Early years (1935–1946) The history of Metalurg began in 1935 when a steel production company,
Zaporizhstal, formed the
football club 'Stal'. By the end of the year a local sports union gave Stal the status of a main club in the region. Throughout the 1930s, the team appeared regularly in domestic competitions and often played against clubs from the
Soviet Top League, the most notable of which was
Spartak Moscow. The tough times of World War II soon followed, however, bringing decline to both Zaporizhstal and its team. Nonetheless, in 1946 the club was revived and in 1949, Stal won the cup in
Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Post-war era (1946–1990) In October 1949, the team was renamed to 'Metalurg'. In 1950, Metalurg debuts in the
USSR Cup and in the round of 64 they defeated
Lokomotiv Petrozavodsk with the score of 5–0, but go out in the next stage, losing 2–3 to Torpedo
Stalingrad. However, the very next year the club went to the Round of 16, notably defeating
Dinamo Minsk 1–0 and
Lokomotiv Moscow 4–0 on the way. In 1953, the club debuted in the
USSR Championship after becoming the champion of
Ukrainian SSR in 1952. From 1953 to 1962, Metalurg played in the USSR Championship Class 'B'. In 1963, Metalurg secured a place in the USSR Championship division 'A' and achieved some moderate success. They stayed there until 1971, when in the 1970 season the club secured a position in Class 'A' and a place in the
USSR First League. In their first season, they came in fourth place, which became the club's highest achievement in the USSR Championships.
Ukrainian leagues (1991–2015) In 1991 after the collapse of the
Soviet Union, Ukraine became independent and
Ukrainian Premier League was formed. Metalurh was among the founders of the League. The club has remained in the
Vyshcha Liga for all 16 seasons with their highest achievement in the
1995–96 season, taking 5th place. The club's best performance in a domestic cup came in 2006, when Metalurh reached the final, there they met with
Dynamo Kyiv and were beaten 2 goals to none, however this performance allowed them to enter the
UEFA Cup next season. Zaporizhstal still remains as a largest club sponsor and actively finances most of club's expenses. The club had always been in the top league, since the first season in 1992 until the 2010–11 season when they finished last position and were relegated to the
Ukrainian First League. After one season in the
Ukrainian First League the club was promoted back to the Ukrainian Premier League. During the
2015–16 season on 2 March 2016, Metalurh was recognized as bankrupt on decision of the commercial court of Zaporizhzhia Oblast and a liquidation procedure was initiated. ;European history Throughout its history in
Ukrainian Premier League, Metalurh has entered the
UEFA Cup on two occasions; the first in
2002–03 UEFA Cup after finishing fourth in the league the previous season. In the qualifying round they beat
Maltese side
Birkirkara 3–0 on aggregate, before losing 2–1 to English side
Leeds United in the first round. The second time club had to wait 4 years to qualify again. After finishing as runners-up in the
Ukrainian Cup in 2006, Metalurh secured a place in the
2006–07 UEFA Cup. The club entered the competition in the second qualifying round, Metalurh defeated
Moldavian side
Zimbru Chișinău 3–0 over two legs. However, Metalurh went out in the first stage, losing to
Greek club
Panathinaikos.
FC Metallurh based on FC Rosso Nero (2016–2018) FC Rosso Nero was created in 2009 by Andriy Bohatchenko who owns a pizzeria with the same name in
Zaporizhzhia. The first two seasons the club played in
futsal (indoor football). In 2011, the club won the Zaporizhzhia city Cup and the
beach football city league. In 2012, Rosso Nero were runners-up at 8x8 football (variant of
association football popular in Russia). In 2014, the club became a city champions by beating the defending city champions Motor Zaporizhzhia. The victory inspired Rosso Nero to apply for the Second League of national competitions. In fall of 2015, when Metalurh Zaporizhzhia started the process for liquidation, Rosso Nero offered to pass the legendary club to them, however no agreement was reached. On 26 March 2016, in Zaporizhzhia held a meeting of non-governmental organization "Metalurh forever", at which it was decided to rename the "FC Rosso Nero" into "FC Metalurh". At the same meeting, the group adopted symbols and colors of the original club "Metalurh". During the 2016–17 season the club was under suspicion from the FFU fair play committee. The club was denied in receiving certificate for the next season and was dissolved in June 2018. The Metalurh—Rosso Nero performance was terrible. It played 65 games at professional level (3rd tier) winning 9, tying 3 and losing 53 games. Its goal tallies was 49 goals scored while allowing 237 (-188). The Metalurh—Rosso Nero also took part in
Ukrainian Cup where it was eliminated at its earliest rounds on both occasions.
Zaporizhia city club (since 2017) On 6 August 2017, a new city football club
MFC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia () started its participation in the
2017–18 Ukrainian Football Amateur League with an away game against Yarud at Azovets Stadium in
Mariupol. In the media, it was sometimes called the municipal club rather than the city's club. In 2016, the new club was established by the Zaporizhzhia city authorities based on a communal company "Tsentralnyi Stadion" (Central Stadium), which owns
Slavutych Arena. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the club remained a member of the Ukrainian top tier until 2015, competing on a couple of occasions in European club competitions as Ukraine's representative. In 2015, the original club went bankrupt, and in 2016, the
Ukrainian Premier League finally removed it from its competitions. In 2016, it was announced that another amateur club from
Zaporizhzhia (FC Rosso-Nero Zaporizhzhia) had officially changed its name to FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia and intends to start participation at the
Ukrainian Amateur Football League the same year. In 2018, the Rosso-Nero's Metalurh was denied a license for professional league competitions, while the city-sponsored club was admitted to the Second League. With Metalurh–Rosso Nero already competing, in May 2017, the mayor of Zaporizhzhia decided to form a separate city club, which was formed based on the existing Metalurh sports school of Olympic Reserve. On 31 May 2017, the
Zaporizhzhia City Council approved the mayor's initiative and created the city's club Metalurh Zaporizhzhia. On proposition of the Rosso-Nero's Metalurh to merge, the newly created club refused.
Youth Sports School of Metalurh Zaporizhya The youth sports school is located right on the training fields of the main club, where, before the Russian-Ukrainian war, matches of the local championship of other sports schools were regularly held. this is the largest youth sports school in the city of Zaporizhzhia, as well as in the entire region. == Stadium ==