Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih

Football Club Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih (Ukrainian: Футбольний Клуб Кривбас Кривий Ріг) is a professional Ukrainian football club based in Kryvyi Rih.

Until 2013 the club participated in professional competitions. In June 2013 the club went bankrupt and was expelled from the Ukrainian Premier League. There was a failed attempt to revive the club in 2014, until finally the club was reestablished again in 2015. In 2020, the club merged with Hirnyk Kryvyi Rih which took on the Kryvbas's brand.

History

The team was founded as FC Kryvyi Rih in 1959. The next year it was part of the republican sport society Avanhard. After a couple of years it changed to Hirnyk, before obtaining current its name in 1966. Over the years in the Soviet competitions Kryvbas became a record holder for Ukrainian championship wins tying it at four along with SKA Kiev.

Kryvbas debuted in the Ukrainian Premier League in the 1992–1993 season. They have been in the top league since their debut in the second season. Their best finish was in third place in the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 seasons which made them the only club out of a provincial city that managed to place among the top three best.

At the end of the UPL 2012–2013 season the team finished in 7th place, however, due to financial difficulties the club declared itself bankrupt in June 2013.

In 2013-14 local authorities created the Sport Club Kryvbas that included teams of several sports including football. FC Kryvbas played several friendlies in the spring of 2014. Due to the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, the project was suspended for undefined period. In the summer of 2015 there was created a public organization "Kryvbas maye buty" (Kryvbas has to be) that is involved in a revival of sportive symbol of the city.

In August 2015 FC Kryvbas was allowed to start at the mid-season of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Championship where it played 11 games winning four and losing five. At finish, the club ended up at the 10th place among 13 participants.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Кривбасс (russian)