Kuban (handball club)

Club Foundation

The club was founded in 1965 by Yuri Nikolaevich Korchagin - a handball enthusiast, the creator of a specialized handball sports school in Krasnodar ^[1] . In 1970, Korchagin handed over the reins to his pupil Alexander Ivanovich Tarasikov . The first success to Selkhoztekhnika, as the team was then called, came in 1973, when a victory was won at the Spartakiad of schoolchildren of the RSFSR.

The era of Alexander Tarasikov

Almost the entire history of the club is inextricably linked with the name of Alexander Tarasikov , who coached the Krasnodar team for 37 years - from 1970 to 2006. Due to this outstanding teacher there names in world sport Galina Trefilova (Kuchkova) , Tatiana Janjgava (Shalimova) , Svetlana Pryakhina , Natalia Anisimova (Guskova) , Galina Borzenkova (Tian) , Galina Onopriyenko (Zhivilo) , Svetlana Rozintsevoy , Svetlana Vydrina , Lyudmila Pazich (Hudz) and many other great players.

The take-off of Selkhoztehniki was swift: in 1979, the team won the right to play in the top league of the USSR championship and took the 9th place in the debut year, and in 1983 for the first time became the prize-winner of the country's championship, only Kiev Spartak ahead.

The "golden time" of the team was the period from 1983 to 1992. In this decade, the team only once (in 1985) was left without medals of the USSR championship, in 1989 it became the country's champion for the first time, in 1987-1990 it played four times in the European Cup finals, twice celebrating the victory in the prestigious Cup Cup . Krasnodar, and the whole region, at that time literally "hurt" handball. The hall of the Agricultural Institute and the Small Arena of the Kuban Stadium, where the matches were held, were always crowded.

In the late 1980s, Krasnodar handball players made up the backbone of the country's national team , which, under the leadership of Alexander Tarasikov, became the world champion in 1990 and the bronze medalist of the Olympic Games in Barcelona.

After the 1991-1992 season, when Kuban won the last USSR championship, the team was updated. Hard times began in the country, the financing of sports was sharply reduced, the outflow of athletes abroad began. In these difficult conditions, Kuban, still headed by coach Tarasikov, found strength to search for new talents. The result was a series of four silver medals of the Russian Championship in the second half of the 1990s and another final of the Cup Winners' Cup .

21st Century Club

After the 1999/2000 season, in which Kuban became the vice-champion of Russia for the fourth time in a row and reached the European Cup Winners Cup finals, a group of leading players left the team, receiving more advantageous financial offers from other Russian and foreign clubs.

In conditions of insufficient funding, the leadership of the Kuban took a course towards rejuvenation of the composition. The experienced masters Ludmila Pazich, Svetlana Rozintseva, Svetlana Pryakhina, who appeared in the championships of the USSR, added a large group of unshooted youth. “Kuban” managed to avoid failures and remain firm middle peasant of the Russian championship, against which any opponent is not easy to play. Pupils of the Krasnodar team Tatyana Dyadechko , Svetlana Smirnova , Anna Kurepta , Irina Bliznova in the Russian team became world champions.

At the end of the 2005/2006 season, in which Kuban took sixth place and was left unable to play in European competitions, Alexander Tarasikov was dismissed ^[2] . For two years, the team was led by Anatoly Skorobogatov, and in the 2008/09 season - Natalia Tsygankova. In the offseason of 2009, “Kuban” was headed by Alexey Gumyanov, who had previously worked successfully in the Togliatti “Lada” , Natalya Tsygankova became his assistant ^[3] . From March 2013 to November 2014, the team was led by the most titled coach in the Russian women's handball, Evgeny Trefilov ^[4] .

The New Era of the Club

Key dates in club history

• 1972 - a specialized handball school for children and youth was opened in Krasnodar .
• 1979 - Agricultural machinery (Sofya Alekyan, Lilia Glukhovskaya, Natalya Guskova , Galina Kuchkova, Marina Pronicheva, Irina Prokhacheva, Valentina Stepanenko, Olga Stepanenko, Irina Troyanovskaya, Tatyana Shokhina, Lyubov Yaroslavtseva) won a ticket to the USSR championship .
• 1982 - players Natalya Guskova and Tatyana Shalimova joined the USSR national team at the World Cup in Budapest , which for the first time in history brought the USSR national team gold medals.
• 1983 - Selkhoztehnika for the first time becomes the silver medalist of the USSR Championship.
• 1984 - in the match of the USSR championship in Sverdlovsk, the Krasnodar team for the first time in their history beat the legendary Kiev Spartak (26:25).
• 1984 - October 20, 1984 in Izmir, Turkey, "Agricultural equipment" will debut in European competition. In the 1st round match of the Cup Winners' Cup, the Krasnodar club smashes the local “Altai” with a score of 32: 6.
• 1987 - Kuban becomes the first Soviet club to win the Cup of Cups . In the final, the club “Berlin” was beaten by the sum of two matches (21:17 in Berlin , 23:23 in Krasnodar).
• 1988 - the second consecutive victory of the wards of Alexander Tarasikov in the prestigious European Cup. The outcome of the final confrontation with the Hungarian “Vashash” was determined by a major victory in the first home match - 28:17. In Budapest , the Kuban overcame the fierce resistance of rivals and defended a draw 20:20.
• 1988 - in the final round of the 1988 USSR Championship, held in Krasnodar shortly before the start of the Seoul Olympics , Kuban beat Spartak with a score of 28:16. This is the first such a major defeat in the history of the unique Kiev club.
• 1989 - Kuban becomes the champion of the USSR for the first time. After losing the first away match of the Rostselmashu final series at 23:25, the Tarasikov team won both crazy games in the Small Sports Arena of the Kuban Stadium - 22:19 and 21:20. The title of USSR Champion was won by Tatyana Anagrova, Firdaus Barieva, Galina Borzenkova, Natalya Vereshchagina, Svetlana Vydrina, Tatyana Zavgorodnaya, Lyubov Korotneva, Elena Kravetskaya, Galina Onoprienko, Svetlana Pryakhina, Svetlana Rozintseva, Maria Savostikova, Galina Elena Shrefil.
• 1989 - the third consecutive Cup Cup final for “Kuban” is unsuccessful. In Krasnodar, “Kuban” and the Romanian “Stin” draw 25:25, while in Romania the “Stiinets” is stronger - 22:19.
• 1990 - for the first time in the history of the teams of the Soviet Union in the game, the Kuban specialist became the head coach. Under the leadership of Alexander Tarasikov, the USSR team became the world champion. The base club of that team was Kuban, delegating six players to it: Svetlana Pryakhin, Svetlana Rozintseva, Lyudmila Gudz, Tatyana Dzhandzhgava, Galina Onoprienko and Galina Borzenkova.
• 1990 - the fourth consecutive European Cup final for the “Kuban”. The highest achievement for sports clubs in the Krasnodar Territory is the European Cup Final. “Kuban” in the sum of two matches lost to the Austrian “Hypobank” - 24:29 in Krasnodar and 26:30 in Vienna.
• 1992 - Kuban wins gold medals of the last USSR championship.
• 1992 - the combined team led by Alexander Tarasikov won bronze medals at the Olympic Games in Barcelona . The team included seven Kuban handball players.
• 2000 - “Kuban” for the fifth and so far the last time in its history reaches the final of the European Cup. The rival in the main matches for the Cup Winners Cup was the Spanish “Valencia”. Both matches remain with the Spanish club - 31:24 in Krasnodar and 31:30 in Valencia.
• 2001 - Kuban players Tatyana Dyadechko and Svetlana Smirnova become world champions in the Russian national team .
• 2005 - Anna Kurepta , a point guard for Kuban, wins the gold medal at the World Championships in St. Petersburg.
• 2006 - Alexander Tarasikov , who worked as the head coach of the Kuban for 37 years, was dismissed from the club.
• 2009 - an authoritative specialist Aleksey Gumyanov was appointed head coach of Kuban. His transition from Lada has become one of the main off-season sensations.
• 2013 - Evgeni Trefilov replaced Alexey Gumyanov as the head coach of the team.
• 2016 - Kuban players Yekaterina Marennikova and Marina Sudakova win Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro .
• 2017 - for the first time in 17 years, “Kuban” is winning the medals of the Russian championship, having won in the duel for “bronze” against Zvenigorod “Star” - 32:31 in Zvenigorod and 30:24 in Krasnodar.

• 2-time champion of the USSR : 1989, 1992.
• 5-time silver medalist of the USSR championships: 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988.
• 2-time bronze medalist of the USSR championships: 1990, 1991.
• 4-time silver medalist of the championships of Russia : 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000.
• Russian Championship bronze medalist: 2017.
• 2-time Cup Winner : 1987, 1988.
• Champions Cup Finalist: 1990.
• Finalist of the Cup Cup : 1989, 2000.
• Semifinalist of the Cup Cup : 1985.
• Semifinalist of the EHF Cup : 1991, 1992.
• Semifinalist of the Cup of cities: 1996.

According to the official website on February 15, 2017

• Official site
• Page "Kuban" on the site of the European Handball Federation