Vorskla preview
Another European campaign is about to begin for FC Copenhagen, who face a tough FC Vorskla Poltava side in their opening game of the UEFA Europa League.
by Joe Short
On Thursday evening FCK will face Ukrainian side Vorskla, who finished sixth in the league last season. The club is named after the local river Vorskla, which runs by the city of Poltava, 300km east of Kiev.
The city itself is very old, and can be traced back to the year 1174. The club is therefore relatively new, having been formed in 1955. Originally called Kolhospnyk, the club changed its name in 1984 to the Vorskla we see today.
Vorskla played in the Ukrainian Premier League for the first time in 1996/97, where the club finished third and earned the right to challenge for UEFA Cup qualifying. However, the club has failed to live up to that first season, and although they lifted the Ukrainian national cup in 2009, they have found trophies hard to come by.
Victory in the cup gave Vorskla the chance to win the Ukrainian Super Cup, but lost to Dynamo Kiev in a penalty shootout.
FC Vorskla Poltava’s domestic form
Vorskla currenty lie fifth in the Ukrainian Premier League. They have won four matches, drawn two and lost the other three over the first nine of the season. They comfortably beat Chernomorets 3-1 in their most recent domestic fixture, a game made even easier as their opponents lost a man after just 21 minutes.
Ahmed Januzi is Vorskla’s most prominent goalscorer so far this season with four in five games to his name. However, both Roman Bezus and Vasyl Sachko have scored twice. Januzi is therefore Copenhagen’s biggest offensive threat, but FCK’s opponents have it in their arsenal to come forward with potential.
FC Vorskla Poltava in Europe
Although never emulating their third place position of 1996/97, Vorskla have nonetheless been close to European competition before this season. In autumn 2009, the club almost reached the playoff round for the Europa League, but Benfica subjected the Ukrainians to a heavy defeat, blocking their progress with a 5-2 aggregate win.
All this brings us to this season, the first real successful European campaign for Vorskla. This year, the club entered the second round of qualification, where they rolled over Glentoran FC of Northern Ireland 2-0 and 3-0. The following round they met Irish side Sligo Rovers FC. The Irish proved a tough nut to crack, but after playing out a 0-0 draw in the Ukraine, Vorskla beat their opponents 2-0 in the return leg.
The club subsequently reached the same playoff round they had succumbed to in 2009. Against Dinamo Bucharest – who were firm favourites – Vorskla battled their way through to 2-1 and 3-2 wins against the Romanians to book their place in the group stage of the Europa League.
The first game of a European group stage is always a big one, with all clubs looking to gain an early advantage to progress to the knockout round. Copenhagen v Vorskla kicks off at 19:00 CEST in PARKEN, with Roland Nilsson’s side no doubt ready to face a relatively unknown but dangerous Ukrainian side.
