FC Arsenal Kyiv

Football Club Arsenal Kyiv (Ukrainian: Футбо́льний Клуб Арсена́л–Київ) is a Ukrainian football club based in Kyiv. In 2019, the club's professional team was dissolved, but its junior teams continue to compete in city competitions.^{[citation needed]} The club claims to be a successor of Kyiv Arsenal factory team which traces its history back to 1925. The original factory team used to compete in the Soviet Class B (later reorganized as Soviet Second League), but was relegated in 1964 and officially dissolved (lost professional status).

The football club of the Ukrainian post-Soviet period was created in 1993 and brought to Kyiv from Boryspil by a geological company Geoton which was one of main sponsors of the Football Federation of Ukraine and Ukraine national football team in the beginning. In 1995–2001 through a merger, the club was reconstituted by the Ministry of Defense as a separate government enterprise not part of the Central Sports Club of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. During that period (1995–2001) it competed in the Ukrainian Top League under CSKA Kyiv brand as its senior (main) squad, while the original army squad continued to compete in lower leagues. In 1995 it was relocated to Kyiv playing at CSK ZSU Stadium and carried such names as CSKA-Borysfen and CSKA, while the original FC CSKA Kyiv competing in lower leagues changed its name to CSKA-2 as its reserve squad. Due to difficulty of financing, the ownership of senior squad was transferred to the Kyiv city authorities during the winter break of 2001–02 as part of Oleksandr Omelchenko political project and the newly acquired squad was renamed as Arsenal in memory of the factory team.

Between 2002 and 2008, Arsenal was a municipal club of Kyiv city and played its games at the Olympiyskiy National Sports Complex. Later when the club was sold to the Ukrainian politician Vadym Rabinovych who promised to build the club's own stadium within the Kyiv city limits, but instead came up with a campaign to revive the history of another Arsenal Kyiv, a factory team of Kyiv Arsenal, which was dissolved in the 1960s and consider the current Arsenal Kyiv a phoenix club of its predecessor. In 2013 soon after Rabinovych sold the club to another Ukrainian politician it was abandoned and dissolved.

Due to the efforts of Ukrainian racer Oleksiy Kikireshko, the club was revived in 2014 as Arsenal-Kyiv and based in Shchaslyve located right on the eastern outskirts of Kyiv.

Created on 14 July 1925, as a multi-sports club of the Arsenal Factory in Kyiv, before World War II the club played mostly in regional competitions for factory workers. In 1936 Arsenal Kyiv took part in the Soviet Cup in football where it was eliminated after the first round of competition after a replay.

After World War II the club played in the Ukrainian Soviet competitions under the name of FC Mashynobudivnyk Kyiv (the SC Arsenal Kyiv also used to have a hockey team, HC Zenit Kyiv). In 1958 Mashynobudivnyk won the competitions and was accepted to the Soviet Class B under the name of FC Arsenal Kyiv. In 1959–1964 the club played in the Soviet Class B. In 1964 the teams of master Arsenal Kyiv was dissolved. In reality however, FC Arsenal Kyiv either lost its relegation play-off or simply yielded its place to already existing FC Temp Kyiv which represented the Kyiv aviation factory Aviant (today part of Antonov corporation). After the season Temp was withdrawn and until the end of 1960s played at the Soviet competitions among collectives of physical culture (KFK).

Later the Arsenal factory also was fielding its football team in the competitions among collectives of physical culture in 1972 – 1977, 1979 and 1980.

The club takes its roots from the appearance of FC Boryspil and that fact is well documented. FC Boryspil was established on 9 March 1993 by Ukrainian geologist and entrepreneur Dmytro Zlobenko (1961–2013) along with his partner Ihor Kovalevych and his science production firm "Geoton". Zlobenko managed to find ways in cooperation with local administrations of Myronivka and Boryspil raions (districts in the southeastern part of Kyiv Oblast). With the ongoing season, the club merged with the already existing FC Nyva Myronivka that competed at the Ukrainian Transition League (at that time was considered to have semi-professional status) and took over their brand temporary renaming into Nyva-Borysfen, while the original Nyva restarted as FC Nyva Karapyshi in the Kyiv Oblast Championship. The idea of club's organization, in the beginning, came from another former football player and coach from Kyiv, Ivan Terletskyi who also offered to seek help from Mikhail Oshenkov, a son of Oleg Oshenkov and worked closely with Valeriy Lobanovskyi. Among other people who were involved in creation of the new club were children coach out of Kuchakiv, Viktor Haiduk, director of the local "Kolos" sports society Mykola Kostianets, head of the Boryspil Raion state administration, Mykhailo Muzyka, and Boryspil mayor, Oleksandr Prydatko.