FC Fakel Voronezh

The club was founded in 1947 at a then classified airplane plant. For reasons of secrecy, the team was not officially given a name and was referred to as the Voronezh city team. In 1959 the team became a part of Trud sports society and was renamed Trud Voronezh. In 1977 the team was renamed Fakel, meaning "Torch". The team played in the Soviet League since 1954:

1954–1960 in Class B 1961 in Class A (Soviet Top League) 1962 in Class B 1963–1970 in Class A, Group 2 1971–1978 in Second League 1979–1984 in First League 1985 in Top League 1986–1987 in First League 1988 in Second League 1989–1991 in First League Premier League: 1961, 1985, 1992, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25 First League: 1993, 1995–1996, 1998–1999, 2002–2003, 2005–2006, 2011–2012, 2015–2022, 2025– Second League: 1994, 2004, 2010, 2012–2015 Russian Amateur Football League: 2007–2008 The best finish achieved by Fakel in the Premier League was 11th in the 2023–24 season. The club has won 3 Second Division titles. Fakel has also experienced several short-lived name changes: to Fakel-Profsoyuz in 1992, Voronezh in 2002 and Fakel-Voronezh in 2002–2003. Fakel and FC Yelets were excluded from the Russian Second Division for attempts to bribe and threaten the referee on 18 July 2009. At the time of exclusion (21 August), Fakel were sixth with 31 points from 19 games, while Yelets were 16th with 9 points from 19 games. A new club called FC Fakel Voronezh technically independent from the club that played in…