1963 FC Dnipro Kremenchuk season

The 1963 season was Dnipro Kremenchuk's 1st year in the Ukrainian Class B a Soviet football competition at the Soviet third tier. In addition to the domestic league, Dnipro also participated in this season's editions of the Soviet Cup and Cup of Central Committee of Leninist Communist League of Youth of Ukraine. Managed by Anatolii Sadovskyi they finished fortieth in the combined championship table and had to rely on two play-offs to remain in the league. They were eliminated form both cups in their first matches. The season covers the period from 1 January 1963 to 31 December 1963.

Pre-season
On 7 February it was announced that Presidium of the Council of the Union of Sports Societies and Organizations of the Ukrainian SSR and Football Federation of the Ukrainian SSR agreed to allow a professional club to be formed in Kremenchuk. Club was allocated a spot in 1963 Ukrainian Class B season. The team was formed at the KrAZ factory. Club academy began accepting boys born in 1945 through 1950. Anatolii Sadovskyi was appointed manager and Yevhen Leontovych was his assistant. Club scheduled a pre-season training camp in Izmail. Anatolii Lytvynov, Borys Konfederat, Stanislav Troitak, Yevhenii Basov and others joined the club from Torpedo Kremenchuk, a team who represented the factory in previous year. Mykola Arsiienko and Hennadii Poryshkin joined after representing Dnipro in previous year. Former Dnipro players Oleksandr Shakytskyi returned from Geolog Tyumen and Yevsevii Vaks from Kolhospnyk Poltava. Leonid Sendetskyi came from Dynamo Kyiv, Mykola Piven from Dunaiets Izmail and Oleksandr Smahin joined from Khabarovsk. In early April club was renamed from temporary name "Avanhard" to Dnipro.

April
Due to bad weather first matched to be played on 7 April was postponed. On 13 April Dnipro faced Zirka Kirovohrad in clubs debut at professional level. Players were not organized, with a lot of bad passes. Individualism lead Dnipro to concede three goals and loose their first match. Dnipro faced Shakhtar Oleksandria in a qualifying stage of the cup. Shakhtar scored one goal in each half with Dnipro scoring one. Pyrukhin states that two players are listed by different sources, Vzhychynskyi and Heorhii Pylypenko. On 21 April Dnipro traveled to play Arsenal Kyiv. Arsenal controlled the game early on. Dnipro slowly managed to come back into the game and begin attacking. During second half the tempo increased and Arsenal scored the only goal. Next week match-day was filled with lots of lightning, heavy rains and hail. Dnipro defenders had a good game against Naftovyk Drohobych. Strikers were struggling, with only Mykola Prymostka having a good game. Match ended with a 0–0 draw, bringing Dnipro its first point.

May
On 2 May Dnipro traveled to Ternopil to face Avanhard Ternopil. The team scored their first professional league goal through an Unknown goalscorer on twenty-second minute. Avanhard equalized on seventieth minute. The unimpressive game finished with a 1–1 draw. Dnipro played its first friendly game against Kolhospnyk Berezhany. Kolhospnyk won the game as Dnipro players managed to score two goals and home team scored three. A few days later team played in Lviv against SKA Lviv on 9 May. Mykola Prymostka scored his first goal, however that was not enough to win as the home team scored twice. Next week Dnipro played at home, hosting Spartak Ivano-Frankivsk on 14 May. Anatolii Lytvynov scored the only goal of the game on fiftieth minute, giving Dnipro its first professional win. Other source states that Prymostka was the goalscorer. After the win came a big 5–0 loss to SKA Kyiv on 19 May. Prymostka scored another goal in a 3–1 loss to Shakhtar Oleksandriia on 25th. Dnipro finished the moth with a 1–1 draw with Desna Chernihiv. Yevsevii Vaks scored his first goal.

June
June began with a loss to Dynamo Khmelnytskyi. Losses continued to Verkhovyna Uzhhorod on the sixth, Polissya Zhytomyr on the eleventh and Budivelnyk Kherson on the fifteenth. Dnipro earned a point in a goalless draw with Sudnobudivnyk Mykolaiv four days later. This was followed by another loss to league leaders Lokomotyv Vinnytsia on the twenty-third. Yevsevii Vaks scored the clubs first goal of the month. Dnipro was bottom of the table. Dnipro traveled to Bar to face a Combined Bar team in a friendly mid-week game. It finished in a one-all draw. Last match of the month was another loss to Kolhospnyk Rivne.

July
July began with a 4–0 win against Avanhard Chernivtsi. Both Prymostka and Vaks scored twice. István Shtefutsa returned to defense after a long absence due to injury. Four days later it was followed by another win against Volyn Lutsk. Volyn was controlling the early game with Dnipro attacking through the center. As that proved unsuccessful, they switched play play to the wings. This allowed Viktor Yefimenko to score the first goal. It was followed by goals from Dmytro Everhetov and Prymostka. On 10 July Dnipro met with Dynamo Khmelnytskyi in a Cup of the Central Committee of Leninist Communist League of Youth of Ukraine. Goals from Hennadii Poryshkin and Everhetov were not enough as the opposition scored four. Shtefutsa was sent-off for a bad foul. Another friendly was played on the sixteenth against a local team Avanhard Kremenchuk. Game was fast-paced and very aggressive with the referee allowing many fouls. The match against Kolhospnyk Cherkasy on the twentieth ended in defeat. Dnipro played below their abilities after winning two previous matches. Four days later Dnipro traveled to play Zirka Kirovohrad. They lost 5–0. Another Dnipro win came on the twenty-eight. Dnipro hosted Arsenal Kyiv. Mykola Piven scored the first goal from 30 meters after a free kick on sixteenth minute. Five minutes later the visitor equalized after Dnipro goalkeeper dropped the ball. A minute later Dnipro had a goal disallowed. Prymostka scored the second goal from difficult angle, and Arsenal equalized again on seventy-second minute. With three minutes to go, Vaks scored the winning goal. On last day of the month Dnipro played Kolhospnyk Cherkasy. This match was originally scheduled to be played on 7 April and was postponed due to bad weather.

August
August began with a 4–0 loss to Naftovyk Drohobych on the third. Four days later Dnipro hosted Avanhard Ternopil. Borys Skyba and Viktor Yefimenko returned after a period of illness. The game which ended in a 0–0 draw was shadowed by large presence of hooligans. Dnipro hosted Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in a friendly match on the ninth. In the middle of the first half, unnamed midfielder scored for the visitors. Borys Skyba equalized for the hosts. Match ended in a 1–1 draw. On the eleventh Dnipro played SKA Lviv at home. It was a memorable match. Visitors attacked from the early minutes. SKA opened the score four minutes before the break. They continued pressing Dnipro after restart. They were very successful at using an offside trap to stop Dnipro players making a shot on goal. At the end of regular time Prymostka scored after the goalkeeper parried his initial shot. Next week Dnipro traveled to Spartak Ivano-Frankivsk where they were unable to score and lost 3–0. Dnipro began their match against SKA Kyiv very aggressively. They were rewarded for their effort with a goal by Prymostka. Right before the break, visitors scored from eighteen meters. With ten minutes left in the game, visitors scored again. Dnipro players did not try to get back into the game and it finished 1–2. On the twenty-seventh Dnipro hosted neighboring Shakhtar Oleksandriia. Even though Dnipro player had the ball and created more chances than the opposition, they were unsuccessful at scoring. Match ended in a 0–0 draw. Dnipro finished the month with a 3–1 loss to Desna Chernihiv.

September
On September first Avanhard Kharkiv visited Kremenchuk for a friendly match against Dnipro. First half ended with 0-0 as both sides were unable to score, despite numerous attempts. During second half a former Avanhard player Arkadii Mangasarov came on for Dnipro. This change made the game more lively and Dnipro continuously attacked. However they conceded first. Mangasarov was able to score against his former club and Piven won the game by hitting the ball into top corner. Three days later Dnipro traveled to play Dynamo Khmelnytskyi. Hosts were a more attacking team and were rewarded for their efforts after seventeen minutes of play. Yurii Puzikov scored an own goal after which Dnipro players gave up and conceded two more goals. One of which was again an own goal by a defender. Dnipro managed to score a late goal. Dnipro won their fifth game of the season against Verkhovyna Uzhhorod on the eighth. Stanislav Troitak opened the score in the first minute. Borys Skyba doubled the lead close to end of second half. Visitors managed to come back into the game and score one goal. However Anatolii Lytvynov scored a penalty kick for Dnipro to make the game 3–1. On the fourteenth Dnipro lost 2–0 to Polissya Zhytomyr. Four days later Dnipro played away at Budivelnyk Kherson. Dnipro conceded a quick goal and 2 more in the first half. In the second half Budivelnyk scored once more and game became uneventful as host sat back and waited for game to finish. Viktor Stupak managed to score one goal for Dnipro. Dnipro who was last in their group had their worst game on twenty-second. They conceded seven goals from Sudnobudivnyk Mykolaiv. Four days later Dnipro hosted SKA Novosibirskwho played in the Soviet Class A Second Group. Mykola Prymostka socred one goal and Viktor Stupak scored three. Visitor only managed two goals. Dnipro's success was in part due to two academy players who joined the first team, Kuzmin and Serhii Siladin. Vaks scored Dnipro's lone goal in a 3–1 home loss to Lokomotyv Vinnytsia on the twenty-eighth.

October
On 2 October Dnipro lost 3–1 at home Kolhospnyk Rivne. Four days later they played away with Avanhard Chernivtsi. Having conceded three minutes into the game, Dnipro players managed to equalize through Stupak on the twenty-seventh minute. Two minutes before the break, hosts took the lead. Avanhard scored another goal from a free-kick. Unknown Dnipro player scored the last goal in the game. Last league match was played on 10 October. It was an away game with Volyn Lutsk. Match ended 2–2 with Dnipro picking up their eighteenth point. Three days later Dnipro played a friendly match against Zirka Kirovohrad. Dnipro scored two fast goals, and another well into the first half. Viktor Stupak scored all three. Prymostka also scored in the second half. Visitors scored a late consolation goal. Dnipro faced Spartak Sumy in play-off matches for thirty-ninth and fortieth spot. Dnipro lost 2–0 in the first match on nineteenth. On the twenty-second Dnipro hosted Strela Moscow for a friendly match. Visitors scored first. In the second half Dnipro began playing better and Mykola Piven had his long shot saved. However the goalkeeper dropped the ball which allowed Anatolii Lytvynov to equalize. Academy forward Oleksandr Ivaniushko had an inspiring game. Return leg of the play-offs was three days later. Even-though Dnipro players pressed and attacked all game, they could not score. Match ended in a 0-0 and Dnipro now occupied fortieth place in the combined league table.

November
With losing the play-off matches Dnipro was forced to play two more games with the winners of the Poltava Oblast Championship Strila Poltava. The first match on the third began with both team being cautions. Dnipro players were first to take control of the match and score though Anatolii Lytvynov on fourteenth minute. Nine minutes later Viktor Stupak doubled the score. After the hour mark Mykola Prymostka scored another goal. Lytvynov scored his second on seventy-sixth minute. Five days later in the second leg Dnipro only scored once through Viktor Yefimenko. With winning the play-offs they guaranteed a spot in the 1964 Ukrainian Class B Championship. At the end of the season Dnipro played three friendly matches in four days. All matches were played in Kremenchuk. First match was a 5–1 win against Shakhtar from unknown city on the fourteenth. Next day Dnipro won again 4–0 against Kolhospnyk Poltava. Prymostka scored on twenty-fifth minute. Last game was against a city club Avanhard Kremenchuk. Dnipro lost 3–1. Avanhard began attacking and was the first team to score. Dnipro leveled through Stupak, however visitors scored two more in the second half. In the final minute of the match, Prymoska had a chance to score a penalty after a defender handled the ball. He unfortunately hit the post and the referee blew his whistle ending the season for Dnipro.

Team kit
The team home kit was all blue while away kit was white.

Management team
Anatolii Sadovskyi was the manager for the whole season, however Pyrukhin also listed Otari Dzidziguri as the manager, however no dates were listed for him.

Squad information
First squad list was published on 1 April 1963.

Known appearances include all competitions (League, Cup, Cup of Central Committee and play-off matches. Known Squad Numbers are listed, numbers in are also known numbers for players during the season. Many games only have partial records provided by Pyrukhin.

Results summary
Point total was 18, as 2 point for win were awarded.

Zone 1
The league fixtures were announced on 23 March 1963.

39th-40th Place
Dnipro faced Spartak Sumy, who finished twentieth in Zone 2.

Play-Off to remain
Having finished 40th in Ukrainian Class B, Dnipro faced Poltava Oblast Champion Strila Poltava in order to remain in Class B for the 1964 season.

Soviet Cup
Out of 40 class B clubs only 3 were permitted into the final stage of the cup. 40 teams were split into three groups. Dnipro was assigned to third group.

Appearances and goals
The plus (+) symbol denotes an appearance as a substitute, hence 2+1 indicates two appearances in the starting XI and one appearance as a substitute.