Happy Birthday, Shakhtar!

Exactly 85 years ago, they played the first competitive game that became the starting point for Shakhtar’s history and its future triumphs.

The first match

On 24 May 1936, Stakhanovets debuted in the USSR Championship by playing in Kazan against the local Dinamo. The first and historic goal for the team of Donbas coal miners was scored by Fyodor Manov that day. And already in 1938 the Miners secured the right to play in group featuring the strongest sides.

Great coaches

Over 85 years of history, 33 head coaches have worked with Shakhtar. Oleg Oshenkov was a record holder for the duration of a coaching tenure in the Soviet era (9 years). With him at the helm, the Miners gained fame of the cup fighters and won their first trophies - the USSR Cups in 1961 and 1962. And the most decorated player in the Soviet period was Viktor Nosov who was in charge of the team from 1979 through 1985, winning two Cups and one Super Cup with them.

In the independent Ukraine, the record holder among head coaches is Mircea Lucescu who has worked at Shakhtar for 12 years. Under his leadership, the Orange-and-Blacks played 573 games and won 22 trophies: the UEFA Cup, 8 league titles, 6 Cups and 7 Super Cups of Ukraine. The second for the number of titles is Paulo Fonseca who replaced Lucescu: over three seasons, the Portuguese coach led the team to seven domestic triumphs.

40 trophies and ambitious goals

To date, Shakhtar have had 3,012 competitive games, securing 1,518 wins, being tied on 686 occasions and suffering 808 defeats. In total, the Miners scored 4,953 goals and conceded 3,208 goals. In their history, the team have already won 40 trophies. Each of them is the result of hard work of many generations of football players, coaches, club employees, as well as the faith and support of fans.