FC Partizan Minsk ( be, ФК Партызан Мінск) was a

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

ian football club based in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

History

The club was founded as MTZ-RIPO Minsk in 2002 as a merger of two

teams from the Second League ( Traktor Minsk, a club with a 55-year history, and Trudovye Rezervy-RIPO Minsk, a football academy-based team which only spent one season in the Second League). The merge allowed the new team to have its own football school to recruit young players from as well as financial supply from the Minsk Tractor Works, the main sponsor of Traktor Minsk. MTZ-RIPO Minsk started playing in the Second League in 2002. In their first season the team finished first, and then did the same in the First League in 2003. Since 2004, they played in Belarusian Premier League. At the end of 2004 the club was acquired by a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

- Lithuanian businessman

Vladimir Romanov Vladimir Nikolayevich Romanov ( rus, Владимир Николаевич Романов, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ rɐˈmanəf, lt, Vladimiras Romanovas; born 15 June 1947)

and became a part of his football holding alongside Scottish Premier League club Hearts and Lithuanian A Lyga club

FBK Kaunas Kauno futbolo ir beisbolo klubas, commonly known as FBK Kaunas, was a Lithuanian football club from the city of Kaunas. History Banga Kaunas (1960–1993) Originally the team was founded in 1960 as Banga Kaunas and played its first three years ...

. During 2005–2010 many foreign players owned by FBK Kaunas or Hearts had successful loan spells in MTZ-RIPO. Before the start of the 2010 season, the club announced a name change. On 27 January 2010, the new name was revealed to be Partizan Minsk. Partizan finished the 2010 season at bottom of the table and were relegated. In the following season in the Belarusian First League, they finished second and had to face

FC Vitebsk FC Vitebsk ( be, ФК Віцебск, FK Viciebsk, russian: ФК Витебск) is a Belarusian football club based in Vitebsk. The club plays in the Belarusian Premier League, the top division in Belarusian football. Their home stadium is Vite ...

in a two-legged play-off, which they won 3–2 on aggregate to secure a place in the 2012 Belarusian Premier League. In early 2012, the club was mostly abandoned by Romanov (who withdrew his financial support, having some legal troubles himself) and had to release all players. Partizan withdrew from the Premier League, leaving it with only 11 teams. The team spent the 2012 season playing at the amateur level in Minsk Championship. In 2013, they renamed to Partizan-MTZ Minsk and joined the Second League, before renaming back to Partizan Minsk in 2014. Midway through 2014, season the club announced its withdrawal from the league and was folded.

Honours

* Belarusian Premier League ** ''3rd place (2):'' 2005,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Belarusian Cup The Belarusian Cup () is an annual association football knock-out cup competition for men's football clubs in Belarus. The tournament is organized by the Football Federation of Belarus. Belarusian Cup was established in 1992. Each year the winnin ...

** ''Winners (2):'' 2005,

Supporters

The club had a fierce rivalry with Dinamo Minsk. The support across the two Minsk clubs was drawn across political lines, with Dinamo fans being strongly right-wing and Partizan fans being strongly

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

. Partizan fans were known for their anarchist, anti-government, anti-fascist, and pro-LGBT rights stances. As a result of their political views, they had a strong friendship with fans of Arsenal Kiev and SV Babelsberg.

Former managers

Andrei Zygmantovich Andrei Vikentyevich Zygmantovich or Andrey Zyhmantovich (, russian: link=, Андрей Викентьевич Зыгмантович; born 2 December 1962) is a Belarusian football coach and a former player. He is currently the head coach of B ...

Eduard Malofeev Eduard Vassilievich Malofeyev ( rus, Эдуа́рд Васи́льевич Малофе́ев, p=məlɐˈfʲeɪf, be, Эдуард Васілевіч Малафееў ''Eduard Malafyeyew''; born 2 June 1942 in Kolomna) is a Soviet and Belarusi ...

Yuri Puntus Yury Iosifovich Puntus ( be, Юрый Іосіфавіч Пунтус; russian: Юрий Иосифович Пунтус; born 8 October 1960) is a Soviet football player and a Belarusian football coach. He quit playing football in 1987 because ...

* Alexandr Piskarev

League and Cup history

*¹ Including additional game (1–2 loss) against Lokomotiv Vitebsk for the 1st place. *² Including additional game (4–1 win) against Lokomotiv Vitebsk for the 14th place.

MTZ-RIPO in Europe

References

External links

Official WebsiteFC MTZ-RIPO at National Football Teams.comFC MTZ-RIPO at Football-Lineups.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Partizan Minsk Association football clubs established in 2002 Defunct football clubs in Belarus Football clubs in Minsk 2002 establishments in Belarus Association football clubs disestablished in 2014 2014 disestablishments in Belarus