Formed: 1936
Nickname: Hirnyky (The Pitmen)
UEFA club competition honours
• UEFA Cup: 2009
Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 6 (2011)
• Soviet/Ukrainian Cup: 11 (2011)
History
• Founded by coal miners in the Donbass region of Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, the club were called Stakhanovets Stalino before switching to FC Shakhtar Donetsk in 1946.
• The 1960s brought a turnaround in the club’s fortunes as Shakhtar stormed to a surprise victory against an all-star FC Torpedo Moskva side in the 1961 Soviet Cup final, retaining the trophy 12 months later. Over the next decade they established themselves as one of the strongest teams in the Soviet Top League. Two more Soviet Cups, two silver and bronze medals came in 1980s before the 1991 establishment of an independent football league in Ukraine.
• Relegated for the only time in their history in 1971, they bounced back up and finished 1975 as Soviet runners-up. It brought Shakhtar’s debut in European club competition in the 1976/77 UEFA Cup, reaching the third round before losing to eventual winners Juventus.
• On 11 October 1996 Rinat Akhmetov was appointed club president and under his command they began to establish themselves as worthy challengers to FC Dynamo Kyiv.
• Along with domestic honours, Akhmetov has worked to establish Shakhtar on the European stage and in 2008/09 Mircea Lucescu led the club to victory in the last edition of the UEFA Cup. The 2010 title, meanwhile, was their fifth in total, and their fourth since the Romanian coach took over in 2004, while the following season he guided Shakhtar into the UEFA Champions League round of 16 for the first time.
• In 2011, Shakhtar broke new ground by reaching the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, where they lost to eventual winners FC Barcelona.
Club records
Most appearances: Mykhaylo Sokolovskiy (481)
Most goals: Andriy Vorobey (114)
Record victory: Shakhtar 8-0 FC Torpedo Gorkiy (Soviet Top League, 1951)
Shakhtar 9-1 FC Torpedo Zaporizhya (Premier League, 1996/1997)
Record defeat: FC Dinamo Moskva 10-1 Shakhtar (Soviet Top League, 1949)
From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=52707/profile/index.html
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