Karpaty Lviv

Early years (1963–68)

The team of Karpaty was founded on 18 January 1963, and was originally called Silmash Lviv. In 1961, the team won the championship of Lviv Oblast but lost its promotion 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 and won the promotional play-offs against Naftovyk, obtaining the rights to participate in the Soviet Class B championship. However, in 1963 the Football Federation of the Soviet Union 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 players 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 of the Soviet military.

In December 1962, in the building of the 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 sports 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 Soviet Cup

On 17 August 1969, Karpaty became the first (and the only) club in Soviet football history to win the Soviet 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 heavyweights such as Ararat Yerevan and Chornomorets Odesa. The quarterfinal round matched them with Trud Voronezh, which 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 a 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 traditionally shook hands 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.

When we went out for a warm-up, there sat a sector of Lviv fans, some four thousand people. And the "Cheremshyna" was played on the accordion.

...That song [with the lyrics] – "again the cheremshyna will be blooming...", that sounded over the stadium, did something incredible to us – from that excitement my tears came up...

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 ruled 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 two 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 fourth 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 Soviet 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. The logic of authors of that decision was in following, the city is receiving one, but strong and competitive team. In January 1982 the leaders of regional football ultimately decided to unite two clubs. It was motivated by the fact that it is difficult to finance two teams. As a result, Karpaty were liquidated and their place in the Soviet First League was taken by army team SKA Karpaty that was established in place of SKA Lvov. The new team was gathered from players of SKA, Karpaty, and several other who have recently arrived. The head coach became Russian Nikolay Samarin. It is believed that Ukrainian and Soviet coach Valeriy Lobanovskyi commented on liquidation of Karpaty, that it is a disaster of football in all western region of the republic. That it would take not single decade before they realize the whole tragedy of this merger.