FC Spartak Moscow

History

In early Soviet football, government-backed clubs like Dynamo (police) and CSKA (army) were common, but Spartak was different: created by a trade union, it became known as the people's team. Its roots trace back to the Russian Gymnastics Society, which began playing football in the summer of 1897 and formed a professional section in spring 1909. The team first operated as Moscow Sports Club from August 1920, with April 18, 1922, as its official founding date.

In 1923, Ivan Artemyev and Nikolai Starostin shaped the club, then called Krasnaya Presnya. The team built its own stadium, funded by ticket sales, and toured the Russian SFSR. During a 1926 reorganization, Starostin secured sponsorship from the food workers union, moving the club to the 13,000-seat Tomsky Stadium. After several sponsor changes and rivalry with nearby Dinamo, Alexander Kosarev, a Komsomol leader, used Promkooperatsiia funding in November 1934 to hire Starostin and his brothers, renaming the team Spartak Moscow.

Rival teams and friendships

Spartak's archrival is CSKA Moscow, a rivalry that emerged after the USSR's collapse; seven of ten matches with the largest audience in the Russian Premier League were Spartak-CSKA derbies. The oldest derby is against Dynamo Moscow. Matches against Lokomotiv Moscow and Zenit Saint Petersburg also draw large crowds.

The rivalry with Dynamo Kyiv was lost after the Soviet Union's collapse. Since the mid-2000s, Spartak supporters maintain brotherhood relations with Crvena Zvezda and Olympiacos ultras, based on Orthodox faith and shared colours. Fans also have friendly relationships with Torpedo Moscow supporters and supporters of Polish club Lech Poznań.

Stadium

Until 2014, Spartak had no stadium of its own, playing at various Moscow venues including Locomotiv and Luzhniki stadiums, and once playing an exhibition match in Red Square. The project included a 42,000-seat main arena with natural lawn and a 12,000-seat hall for other sports. The first stone was laid on 2 June 2007. In February 2013, a sponsorship deal with Otkritie FC Bank named the stadium Otkritie Arena for six years.

The opening match on 5 September 2014 was a 1-1 draw with Red Star Belgrade. The first competitive match on 14 September 2014 saw Spartak defeat Torpedo Moscow 3-1. It is now known as the Lukoil Arena.

Players

Notable players who represented Russia or the USSR while at Spartak include Dmitri Alenichev, Vladimir Beschastnykh, Stanislav Cherchesov, Artyom Dzyuba, Valeri Karpin, Aleksandr Mostovoi, Viktor Onopko, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Andrey Tikhonov, Yegor Titov, Fyodor Cherenkov, Rinat Dasayev, Yuri Gavrilov, Igor Netto, Nikita Simonyan, and Georgi Yartsev. International players from Europe include Mirlind Daku, Yura Movsisyan, Emanuel Pogatetz, Martin Stranzl, Filip Ozobić, Ivelin Popov, Mario Pašalić, Stipe Pletikosa, Martin Jiránek, Radoslav Kováč, Alex Král, Marek Suchý, Tarmo Kink, and Roman Eremenko. Players from other regions include Aghvan Papikyan, Aras Özbiliz, Vali Gasimov, Emin Makhmudov, Vasili Baranov, Yegor Filipenko, Artem Kontsevoy, Miroslav Romaschenko, Konstantin Kovalenko, Raman Vasilyuk, Valery Vyalichka, Danijel Hrman, Ognjen Vukojević, and Roman Eremenko.

Did You Know?

• The club's name Spartak was proposed by Nikolai Starostin in 1935, inspired by the Italian novel Spartaco about the gladiator-slave Spartacus.
• On 20 October 1982, 66 people died in a crowd crush during a UEFA Cup match against HFC Haarlem, Russia's worst sporting disaster.
• Spartak captain Igor Netto captained the Soviet national team from 1954 to 1963, and the national team that won gold at the Melbourne Olympics consisted largely of Spartak players.
• In 1976, Spartak was relegated to the lower league, but fans kept the stadium full the following season in 1979.
• Spartak has been entitled to place a golden star on its badge since 2003 for winning five Russian championships in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, and 1997.