FC SPARTAK MOSCOW

'FC Spartak Moscow' () is a football club from Moscow, Russia.
Spartak have won 12 Soviet championships (second only to Dynamo Kyiv) and 9 of 14 Russian championships. They have also won the Soviet Cup 9 times and the Russian Cup 3 times. Spartak have also reached the semi-finals of all three European club competitions.
The football club is a part of the Spartak Moscow sports society. Other teams in the society include ice hockey club Spartak Moscow.

Contents

History

Nickname

Rival teams

Stadium

Current squad

First team

Reserves

Personnel

Honours

European Cups

References

External links

History

In the early days of Soviet football many government agencies such as the police, army, and railroads created their own clubs. In contrast to this, Spartak Moscow was created in 1922 as a trade union sports club, thus gaining the image of the "people's team". The founder of the sports society was Nikolai Starostin. He proposed the name that was derived from Spartacus, a slave who led a rebellion against Rome, and was inspired by eponymous book by Raffaello Giovagnoli. Starostin is also credited with the creation of the Spartak logo.^[1] Since 1935 the club was a part of Spartak sports society.

Spartak had become a major Soviet football power by 1936, when it won its first USSR title. As the popularity of football grew in the USSR in the 1960s, Spartak fared well, winning two league titles in that decade. However, the club was less successful in the 1970s and in 1976 Spartak was relegated into the lower league.
During the following season, the stadium was still full as the club's fans stayed with the team during its time in the lower division. Spartak came back the next year and won the title in 1979, beating Dynamo Kyiv and thanks to Spartak supporters, the period is considered to be the start of the modern-style fans' movement in the Soviet Union.
A new page in the club’s history began when the USSR collapsed and its championship ceased to exist. In the newly created Russian league, Spartak, led by coach and president Oleg Romantsev dominated and won 9 titles out of 13. Year after year the team also represented Russia in the Champions League.
Problems began when Nikolai Starostin, the club's patriarch, died and left the whole enterprise to Romantsev who sold his stock in 2000 to oil magnate Andrei Chervichenko The two were soon embroiled in a row that would continue until Romantsev was sacked in 2003 with the club suffering several sub-par seasons until Chervichenko finally sold his stock in 2004. The new ownership made a number of front office changes with the aim of returning the team to the top of the Russian Premier League.^[2]
In the 2005 season, Spartak, led by Aleksandrs Starkovs, finished 2nd in the league following an impressive run to beat Lokomotiv, Zenit and Rubin to the last Champions League place.
Following a mixed start to the 2006 season and public criticism from Dmitry Alenichev, the team's captain and one of its most experienced players, Starkovs left his position to Vladimir Fedotov.
Spartak was entitled to place a golden star on its badge in 2003 in commemoration of having won five Russian championships (this having been achieved in 1997).

Nickname

The team is usually called "red-and-whites", but among the fans "The Meat" is a very popular nickname. The origins of the nickname belong to the days of the foundation of the club; in the 1920s the team was renamed several times, from "Moscow Sports Club" to "Red Presnya" (after the name of one of the districts of Moscow) to "Pishcheviki" ("Food industry workers") to "Promkooperatsiya" ("Industrial cooperation") and finally to "Spartak Moscow" in 1934, and for many years the team was under patronage of one of the Moscow food factories which dealt with meat products.
One of the most favourite slogans of both the fans and players is "Who are we? We're The Meat!"
The other nickname is "Svin'i" ("Pigs"), although, unsurprisingly, this is considered offensive by the team's fans.

Rival teams

At present, Spartak's arch rival is CSKA Moscow; although this is a relatively recent rivalry having only emerged in the last twenty years. One of the most celebrated rivalries is "Spartak-Dinamo", with neighbours Dinamo Moscow. However, this has faded somewhat due to Dinamo's poor performances. Matches against Lokomotiv Moscow and Zenit St.Petersburg attract thousands of people as well, almost always resulting in packed stadiums.
Another rivalry became a "lost" derby with the collapse of the Soviet Union. This was with Dynamo Kyiv, one of the leaders of the USSR championship but now playing in the Ukrainian championship.

Stadium

Spartak has never had its own stadium and the team has played in various Moscow stadiums throughout its history and even once an exhibition match on Red Square. Currently, the club's home ground is the 5-star Luzhniki arena which officially belongs to another Moscow club, Torpedo.
However, the club's new board has recently declared that "Spartak will soon play on their own stadium". The federal government has agreed to give land for the stadium near the Tushino air field. The construction will begin in 2007 and is expected to end in 2009. ^[3]

Current squad

First team

''As of 18 August 2007, according to the Russian Premier League official website.''

Reserves

The following players are listed by Spartak's website as reserve players. Those of them who has a number assigned are eligible to play for the first team.

Personnel

★ 'President': Leonid Fedun

★ 'Director': Sergey Shavlo

★ 'Manager': Stanislav Cherchesov

★ 'Assistant manager': Sergey Rodionov

★ 'Goalkeeping coach': Gintaras Staučė

★ 'Fitness coach': Tony Beretzki

★ 'Reserves team coaches': Valery Kechinov, Miroslav Romaschenko and Andrey Shiryayev

★ 'Physios': Vladimir Zotkin, Yury Vasilkov and Liu Hungsheng

Honours

★ 'Champion of the USSR' 1936 (autumn), 1938, 1939, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1962, 1969, 1979, 1987, 1989

★ 'Champion of Russia' 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001

★ 'Runners-Up in the Russian League' 2005, 2006

★ 'USSR Cup' 1938/1939, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1958, 1963, 1965, 1971, 1992

★ 'Winner of the Russian Cup' 1994, 1998, 2003

★ 'Winner of USSR Federation Cup' 1987

★ 'CIS Cup Champions' 1993, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001

European Cups

★ UEFA Champions League 1/2 Final in 1991

★ Cup Winners Cup 1/2 Final in 1993

★ UEFA Cup 1/2 Final in 1998

References

1. History of Spartak, fcspartak.ru
2. All-star Spartak rise again, Eduard Nisenboim, ''uefa.com''
3. Characteristics of the Spartak Stadium Kommersant

External links

★ Official website

★ Official fans' site

★ Site of future stadium of Spartak

★ [http://www.fratria.ru Fratria - Spartak Moscow Fan base

★ The Red-White INFOrmation History and statistics FC Spartak Moscow