BATE Borisov

FC BATE Borisov (Belarusian: ФК БАТЭ Барысаў, IPA: ; Russian: ФК БАТЭ Борисов, FK BATE Borisov ) is a Belarusian football team from the city of Barysaw. The club competes in the Belarusian Premier League, of which they are the reigning champions and are the league's most successful club with 14 titles, 12 won consecutively. The club has also won three Belarusian Cups and four Belarusian Super Cups. BATE is the only Belarusian team to have qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League (2008–09, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15 and 2015–16) and one of two to qualify for the group stage of the UEFA Europa League (2009–10, 2010–11 and 2017–18), along with Dinamo Minsk. The club's home stadium is Borisov Arena, which was opened in 2014. History BATE is an acronym of Borisov Automobile and Tractor Electronics. The team was founded in 1973 and managed to win Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic league three times (1974, 1976 and 1979) before being disbanded in 1984. The club was re-established in 1996. Since then, BATE have won the Belarusian Premier League 11 times and competed in UEFA competitions. BATE playing at the Haradski Stadium in July 2009 In 2001, BATE reached the first round of the UEFA Cup, their first appearance in the competition beyond the qualifying rounds. 2008 saw BATE becoming the first Belarusian team to qualify for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League. As of 2015, BATE have played five times in the Champions League group stage, as well as twice in UEFA Europa League group stage, also reaching the knockout phase of the latter competition in 2010–11 and 2012–13. Notable former players of BATE include Alexander Hleb (VfB Stuttgart, Arsenal, Barcelona and Birmingham City); Vitali Kutuzov (Milan, Sporting CP, Avellino, Sampdoria, Parma, Pisa and Bari) and Yuri Zhevnov (FC Moscow, and Zenit Saint Petersburg). Having started their professional careers with BATE, all are also former or present members of the Belarus national team. BATE won their tenth consecutive league title in 2015, with four matches to spare. In the 2017 season, BATE drew an average home league attendance of 5,633, the second-highest in the league. Supporters BATE Borisov is one of the most popular football teams in Belarus. BATE fans have developed a rivalry with the fans of Dinamo Minsk and a friendship with fans of Polish club Piast Gliwice since 2011.