13		8	34	14	10	10	46	37	52	1⁄32 finals
2013–14		6	30	12	8	10	36	34	44	1⁄16 finals
2014–15		4	30	14	7	9	42	27	49	1⁄16 finals
2015–16		1	30	20	5	5	49	22	65	1⁄8 finals			Promoted
2016–17[14]	1st (Premier League)	9	32	9	7	16	29	43	34	1⁄16 finals
2017–18[15]		10	32	7	10	15	22	40	31	1⁄16 finals			Relegated[16]
2018–19	2nd	15	17	1	1	15	10	49	4	1⁄16 finals			Withdrawn
2019–20	4th (Amateur)	6	18	9	3	6	30	19	30	Did not enter
2020–21		12	22	0	0	22	9	86	0	Did not enter
2021–22		5	8	2	4	2	11	13	10	Did not qualify			interrupted due to war
2022–23		8	14	2	2	10	15	36	8	Did not qualify
2023–24		6	16	7	1	8	25	34	22	Did not qualify

• Official website
• Yanchukov Stanislav, Berezan Oleksandr.To the sports tops (До спортивних вершин. Нариси з історії фізичної культури і спорту на Кіровоградщин). library.kr.ua