Who are FC Rostov?

There are worse draws Manchester United could have had than FC Rostov in the Europa League round of 16 draw, in terms of strength of opposition at least, but in terms of distance to travel, it’s a nightmare.

United will have to travel over 2000 miles back to Manchester just days before facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup. United will play FC Rostov on March 9th then Chelsea on March 13th. Presumably, Jose Mourinho will take a weakened side to Russia and hope to get a good enough result without the most important players, who can stay behind in Manchester in preparation for the Chelsea game.

Rostov are currently 7th in the Russian league and are currently closer to the relegation zone than they are league leaders Spartak Moscow.

The club was founded in 1930 and they play in a 15,840 capacity stadium, Olimp-2. Adventurous Manchester United fans will be keen to get tickets for this game, although it’s likely our allocation will be small and making the journey will be a bit of a nightmare. To fly, we have to go to Paris, then Moscow, then Rostov, which takes over 12 hours. The current temperatures in Rostov are -2.

They gained entry to the Europa League this season after finishing third in their Champions League group. They beat Anderlecht (2nd in the Belgian league) and Ajax (2nd in the Dutch league) to reach the group stages.

Their Champions League group contained Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and PSV Eindhoven. They lost twice against Atletico, drew twice with PSV, then managed to beat Bayern 3-2 having lost 5-0 to them away from home. The result against the German champions is clearly a reason for United to be cautious, although it’s worth mentioning that Bayern had already qualified for the next round of the tournament when they played Rostov the second time.

Their defeat against Atletico was their first loss at home since May 2015, a run which stretched 34 games. In all competitions, they’ve won 11 of their 17 home games and drawn four.

FC Rostov have very little European history to speak of. Two seasons ago they failed to make it to the group stages of the Europa League after losing to Trabzonspor. They had initially been withdrawn from the competition that season after breaching financial rules. The breach related to unpaid wages from the season before, but they appealed the decision and were eventually allowed to compete.

Before that, their only experience of European competition is the UEFA Intertoto Cup. They reached the semi-finals in 1999, losing 9-1 to Juventus on aggregate, and the 3rd round in 2000, losing 5-1 on aggregate to Auxerre. The club’s only silverware is the Russian Cup which they won three years ago.

Their current top scorer is Iranian striker Sardar Azmoun. Their current manager, Kurban Berdyev, lead them to a 2nd placed finish in the league last season.