The Luhansk region was under the Nazi occupation from July 1942 to February 1943, but the disasters of the war took their toll. The construction of a new citywide stadium began in 1941. A student K. Drapov offered a vacant lot on the outskirts of the city for the new building, in a vacant lot behind the territory of the Institute of Public Education, in a letter published in the regional newspaper, pointing out that the lack of equipped football arenas and sports grounds hindered the development of physical culture among workers.
The builders managed to carry out the main earthworks, brought in fertile soil, leveled the stadium bowl, and poured ramparts of clay and sand around it. However, the Nazis executed prisoners of war there, and the remains were honorably reburied after the liberation of the city. This stadium was built 6 years after the end of the Second World War, 10 years later it received the modern name Avangard, underwent several reconstructions, the last in 2011 (complete replacement of the football field “pillow” and grass lawn, equipment with modern irrigation and heating systems, lighting for 2000 lux), after the occupation of the regional center by Russian invaders in 2014, the stands were repainted in the “tricolor”, which can accommodate 22 thousand spectators.
Petro Buyanov, Mykola Krasiuk, Mykhailo Sukharev, Petro Yurchenko, Pavlo Svydinsky, and Semen Brovenko returned to big football from the champion team of the pre-war era. The team captain, Hryhorii Nosko, was the commander of a wheeled tracked vehicle repair unit for four years of the war, received honorable awards, came to his hometown and learned that his wife had died of a serious illness, decided to heal his bitter loss in a foreign country, got married for the second time in the city of Kilia, and gave up football.
In general, in the postwar years, when industry was being rebuilt, the management of the locomotive plant had no time for big football, limiting themselves to competitions between workshops, the winners playing with teams from other enterprises in the regional center. The sports teams of army and police garrisons, as well as those of metallurgical plants and mines, were consistently funded. These were the teams that played at the highest level.
The newly created regional police football team called Dynamo was strengthened by the six players from Dzerzhynets mentioned above. The coach was invited from Kharkiv, a football player known for his performances in 1920-1930, master of sports Ivan Andriyovych Natarov (born in 1895). In 1946, Luhansk Dynamo became the second (only 10 participants) in the Ukrainian championship in the Eastern Zone, and in 1947 they took 11th place (among 13 participants) in the second group of the Ukrainian Zone. In 1948, Luhansk won the Cup of the Central Council of the Dynamo Sports Society, defeating teammates from Dnipro, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Lutsk.
The team of the cup winners: Yevhen Pestov, Zynoviy Gershin, Mykhailo Abramov, Semen Tonis, Georgii Makarashvili, Petro Karpeichyk, Mykola Smirnov, Ludwig Shubin, Oleksandr Alpatov, Oleksandr Rudenko, O. Tymchenko, Serhii Boyadzhan, F. Karpov, O. Pushkarskyi, Semen Kluger, S. Chirchiyan, Volodymyr Sukhinin, I. Khovzhun, Oleksandr Lomiashvili and Mykola Sikharulidze.
In the 1948 USSR championship, the second group of the Ukrainian zone took fourth place (among 8 participants), behind Shakhtar Donetsk, Stal from Dnipro, and Lokomotiv Kharkiv. When the head of the Luhansk garrison was sent to Kharkiv, the team's funding was cut off and some players moved to Dynamo Kharkiv.
Then the baton of the leader of football in Luhansk region was taken over by the Labor Reserves, created a year ago, and we will briefly recall the debut. 06/19/1949 TR-Shakhtar Kadiyivka 2-1, the decisive goal was scored by an exceptional shot from 30 meters into the top corner of the goal.
06/28/1949 TR-Dynamo Chernivtsi 2-1, 07/31/1949 TR-Spartak Kyiv 1-1 (Bohatello), two days later a second meeting and a 1-0 victory (Sukharev). 09.08.1949 TR - Kharchovyk Odesa 2: 1, 14 minutes into the second half, Bogatello sends a cornet to the visitors' goal, Boyadzhan receives the leather well and sends it into the left corner, 31 minutes in. - 1: 1, a minute before the end of the match, the right side of the home team Sankov “robbed” the opposing defender who unsuccessfully received the ball, ran out one on one with the goalkeeper and won 2: 1. 08/14/1948 TR - Officers' House Lviv 4:4.
Thus, in 1949, in the Ukrainian zone, the second group, they took 15th place among 18 participants (Dynamo was the last, relegated).
Let's summarize the above. The cup achievement of Dynamo's departmental team is not included in the history of Luhansk Zorya, the club of the locomotive plant, as Dynamo players participated in competitive sports independently and existed until the noughties.
In 1950, the Ukrainian championship was reformed, with 4 zones (instead of two). Luhansk “Labor Reserves” in the third zone (10 opponents) won 11 out of 18 matches, drew 4, lost 3, scored 35 goals and conceded 18. In the final tournament (held in Kyiv), the teams of the Kyiv House of Officers and Zaporizhzhia Metalurg won, lost to Uzhhorod Spartak, and won silver medals.
The captain of the vice-champions of Ukraine was Mykola Smirnov (born in 1922), a reliable defender, a regular penalty kicker, and a skilled destroyer of opponent attacks. In the first year of the war, he was mobilized, taken prisoner at the age of 19, a prisoner of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he survived thanks to football, barrack teams competed, and the Nazi officers' pride saved him from physical exhaustion during hard labor. He finished his career as a player at the age of 35, studied at the school of football referees, served competitions in the 1960s and 1970s, the first football referee of the all-Union category in Luhansk region.
In 1951, the TR team again won the third zone, but failed to perform well in the final tournament (sixth place out of seven participants).
In 1952, the trade union leadership of the locomotive plant relied on a new team with the old name Dzerzhynets, which took sixth place out of 12 participants in the First Group, the second zone - Mariupol, Bakhmut, Alchevsk, Kadiivka, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kramatorsk, Horlivka, Konstantynivka, Kharkiv, and Chasiv Yar.
After an unsuccessful performance in the regional competitions, Dzerzhynets did not qualify for the 1953 Ukrainian championship, losing the lead to the team of miners from Kadiivka, although it knocked them out of the Ukrainian Cup, on June 1, the match between them was 4-1 (Yurii Spiridonov scored a hat-trick). The next cup rival was Lokomotiv from Lozova, Kharkiv region, and Luhansk won again, 4-1 (Simonoshvili, Prygarov, Makarashvili, Spiridonov). Later, the draw was with Kharkiv Avangard, then powerful in the Ukrainian zone, to whom they lost. In the 1953 season, Dzerzhynets captain Georgii Makarashvili became a playing coach. He would later train young players.
The next season, Dzerzhynets was replaced by the third factory team of locomotive builders called Avangard, which took fifth place out of six participants in the seventh zone, losing to teams from Mykolaiv, Horlivka, Nikopol, and Kakhovka, ahead of Metallurg from Kerch. In the final match for the Regional Cup, Avangard would lose to Khimik from Rubizhne with a score of 0:1.
In 1955 and 1956, Luhansk Avangard did not rise above 6th place in the standings, but won the regional championship. In the 4th Ukrainian Zone, another old-timer of Luhansk Oblast football, Shakhtar Kadiivka, won the 1956 championship (8 wins, 5 draws, scored 29 goals, conceded 6 in 14 matches). Viktor Chanov, the founder of a dynasty of goalkeepers and the father of two future masters of sports known for their performances for Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv, was in goal. The only defeat was against Avangard from Luhansk - 1-2. Meanwhile, on October 19, 1956, the Luhansk Locomotive Plant became a diesel locomotive plant and began producing locomotives with electric traction and diesel engines (2,000 horsepower) for the needs of domestic and foreign railways.
In 1957, another football reorganization took place in the country of Soviets, and for their past sporting achievements and constant participation in competitions, the Luhansk Labor Reserves and Shakhtar Kadiivka were included in the teams of the USSR football championship masters of class B.
Five graduates of the football school for young people of the Central Council of the TR Sports Society were added to the well-known local players of the TR base, and experienced footballers were also invited, including master of sports striker Oleksandr Gulyevskyi (29).
On March 31, 1953, starting at 15.45, the newly built stadium hosted the opening match of the renewed TR team with Kharkiv Avangard, the home team was led on the field by its permanent captain Mykola Smirnov (35 years old, he would play only 2 matches and become a coach), 15 thousand spectators witnessed a 0-0 draw.
In the next match against Torpedo Taganrog, Anatolii Rodin would score the first goal for Luhansk, but they would lose, with the final score of 1-5. The first victory of TR in the 15th round, over Naftovik Grozny - 2: 1 (Gulyevsky, Kostenko), the second - in the 17th round, in Ivanovo - 1: 0 (Tsvetkov). By age, Luhansk TR is the youngest team in the championship (under 20), had no experience in distributing forces in two halves, had a game advantage, gradually reduced pressure on the opponents' goal, was content with a draw (10), suffered 18 defeats, and won 6 victories. In each of the two rounds, the team scored 11 points, outperformed Shakhtar Kadiyivka and teammates from Stavropol, and secured a place in Class B. Since then, Luhansk players have consistently played in the USSR championship.
The second international match in the history of FC Zorya Luhansk took place on October 23, 1957. On the field of the Avangard stadium in the presence of 16 thousand spectators, the Labor Reserves passed the maturity exam, their opponent was the players of the Finnish club Haka. In a sharp, mesmerizing game with unexpected passes, the hosts achieved a convincing victory with a score of 7:2. TR's center forward Oleksandr Gulyevsky was recognized as the hero of the match and the best player on the field, he scored twice and his teammates scored four more goals.
The final game of the season, a zero-zero draw with the Sevastopol Sailors, encouraged the coaches, players and management of the plant that hosts the TR team that the team's growth difficulties have been overcome. The second factory football team in Zone 5 took the last place.
In the 1958 USSR Championship, Class B, Zone 2, TR Luhansk players took 6th place out of 16 participants, behind Ivano-Frankivsk's Tekstilnik, Trud, Rostselmash, Zaporizhzhia's Metallurg and the winner, SCCHF (7 points). They proved to be a strong-willed team with a technical offense and strong defense (12 wins, 10 draws, 8 defeats, 35 goals scored, 26 conceded). A newcomer invited from Dnipro, 20-year-old Vladyslav Hlukharev, made a successful debut, scoring 7 goals (only Anatoliy Rodin has more - 9). TR head coach Oleksii Vodiagin, coach M. Smirnov.
In the 1959 season, Luhansk TR took 4th place out of 14 participants in Zone 5 of Class B (15 wins, 3 draws, 8 defeats, 55-31), behind Zenit from Izhevsk, Volga from Tver and Admiralteyets. The best scorers were Gulyevsky - 18 goals and Rodin - 10. Valeriy Galustov (20), a talented, promising midfielder invited from Khimik Siverskodonetsk, made a confident debut.
Both Vladyslav Hlukharev and Valeriy Galustov will become leading midfield players, demonstrating game intelligence, field vision, passing technique and play on the edge, will lead TR to the Class A championship, the elite of Soviet football, and in the year Luhansk Zorya won the title of Union champions, the strongest on the territory of 1/6 of the planet Earth, will work for the club whose team will win gold medals.
Young people hungry for victories, titles and trophies are capable of great things in football. To prepare them, experienced and qualified players, coaches, and managers are needed for some time. This is when the ascent to football Olympus is gradual and unstoppable. This was proven by the Labor Reserves from Luhansk in the 1960s.
The striker Oleksandr Gulevskyi, who played in the leading teams of Soviet football (at the age of 22-24 he was three times included in the list of the 33 best players in the country), was invited to Luhansk in 1957, he had a virtuoso technique and a goal-scoring flair, He was a powerful and accurate shot with both feet, a master of standards, organizer and conductor of the team's attacks, in the 1961 season, at the age of 33, in 33 matches he scored 29 goals against opponents (56 goals in total), and the goal record of the Luhansk football club has not been surpassed so far.
Labor reserves in the USSR championship, class B, the second zone of 19 participants, in 1960 - third, 1961 - second, 1962 - first. For the second time in the club's history (the first time in Dzerzhynets, 1938), they won the title of champions of Ukraine! This achievement meant the transition to competitions among elite teams, Class A. But another reform in Soviet football took place, Class A was divided into two parts, the first and second (the modern equivalent of the Premier League and the First League) - TR was moved to the lower one.
During the winning season, they played two stages, the main and the final, 34 matches, 20 wins, 9 draws, 5 defeats, 74 goals scored, 33 conceded. In the final tournament, they were stronger than Chornomorets and SKA from Odesa, Avangard from Simferopol, Polissya from Zhytomyr, and Metallurg from Zaporizhzhia, to whom they never lost. Gold awards went to: O. Kotenko, V. Gureev, V. Galustov (cap), D. Kostenko, I. Balaba, Y. Pryimak, E. Volchenkov, Vyach. Pershin, G. Dzhafarov (goalkeeper, missed 24 out of 28 matches), G. Degtyarev, O. Panfyorov, G. Serednyakov, I. Terletskyi, as well as coaches G. Zonin and G. Balaba.
Luhansk played their 200th match in the club's history on the field of Avangard Kramatorsk on 07.07.1962, winning 3-2, scoring goals by Dm. Dmytro Pershin scored twice and Valerii Halustov scored twice.
On 25.07.1962, the reserves played an international match (the 14th in the club's history) with the Swedish team Haik from Gothenburg at their home stadium Avangard, winning 7-2.
The debut in the second group of Class A of the 1963 USSR football championship was successful, they took 5th place out of 18 participants, lost 8 matches, drew 11, won 15, scored 41, and conceded 26.
But in the hearts of football fans, the international meeting on 09.06.1963 with the Brazilian team Fluminense from Rio de Janeiro, which included several world football champions, was forever remembered. The Brazilians' tour of the USSR took place in six cities, in Ukraine only in Luhansk (even Dynamo Kyiv was not able to pay in foreign currency for one match with the famous foreigners). The day before the match, more than 20,000 Luhansk residents filled the stands of the Avangard stadium to watch the training of the ball wizards, and it was the first time in their lives that the locals had seen black people. They responded to the excessive interest of the local fans by demonstrating feints and excessive juggling, which were magical in their beauty and high ball skills.
The excitement was fierce, and the entrance to the stands was not by tickets, but by invitations, which were printed in limited quantities the day before. Despite the three cordons of police cordon, miraculously, 1.5 times as many spectators as usual got into the stands. Several dozen people were injured in the stampede to the entrance to the north stand, and water from fire truck hoses was used to stem the flow of uninvited people.
The visitors won the first half 2-0, and the home team won the second 1-0. After the break, the reserves switched on the 4th gear, played tirelessly, attacked continuously, beat all the Brazilian goalposts and the visitors' goalkeeper “did such things” that left no doubt that the real champions of Brazil and the world were playing against the Labor Reserves. The author of the goal among the hosts was Igor Balaba (born in 1939), a player of the USSR youth national team, a fan idol, played as a striker on the left edge, fascinated the audience with feints, often left opponents at the fifth point, quickly passed behind the backs of defenders, hit the ball on goal with a twist, played 233 matches for TR and Zorya in 8 years, scored 46 goals.
At the end of the tour, the Brazilian coach and players gave an interview published in the popular central newspaper Sport, answering the question about the most interesting match and the most difficult opponent, they said that it was the Labor Reserves in Luhansk.
In the 1964 season, the Luhansk team took 4th place (in April of this year it received a new unique name - Zorya), in 1965 - second, in 1966 - first, in the final tournament among the three group winners defeated Žalgiris from Vilnius and the Political Department from Tashkent, and won a ticket to the Major League of the All-Union Football Championship.
Zorya played its 300th match in the history of the Luhansk football club against Riga's Daugava on 23.04.1965 in front of 16,000 spectators at the Avangard Stadium. The home team's advantage translated into three goals scored by Balaba, Hrekov, and Prodanets.
In December 1965, at the end of the season, Zorya won an incentive tournament in Italy, where they played three matches against teams from Mantova, Reggio di Calabria and Turin, losing two of them 0-1 and ending the third with a zero draw.
On 08/20/1967, Zorya defeated Racing 3-1 in the Libyan capital. In 1969, Zorya played two matches in Bulgaria against Minor Pernik - 7:2 and 2:2, in East Germany against Helne Halle - 2:1 and in Romania against Critsul Oradeo - 0:0.
Zorya played its 400th match in Yerevan on August 28, 1967 in front of 25 thousand spectators against Ararat and lost 0:2.
Zorya played its 500th match in Luhansk on 13.07.1970 with 21 thousand fans watching the game, in the 67th minute the only winning goal was scored by Viacheslav Semenov (passed away on 12.08. 12, 2022, five days short of his 75th birthday, was an idol of Luhansk football fans, with explosive starting speed, ball skills and an accurate shot, dribbling on the field, he delighted the spectators of the match, tireless and unyielding, for many years he taught young football players in Kyiv).
Another important role was played by the invitation to Luhansk to train Herman Semenovych Zonin, a specialist with a modern view of football. His experience abroad and courage to conduct a scientific experiment with young people convinced us that achievements are possible.
Luhansk fans were among the founders of the fan movement in Soviet football, they hired buses or took transfer trains, several trains to watch away games of TR and later Zorya, recorded everything on film, took down posters, They also kept their travel and entrance tickets, recorded their impressions in albums, gathered at the lieutenant's table near the league standings and told local fans firsthand how the events on the field in away matches took place. The founder of the fan movement was Anatolii Matviiovych Krasnoshchek, an archivist by education and work, who was its leader until 2012.
In the 1960s, the leadership of the Luhansk region, the locomotive plant and demanding fans created the necessary conditions for winning gold medals: an ambitious team of naturally gifted young football players was assembled, the stadium was reconstructed, a country training base was built and equipped, a sports boarding school for young talents from the region's districts and cities was established, financial incentives were provided and support for fans and sports communities was ensured on the ground. Modern transportation infrastructure and new hotels were built. The regional and local authorities were not afraid to go beyond the limits of the White Stone - to break the hegemony of the capitals of the Union and the republics of the Soviet Union for the championship, with a team from the regional center from Ukraine.
The capricious Ms. Fortune turns her face to the young, talented and daring, who have made excessive efforts to achieve seemingly incredible goals and peaks. Zorya Luhansk was the first of many Ukrainian teams to reach the red flags and win gold medals in the 34th USSR Football Championship. It was the seventh team on the highest podium (for all officially recognized championship draws).
Zorya football team's ascent to the USSR sports horizon began in the early 1960s, when Volodymyr Shevchenko was in charge of the economic, social and cultural development of the Luhansk region, and he paid special attention to the development of sports and physical culture. Today we can define his role as a manager of the sports movement, and Luhansk region was ahead of the capital region in terms of the number of sports arenas, indoor gyms, swimming pools, etc. built per capita. V.V. Shevchenko's competitor in Ukraine was his friend, comrade, and like-minded person, equally unselfish, intelligent, honest, and humane, V.I. Degtyarev, a political leader of Donetsk region, a supporter of sports and physical education. Both were punished for their devotion to sports of the highest achievement, removed from office and sent to oblivion.
The football teams of Shakhtar Donetsk and Zorya Luhansk competed with each other, the former winning the Union Cup and the latter winning the Union championship.
The key to Shakhtar's success was the resources, finances, and influence of the Ministry of Coal Industry of Ukraine, which was located in Donetsk. V.V. Shevchenko did not have such a lever. Perhaps because of this, Donetsk region in independent Ukraine already had a foundation for the development of football and quickly increased its own achievements in big football.
The Luhansk team twice made it to the final of the USSR Cup, but lost the trophy to Yerevan's Ararat and Kyiv's Dynamo. Nevertheless, Zorya's championship is engraved in golden letters in the history of the Luhansk club, and the harbingers of the honorary title were the 1962 Ukrainian champions, Trudovi Rezervy.
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