FC Pari Nizhny Novgorod (), also known as FC Pari NN or simply Nizhny Novgorod is a Russian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club from

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

, founded in 2015. It made its debut in the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

in the 2021–22 season.

History

The club has been known under different names: *2015–2016: FC Volga-Olimpiyets Nizhny Novgorod *2016–2018: FC Olimpiyets Nizhny Novgorod *2018–2022: FC Nizhny Novgorod *Since 2022: FC Pari Nizhny Novgorod In the 2015–16 season, it began to play in the third-tier

Russian Professional Football League The Russian Second League (), formerly the Russian Professional Football League, are both the third (Division A) and fourth level (Division B) of Russian professional football. History In 1998–2010, it was run by the Professional Football Lea ...

. It was founded as a farm club for

FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod () was a Russian football club from Nizhny Novgorod, founded in 1998. In 2008, FC Volga won the Ural-Povolzhye (Volga Region in Russian) zone of the Russian Second Division and advanced to the Russian First Division. In ...

. On 15 June 2016, the parent club Volga was dissolved, with Olimpiyets becoming the top club in

. At the end of the 2016–17, Olimpiyets won their PFL zone and were promoted to the second-level

Russian Football National League The Russian First League (, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division () and Russian Football National League (FNL) () is the second level of the Russian football league system. The Russian Professional Football League (PFL) used t ...

. At the end of the 2018–19 season, they qualified for the

promotion play-offs, but lost to

PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara () is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Samara, Russia, Samara that plays in the Russian Premier League. In 2004, they finished third in the Russian Premier League. History Krylia Sove ...

with an aggregate score of 2–3. In the 2020–21 season, the club finished 3rd in FNL. As the second-placed club

FC Orenburg FC Orenburg () is a Russian professionalism in association football, professional football club based in Orenburg. Founded in 1976, it will return to the Russian First League in the 2025–26 season. History It played professionally as Gazovik ...

failed to receive a Premier League license due to issues with their stadium, Nizhny Novgorod was promoted to the RPL for the first time for the 2021–22 season. Former Nigeria striker

Sylvester Igboun Sylvester Emeka Igbonu (born 8 September 1990), commonly known as Sylvester Igboun, is a Nigerian former professional football player who played as a forward. Igboun is known for his blistering speed. His surname is Igbonu but was misspelled wh ...

suspended his contract with the team because of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. On 10 June 2022, the club announced that the name of the club will be changed to FC Pari Nizhny Novgorod (or Pari NN for short) due to a sponsorship deal with a

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

Pari, previously known as Paribet. The name change was approved by the

Russian Football Union The Russian Football Union (, ''Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz'' or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it organizes Russian amateur and professional football, includi ...

on the same day. Pari NN finished the 2022–23 season in 14th place, qualifying for relegation play-offs against

FC Rodina Moscow FC Rodina Moscow () is a Russian professional football team based in Moscow that plays in the second-tier Russian First League. History It was founded in 2019 as a senior squad of a pre-existing youth academy. For 2019–20 season, it received t ...

. After winning the first leg of the play-offs away with the score of 3–0, Pari lost 0–2 at home and won 3–2 on aggregate, retaining their Premier League spot. In the 2023–24 season, Pari NN finished 14th once again, qualifying for the relegation play-offs. Pari defeated Arsenal Tula with the aggregate score of 3–2 and remained in the Premier League. On 26 December 2024, four players of Pari's Under-19 squad have been punished by the

for

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

games of the Under-19 Russian Championship. Nikita Milyukov has been banned from football for life, Zakhar Mozin, Maksim Galochkin and Pavel Shalimov were banned for one year (with an additional four years

suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...

and a two years probation), and Denis Chuprunov received a three-year suspended sentence ban with a two-year probation. None of the club management or staff were punished. In the 2024–25 season, Pari finished 13th and qualified for relegation play-offs. However, as 12th-placed

Khimki Khimki (, ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located approximately northwest from central Moscow, and is part of the Moscow metropolitan area. History Origins and formation Khimki was initially a railway station that had existed sin ...

was denied the 2025–26 RPL license, Pari was not expected be relegated even if they lost in the play-offs, as they would be the priority replacement for Khimki in that case. Pari lost to

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

in the playoffs with an aggregate score of 3–4. On 16 June 2025, Russian Football Union confirmed that Pari will remain in the Premier League.

League

Current squad

, ''according to th
RPL website
'.

Out on loan

Reserve team

Club officials

References

External links

Team history
at footballfacts.ru {{DEFAULTSORT:Pari Nizhny Novgorod, FC Association football clubs established in 2015 Football clubs in Russia Sport in Nizhny Novgorod 2015 establishments in Russia