FC Chornomorets (Odesa): History

About the club

Football club Chornomorets Odesa is a Ukrainian football club from the city of Odesa that plays in the Ukrainian Premier League, whose official date of foundation is 1936, making it the oldest professional football club in the city. The club has also had other names throughout its history: "Dynamo (1936-1939), Kharchovyk (1940, 1944-1950, 1955-1957), Spartak (1941), and Metallurg (1955-1957). Since 1958, the football club has been known as Chornomorets, which is the name it has been playing under ever since. The club took part in 53 USSR championships, including 26 seasons in the top division, 24 seasons in the second division and 3 in the third division, as well as 45 USSR Cup competitions. "Chornomorets was one of the participants in the first Ukrainian championship, where it still plays. The Odesa club has participated in Ukrainian championships 22 times, 18 of which were in the top division and four in the first league. The team's greatest achievement in its history was twice winning the Ukrainian Premier League silver medal in 1995 and 1996, as well as finishing third in the Soviet Premier League in 1974. The team has also won the Ukrainian Cup on several occasions, including becoming the first winner in 1992 and winning it for the second time in 1994. In the USSR Cup, the club's greatest achievement was reaching the semifinals of the tournament in 1966. The club also won the USSR Football Federation Cup in 1990, becoming its last winner.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Chornomorets found itself in the first division of the Ukrainian championship. The late 1980s and the first half of the 1990s are considered to be the team's heyday. It was at that time that the club won the most of its major prizes. It was in the 1990s that the team achieved its greatest achievement in international tournaments - twice reaching the 1/16 finals of the UEFA Cup and once reaching the 1/16 finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Over the years, famous Soviet and Ukrainian footballers played for the team, such as Stefan Reshko, Leonid Buriak, Ihor Belanov, Oleksiy Hai, Ivan Getsko, Timerlan Huseynov, Oleksandr Kosyrin, Valeriy Lobanovsky, Vasyl Moskalenko, Oleksandr and Yuriy Nikiforov, Valeriy Porkuyan, Oleh Suslov, Ilya Tsymbalar, etc.

The club plays its home games at the Central Stadium "Chernomorets", which has a capacity of over 34 thousand seats. The club's structure also includes two sports and recreation complexes, Lustdorf and Vidrada, the club academy, the Zubrytskyi Sports and Recreation Center, and the club museum. The club has several football teams: the main team, youth team (U-21), youth team (U-19), pharmaceutical club Chornomorets-2, Chornomorets-Cadets (city championship) and teams of the sports school of all ages. Ukrainian businessman Leonid Klimov is the club's president, former footballer Viktor Hryshko is the vice president, Ruslan Gilazev is the sports director, Angel Chervenkov is the head coach, and Vladyslav Zubkov is the director of the sports school.

Former names

1936-1939: "Dynamo

1940: "The Food Worker"

1941: "Spartacus"

1944-1950: "Kharchovik"

1953-1954: Metallurgist

1955-1957: "Kharchovik"

1958 to the present: "Chernomorets"

Background

Football appeared in Odesa, the city where the club is now located, in the second half of the 19th century. Because Odesa is a port city, it has often been visited by many foreigners who were trading or traveling. The first football players in the city were the British, who are considered the founders of the sport. It was they who, traveling in the then Russian Empire, brought football traditions to the city. In 1878, the first football club in Odesa, OBAC (Odesa British Athletic Club), was founded. According to the first historian of Odesa football, B. Halynskyi, it was the first sports club in the country to also practice football. For a long time, OBAC played matches only with teams of English ships that visited the local port, as well as with teams from the Romanian city of Galati.

Later, in the early twentieth century, new football clubs appeared in the city, including the Sheremetyevo Football Club, Odesa Football Club, Maccabi, Vega, and Sporting Club. Later, these clubs, together with the OBAK, founded a football league. This championship was held in the English style from fall to spring. Among the famous footballers who developed Odesa football are Hryhorii Bohemskyi, Ernest Jacobs, John Gerd, Oleksandr Zlochevskyi, James Martin, and others.

The modern Chornomorets football club has a predecessor, the Black Sea football club. It did not play in the Odesa Football League, but was rather an amateur team. A pit in the shape of the Black Sea was dug in Oleksandrivskyi Park (now Taras Shevchenko Park) to serve as a pond. However, there were not enough funds to complete it, and it became a football field for local football fans, who were called "Chornomorsk". Among the famous Black Sea players were Ivan Tipikin, Vasyl Kotov, Tymofii Koval, and others. After the Bolsheviks came to power during the Russian Civil War and the Soviet-Ukrainian War, many local football players, like other "representatives of the bourgeois class," left the country. The old football league collapsed because of the hostilities taking place in the city. The Soviet authorities founded a new championship in Odesa, which included more than a hundred teams divided into five classes. Later, most of the Chornomorsk players joined another football team, Mestran. In the 1920s, this club became the city champion five times. Some Odesa residents even played for the USSR national team.

1936-1941

The official date of birth of the Chornomorets team is March 26, 1936. That was when the Soviet Union decided to hold the national football championship. The honor of representing Odesa fell to one of the city's teams, Dynamo. The club considers this date to be official, as there is documentary evidence of the club's registration under an order to create a "demonstration football team" called Dynamo. Although the club named Chornomorets was established much later, it is considered a direct descendant of Dynamo, as the main team moved from team to team, which were closed and reorganized according to the orders of committees at various levels. The team existed since 1923 and was originally called Sparta. It played in the second tier of the Odesa City Championship and was not particularly skilled. However, since 1928, Dynamo has played on a par with the best teams in the city. In the 1933 season, the team became the champion of Odesa.

The first Soviet championship, held in the spring of 1936, included 28 football teams from four Soviet republics-Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia. Ukraine was represented by nine teams: three from Kharkiv, two from Kyiv, and one each from Odesa, Dnipro, and Stalino. The teams were previously divided into four divisions: groups A, B, C, and D. Odesa was placed in the third division, Group B, along with seven other teams: Dynamo Rostov, Budivelnyk Baku, Dynamo Kazan, Lokomotiv Tbilisi, Spartak Kharkiv, Ugolnyk Horlivka, and Lokomotiv Kyiv. The Odesa team was then coached by Herman Blank. Dynamo played its first official league match on May 24, 1936, at the Stanislav Kosior Stadium against Spartak Kharkiv and lost 0-1. The exact lineup of the team in the first official match in the club's history is not known for certain, but the list of players who took part in the entire championship of that season, which consisted of seven matches, is known. There were 13 players who took part in the national championship: goalkeeper - Oleksandr Mykhalchenko (7 matches, 9 goals conceded); defenders - Mykola Tabachkovsky (7 matches) and Mykola Khyzhnykov (7 matches); midfielders - Mykola Kravchenko (7 matches), Volodymyr Tokar (2 matches), Mykhailo Hayson (7 matches) and Petro Chystov (5 matches); Forwards - Mark Hychkin (7 matches, 1 goal), Petro Kalashnikov (7 matches, 5 goals), Mykhailo Malkhasov (7 matches, 3 goals), Leonid Orekhov (7 matches, 5 goals), Jozef Sosytskyi (7 matches) and Isaac Friedman (1 match, 1 goal). In the second match of the championship, Odesa scored their first goal - Mykhailo Malkhasov scored the ball against Dynamo Rostov-on-Don, but it did not help them win the away match. The score at the end of the game remained 3:4 in favor of the home team. The first victory was won in the third match, an away win over Lokomotiv Kyiv. Following the championship, Dynamo finished third in the Group B standings after Dynamo Rostov, who took first place, and Budivelnyk Baku, who finished second, respectively. Odesa's Leonid Orekhov and Petro Kalashnikov scored a combined 10 goals, five each, which was the club's best result of that season. That same year, Dynamo Odesa took part in the Ukrainian SSR championship. It started in the quarterfinals and reached the final, where it lost to Dynamo Kyiv with a score of 0:6.

In the same year, 1936, the team took part in the first USSR Cup. This football competition was held according to the so-called "Olympic system," meaning that the teams played in a knockout round. Dynamo started with the 1/32 finals, where they defeated Kyiv's Bolshevik with a score of 6:2. Twelve players took part in the first match of the national cup draw (11 in the starting lineup and one substitute). In particular, Mark Hychkin, Petro Kalashnikov, Mykola Kravchenko, Semen Lytvanczuk, Mykhailo Malkhasov, Leonid Orekhov, L. Piskunov, Józef Sosytskyi, Mykola Tabachkovskyi, Volodymyr Tokar, Mykhailo Hayson, and Mykola Khyzhnykov. In the next round, the 1/16 finals, they had to play twice: the match against Lokomotiv Tbilisi was stopped at 2:2 due to darkness. Two days later, a second match took place, which ended in a 4-3 victory for Odesa. In the 1/8 finals, Odesa was supposed to play against the Red Banner team from Noginsk, Moscow Oblast, but due to a no-show, they were defeated.

In the third season of the 1937 USSR championship, Dynamo took first place in Group B, but due to the expansion of the number of teams in Group A to 26, they managed to rise immediately to the highest division of the championship. In the 1938 season, Odesa took tenth place, which allowed them to remain in the elite division (Group A was reduced to 14 teams the following season), but in the following 1939, Dynamo finished in last place, fourteenth, and were relegated to Group B. In early 1940, the Dynamo teams of Odesa, Kharkiv, Rostov-on-Don, and Baku were disbanded by order of the Central Council of the Sports Society. All the players of the Odesa team joined the Kharchovyk Society, whose team took part in the next USSR championship. In 1941, the team was supplemented by players from disbanded trade union clubs from Kyiv and Moscow and played under the banner of the Spartak State Sports Society. Among the players of the last years of the pre-war period, we can also mention Oleksandr Bragin, Mykhailo Volyn, Anatolii Zubrytskyi, Volodymyr Onyshchenko, and others.

1941-1945

In 1941, the Odesa football team Spartak played its fifth season in the national championship in the top division. In mid-February 1941, the second strongest football division of the USSR championship, Group B, was liquidated. On March 20, the three representatives of the disbanded division - Dynamo Minsk, Spartak Odesa, and Spartak Kharkiv - were transferred to Group A, increasing the number of participants to fifteen. The tournament was supposed to last from April 27 to November 9, but the last matches took place on June 24. Seventy-three games were played out of the 210 scheduled, with each team playing eight to twelve matches out of the planned twenty-eight. The championship was interrupted due to Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union during World War II on June 22, 1941. At the time the championship was suspended, Spartak Odesa was in tenth place in the standings, having played eleven matches, of which the team won three, drew two, and lost five. The goal difference was 16 goals scored and 22 goals conceded.

During the hostilities of the German-Soviet War, all official football competitions were suspended. Some of the players ended up in the ranks of Soviet soldiers, some in the occupation, and some died. Among the football players who remained in occupied Odesa, most went to work at the Kinap film factory, which was re-qualified for vehicle repair during the German-Romanian rule in the city. Among the football players who worked there were Oleksandr Bragin, Anatolii Zubrytskyi, Petro Kalashnikov, Leonid Orekhov, Mykola Khizhnykov, and others. During the occupation, the owner of the plant was a Russian emigrant who decided to return to his native land, and when he learned that famous football players worked at his company, he decided to found his own production team, calling it Gloria-Ford. The new Odesa team played mostly with Romanian military teams from nearby Romanian cities, as well as with another new Odesa team, Victoria, which Orekhov and Besedin later joined. And while Gloria-Ford was confidently winning against the Romanian military, the Kinap workers had a real football derby with Victoria. In addition, under the German-Romanian government, the Odesa national team was restored and sent on a tour to Romania, where Odesa players played several matches with local football clubs.

After the Soviet army occupied the city in April 1944, all the remaining football players were united in the Dynamo team. Since the championship was not to begin until the following year, the players had enough time to train and restore the local Spartak Stadium. However, many of the players did not return from the front. In particular, Mykhailo Volin died in February 1945 near Breslau, Petro Shcherbakov was killed in 1941 during the occupation of Odesa, and so on.

1945-1958

After the war, Kharchovyk Odesa represented the city in the national championships until 1950, when it lost the transitional games to the champion of the Ukrainian SSR and dropped out of the all-Union calendar for two years.

The best achievement of the postwar period was the first place in the group stage of the Ukrainian Zone Championship in Class B in 1949, but in the additional final, the winner of which was promoted to Group A, Odesa took the last third place and failed to get promoted.

In 1953, the best football players from Odesa were gathered into the Metallurg team, which was a member of the B class. In the fall of 1954, the Central Council of the Metallurg Society disbanded the club as unprofitable. The players were transferred to the DSO Kharchovyk.

The team performed under this name until November 1957, when, according to a resolution of the All-Union Central Committee of Trade Unions, the Kharchovyk, Metallurg, Khimik, and other societies merged into the Avangard DSO. In 1958, this association was represented by Chornomorets, a team from the Odesa Rope Plant.

The team played its first match under this name on April 12 against Spartak Stanyslav.

The team started the season under Stupakov's leadership. The team performed poorly and scored only 26 points in 30 games, finishing twelfth in the third zone.

1958-1970

In January 1959, the Chornomorets was transferred to the Black Sea Shipping Company (DSO Vodnik). The team was led by Anatolii Zubrytskyi. In the national championship, the team played in the fourth zone of class "B", where another Odesa team, SKVO (later SKA), also played. According to the regulations, the Odesa team that ranked lower was eliminated from Class B. "Chornomorets lost one place to SKVO, but the reorganization of the championship in 1960 allowed both Odesa teams to remain in Group B, albeit in different zones.

In 1960, Chornomorets ranked fourth in its zone. In the same year, the Odesa team defeated Inter Milan 5-1 in a friendly match at their home stadium.

In the midst of the 1961 season, one of Chornomorets' leading players, Volodymyr Shchegolkov, was transferred to Dynamo Kyiv, where he became a three-time USSR champion. Nevertheless, Chornomorets and SKA Odesa won their respective zones in Ukrainian Group B. The champion of the Ukrainian SSR was determined in a face-to-face meeting between the Odesa teams. After a draw in the first match, Chornomorets won the second match 2-1. According to the regulations, the champion of the Ukrainian SSR had to meet the Ukrainian team that ranked lowest among the teams of the republic in Group A in the transitional matches. This team was Shakhtar from Stalino, which ranked 12th out of 22 teams. However, the transition matches were canceled because Shakhtar won the USSR Cup. The Republican Federation insisted on an additional place for Chornomorets, while the All-Union Federation disagreed. In the end, it was decided that regardless of the outcome of the 1962 championship, Chornomorets would have the right to play the Ukrainian SSR champion in the transitional matches for the right to advance to Class A.

In 1962, Ukrainian clubs in Group B were divided into three zones, with the top two teams from each zone qualifying for the transition tournament. "Chornomorets and SKA won their zones again, but Trudovi Rezervy from Luhansk took first place in the transition tournament. "Chornomorets, as the 1961 champion, was still eligible for additional matches with the 1962 champion, and the games were held in Kyiv, but the Luhansk team celebrated the victory.

But 1962 was also remembered for friendly matches. In the spring, in Kyiv, in a control match before the 1962 World Cup, the USSR national team met the Ukrainian national team of class "B", a significant part of which consisted of players from two Odesa clubs. The Ukrainian national team won with a crushing 4-0 score, with two goals scored by Vasyl Moskalenko, a "sailor". "Chornomorets also defeated Brazilian Flamengo 4-2.

Nevertheless, Chornomorets started the 1963 championship in Class A. This was due to another reorganization of the championship. Now Class A consisted of two groups: the first group had 20 teams and fought for the championship, and the second group had 18 teams that fought for promotion. Vsevolod Bobrov became the team's manager and head coach. "Chornomorets took sixth place, and they needed at least second place to be promoted.

The beginning of the 1964 season was unsuccessful for Chornomorets, the team played poorly and weakly, but the change of coach, first to Stanislav Shmelin, and then the appointment of Yuriy Voynov and Matviy Cherkasky as coaches (Shmelin remained the coach) corrected this situation. At the end of the season, Chornomorets finished fourth in the second group of Class A and was promoted to the first group; Odesa's SKA took second place, which meant that the Odesa derby would appear in the top division of the USSR championship.

In 1965, the team played in the first group of class A. Before the start of the championship, the team was strengthened: Valerii Lobanovskyi joined from Dynamo Kyiv, Korshunov from Spartak Moscow, and young Valerii Porkuyan from Zvezda Kirovohrad. However, due to the lack of skill and competent management, the team failed to realize its potential. At this time, there were constant conflicts in the team between Voinovyi and young Valerii Lobanovskyi, who pointed out coaching mistakes and proved the wrongness of decisions. In 1966, Lobanovskyi became captain, but the following year he was expelled from the team. Chornomorets finished the first round of the 1965 championship in last place, but eventually took 14th place among 17 participants. The Sailors took the same 14th place in the next championship, but now 19 teams played in the top division. The year 1966 also saw Chornomorsk's highest achievement in the USSR Cup: having reached the semifinals, the team lost to Torpedo Moscow 0:3.

The 1967 season was frankly unsuccessful. Many players left the team and it took the last place in the league. For some time, the Sailors were coached by Valentyn Fedorov. Eight rounds before the end of the championship, Chornomorets was led by the Honored Coach of the USSR Mykola Morozov, who managed to keep the team in the first group of Class A, but refused to continue coaching it.

Since 1968, Serhiy Shaposhnikov has been the head coach, and he has paid special attention to game discipline and physical training. The result was not long in coming - eighth place. In 1969, Chornomorets received a good addition: Reshko, Sapozhnikov, Prokopenko, and again finishes in eighth place.

1970-1991

The 1970 championship ends in failure for Chornomorets: the club ranks 15th out of 17 teams in the top group A and is relegated to the first group of class A. For the next three seasons, Chornomorets tried to return to the Premier League (the new name for the top division of the USSR). The first two attempts ended one step short of the desired result-two third-place finishes. However, the team played strongly in the 1973 championship and won it. Anatolii Shepel, a forward for the Sailors, became the top scorer in the first league and received an invitation from Dynamo Kyiv, where he started the next season. Much of the credit for this victory goes to Chornomorets' new head coach, Akhmed Aleskerov, who led the Odesa team during the season.

In 1974, the club became the bronze medalist of the USSR championship. "Chornomorets had a good start in the league and was able to build on this success, even finishing second in the standings for a while. The successful game of the "sailors" was based on the active actions of the midfield and defense, in the attack the loss of Shepel was felt, and no equivalent replacement was found. Thus, defender Viktor Zubkov scored six goals in the league, and midfielder Volodymyr Makarov scored thirteen, making him the team's top scorer.

However, Chornomorets failed to repeat the success: in subsequent years, the team finished in the middle of the standings.

In 1975, the team played its first match in European competitions in general and the UEFA Cup in particular. This home match ended in a 1-0 victory over Lazio of Rome. Anatoliy Doroshenko scored the first European Cup goal. However, Odesa lost the return match with a score of 0:3. The Romans scored the first goal from the penalty spot in the last minutes of the match, the other two in overtime, with Giordano Quinaglia scoring a hat-trick.

In 1984 and 1991, Odesa took fourth place. In 1986, the team was relegated from the Major League, but returned the following year.

The team participated in the 1975/76 and 1985/86 UEFA Cups, where it reached the 1/16 finals.

In 1986, Chornomorets, led by Viktor Prokopenko, started again in the UEFA Cup last 16. The first opponent was one of the best clubs in the Bundesliga, Werder Bremen, led by Otto Rehagel. Despite the predictions, Odesa won 2-1 at home. On the road, Werder lost again 1-2, although they were able to score two goals and win 3-2. However, Chornomorets advanced to the next round due to a higher number of goals scored on the road. There was biased refereeing of the away match, including a goal scored from offside in favor of Werder, the removal of a Chornomorets player, and the extension of the second half by 4 minutes.

The next opponent was Real Madrid, the current UEFA Cup winner. Odesa lost the away match with a score of 1-2. However, they managed to score an extraordinary goal. Immediately after being substituted, Oleksandr Bagapov sent a "parachute" behind the goalkeeper's back with his first touch from the center of the field. According to the Football Review program, this goal was first recognized as the best goal of October, and then as the best goal of the year. At home, the match ended in a zero-all draw. "Real Madrid, which managed to reach the 1/8 finals, also won that year's Cup.

In 1990, Chornomorets won the USSR Football Federation Cup for the first time, winning the final with a 2-0 victory against the reigning champion Dnipro.

In the fall of 1990, Odesa played in the UEFA Cup again. In the round of 32, they defeated Rosenborg (3-1 at home and 1-2 away), and in the round of 16 they were drawn against Monaco, led by Arsene Wenger. The only goal scored in the match in Monaco by George Weah prevented the Black Sea team from advancing further.

1992-1996

In the Ukrainian Premier League, Chornomorets took third place in the 1992/93 and 1993/94 seasons under Viktor Prokopenko and second place in the 1994/95 and 1995/96 seasons under Leonid Buryak.

The club won the Ukrainian Cup twice: the first in 1992 (defeating Kharkiv's Metalist), and the second in 1993/94 (defeating Simferopol's Tavria in a penalty shootout).

At that time, Chornomorets featured such stars as Ilya Tsymbalar, Timerlan Huseynov and Igor Zhabchenko.

The club participated in the 1992/93 and 1994/95 Cup Winners' Cups, where it was eliminated in the last 16 both times, and the 1995/96 (reached the last 16) and 1996/97 UEFA Cups (reached the last 32).

In the 1992/93 Cup Winners' Cup, Vaduz was the first opponent. In the matches against Vaduz, Chornomorets won their biggest European Cup victories: 5:0 away and 7:1 at home (Yuriy Nikiforov scored a poker in this match). Then Odesa defeated Olympiacos 1-0 away from home, but suddenly lost 0-3 at home. After this home match result, it became obvious that the rumors about bribing players by Olympiacos management were not unfounded. In particular, coach Viktor Prokopenko stated this.

Already under Leonid Buriak's leadership, Chornomorets lost twice to Grasshopper in the 1994/95 Cup Winners' Cup, but the following season they were able to redeem themselves in the UEFA Cup. The first opponent, Hibernians, did not create any obstacles and capitulated twice: 2: 5 and 0: 2. But the matches with the next opponent, Widzew, ended with minimal victories for the hosts and everything was decided in the penalty shootout, where Yuriy Bukel scored the winning goal. After the match, he admitted that it was the first time he had ever taken a penalty kick. In the 1/16 finals, Odesa lost an away match to Lance 0:4. The following season, Chornomorets' first opponent was Finnish HIK, and the next was Romanian National, who won 2-0 in Bucharest and advanced to the 1/16 finals.

1996-2010

In 1997, the team began to rapidly lose ground. The head coach changed frequently, and there was no second team. In 1998, the club was relegated from the top league, and its future seemed very doubtful. In the same year, 1998, it became a municipal club. FC Chornomorets CJSC was established. In the 1998/99 season, the club returned to the top division.

In the 1999/2000 season, the team was relegated to the first league and returned to the top flight only a season later. However, the team immediately took eighth place in the 2002/03 championship and continued to perform quite steadily under the leadership of Semen Altman. And in the 2005/06 season, the team even won a bronze medal, which allowed them to participate in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup, where they reached the first round. The following season, the team played in the 2007 Intertoto Cup, from where they were eliminated in the third round. Here, once again, Ressing (Lance) stood in the way.

From 2007 to November 2008, Chornomorets was coached by his former player Vitaliy Shevchenko.

Due to the deteriorating results, a new head coach, Viktor Hryshko, who had also defended the club's colors in the past, was appointed in November 2008.

On September 1, 2009, Andriy Bal became the club's coach. Under his leadership, the club played 24 matches, winning four, drawing 9 and losing 11 (goal difference 16-30) and following the results of the 2009/2010 season, it was relegated to the First League. On May 13, 2010, immediately after the end of the disastrous season, a meeting of shareholders of FC Chornomorets CJSC was held, at which it was decided not to extend the contract with the team's head coach Andriy Bal by mutual agreement. Igor Nakonechnyi was appointed as the new head coach of Chornomorets.

since 2010

On November 16, 2010, a contract was signed with a new coach, Roman Hryhorchuk. At the end of the 2010-2011 season, the team returned to the Premier League with 18 wins in 34 matches.

The following season, 2011-2012, the Sailors finished ninth in the Premier League with 37 points and 10 wins. In the Cup, Chornomorets reached the 1/4 finals. The following season, however, the Odesa team moved up three more places in the standings and reached the cup final after defeating Dnipro Dnipro 2-1, where they lost to the current Ukrainian champion Shakhtar Donetsk 0-3. Finishing the championship in sixth place and reaching the final of the Ukrainian Cup allowed the team to compete for the Super Cup of Ukraine, where the team lost to Shakhtar 1-3, and to participate in the Europa League next season.

The 2013-2014 season began with several draws - with the newcomer to the Premier League, FC Sevastopol, and Vorskla Poltava (1:1 in each match). In the Europa League, the team started in the second qualifying round and passed it, beating Moldovan Dacia (3:2 after two matches). Subsequently, they played Shakhtar again, where they lost, but with a better score - 0:1. And in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League, the Mariners met Red Star Red Star from Serbia and defeated them 3-1 on aggregate (PK 3-1, DK 0-0).

On August 17, 2016, FC Chornomorets (Odesa) received an official notification of its membership in the Association of European Clubs (ECA). In October 2016, FC Chornomorets supported the initiative of the Special Olympics of Ukraine. At the end of December 2017, the club changed its legal form.

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