team was no longer forced to struggle for survival and could play more confidently, but several factors prevented it from rising higher than eighth place. However, in the 2007–08 Russian Cup, Amkar achieved its best result in its history. On 16 April 2008, the club beat Ural Yekaterinburg 1–0 and reached the final, losing to CSKA Moscow in a penalty shootout. Before the start of the 2008 season, head coach Rashid Rakhimov left the club for Lokomotiv Moscow and was replaced by a little-known specialist from Montenegro, Miodrag Božović. Before the break for UEFA Euro 2008, Amkar was in third place in the standings, one point behind second-placed Spartak Moscow and six adrift of leaders Rubin Kazan. After the break, one of Amkar's team leaders, Vladimir Gabulov, and the captain, Aleksei Popov, left the team to join Dynamo Moscow and Rubin Kazan respectively. Two matches in a row on the "equator" of the Championship Amkar could have topped the league table but was unable to beat Tom Tomsk and Spartak Nalchik at home. On 16 November, after beating Tom in Tomsk, with one match left to play, the team from the Urals secured fourth place in the league to earn a spot in the qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Once more, Amkar had the best record in the Premier League for not conceding goals, with 17 matches. The 2008 season had been the best in the history of Amkar. 2009–2011 The following season, Dimitar Dimitrov, having replaced Miodrag Božović, was unable to continue the success of his predecessor. For the first five rounds of the 2009 Championship, the team conceded just one goal, but thereafter began to commit gross mistakes in defence on a regular basis, as a result of which the club was left fighting for survival. On 27 August, Amkar played hosts to English Premier League club Fulham in the second leg of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League play-off match, having lost the first leg in London 1–3, which left little hope of reaching the group stage of the tournament. The match in Perm was played before a full stadium and Amkar won 1–0, but that was not enough to go through to the next round. After the 20th round of the Championship, Rashid Rakhimov returned as head coach with the specific task of retaining the club's place in the Premier League, a task which he