FC LNZ Cherkasy
Also written as LNZ Cherkasy.
The club
FC LNZ Cherkasy were founded in 2006 by Dmytro Kravchenko as FC Shpola-LNZ-Lebedyn Shpola, taking their name from the LNZ Group, the agricultural business that has owned and financed the club throughout its history; what the initials LNZ themselves stand for was not established from the sources read here. The club were renamed FC LNZ-Lebedyn Lebedyn in 2013, based in the town of Lebedyn, and relocated to the city of Cherkasy in 2021, becoming FC LNZ Cherkasy. The current owner and president is Viktor Kravchenko, with Vasyl Kayuk as general director.
The home ground is the Cherkasy Arena, with a capacity of 10,321. The club plays in a yellow-and-white striped home kit, with white and blue as the away colours and blue as a third colour. This is a single, recently promoted club with no obvious namesake; it is not to be confused with any other Cherkasy-based or similarly initialled Ukrainian side.
The head coach is Vitaliy Ponomaryov, in charge since 2025.
Recent seasons
LNZ Cherkasy's rise through the Ukrainian pyramid was rapid. They finished third in the Ukrainian Second League in 2021/22, winning 13 of 17 matches with 36 goals for and 9 against, and were promoted. In 2022/23 they won their First League regular-season group before going through a play-off phase, and secured promotion to the Ukrainian Premier League by beating Inhulets Petrove 3-2 on aggregate having lost the first leg 1-2. Their first Premier League season, 2023/24, brought seventh place with 41 points from 30 matches (11 wins, 8 draws, 11 losses, 31 goals for, 34 against). They dropped to 12th in 2024/25 with 31 points (7 wins, 10 draws, 13 losses, 25 for, 37 against), before a marked improvement in 2025/26: second place with 60 points from 30 matches, 18 wins, 6 draws, 6 losses, 39 goals for and 17 against, behind champions Shakhtar Donetsk.
Honours and landmarks
LNZ Cherkasy have won the Ukrainian Amateur Cup twice, in 2017/18 and 2020/21, and the Cherkasy Oblast Championship four times, in 2009, 2011, 2016 and 2017, along with two runner-up finishes in the Cherkasy Oblast Cup, in 2009 and 2012. Their landmark seasons are the three promotions that took them from the regional amateur game to the Ukrainian Premier League inside two years, 2021/22 to 2022/23, and their second-place finish in the Premier League in 2025/26, which brought European qualification for the first time.
Notable scorelines
The club's record domestic and European wins and defeats were not established from the sources read here beyond what is recorded below.
European record
LNZ Cherkasy's only European campaign to date is in 2026/27, entering the UEFA Conference League in the second qualifying round as Ukrainian Premier League runners-up. They were drawn against KAA Gent of Belgium. Because Ukrainian clubs cannot host European matches at home due to the war, LNZ's "home" leg was played at a neutral venue in Płock, Poland, and finished 0-0; the away leg in Belgium also finished 0-0 after extra time, leaving the tie level at 0-0 on aggregate. Gent won the penalty shootout 4-2, eliminating LNZ Cherkasy. Exact dates were not established from the sources read here.
Head-to-head notes
No rivalry with another club, and no confusion with another club, was established from the sources read here. LNZ Cherkasy is not described in the sources as a farm or feeder club of any other Ukrainian side.
Right now (2026/27)
Vitaliy Ponomaryov remains head coach. The 2026/27 Ukrainian Premier League season is under way; as of the sources read here LNZ Cherkasy sat eighth with four points from three matches, though the exact win-draw-loss breakdown behind that points total was not established. Their 2026/27 European campaign ended at the second qualifying round of the Conference League, as described above.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_LNZ_Cherkasy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Ukrainian_Premier_League
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.