Arsenal (football club, Tula)

Origin

The team from which Arsenal is based was based at the Tula Arms Plant in the mid-20s of the last century and before the Great Patriotic War played in the city and regional championships. For the first time, she took part in the USSR Championship in 1946. Matches held at the stadium "Zenith" in the Tula Kremlin. Since 1959 he has been performing at the Arsenal Central Stadium with a capacity of 20,074 seats.

All-Union and All-Russian Tournaments

1946 and 1949 - USSR Championship, Third Group.

1948-1958 - Championship of the RSFSR.

1959-1991 - USSR Championship, Class “B”, Second League.

1992-1997 - Championship of Russia, Second League.

1998-2001 - Championship of Russia, First Division.

2002-2003 - Championship of Russia, Second Division.

2004 - Championship of Russia, First Division.

In 2004, a subsidiary of Gazprom, the sole sponsor of the then Arsenal, stopped funding the team due to the reorganization of the concern. In 2005, the club was forced to refuse to participate in the First Division and entered the tournament of the Second Division . After the 2006 season , due to lack of funding, the team abandoned their professional status, moved to the 3rd division and played in their Russian championship zone. In 2007, as the “Armsman”, and in 2008-2010, as the “Arsenal-Tula”. In November 2011, a revival began on the basis of a team of a professional club under the former name Arsenal ^[8] .

Arsenal Football Club was re-established in professional status at the end of 2011.

Team Chronology

1925-1936: "Arms Plant"

1936-1958: “Zenith”

1959-1961: "Labor"

1962-1963: The Miner

1964-1973: Metallurg

1974-1978: "Mechanical Engineer"

1979-1983: "TOZ" (Tula Arms Plant)

1984-2006: Arsenal (Tula)

2007: The Gunsmith

2008—2011: Arsenal-Tula

since 2011: Arsenal (Tula)

Recent History

In the same 2011, the team was headed by the famous Russian footballer Dmitry Alenichev in the past ^[9] . The coaching staff also included Dmitry Ananko , Alexander Filimonov and Oleg Samatov . Such famous players as Yegor Titov , Dmitry Parfyonov , Yuri Kovtun , Dmitry Khlestov , Vadim Evseev , Vladimir Beschastnykh and Andrey Konovalov were invited to the club. At the end of the 2011/12 season , Tula Arsenal took 8th place in the amateur league , and all the famous players called up by Dmitry Alenichev to help, with the exception of the playing coach Alexander Filimonov, left the team, in their place the coaching staff invited young and promising players.

On June 18, 2012, the Tula Arsenal went through the licensing procedure for participating in the second division in the 2012/13 season ^[10]

Season 2012/13. PFL, Center Zone

Tula Arsenal spent the 2012/13 season in the Center zone of the Second Football Division of Russia , according to the results of which it confidently took first place there, ahead of its main competitors the Voronezh Fakel and Saratov Sokol by 9 and 19 points, respectively. In 30 matches, the Alenichev team scored 22 victories, tied 7 times, and only lost once. Thus, the main task set by the club’s management for the season - to enter the FNL , was successfully completed.

Season 2013/14. FNL

The team spent the 2013/14 season at the National Football League Championship . At a new level for themselves, the team of Dmitry Alenichev in the first 10 matches scored 26 points, winning 8 games and tied twice. Of course, no one expected such a successful start from the daring rookie of the Football National League. All experts noted the Gunners' play style unusual for the first division, namely, its bright combinational and attacking game. In almost all matches, gunsmiths acted from a position of strength, playing exclusively in the attack according to the 3-5-2 scheme. One of the key matches for the Tula Arsenal was the home game against the neighbor in the standings of the Torpedo football club, held on April 30, 2014. Then, when the stands of the Arsenal CS were full, thanks to the exact blow of Vladislav Ryzhkov, the gunners won a major victory over their direct competitor, breaking away from him by 5 points. On May 11, 2014, the guest victory in Saransk over Mordovia ensured the Tula players second place and access to the Premier League .

Season 2014/15. RFPL

The team spent the season 2014/15 in the Premier League . Due to a rather inconvenient calendar, gunsmiths had to start at a new level for themselves by matches against recognized leaders of national football. From the first to the fourth round, Arsenal hosted Zenit, Lokomotiv, Rubin and Dynamo Moscow, scoring just 1 point in these matches, in a match against Kazan Rubin ^[11] . The first away match in the 2014/15 season, the team from Tula held only in the 5th round against the Grozny Terek, where they lost to the representatives of the Chechen Republic with a score of 0: 3 ^[12] . The Tula squad won the first victory at the highest level only in the 12th round, beating the Moscow “Torpedo” 1-0 at the departure of their principal rival ^[13] .

In the 14th round, the gunners achieved their first major victory in the Premier League, with a score of 4: 0 Perm “Amkar” was defeated in their native walls ^[14] . In the 17th round, having beaten FC “Rostov” away 1-0, the squad of Alenichev left the last place of the tournament table, leaving for the winter break in 15th place ^[15] .

The spring segment of the Arsenal championship began much more confidently, already in the 19th round with a score of 1: 0, the Moscow Lokomotiv beat on its field ^[16] . In the 20th round, in protest against the transfer of the game to Moscow ^[17] , Dmitry Alenichev put up a backup team in the match against CSKA. Until the 82nd minute of the match, Tula youth lost to the current champion of the country with a difference of only one goal. As a result, after goals scored by CSKA in the 82nd and 88th minutes of the match, the game ended with a score of 4: 1 in favor of CSKA ^[18] . In April, the Tula Arsenal issued a three-match winning streak. First, in the 22nd round, Arsenal sensationally defeated the Moscow Spartak in their field ^[19] , in the 90th minute of the match, Dmitry Smirnov scored the winning goal, and Ufa won in the 23rd and 24th rounds ^[20] and Amkar ^[21] . During a meeting of the 22nd round of the championship, in which Arsenal beat Spartak 1-0 on April 9, several red and white fans, despite the announcer's warnings, climbed onto the roof of the stadium. One of them - a fan from the city of Suvorov in the Tula region - fell and was taken to hospital with fractures of his arms and legs ^[22] . As a result of this incident, for insecurity and harm to human health, KDK decided to fine Arsenal for 500 thousand rubles and oblige the Tula club to hold one match with Krasnodar in a neutral field ^[23] . In the 29th round, in a guest match against Dynamo Moscow, the Tula Arsenal tied with a score 2: 2, winning up to the 76th minute of the match with a score 2: 1 ^[24] . This draw left the Tula team chances for butt matches. To do this, in the final round it was necessary to beat the Krasnodar “Kuban” on a visit, but the gunsmiths could not do it, having defeated Kuban 1: 5, “Arsenal” was eliminated in the FNL ^[25] .

In the Cup of Russia 2014/15 “Arsenal” reached the quarter finals. In 1/16, the gunners defeated the Astrakhan “ Volgar ” with a score of 1: 0 ^[26] , then in 1/8, losing in the course of the match 0: 2, the St. Petersburg “Zenit”, with a score of 3: 2, sensationally defeated ^[ 2 ^{] [ 27]} , the decisive goal in extra time was scored by Arthur Maloyan ^[28] . In the quarter finals, the gunsmiths had to meet the unyielding Gazovik from Orenburg, in their field, in extra time the gunners lost 0-1, the goal in the 112th minute of the match was scored by the player of Gazovik Igor Koronov ^[29] .

Season 2015/16. FNL

On June 8, 2015, it was announced the resignation of the head coach Dmitry Alenichev, who led the Moscow Spartak ^[30] . The new head coach of the team was Viktor Bulatov ^[31] , under whose leadership Arsenal held 24 matches in which he won 14 times, tied 4 times, and lost 6 times.

Before the start of the spring season of the 2015/2016 championship, the management of the Tula club decided to dismiss Bulatov ^[32] , according to the club’s director general Andrei Nikitin, the reason for this was the team’s unconvincing game at the FNL Cup in Cyprus in February, according to which Arsenal "Took 13th place ^[33] . Bulatov was replaced by a well-known Russian specialist Sergey Pavlov ^[34] , who had already withdrawn more than one team to the highest echelon of Russian football. Under the leadership of Sergey Pavlov, Arsenal spent a magnificent spring segment of the championship, in 14 matches the Tula club scored 11 victories and tied three times, thus eliminating the 6 point gap from Tomi, who was in second place, and bypassing it by 8 points ahead of schedule won the right to play in the Russian Premier League next season ^[35] .

Season 2016/17. RFPL

In June-July 2016, Pavlov began building the team. For this purpose, players with experience in the Premier League began to be invited. These were mainly veterans or players close to this state, who for one reason or another were out of work. There were two reasons for such a transfer policy - cost savings and personal connections of the coach, who, if possible, invited familiar football players. Therefore, the transfer that was expected from them, the transfers did not bring. And the teamwork and drawing of the game, which were in the spring, disappeared after replacing many key players with more experienced but isolated strangers from other teams. Even in the summer friendlies, devastating defeats began. With the beginning of the season, the situation did not improve, but Pavlov left this composition.

As a result, by the beginning of October, Arsenal had won only one victory in nine matches and took 14th place in the championship - in the transitional games zone. Therefore, on October 4, 2016, a young coach Sergei Kiryakov was temporarily appointed a new coach, until May 30 ^[36] . Under his leadership, Arsenal stayed in 14th place and in the butt games in the sum of two meetings defeated the Krasnoyarsk Yenisei (1: 2, 1: 0). The team for the first time in history has confirmed its right to speak in the top division.

Season 2017/18. RFPL

In the summer of 2017, Miodrag Bozovic became the head coach of Arsenal. Montenegrits worked a lot in Russia, led several Premier League clubs at different times and achieved high results. Before being invited to Arsenal, Bozovic realized his dream - he led the Belgrade Red Star and led her to the gold medals of the Serbian Championship.

Under Bozhovich, several new players came to Arsenal, and the game began to gradually improve. And although the first 2 months of the season were difficult and not very successful, by October the team had turned into a strong middle peasant. Victories were won over Krasnodar and CSKA in Tula and over Zenit in St. Petersburg. In other matches, the victories alternated with defeats and draws, but Arsenal completed the first round in record 8th place. According to the results of the championship, the club, gaining 42 points, took seventh place, one point behind Ufa, which received the right to participate in the Europa League , which was the best result during the participation in the Premier League.

Season 2018/19. RPL

The season 2018/2019 did not bode well for Tula fans - in the summer of 2018, Miodrag Bozovic left the team, and the new “Gunners” coach Oleg Kononov moved to Spartak Moscow on November 12, 2018 ^[37] . In place of the head coach came Igor Cherevchenko ^[38] . Nevertheless, it was this season that became historic for the club - for the first time in the major league of Russian football, Tula players were able to take 6th place, regularly taking points from the leaders. May 22, 2019 also became a landmark for the Tula Arsenal. On this day, Moscow Lokomotiv, which had already won a ticket to Eurocups as a participant in the top five of the Russian Championship, won the Russian Cup by defeating the Urals in the final and opened for Arsenal, which took 6th place in the championship , the road to the Europa League , also for the first time in history ^[39] .

The team's best scorer was Zelimkhan Bakaev, leased from Moscow Spartak.

The club extended the contract with coach Igor Cherevchenko until 2020. ^[40]

Club colors

The traditional colors of Arsenal are red and yellow. They come from the coat of arms of Tula , in which on the red shield there are weapons symbols intersecting in the center - two long blades and a horizontal gun barrel, and above and below them - one golden hammer.

Back in Soviet times , there was a tradition of supporting the Tula team with red-yellow paraphernalia. Then the fans themselves did it. Their first flags were red canvases with painted elements of the Tula coat of arms. They resembled a flag, which later became the official Flag of the city of Tula . Steel blades and the barrel were painted in gray, and gold hammers - in yellow. The most noticeable colors in these flags were red and yellow. Therefore, Tula fans made their scarves red-yellow, and two-tone flags were sewn from red and yellow fabrics. Over time, the team also began to use these colors, and for many years now they have been the official colors of the Tula Arsenal. Hence the team’s nickname is “red-yellow”.

Form

The home T-shirt of the Tula Arsenal for the 2014/15 season, the color of which exactly depicted a large camouflage pattern made in yellow, red and dark red, was chosen by the Society for T-shirt Collectors (Bund der Trikotsammler) in Germany with a soccer shirt March 2015 ^{[41 ]} .

In the 2016/17 season, the team’s home uniform consisted of a red T-shirt with a few diagonally uneven stripes running through it, in the form of a yellow spreading paint resembling a camouflage pattern, red shorts and a red leggings. The guest uniform has the same pattern, but gray on a black background, and the backup one is a white T-shirt with the same gray pattern, white underpants and white leggings, but rarely used in reality, most often Arsenal plays in its signature red and yellow uniform , alternative black is sometimes used.

In the 2017/18 season, the uniform is completely red, and the numbers and names of the players are yellow, and on the shirt in the upper part, the yellow stripe runs from the shoulders to the middle of the chest, connecting with an angle, like a wide letter V.

The guest uniform is the same, but white with red elements.

Season 2018/19

The 2018/19 season's uniforms are red yellow short-sleeved T-shirts, red shorts and red yellow leggings. The numbers and names of the players are yellow.

Guest uniform is completely yellow with red inscriptions.

Club Emblem

The current club emblem appeared in 2012.

Its author is Tula designer Viktor Sumarokov.

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  2012 — n. at.

Technical Sponsor

General and other sponsors

On May 23, 2016, the Tula Central Stadium signed an indefinite agreement on strategic partnership between PFC Arsenal and Rostec Corporation ^[42] .

On September 15, 2016, during a working visit to the Tula Region by Igor Sechin, Chief Executive Officer of Rosneft PJSC, the oil company and the Tula Region Government, in the person of the acting Governor Alexei Dyumin, signed a cooperation agreement, including those providing for financial assistance to PFC “ Arsenal " ^[43] .

On November 26, 2016, as part of its sponsorship, KamAZ PJSC provided assistance in acquiring a Mercedes-Benz brand bus for the club ^[44] .