Krasnodar

On February 28, 2008 the new football club easily got a license from the professional football league authority and got the right to play in the second division. FC Krasnodar played its first official match against a team from Krasnosulinsky District in April of the same year at the Torpedo stadium in Taganrog. The game was drawn 0-0. Krasnodar roster mainly featured young players who were led by an unknown specialist, Vladimir Volchek, who will remain in the club history as first head coach. During the championship different footballers joined the club and eventually it finished in the third place only behind Volgar-Gazprom and Bataysk-2007.

In January 2009 the professional football league invited FC Krasnodar to participate in the first division championship due to refusal from several football teams which had got the right to play there. The club management agreed almost without hesitation.

The team finished their inaugural season in the first division in the tenth place, which was not bad. Next year a new coach, Sergey Tashuev, who used to work in FC Salyut-Energia was invited to join the team. The team played excellent in the first round; however, after the break they were clearly weaker and finished fifth in the championship. Tashuev was sacked.

In winter of 2010 a famous Serbian specialist, Slavoljub Muslin, was invited to coach the team – he signed an 18-month contract with a possible extension clause. In winter of 2011 the team was substantially reinforced with the elite division players: Mickov, Andjelković, Amisulashvili and Drinčić.

On January 25, 2011 the club was invited to the Premier League to replace FC Saturn which was dismissed due to financial difficulties.

Krasnodar is the only provincial Russian city to witness an actual high-level football derby. Previously, it was only the case with Moscow, which is no wonder due to its capital status. The first Krasnodar derby was played on June 18, 2011 at the Kuban stadium. FC Krasnodar won the match and got a historic record as the first team to win a non-Moscow football derby.