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 successfully fulfilled. Notably, in the 2009 Russian Championship, Amkar's goalkeepers saved four penalties out of five.