Early years (1963–68) The team of Karpaty was founded on 18 January,
1963. In 1961
Silmash Lviv won the championship of Lviv Oblast but lost its promotional play-off against Naftovyk Drohobych to qualify for the Soviet Class B championship. In 1962 Silmash Lviv won the championship and cup of the Lviv Oblast (see
Lviv Oblast Football Federation) and won the promotional play-offs against Naftovyk, obtaining the rights to participate in the Soviet Class B championship (
Soviet First League). However, in 1963 the
Football Federation of USSR conducted another reorganization of national football tournaments, creating the Second Group of Class A and Class B became the third tier, where a berth was reserved for a team from
Lviv. At that time the best city team was
SKA Lvov. However,
SKA Lvov player did not tend to stay there for long, leaving the club at the end of their military service, while the best would be drafted to
CSKA Moscow. The city administration decided to create a civilian team, independent from the Soviet military. In December 1962, in the building of Regional Council of Trade Unions (at prospekt Shevchenka), the head of the council and the regional football federation, Hlib Klymov, invited coaches of Silmash – Yuri Zubach (former player of
Ukraina Lwów) and Vasyl Solomonko, as well as the director of the city plant "Lvivsilmash" Ivan Kalynychenko to discuss a new name for the club. The name Silmash was recognized as inadequate for participation on such a level. Among the proposed names were
Spartak,
Dynamo,
Halychyna. In the end the group agreed upon the regional
toponym Karpaty (
Carpathians). In Soviet times all sports teams were "tied" to certain industrial unions or sport societies; therefore, the Regional Tax Administration won 1–0. The goal was scored by the club's captain
Oleksandr Filiayev. The first official game was against
Lokomotiv Gomel on 23 April 1963, which Karpaty won 1–0 (goal scored by
Anatoliy Kroshchenko). Karpaty debuted in
Group B in 1963 and remained there for four seasons, until 1968 when they were promoted to
Soviet First League.
Winning the USSR Cup On 17 August 1969, Karpaty became the first (and the only) club in the
USSR football history to win the
USSR Cup while playing in the
Soviet First League. The road to the cup was as exciting as the final itself. On the way there, the Lions were challenged by Soviet heavy-weights such as
Ararat Yerevan and
Chornomorets Odesa. The quarterfinal round matched them with
Trud Voronezh that in the prior round had eliminated
Spartak Moscow. After a narrow victory over Voronezh, Karpaty faced
Mykolaiv's
Shipbuilders. The game was perceived by the Lvivians as the chance to avenge the previous year's loss to the Mykolaivans, which cost them a ticket to the Soviet
Premiership. A score of 2–0 was enough to secure a trip to
Moscow. In the final, Karpaty faced the
Red Army team from
Rostov-on-Don at the
Lenin Stadium. The Rostov army-men were one of the best Soviet clubs in the mid-1960s and for that game they were considered the favorites, being the representatives of the
Soviet Top League. Before the start of the game, Karpaty's captain
Ihor Kulchytskyi shook hands in the traditional manner with every match official, except the
assistant referee,
Eugen Härms. The reason was that Härms, the
Estonian referee in charge of their game a year earlier against
Uralmash Sverdlovsk, allowed a goal from what was regarded as an obvious offside position that eventually contributed to Karpaty's denial of a promotion. Karpaty were trailing 0–1 already after the first 20 minutes and were not able to equalize by the end of the half, but numerous Karpaty fans drove their team forward.
(Petro Danylchuk, "Karpaty" defender) (Ihor Kulchytsky, "Karpaty" captain) In the second half the Ukrainians broke the course of the game flow, and two goals from Lykhachov and Bulhakov put the Lions ahead. Near the end of the game the Rostov team scored another goal, but it was given offside. The match referee, without consulting his assistants, initially allowed the goal and the Russians ran joyfully towards the center of the field. However, a moment later, he noticed the raised flag from Härms who had identified an offside and reversed his decision, awarding the victory to Lviv. In the following season, Karpaty's first opponent in the
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was
Romanian
Steaua București that, led by
István Kovács, advanced on a 4–3 aggregate.
Soviet Top League (1970–1977) In 1970–77 and 1980, Karpaty played in the
Soviet Top League. Karpaty's best achievement was 4th place in 1976. Karpaty placed 4th twice that year since the season was split into 2 separate championships (spring and fall). Karpaty were primed to win silver that season, but an unexpected loss in their last home game to
Zenit Leningrad pushed Karpaty back into 4th place. While playing in the Soviet First League in 1979, Karpaty were close to repeating their 1969 achievement, when they met
Dynamo Moscow in the USSR Cup semi-final. The match, which was played in Moscow, went into overtime with a 1–1 score with Dynamo prevailing in the end, scoring a penalty kick in extra time.
Merger and period of SKA Karpaty (1981–1989) In 1981, Karpaty were merged with another city team,
SKA Lviv belonging to the
Carpathian Military District and part of the Soviet Union
Sports Society of the Armed Forces. In 1980 Karpaty were relegated from the
Soviet Top League (Vysshaya Liga) and in the
1981 Soviet First League placed only 11th. Already before the season's finish there appeared rumors about possible merger. FC Mariupol that was already on the way to the game was forced to turn around. On 2 June 2020 FC Karpaty Lviv released its official statement announcing that the club goes on 2 weeks self-isolation due to mass spread of the illness among players. The upcoming games with
SC Dnipro-1 and
Vorskla Poltava will not take place as previously scheduled. On 26 June 2020 were announced new rescheduled dates for the Karpaty's games against Mariupol and Dnipro-1. About a month later on 27 June they finally met in derby game against
FC Lviv and promised to finish all their games they owed to other clubs before the new end of season on 19 July. But later Karpaty started to complain that the schedule is too tight and they won't be able to comply with the new schedule and refused to travel to any other games at all leaving on early vacations on 10 July. On 30 June 2020 the Ukrainian Premier League filed a document to the UAF Control and Disciplinary Committee informing that FC Karpaty Lviv were unable to show up for the game in Mariupol on 1 July 2020. The Mariupol–Karpaty game scheduled on 4 July will not take place. As it was the second failure to appear to the match for FC Karpaty Lviv, according to regulations the club was expelled from the championship by the UAF Control-Disciplinary Committee on 9 July 2020. The club was counted two technical defeats for two matches against
FC Mariupol as 3:0 and 0:3. For all other remaining games that were due to be played, the club was counted as having lost. On 22 July, the UAF decision became final as the club did not appeal it. On 31 July 2020, Smaliychuk announced that Karpaty would play in the Second League. On 14 August 2020, it was announced that the club never submitted registration for either the First or Second leagues. Six days later, it was confirmed that Karpaty would actually be playing in the Second League.
The 2021 club reorganization The club underwent a considerable transformation in the summer of 2021. Owned by
Petro Dyminskyi between 2001 and 2020, the Karpaty ownership was claimed either partially or entirely by Oleh Smaliychuk. In 2020 the club announced its bankruptcy and was expelled from the
Ukrainian Premier League, yet allowed to enter competitions in lower leagues and maintain professional status. In the autumn of 2020, veteran Karpaty Lviv players
Stepan Yurchyshyn,
Andriy Tlumak and others created another club by the same name that entered the national amateur competitions. ==Stadiums==