FC Lokomotiv Moscow

FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup a record nine times. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Club Association suspended the team.

History

Early years

Lokomotiv was founded as Kazanka (Moskovsko-Kazanskaya Zh.D) in 1922. In 1924, the club brought together the strongest football players of several lines of the Moscow railway system as KOR ("Club of the October Revolution"). In 1931, the club was again renamed to Kazanka (Moskovskaya-Kazanskaya Zh.D) and in 1936, it was eventually renamed to as it is known today, Lokomotiv (the name means "Locomotive"). During the Communist rule, Lokomotiv Moscow club was a part of the Lokomotiv Voluntary Sports Society and was owned by the Soviet Ministry of Transportation through the Russian Railways.

Soviet era

When the Lokomotiv Voluntary Sports Society was created in 1936, its football team featured the best players of ''Kazanka'', and a number of strong Soviet footballers of that time such as Valentin Granatkin, Nikolay llyin, Alexey Sokolov, Pyotr Terenkov, Mikhail Zhukov, llya Gvozdkov and Ivan Andreev. Lokomotiv debuted in the first-ever Soviet football club championship with a game against Dynamo Leningrad on 22 May 1936. In the first two seasonal championships (spring and autumn), Lokomotiv finished fifth and fourth respectively. The first Lokomotiv success arrived shortly as in 1936, the railwaymen rose up to the occasion to beat Dynamo Tbilisi 2–0 in the Soviet Cup Final, thus winning the first Soviet Cup.

The following years were rather successful as Lokomotiv were consistent in the national championships. However, performances after World War II suffered and in a five-year span, Lokomotiv were relegated to the Soviet First League twice. In 1951, Lokomotiv came second and eventually won the promotion to the Soviet Top League. This kicked off the second Lokomotiv's resurgence and until the beginning of the 1960s, Lokomotiv competed for the USSR's top trophies. In 1957, Lokomotiv won the cup for the second time, and two years later, Lokomotiv won the silver medals of the Soviet League. Second place was the highest position ever obtained by Lokomotiv during the Soviet era.

Another important trademark for Lokomotiv was the authorization of playing friendly matches against foreign opposition. Typically, up to the late 1950s, international sports contacts with Soviet teams were extremely rare. However, since in 1955, Lokomotiv became a quasi-"football ambassador" for the Soviet Union abroad, participating in friendly matches in various parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa and even North America. This policy of openness ushered in a great era for Lokomotiv, with the squad including some of the finest Soviet footballers of the era, such as Vladimir Maslachenko, Gennady Zabelin, Eugeny Rogov, Valentin Bubukin, Victor Sokolov, Victor Voroshilov, Igor Zajtsev, Zaur Kaloyev, Yuri Kovalyov and Vitaly Artemyev. When Lokomotiv's strongest players abandoned the club, however, Lokomotiv fell again from grace and a swing between the first and second divisions followed, instability lasting until the end of the 1980s.

Post-Soviet era

In the beginning of the 1990s, Lokomotiv was considered the "weakest link" amongst the top Moscow clubs. It lacked both results on the pitch and fans' support in the stands. In 2002, a new stadium— Lokomotiv Stadium—resembling a traditional, compact English one was built.

In 2002, a "golden match" was needed to decide who will be the champion, as Lokomotiv Moscow and CSKA Moscow both finished with the same number of points after Gameweek 30. The game was played at Dynamo Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd. Lokomotiv took an early lead thanks a low drive from captain Dmitry Loskov, and eventually the goal turned out to be enough for Lokomotiv to claim the first title in the club's history.

Two years later, Lokomotiv again won the Russian Premier League, edging city rivals CSKA by a single point; Lokomotiv defeated Shinnik Yaroslavl 0–2 in Yaroslavl, a week after CSKA fell to city rivals Dynamo at home.

In 2005, long-time head coach Yuri Semin left the team to coach the Russian national team, where he was replaced at Lokomotiv by Vladimir Eshtrekov. During the same year, although leading the league for most of the year, Lokomotiv stumbled in the last games of the campaign, allowing CSKA overtake them and claim the title, with Lokomotiv ultimately falling to third. Estrekhov was later sacked and replaced by Slavoljub Muslin, the first foreign manager in the club's history. After a poor start to the new season, Lokomotiv recovered and finished third, but despite the respectable performance, Muslin was sacked; Anatoly Byshovets took the helm as his replacement, with Yury Semin returning to serve as team president. This brought little success to Lokomotiv, who finished the season in seventh, with the only bright spot being the victory of the Russian Cup. These poor performances prompted the board of directors to sack both coach Anatoly Byshovets and President Semin. Rinat Bilyaletdinov was subsequently named caretaker coach. This lasted until 6 December 2006, when Lokomotiv brought in Rashid Rakhimov from Amkar Perm on a three-year contract. Again, however, this resulted to be yet another poor decision from the board, as Lokomotiv only finished seventh in 2008, also beginning the 2009 season poorly. Unsurprisingly, on 28 April 2009, Lokomotiv fired Rakhimov; long-serving player Vladimir Maminov was installed as a caretaker manager. A month later, Semin was brought back to the club to take charge. After a really poor start, Lokomotiv recovered and finished the season on a high, claiming fourth place in the process.

In 2010 shortly after the signing of former Lokomotiv player Peter Odemwingie to West Bromwich Albion, photographs showed Lokomotiv Moscow fans celebrating the sale of Odemwingie through the use of racist banners targeted at the player. One banner included the image of a banana and read "Thanks West Brom". Before West Brom's game against Tottenham Hotspur in September 2010, it was announced that West Brom fans would unfurl a banner to counter the racist one, the banner read 'Thanks Lokomotiv' and is accompanied by a picture of Odemwingie celebrating his win on his debut against Sunderland.

Before the 2011–12 league season, Semin left the club and was replaced by former Spartak Nalchuk manager Yuri Krasnozhan. On 4 June 2011, rumours spread that Lokomotiv chairman Olga Smorodskaya suspected Krasnozhan of throwing away the 27 May, 1–2 home league defeat to Anzhi Makhachkala, deciding to sack him on the grounds of the suspicion. Lokomotiv was fifth in the table at the time, just one point away from first-placed CSKA. On 6 July, after a Lokomotiv Committee of Directors meeting, Krasnozhan's contract was officially terminated on the basis of "negligence in his job." The Russian Football Union subsequently refused to investigate the case. Assistant manager Maminov again took over as caretaker for three weeks until a replacement was found in the form of José Couceiro, who had himself just finished a caretaking stint as manager of Sporting Clube de Portugal.

Couceiro, however, lasted just one year in the role, as the club opted not to renew his contract at the end of the 2011–12 season. After Croatian national team head coach Slaven Bilić announced he would step down after his nation's participation at Euro 2012, Loko acted quickly to sign him to a three-year contract. However, Bilić's first season at the helm brought another disappointment, as Loko finished ninth, its lowest-ever finish in the post-Soviet era of Russian domestic football. Just prior to the 2013–14 season, Bilić was sacked and replaced with new head coach Leonid Kuchuk. Eventually, however, Lokomotiv ran out of steam and after only managing to win a single points from the last three matches of the season, Lokomotiv had to settle for the third place.

Recent history

In the following season, Kuchuk failed to build up on the improved performances of the previous season and with Lokomotiv languished at the ninth place, Kuchuk was given the sack prematurely. Miodrag Božović was called to steady the ship but despite the early promise, a disastrous run of one win in a stretch of nine matches resulted in Božović being sacked with three league matches to go and with Igor Cherevchenko re-appointed as caretaker manager for the second time during the season. Despite the poor league performance, wherein Lokomotiv placed in the 7th place again, Lokomotiv did end the season on a positive tone as Cherevchenko managed to rally his troops and win the Russian Cup with a 3–1 win over Kuban Krasnodar. This success, which brought the first piece of silverware to Lokomotiv in 8 years, was enough to convince Olga Smorodskaya to appoint Cherevchenko on a permanent basis. Lokomotiv's performances under Cherechenko did improve in the beginning but it was a false promise once again as in the end Lokomotiv faltered and did not manage to qualify for European football. Notwithstanding this, Cherevchenko was confirmed for the 2016–17 season.

After months of speculation, and with only two games in the new season, the board pulled the plug on Smorodskaya's disastrous tenure and relieved Smorodskaya hand Cherechenko from their positions. Ilya Herkus was brought in for Smorodskaya and with the goal of resolving the previous board's fractious relationship with the fans and bring them back to the stadium, Lokomotiv appointed Yury Semin as their manager for the fourth time. In also came crowd favourite Dmitri Loskov, who was assigned to assist Semin with his duties. Despite the good feelings brought by the change in management, Lokomotiv's performances seldom improved and a tumultuous season ended up in Lokomotiv placing in a disappointing eighth position. In what was the only highlight of the season, Lokomotiv managed to snatch the Russian Cup for a joint record seventh time by crushing Ural Yekaterinburg's dreams of their first ever piece of silverware with a two-nil victory.

Despite the average league performance, Semin was confirmed for the next season. Herkus' decision to retain Semin resulted to be a shrewd decision as Semin managed to do the unthinkable and rallied Lokomotiv to win the Russian Premier League for only the third time in their history. In Europe, Lokomotiv also performed admirably, as they managed to advance to Round of 16 for the first time in their history and got eliminated by Atlético Madrid, who eventually went on to win the Cup.

After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Club Association suspended the team.

Performances in Europe

Lokomotiv reached the Cup Winners' Cup semi-final twice, in 1997–98 and 1998–99. The club also played in the UEFA Champions League for the 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons, progressing past the group stage in the latter only to fall to eventual finalists AS Monaco in the round of 16. They qualified to the group stages again for the 2019–20 season.

Players

Current squad

Other players under contract

Out on loan

League positions

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from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1992 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1993 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/1993 till:01/07/1994 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1995 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/1996 shift:(0,-4) text:6
from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1997 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/1998 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/1999 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2000 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2014 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/2014 till:01/07/2015 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:6
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2022 shift:(0,-4) text:6

from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/2022 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "Russian Premier League"

Honours

Domestic competitions

Leagues

*Soviet Top League / Russian Premier League
**Winners (3): 2002, 2004, 2017–18
**Runners-up (7): 1959, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2018–19, 2019–20
*Soviet First League / Russian National Football League
**Winners (3): 1947, 1964, 1974
**Runners-up (2): 1971, 1987

Cups

*Soviet Cup / Russian Cup
**Winners (11): 1936, 1957, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2006–07, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2018–19, 2020–21
**Runners-up (2): 1989–90, 1997–98
*Soviet Super Cup / Russian Super Cup
**Winners (3): 2003, 2005, 2019
**Runners-up (6): 2008, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021

International competitions

*UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
**Semi-finalists (2): 1997–98, 1998–99
* Commonwealth of Independent States Cup
**Winners: 2005

Stadium

''Lokomotiv'' play their home games at RZD Arena. Its total seating capacity is 27,320 seats, all covered. The stadium was opened after reconstruction in 2002.

Ownerships, kit suppliers, and Sponsors

League and Cup history

Soviet Union

Russia

:

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Lokomotiv.

;USSR/Russia

* German Apukhtin
* Valentin Bubukin
* Stanislav Cherchesov
* Yuri Chesnokov
* Yuri Gavrilov
* Valery Gazzaev
* Sergei Gorlukovich
* Georgi Kondratyev
* Vladimir Maslachenko
* Valeri Novikov
* Valery Petrakov
* Anatoli Porkhunov
* Viktor Shishkin
* Viktor Voroshilov
* Georgi Yartsev
* Dmitri Alenichev
* Ari
* Aleksei Arifullin
* Dmitri Barinov
* Maksim Belyayev
* Diniyar Bilyaletdinov
* Aleksandr Borodyuk
* Aleksei Bugayev
* Dmitri Bulykin
* Taras Burlak
* Maksim Buznikin
* Igor Chugainov
* Igor Denisov
* Yuri Drozdov
* Vadim Evseev
* Denis Glushakov
* Maksim Grigoryev
* Guilherme
* Sergei Ignashevich
* Vladislav Ignatyev
* Marat Izmailov
* Zaur Khapov
* Yevgeni Kharlachyov
* Dmitri Khokhlov
* Aleksei Kosolapov
* Oleg Kuzmin
* Arseny Logashov
* Dmitri Loskov
* Aleksei Miranchuk
* Anton Miranchuk
* Mukhsin Mukhamadiev
* Maksim Mukhin
* Gennadiy Nizhegorodov
* Ruslan Nigmatullin
* Sergei Ovchinnikov
* Magomed Ozdoyev
* Roman Pavlyuchenko
* Ruslan Pimenov
* Sergei Podpaly
* Aleksandr Podshivalov
* Dmitry Poloz
* Igor Portnyagin
* Rashid Rakhimov
* Sergei Ryzhikov
* Aleksandr Samedov
* Dmitri Sennikov

* Oleg Sergeyev
* Aleksandr Sheshukov
* Roman Shishkin
* Aleksandr Silyanov
* Alexei Smertin
* Igor Smolnikov
* Fyodor Smolov
* Andrei Solomatin
* Dmitri Sychev
* Dmitri Tarasov
* Bakhva Tedeyev
* Oleg Teryokhin
* Dmitri Torbinski
* Ilya Tsymbalar
* Renat Yanbayev
* Andrey Yeshchenko
* Rifat Zhemaletdinov

;Former USSR countries
* Hovhannes Goharyan
* Sargis Hovhannisyan
* Arshak Koryan
* Artur Sarkisov
* Albert Sarkisyan
* Narvik Sirkhayev
* Anton Amelchanka
* Syarhey Amelyanchuk
* Syarhei Hurenka
* Ihar Hurynovich
* Andrei Lavrik
* Vitaly Lisakovich
* Mikalay Ryndzyuk
* Yan Tsiharow
* Dmitri Kruglov
* Malkhaz Asatiani
* Mikheil Ashvetia
* Giorgi Chelidze
* Giorgi Demetradze
* Zaza Janashia
* Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
* Solomon Kvirkvelia
* Davit Mujiri
* Evgeniy Lovchev
* Valeriy Yablochkin
* Mirlan Murzaev
* Deividas Česnauskis
* Robertas Fridrikas
* Valdas Ivanauskas
* Arvydas Janonis
* Romas Mažeikis
* Vyacheslav Sukristov
* Stanislav Ivanov
* Yuri Baturenko
* Igor Cherevchenko
* Khakim Fuzailov
* Vitaliy Parakhnevych
* Vasili Postnov
* Oleksandr Aliyev
* Taras Mykhalyk
* Vitaliy Denisov
* Jasurbek Jaloliddinov
* Vladimir Maminov
* Oleg Pashinin
* Aleksey Polyakov

;Europe
* Mario Mitaj
* Senijad Ibričić
* Emir Spahić
* Vedran Ćorluka
* Tomislav Dujmović
* Tin Jedvaj
* Dario Krešić
* Marek Čech
* Jan Kuchta
* Boris Rotenberg
* Lassana Diarra
* Benedikt Höwedes
* Ivan Pelizzoli
* Marko Baša
* Luka Đorđević
* Marko Rakonjac
* Grzegorz Krychowiak
* Maciej Rybus
* Eder
* João Mário
* Manuel Fernandes
* Răzvan Cociş
* Garry O'Connor
* Milan Jovanović
* Nemanja Pejčinović
* Slobodan Rajković
* Petar Škuletić
* Branislav Ivanović
* Milan Obradović
* Ján Ďurica
* Marián Had
* Branko Ilić
* Eldin Jakupović
* Reto Ziegler

;South and Central America
* Pablo
* Winston Parks
* Felipe Caicedo
* Jefferson Farfán

;Africa
* André Bikey
* Zé Luís
* Delvin N'Dinga
* Baba Adamu
* Haminu Draman
* Laryea Kingston
* François Kamano
* Essau Kanyenda
* Dramane Traoré
* Mbark Boussoufa
* Manuel da Costa
* Brian Idowu
* Sani Kaita
* Victor Obinna
* James Obiorah
* Peter Odemwingie
* Baye Djiby Fall
* Dame N'Doye
* Oumar Niasse
* Jacob Lekgetho
* Bennett Mnguni
* Chaker Zouaghi

Club records

Coaching Staff

See also

* FC Lokomotiv Moscow in Europe
* FC Kazanka Moscow
* WFC Lokomotiv Moscow
* RC Lokomotiv Moscow

References

External links

Official site

Official site

Fans' Organization "UnitedSouth"

Italian Blog

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lokomotiv Moscow

Association football clubs established in 1922
Football clubs in Moscow
1922 establishments in Russia
Moscow
FC
Soviet Top League clubs