Former Ukrainian football team
Football club
SC Odesa is a former Ukrainian football team that appeared in 1992 following the reorganization of the Soviet SKA Odesa. The new city municipal team was located in Odesa, Ukraine and previously at one point was part of the Soviet Army sport system.
Brief history
The club was founded as a sport society of various disciplines in 1944. It began its legacy in the Soviet sport competitions under the name of ODO (Okruzhnoy Dom Offitserov), which meant Regional Officers' Club in Russian. There were many similar Army clubs in various cities across the whole USSR, with the central one being in Moscow. Since 1957 all of them changed names to SKVO (Sport Club of Military District), the club became SKVO Odesa. In 1960 it became SKA (Sport Club of the Army) for all Army clubs except the Moscow one, which became CSKA (the Central Sport Club of the Army). In 1970s it represented the city of Tiraspol in Moldavian SSR, after Tiraspol's team Dnestr Tiraspol was disbanded in 1971. The Odesa sport club was primarily sponsored by the Odesa Military District.
For two seasons (1965 and 1966) the football team participated in the Soviet Top League. After the fall of the Soviet Union, SKA Odesa reformed due to lack of funding. The clubs football section reorganized as a separate club sponsored by the city of Odesa and was renamed simply 'SK Odesa' (without the Army part). The new club took part in the first Ukrainian Premier League season in 1992, after being chosen to participate for being one of the top 9 (of 11) Ukrainian teams from the West Division of the Soviet Second League in 1991. At the end of the first season with the fewest points the team was subjected to relegation. Also by the end of the season it changed its name to SK Odesa (SC Odesa), because the Odesa Military District, the main sponsor, was disbanded. The club got rescued financially by the municipal government. It never again returned to the Premier League and in 1997 it was relegated to the Druha Liha. The club won the Druha Liha championship convincingly in 1999, but folded because of a shortage of funds. The players were all bought by FC Chornomorets Odesa and formed the club's second team FC Chornomorets-2 Odesa.
