FC Orenburg

History

It played professionally as Gazovik from 1976 to 1982 and from 1989 on. Before 1976 another Orenburg team, Lokomotiv Orenburg, played professionally, including three seasons in the second-highest Soviet First League in 1960–62. In 1989 Gazovik was called Progress Orenburg. Gazovik began Russian League at Zone 5 of Second League and relegated from Zone 6 from one to Third League in 1993. They stayed in Zone 5 of Third League until 1997 season, when they returned to third level. They finished Ural Povolzhye (Volga Region in Russian) as runner-up in 2006, 2007 and 2008 seasons and finally promoted to the Russian First League in 2010.

On 2 May 2016, the club secured top-two finish in the 2015–16 Russian National Football League and with that, the promotion to the Russian Premier League for the 2016–17 season for the first time in club's history.

On 25 May 2016, the club was renamed from its historical name FC Gazovik Orenburg to FC Orenburg.

The club was relegated back to the second tier at the end of the 2016–17 season after losing a penalty shootout in the relegation playoffs to FC SKA-Khabarovsk. It was promoted back to the Russian Premier League after one season in the second tier. It was relegated at the end of the 2019–20 Russian Premier League season. They were forced to forfeit two games late in the season due to COVID-19 infections in the squad and play more games with a weakened line-up. On 8 May 2021, they secured a second-place finish in the FNL and return to the Russian Premier League after one season in the second tier. However, Russian Football Union rejected the club's application for a RPL license on 5 May 2021 due to the stadium not passing capacity requirements and other conditions, and their appeal was rejected on 12 May 2021. The club considered filing a complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. On 24 May 2021, the club announced they will not file a lawsuit with CAS and will accept the RFU decision. They also announced that the club will begin the stadium reconstruction in June 2021 to bring it up to Premier League standards.

In the 2021–22 season, Orenburg led the FNL for most of the season, before dropping out of the direct promotion spot to the 3rd place on the last matchday. That qualified Orenburg for the promotion play-offs against FC Ufa, which finished 14th in the Premier League. Orenburg won the play-offs 4–3 on aggregate thanks to the second-leg added-time goal by Andrei Malykh and returned to the Russian Premier League after two seasons in the second tier. They finished their first season upon return in 7th place.

On 17 May 2025, Orenburg lost their chances of avoiding relegation from the Russian Premier League.

On 11 July 2025, Orenburg was returned to the Russian Premier League to replace Torpedo Moscow, who were excluded from the league for attempted match-fixing in the previous season.

Honours

Domestic Competitions

• Russian National Football League
  • Champions (2): 2015–16, 2017–18

Current squad

As of 30 January 2026, according to the official RPL website.

Other players under contract

Out on loan

Reserve squad

Coaching staff

• Manager – Vladimir Slišković
• Assistant managers – Ilshat Aitkulov (senior), Ivan Bubalo, Muhamed Berberović, Vladimir Poluyakhtov
• Goalkeeping coach – Yuriy Okroshidze
• Conditioning coach – Semir Čilić

Managers

• Russia Valeri Bogdanov (1997–1998)
• Russia Aleksandr Korolyov (1999–2001)
• Russia Adyam Kuzyayev (interim) (2003)
• Russia Andrei Piatnitski (2003)
• Russia Yevgeni Smertin (2004)
• Russia Aleksandr Averyanov (2006–2009)
• Russia Ilshat Aitkulov (interim) (2009)
• Russia Konstantin Galkin (2009–2011)
• Russia Robert Yevdokimov (2011–2017)
• Georgia Temur Ketsbaia (2017)
• Russia Vladimir Fedotov (2017–2019)
• Russia Konstantin Yemelyanov (2019–2020)
• Russia Konstantin Paramonov (2020)
• Russia Ilshat Aitkulov (interim) (2020)
• Czech Republic Marcel Lička (2020–2023)
• Czech Republic Jiří Jarošík (2023–2023)
• Bosnia Vladimir Slišković (2024–2025)

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Orenburg.

;Russia

• Russia Arsen Adamov
• Russia Aleksandr Kovalenko
• Russia Aleksei Sutormin
• Russia Vladimir Sychevoy
• Russia Sergei Terekhov
• Russia Dmitry Vorobyov
• Russia Roman Vorobyov
• Russia Dmitry Yefremov

;Europe

• Belarus Vital Bulyga
• Belarus Kirill Kaplenko
• Belarus Yury Kavalyow
• Belarus Pavel Nyakhaychyk
• Belarus Aleksandr Pavlovets
• Belarus Kiryl Pyachenin
• Belarus Mikhail Sivakow
• Bosnia and Herzegovina Ivan Bašić
• Bosnia and Herzegovina Renato Gojković
• Kazakhstan Almir Mukhutdinov
• Kazakhstan Ivan Popov
• Latvia Artūrs Zjuzins
• Lithuania Mantas Savėnas
• Moldova Serghei Pașcenco
• Slovakia Michal Ďuriš
• Slovenia Žiga Škoflek

;Africa

• Ghana Joel Fameyeh

;Asia

• Kyrgyzstan Nazim Ajiev
• Kyrgyzstan Igor Sergeyev
• Tajikistan Farkhod Vosiyev
• Turkmenistan Farhat Bazarow
• Uzbekistan Vadim Afonin
• Uzbekistan Sanzhar Tursunov
• Uzbekistan Ruslan Uzakov

;CONCACAF

• Costa Rica Jimmy Marín

References

References

1. (21 May 2020). ""Оренбург" объявил имя нового президента клуба". sport24.
2. [[Russian National Football League]]. link. (2 May 2016)
3. FC Orenburg. link. (25 May 2016)
4. (6 May 2018). "Orenburg and Krylia Sovetov promoted to Premier League". [[Russian Football National League]].
5. (8 May 2021). ""Оренбург" завоевал путевку в Премьер-Лигу". [[Russian Football National League]].
6. (12 May 2021). ""Оренбург" готов обратиться в CAS при недопуске в РПЛ в виде исключения". [[RIA Novosti]].
7. (24 May 2021). "Заявление ФК "Оренбург"". FC Orenburg.
8. (28 May 2022). ""Оренбург" вырвал победу у "Уфы" и завоевал право играть в РПЛ". Russian Premier League.
9. (17 May 2025). "«Краснодар» остался лидером Мир РПЛ за тур до конца сезона благодаря победе над «Оренбургом»". Russian Premier League.
10. (11 July 2025). "Бюро исполкома РФС включило «Оренбург» в состав участников МИР РПЛ". Russian Football Union.