FC Spartak Moscow

FC Spartak Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet championships (second only to Dynamo Kyiv) and 10 Russian championships (a record jointly held with Zenit St Petersburg), it is the country's most successful club. They have also won a record 10 Soviet Cups, 5 Russian Cups and one Russian Super Cup. Spartak have also reached the semi-finals of UEFA Europa League, UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup Winner's Cup.

History

Foundation and early period (1883–1941)

thumb|200px|[[Starostin brothers, founders of Spartak Moscow]]

In the early days of Soviet football, government agencies such as the police, army, and railroads created their own clubs. Many statesmen saw in the wins of their teams the superiority over the opponents patronising other teams. Almost all the teams had such kind of patrons; Dynamo Moscow aligned with the Militsiya, CSKA Moscow with the Red Army, and Spartak, created by a trade union public organization, was considered to be "the people's team".

The history of the football club and sports society "Spartak" originates from the Russian Gymnastics Society (), which was founded on 16 May 1883. The society was founded under the influence of the Pan-Slavic "Sokol movement" with the aim of promoting the "Sokolsk gymnastics" and then sports including fencing, wrestling, figure skating, skating, football, hockey, lawn tennis, boxing, skis, athletics, and cycling. In the RGO Sokol began to play football in the summer of 1897; the professional football section was founded in the spring of 1909. On 1 August 1920, the football team began to act under the name MCS, or Moscow Sports Club, with 18 April 1922 considered to be the formal foundation date.

In 1923, the MCS, later named Krasnaya Presnya (Red Presnya), was formed by Ivan Artemyev and involved Nikolai Starostin, especially in its football team. Presnya is a district of Moscow renowned for the radical politics of its inhabitants; for example, it represented the centre of the Moscow uprising of 1905.

The team grew, building a stadium, supporting itself from ticket sales and playing matches across the Russian SFSR. As part of a 1926 reorganization of football in the Soviet Union, Starostin arranged for the club to be sponsored by the food workers union and the club moved to the 13,000 seat Tomsky Stadium, known as Pishcheviki. The team changed sponsors repeatedly over the following years as it competed with Dinamo Moscow, whose 35,000 seat Dynamo Stadium lay close by.

thumb|left|200px|The flag of [[Spartak (sports society)|Spartak sports society]]

As a high-profile sportsman, Starostin came into close contact with Alexander Kosarev, secretary of the Komsomol (Communist Union of Youth) who already had a strong influence on sport and wanted to extend it. In November 1934, with funding from Promkooperatsiia, Kosarev employed Starostin and his brothers to develop his team to make it more powerful. Again the team changed its name, this time to "Spartak Moscow" (the name Spartak means "Spartacus", a gladiator who led an uprising against Ancient Rome).

The club founders, four Starostin brothers, played a big role in the formation of the team. The Starostins played for the red-whites in the 1930s but right before World War II they were subjected to repression as the leaders of the most hated team by the state authorities. Elder brother Nikolai Starostin wrote in his books that he had survived in the State Prison System due to his participation in football and with Spartak (after the political rehabilitation, in 1954, he would later return to the team as the squad's manager).

In 1935, Starostin proposed the name Spartak. It was inspired by the Italian novel Spartaco, written by Raffaello Giovagnoli, and means Spartacus ("Spartak" in Russian), a gladiator-slave who led a rebellion against Rome. Starostin is also credited with the creation of the Spartak logo. The same year, the club became a part of newly created Spartak sports society.

Czechoslovak manager Antonin Fivebr is credited as the first head coach of Spartak, though he worked as a consultant in several clubs simultaneously. In 1936, the Soviet Top League was established, where its first championship was won by Dynamo Moscow while Spartak won its second, which was held in the same calendar year. Before World War II, Spartak earned two more titles. In 1937, Spartak won the football tournament of Workers' Olympiad at Antwerp.

Post-war period (1945–1991)

thumb|200px|Spartak against [[HFC Haarlem in 1982]]

During the 1950s, Spartak, together with Dynamo, dominated the Soviet Top League. When the Soviet national team won gold medals at the Melbourne Olympics, it consisted largely of Spartak players. Spartak captain Igor Netto was the captain of the national team from 1954 to 1963. In the 1960s, Spartak won two league titles, but by the mid-1960s, Spartak was no more regarded as a leading Soviet club. The club was even less successful in the 1970s and in 1976 Spartak was relegated into the lower league.

The following season in 1979, fans stayed with the team despite being relegated to the lower division, keeping the stadium full. Konstantin Beskov became the head coach. He had made his name playing for Spartak's main rivals, Dynamo Moscow). He introduced several young players, including Rinat Dasayev and Georgi Yartsev. Spartak returned the following season and won the title in 1979, beating Dynamo Kyiv.

On 20 October 1982, disaster struck during the UEFA Cup match between Spartak and Dutch club HFC Haarlem. Sixty-six people died in a crowd crush during the match, making it Russia's worst sporting disaster.

In 1989, Spartak won its last USSR Championship, rivals Dynamo Kyiv 2–1 in the closing round. Spartak's striker Valery Shmarov scored the "golden" free kick with almost no time left. The next season, Spartak reached the European Cup semi-final, consequently eliminating Napoli on penalties and Real Madrid (with 3–1 away victory), but losing to Marseille.

Modern period (1991–present)

Initial success (1991–2004)

150px|thumb|[[Rinat Dasaev, IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper in 1988]]

A new page in the club's history began when the Soviet Union collapsed and its championship ceased to exist. In the newly created Russian league, Spartak, led by coach and president Oleg Romantsev, dominated and won all but one title between 1992 and 2001. Season after season the team also represented Russia in the Champions League.

Problems began in the new century, however. Several charismatic players (Ilya Tsymbalar and Andrey Tikhonov among others) left the club as a result of conflict with Romantsev. Later, Romantsev sold his stock to oil magnate Andrei Chervichenko, who in 2003 became the club president. 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.

150px|thumb|left|[[Oleg Romantsev, the most successful coach in club history]]

Spartak has been entitled to place a golden star on its badge since 2003 to commemorate winning five Russian championships in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1997. They have won the championship another four times since 1997.

Title-less run (2004–2016)

In 2004, Leonid Fedun became the club's President and second-largest shareholder behind his business partner Vagit Alekperov.

In the 2005 season, Spartak, led by Aleksandrs Starkovs, finished second in the league to beat Lokomotiv Moscow, Zenit Saint Petersburg and Rubin Kazan 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.

150px|thumb|Club icon [[Andrey Tikhonov (footballer)|Andrey Tikhonov had two spells as a Spartak player, from 1992 to 2000 and in 2011, before being appointed assistant manager]]

In the 2012–13 season, Spartak qualified for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League group stage and finished last after disappointing performances against FC Barcelona, Celtic and Benfica. In the league, Spartak finished in fourth place while in the cup it was eliminated in the round of 16 by FC Rostov 0–0 , completing a disappointing season.

Since 2013, the club have added another three stars as rules allowed teams to include titles won during the Soviet era.

The next 3 seasons (2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16) were somewhat similar as Spartak finished 6th, 6th and 5th accordingly while the club did not qualify for European Competitions.

Revival (2016–2022)

By the beginning of the 2016–17 season, under ex-Juventus manager Massimo Carrera, Spartak had acquired a squad consisting of foreign talents such as Quincy Promes, Fernando, Zé Luís, Lorenzo Melgarejo and Russians such as Denis Glushakov, Roman Zobnin and Ilya Kutepov. Spartak won the 2016–17 Russian Premier League with the squad, winning most derbies and ultimately finishing with a difference of 7 points.

150px|thumb|[[Massimo Carrera helped Spartak win the first league title in 16 years.]]

The following season, Spartak participated in the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage. Despite suffering its greatest ever loss in a 7-0 result against Liverpool F.C. at Anfield, the club achieved considerable victories, including a 5-1 win against Sevilla FC.

Having finished second 2020-21 Russian Premier League under manager Domenico Tedesco, whose contract expired at the season's end, Spartak followed up with a successful run in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League, now led by Rui Vitoria. Spartak topped its group, which included Napoli (which it defeated both home and away), Leicester City and Legia Warsaw. It was set to face RB Leipzig in the round of 16, but the club - along with all Russian club and national teams - was suspended from FIFA, UEFA and the ECA until further notice, and the clubs continued to play with themselves.

On 29 May 2022, in the final match of Paolo Vanoli (manager since December 2021), Spartak won the 2021–22 Russian Cup.

New ownership (2022–present)

150px|thumb|left|Longtime President [[Leonid Fedun resigned after selling the club.]]

On August 22, 2022, PJSC Lukoil Oil Company announced the acquisition of Spartak Moscow and Otkritie Arena. This occurred after numerous changes at the club, such as the appointment of Spanish specialist Guillermo Abascal as manager, his assistants Carlos Maria Valle Moreno and Vladimir Slišković, physical training coaches Fernando Perez Lopez and Alexander Zaichenko, and goalkeeper coach Vasily Kuznetsov. At 33 years of age, Abascal became the youngest manager in the club's history. It was also reported that Leonid Fedun has resigned as President of the club and member of the board of directors. Under his leadership of more than 18 years, he left behind a mixed legacy. The club had won only a single Russian league, cup and supercup. Second place in the league was achieved six times, and four times the club head reached the group stage of the Champions League. A stadium solely for the use of the club was built for the first time. On September 26, 2022 Alexander Matytsyn, first vice president of Lukoil, became chairman of the board of directors of FC Spartak. Lukoil's top managers Pavel Zhdanov, Ivan Maslyaev, and Yevgeny Khavkin joined the board of directors, as did Spartak's general director Yevgeny Melezhikov (left the club in the summer of 2023), academy president Sergei Rodionov, as well as independent directors Oleg Malyshev and Yusuf Alekperov. Englishman Paul Ashworth was appointed sporting director.

In December 2023, it was announced that the club was reviving a second team, closed in 2022 due to lack of funding. However today Spartak Moscow offer youth sectors for both boys and girls as well as having a women's team playing in the Russian Women's Premier League.

On 24 May 2026, Spartak won the 2025–26 Russian Cup.

Honours

Domestic competitions

Soviet Top League/Russian Premier League
Champions (22) (record): 1936 (autumn), 1938, 1939, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1962, 1969, 1979, 1987, 1989 / 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2016–17
Runners-up (18): 1937, 1954, 1955, 1963, 1968, 1974, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1991, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011–12, 2020–21
Soviet Cup/Russian Cup
Winners (15) (record): 1938, 1939, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1958, 1963, 1965, 1971, 1992, 1993–94, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2021–22, 2025–26
Runners-up (7): 1948, 1952, 1957, 1972, 1981, 1995–96, 2005–06
Russian Super Cup
Winners (1): 2017
Runners-up (4): 2004, 2006, 2007, 2022
Soviet First League
Champions (1): 1977
USSR Federation Cup
Winners (1): 1987

International

Commonwealth of Independent States Cup
Winners (6): 1993, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001
Runners-up (3): 1997, 1998, 2002

Non-official

Match Premier Cup
Winners: 2019, 2020, 2021
Ciutat de Barcelona Trophy
Winners: 1982
Copa del Sol
Winners: 2012

European record

Notable European campaigns

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Season

! Achievement

! Notes

! colspan="4" style="background:#efefef;"| European Cup / UEFA Champions League

| style="text-align:center;"| 1980–81

| style="text-align:center;"| Quarter-final

| style="text-align:left;"| eliminated by Real Madrid 0–0 in Tbilisi, 0–2 in Madrid

| style="text-align:center;"| 1990–91

| style="text-align:center;"| Semi-final

| style="text-align:left;"| eliminated by Marseille 1–3 in Moscow, 1–2 in Marseille

| style="text-align:center;"| 1993–94

| style="text-align:center;"| Group stage

| style="text-align:left;"| finished third in a group with Barcelona, AS Monaco and Galatasaray

| style="text-align:center;"| 1995–96

| style="text-align:center;"| Quarter-final

| style="text-align:left;"| eliminated by Nantes 2–2 in Moscow, 0–2 in Nantes

| style="text-align:center;"| 2000–01

| style="text-align:center;"| Second group stage

| style="text-align:left;"| finished fourth in a group with Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Lyon

! colspan="4" style="background:#efefef;"| UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

| style="text-align:center;"| 1972–73

| style="text-align:center;"| Quarter-final

| style="text-align:left;"| eliminated by Milan 0–1 in Moscow, 1–1 in Milan

| style="text-align:center;"| 1992–93

| style="text-align:center;"| Semi-final

| style="text-align:left;"| eliminated by Antwerp 1–0 in Moscow, 1–3 in Antwerp

! colspan="4" style="background:#efefef;"| UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League

| style="text-align:center;"| 1983–84

| style="text-align:center;"| Quarter-final

| style="text-align:left;"| eliminated by Anderlecht 2–4 in Brussels, 1–0 in Tbilisi

| style="text-align:center;"| 1997–98

| style="text-align:center;"| Semi-final

| style="text-align:left;"| eliminated by Internazionale 1–2 in Moscow, 1–2 in Milan

| style="text-align:center;"| 2010–11

| style="text-align:center;"| Quarter-final

| style="text-align:left;"| eliminated by Porto 1–5 in Porto, 2–5 in Moscow

UEFA club competition record

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

!scope="col"|Competition

!scope="col"|Pld

!scope="col"|W

!scope="col"|D

!scope="col"|L

!scope="col"|GF

!scope="col"|GA

!scope="col"|GD

!scope="col"|Win%

!scope="row" align=left|UEFA Champions League

!scope="row" align=left|UEFA Europa League

!scope="row" align=left|UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

!Total

UEFA coefficient

Correct as of 21 May 2025.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! Rank

! Team

! Points

|135|| align="left" | HNK Rijeka||12.000

|136|| align="left" | FK Žalgiris|||12.000

|-bgcolor="#ddffdd" style="font-weight:bold"

|137|| align="left" | FC Spartak Moscow||12.000

|138|| align="left" | Heart of Midlothian F.C.||11.500

|139|| align="left" | Servette FC||11.500

League history

Soviet Union

:{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="margin:auto; font-size:90%;"

! Season

! Div.

! Pos.

! Pl.

! W

! D

! L

! GS

! GA

! P

!Cup

!colspan=2|Europe

!Top scorer (league)

!Manager/acting manager

||1936 (s)||rowspan="40"|1st|| style="background:bronze;"|3||6||3||1||2||12||7||13||-||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Glazkov – 4|| rowspan="2" align="left" | Kozlov

||1936 (a)|| style="background:gold;"|1||7||4||2||1||19||10||17||QF||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Glazkov – 7

||1937|| style="background:silver;"|2||16||8||5||3||24||16||37||R16||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Rumyantsev – 8||align="left"| Kvashnin

||1938|| rowspan="2" style="background:gold;" |1||25||18||3||4||74||19||39|| rowspan="2" style="background:gold;" |W||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Sokolov – 18||align="left"| Kvashnin P.Popov

||1939||26||14||9||3||58||23||37|| colspan="2" |-||align="left"| Semyonov – 18||align="left"| P.Popov

||1940|| style="background:bronze;"|3||24||13||5||6||54||35||31||-||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Semyonov – 13 Kornilov – 13||align="left"| Gorokhov

||1944||colspan="8"|no league competition||SF||colspan="2"|-|| style="text-align:center;"|-||align="left"| Kvashnin

||1945||10||22||6||3||13||22||44||15||R16||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Timakov – 7||align="left"| Isakov Vollrat

||1946||6||22||8||5||9||38||40||21|| style="background:gold;"|W||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Salnikov – 9|| rowspan="2" align="left" | Vollrat

||1947||8||24||6||9||9||34||26||21|| style="background:gold;"|W||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Dementyev – 9

||1948|| style="background:bronze;"|3||26||18||1||7||64||34||37|| style="background:silver;"|RU||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Konov – 15||align="left"| Kvashnin

||1949|| style="background:bronze;"|3||34||21||7||6||93||43||49||SF||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Simonyan – 26|| rowspan="2" align="left" | Dangulov

||1950||5||36||17||10||9||77||40||44|| style="background:gold;"|W||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Simonyan – 34

||1951||6||28||13||5||10||50||35||31||QF||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Simonyan – 10||align="left"| Dangulov Gorokhov Glazkov

||1952|| rowspan="2" style="background:gold;" |1||13||9||2||2||26||12||20|| style="background:silver;"|RU||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Paramonov – 8|| rowspan="3" align="left" | Sokolov

||1953||20||11||7||2||47||15||29||QF||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Simonyan – 14

||1954|| rowspan="2" style="background:silver;" |2||24||14||3||7||49||26||31||R16||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Ilyin – 11

||1955||22||15||3||4||55||27||33||SF||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Parshin – 13|| rowspan="5" align="left" | Gulyaev

||1956|| style="background:gold;"|1||22||15||4||3||68||28||34||-||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Simonyan – 16

||1957|| style="background:bronze;"|3||22||11||6||5||43||28||28|| style="background:silver;"|RU||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Simonyan – 12

||1958|| style="background:gold;"|1||22||13||6||3||55||28||32|| style="background:gold;"|W||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Ilyin – 19

||1959||6||22||8||8||6||32||28||24||-||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Isaev – 8

||1960||7||30||15||7||8||52||32||37||R16||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Ilyin – 13|| rowspan="6" align="left" | Simonyan

||1961|| style="background:bronze;"|3||30||16||8||6||57||34||40||R16||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Khusainov – 14

||1962|| style="background:gold;"|1||32||21||5||6||61||25||47||R16||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Sevidov – 16

||1963|| style="background:silver;"|2||38||22||8||8||65||33||52|| style="background:gold;"|W||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Sevidov – 15

||1964||8||32||12||8||12||34||32||32||SF||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Sevidov – 6

||1965||8||32||10||12||10||28||26||32|| style="background:gold;"|W||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Khusainov – 5 Reingold – 5

||1966||4||36||15||12||9||45||41||42||QF||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Osyanin – 15||align="left"| Gulyaev

||1967||7||36||13||14||9||38||30||40||R32||CWC||R16||align="left"| Khusainov – 8||align="left"| Salnikov Simonyan

||1968|| style="background:silver;"|2||38||21||10||7||64||43||52||R32||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Khusainov – 14|| rowspan="5" align="left" | Simonyan

||1969|| style="background:gold;"|1||32||24||6||2||51||15||54||R32||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Osyanin – 16

||1970|| style="background:bronze;"|3||32||12||14||6||43||25||38||QF||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Khusainov – 12

||1971||6||30||9||13||8||35||31||31|| style="background:gold;"|W||ECC|| rowspan="2" |R32||align="left"| Kiselyov – 5 Silagadze – 5 Piskarev – 5

||1972||11||30||8||10||12||29||30||26|| style="background:silver;"|RU||UC|| align="left" | Papaev – 4 Andreev – 4 Piskarev – 4

||1973||4||30||14||8||8||37||28||31||QF||CWC||QF||align="left"| Piskarev – 12|| rowspan="3" align="left" | Gulyaev

||1974|| style="background:silver;"|2||30||15||9||6||41||23||39||QF||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Piskarev – 10

||1975||10||30||9||10||11||27||30||28||R16||UC||R64||align="left"| Lovchev – 8

||1976 (s)||14||15||4||2||9||10||18||10||-||UC||R16||align="left"| Pilipko – 2 Lovchev – 2 Bulgakov – 2|| rowspan="2" align="left" | Krutikov

||1976 (a)|| style="background:pink;"|15||15||5||3||7||15||18||13||R32||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Bulgakov – 6

|-bgcolor=LightCyan

||1977||2nd|| style="background:lightgreen;"|1||38||22||10||6||83||42||54||R16||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Yartsev – 17|| rowspan="12" align="left" | Beskov

||1978||rowspan="14"|1st||5||30||14||5||11||42||33||33||R16||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Yartsev – 19

||1979|| style="background:gold;"|1||34||21||10||3||66||25||50||Qual.||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Yartsev – 14

||1980|| rowspan="2" style="background:silver;" |2||34||18||9||7||49||26||45||SF||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Rodionov – 7

||1981||34||19||8||7||70||40||46|| style="background:silver;"|RU||ECC||QF||align="left"| Gavrilov – 21

||1982|| style="background:bronze;"|3||34||16||9||9||59||35||41||Qual.||UC||R32||align="left"| Shavlo – 11

||1983|| rowspan="3" style="background:silver;" |2||34||18||9||7||60||25||45||R16||UC||R16||align="left"| Gavrilov – 18

||1984||34||18||9||7||53||29||45||QF||UC||QF||align="left"| Rodionov – 13

||1985||34||18||10||6||72||28||46||R16||UC|| rowspan="3" |R16||align="left"| Rodionov – 14

||1986|| style="background:bronze;"|3||30||14||9||7||52||21||37||SF||UC|| align="left" | Rodionov – 17

||1987|| style="background:gold;"|1||30||16||11||3||49||26||42||R16||UC|| align="left" | Rodionov – 12 Cherenkov – 12

||1988||4||30||14||11||5||40||26||39||QF||UC||R32||align="left"| Rodionov – 12

||1989|| style="background:gold;"|1||30||17||10||3||49||19||44||QF||ECC||R16||align="left"| Rodionov – 16|| rowspan="3" align="left" | Romantsev

||1990||5||24||12||5||7||39||26||29||R16||UC||R32||align="left"| Shmarov – 12

||1991|| style="background:silver;"|2||30||17||7||6||57||30||41||QF||ECC||SF||align="left"| Mostovoi – 13 Radchenko – 13

||1992||-||colspan="8"|-|| style="background:gold;"|W||UC||R32|| style="text-align:center;"|-||align="left"| Romantsev

Russia

:{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="margin:auto; font-size:90%;"

! Season

! Div.

! Pos.

! Pl.

! W

! D

! L

! GS

! GA

! P

!Cup

!colspan=2|Europe

!Top scorer (league)

!Manager/acting manager

||1992||rowspan="30"|1st|| rowspan="3" style="background:gold;" |1||26||18||7||1||62||19||43||-||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Radchenko – 12|| rowspan="4" align="left" | Romantsev

||1993||34||21||11||2||81||18||53||R32||CWC||SF||align="left"| Beschastnykh – 18

||1994||30||21||8||1||73||21||50|| style="background:gold;"|W||UCL||GS||align="left"| Beschastnykh – 10

||1995|| style="background:bronze;"|3||30||19||7||5||76||26||63||SF||UCL||GS||align="left"| Shmarov – 16

||1996|| rowspan="6" style="background:gold;" |1||35||22||9||4||72||35||75|| style="background:silver;"|RU||UCL||QF||align="left"| Tikhonov – 16||align="left"| Yartsev

||1997||34||22||7||5||67||30||73||QF||UC||R32||align="left"| Kechinov – 11|| rowspan="6" align="left" | Romantsev

||1998||30||17||8||5||58||27||59|| style="background:gold;"|W||UCL UC||Qual. SF||align="left"| Tsymbalar – 10

||1999||30||22||6||2||75||24||72||R32||UCL||GS||align="left"| Tikhonov – 19

||2000||30||23||1||6||69||30||70||SF||UCL UC||GS R32||align="left"| Titov – 13

||2001||30||17||9||4||56||30||60||QF||UCL||2nd GS||align="left"| Titov – 11 Robson – 11

||2002|| style="background:bronze;"|3||30||16||7||7||49||36||55||R32||UCL|| rowspan="2" |GS||align="left"| Beschastnykh – 12

||2003||10||30||10||6||14||38||48||36|| style="background:gold;"|W||UCL|| rowspan="2" align="left" | Pavlyuchenko – 10|| align="left" | Romantsev Chernyshov Fedotov Scala

||2004||8||30||11||7||12||43||44||40||R32||UC UIC||R16 QF|| align="left" | Scala Starkov

||2005|| rowspan="3" style="background:silver;" |2||30||16||8||6||47||26||56||R32||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Pavlyuchenko – 11||align="left"| Starkov

||2006||30||15||13||2||60||36||58|| style="background:silver;"|RU||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Pavlyuchenko – 18||align="left"| Starkov Fedotov

||2007||30||17||8||5||50||30||59||SF||UCL UC||GS R32||align="left"| Pavlyuchenko – 14||align="left"| Fedotov Cherchesov

||2008||8||30||11||11||8||43||39||44||R32||UCL UC||Qual. R32||align="left"| Bazhenov – 6 Pavlyuchenko – 6 Pavlenko – 6 Welliton – 6||align="left"| Cherchesov M. Laudrup

||2009|| style="background:silver;"|2||30||17||4||9||61||33||55||QF||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Welliton – 21||align="left"| M. Laudrup Karpin

||2010||4||30||13||10||7||43||33||10||R16||UCL UC||Qual. GS||align="left"| Welliton – 19|| rowspan="2" align="left" | Karpin

||2011–12||style="background:silver;"|2||44||21||12||11||68||48||75||R16||UC||Qual||align="left"| Emenike – 13

||2012–13||4||30||15||6||9||51||39||51||R16||UCL||GS||align="left"| Y. Movsisyan – 13||align="left"| Emery Karpin

||2013–14|| rowspan="2" |6||30||15||5||10||46||36||50||R16||UC||Qual||align="left"| Y. Movsisyan – 16||align="left"| Karpin Gunko

||2014–15||30||12||8||10||42||42||44||R16||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Promes – 13||align="left"| Yakin

||2015–16||5||30||15||5||10||48||39||50||R16||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Promes – 18||align="left"| Alenichev

|2016–17|| style="background:gold;"|1||30||22||3||5||46||27||69||R32||UC||Qual||align="left"| Promes – 11||align="left"| Alenichev Carrera

||2017–18|| style="background:#deb678;"|3||30||16||8||6||51||32||56||SF||UCL||GS||align="left"| Promes – 15||align="left"| Carrera

||2018–19||5||30||14||7||9||36||31||49||QF||UCL UEL||Qual. GS||align="left"| Zé Luís – 10||align="left"| Carrera Kononov

||2019–20||7||30||11||6||13||35||33||39||QF||UEL||Qual. ||align="left"| A.Sobolev – 12||align="left"| Kononov Tedesco

||2020–21||style="background:silver;"|2||30||17||6||7||52||34||57||R16||colspan="2"|-||align="left"| Larsson – 15|| align="left" | Tedesco

||2021–22||10||30||10||8||12||16||19||38||W|| colspan="1" | UEL||R16|| A.Sobolev – 9|| align="left" | Rui Vitoria Vanoli

Notes

Top goalscorers

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:auto; font-size:90%;"

!width=20px|

!width=300px|Name

!width=250px|Years

!width=100px|League

!width=100px|Russian Cup

!width=100px|Europe

!width=100px|Other

!width=100px|Total

|1 ||align="left"| Nikita Simonyan||1949–1959||||||||||

|2 ||align="left"| Sergey Rodionov||1979–1990 1993–1995||||||||||

|3 ||align="left"| Galimzyan Khusainov||1961–1973||||||||||

|4 ||align="left"| Yegor Titov||1995–2008||||||||||

|5 ||align="left"| Quincy Promes||2014–2018 2021–Present||||||||||

|6 ||align="left"| Fyodor Cherenkov||1977–1990 1991–1993||||||||||

|7 ||align="left"| Andrey Tikhonov||1992–2000 2011||||||||||

|8 ||align="left"| Yuri Gavrilov||1977–1985||||||||||

|8 ||align="left"| Roman Pavlyuchenko||2003–2008||||||||||

|10||align="left"| Anatoli Ilyin||1949–1962||||||||||

|11||align="left"| Yury Sevidov||1960–1965||||||||||

|12||align="left"| Vladimir Beschastnykh||1991–1994 2001–2002||||||||||

|13||align="left"| Sergei Salnikov||1942–1943 1946–1949 1955–1960||||||||||

|14||align="left"| Aleksei Paramonov||1947–1959||||||||||

|15||align="left"| Welliton||2007–2014||||||||||

|16||align="left"| Georgi Yartsev||1977–1980||||||||||

|17||align="left"| Anatoli Isayev||1953–1962||||||||||

|17||align="left"| Valeri Shmarov||1987–1991||||||||||

|19||align="left"| Nikolai Osyanin||1966–1971 1974–1976||||||||||

Nickname

The team is usually called "red-and-whites," but among the fans "The Meat" (, "Myaso") 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 1935, and for many years the team was under patronage of one of the Moscow food factories that dealt with meat products.

One of the most popular slogans among both fans and players is: "Who are we? We're The Meat!" (? Мясо!", "Kto my? Myaso!")

Ownerships, kits and crests

FC Spartak Moscow's main colour is red.

In 2014, Nike unveiled kit inspired by the club's new home.

Owners, kit suppliers and shirt sponsors

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center"

! style="color:#fff; background:#e01837;"|Period

! style="color:#e01837; background:#ffffff;"|Kit supplier

! style="color:#fff; background:#e01837;"|Shirt sponsor

! style="color:#e01837; background:#ffffff;"|Owner

|1979–1987

|rowspan=8|Adidas

|| —

|rowspan=4|Spartak society

|1988

|Danieli

|1989

|JINDO

|1990–1993

|Unipack

|1994–1996

|Urengoygazprom

|rowspan=3|Oleg Romantsev

|1997–1998

|Akai

|1999

|| —

|2000–2002

|rowspan=5|Lukoil

|Andrey Chervichenko

|2003–2004

|Umbro

|rowspan=2|Leonid Fedun

|2005–2023

|Nike

|2023–2024

|Wildberries

|rowspan=4|Lukoil

|2024–present

|Jögel

<!---=== Kit deals ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! Kit supplier

! Period

! Contract date

! Contract duration

! Value

! Notes

| rowspan=6 align=left| Nike

| rowspan=6| 2005–present

| align=left|

|}--->

Rival teams and friendships

thumb|Spartak supporters

At present, Spartak's archrival is CSKA Moscow, although this is a relatively recent rivalry that has only emerged after the collapse of the USSR. Seven of ten matches with the largest audience in Russian Premier League (including top three) were Spartak-CSKA derbies. Historically, the most celebrated rivalry is with Dynamo Moscow, a fiercely contested matchup which is Russia's oldest derby. Matches against Lokomotiv Moscow and Zenit Saint Petersburg attract thousands of people as well, almost always resulting in packed stadia. Upon the collapse of the Soviet Union, Spartak's rivalry with Dynamo Kyiv, one of the leaders of the USSR championship, was lost. Since Dynamo Kyiv now plays in the Ukrainian Premier League, both teams must qualify for UEFA tournaments to meet each other.

Since the mid-2000s the supporters of Spartak maintain brotherhood relations with Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) and Olympiacos ultras – a friendship based on common Orthodox faith and same club colours.

Also fans of Spartak have generally friendly relationships with Torpedo Moscow supporters, and of supporters of Polish club Lech Poznań.

Stadium

thumb|[[Lukoil Arena]]

thumb|Interior view

Until 2014, Spartak had never had its own stadium, with the team historically playing in various Moscow stadia throughout its history, even once playing an exhibition match in Red Square. The team played home games at various Moscow stadiums, especially the Locomotiv and Luzhniki stadiums. After the purchase of the club by Andrei Chervichenko in the early 2000s, several statements were made about the speedy construction of the stadium, but construction did not begin.

After a controlling stake in the club was bought by Leonid Fedun, real steps were taken to promote the stadium project, and in 2006, the Government of Moscow allocated land at Tushino Aeropol at a size of 28.3 hectares for the construction of the stadium. The project involved the main arena of 42,000 people with natural lawn, sports, and an entertainment hall for tennis, handball, basketball and volleyball for 12,000 spectators.  The ceremony of laying the first stone took place on 2 June 2007.

In February 2013, it was announced that as a result of a sponsorship deal with Otkritie FC Bank ("Discovery"), the stadium will be called Otkritie Arena for 6 years. The opening match at the new stadium took place on 5 September 2014, when Spartak drew with the Serbian side Red Star Belgrade (1-1). The first competitive match took place on 14 September 2014, in which Spartak defeated Torpedo Moscow 3–1 in the 7th round of the championship. It is now known as the Lukoil Arena.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries, or held any club record. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Spartak. For further list, see List of FC Spartak Moscow players.

;Russia/USSR

Dmitri Alenichev
Dmitri Ananko
Ari
Zelimkhan Bakayev
Nikita Bazhenov
Vladimir Beschastnykh
Artyom Bezrodny
Diniyar Bilyaletdinov
Denis Boyarintsev
Viktor Bulatov
Yevgeni Bushmanov
Maksim Buznikin
Vladimir Bystrov
Stanislav Cherchesov
Nikita Chernov
Andrey Chernyshov
Valery Chizhov
Denis Davydov
Daniil Denisov
Maksim Demenko
Soslan Dzhanayev
Georgi Dzhikiya
Artyom Dzyuba
Vadim Evseev
Aleksandr Filimonov
Denis Glushakov
Maksim Glushenkov
Sergei Gorlukovich
Vladimir Granat
Maksim Grigoryev
Oleg Ivanov
Valeri Karpin
Valery Kechinov
Zaur Khapov
Dmitri Khlestov
Daniil Khlusevich
Aleksandr Kokorin
Dmitri Kombarov
Aleksey Kosolapov
Yuri Kovtun
Fyodor Kudryashov
Vasili Kulkov
Ilya Kutepov
Oleg Kuzmin
Igor Lediakhov
Ruslan Litvinov
Yevgeni Makeyev
Aleksandr Maksimenko
Ramiz Mamedov
Georgi Melkadze
Anton Mitryushkin
Aleksandr Mostovoi
Mukhsin Mukhamadiev
Ruslan Nigmatullin
Yuri Nikiforov
Viktor Onopko
Sergei Parshivlyuk
Roman Pavlyuchenko
Sergei Pesyakov
Nikolai Pisarev
Pavel Pogrebnyak
Ilya Pomazun
Dmitri Popov
Danil Prutsev
Andrey Pyatnitsky
Dmitri Radchenko
Rashid Rakhimov
Aleksei Rebko
Artyom Rebrov
Ivan Saenko
Aleksandr Samedov
Ilya Samoshnikov
Aleksandr Selikhov
Igor Shalimov
Aleksandr Sheshukov
Aleksandr Shirko
Roman Shirokov
Roman Shishkin
Aleksandr Sobolev
Dmitri Sychev
Vladislav Ternavsky
Andrey Tikhonov

Yegor Titov
Dmitri Torbinski
Ilia Tsymbalar
Nail Umyarov
Andrey Yeshchenko
Sergei Yuran
Anton Zabolotny
Anton Zinkovsky
Roman Zobnin
Nikolay Abramov
Vsevolod Bobrov
Aleksandr Bubnov
Fyodor Cherenkov
Rinat Dasayev
Yuri Gavrilov
Anatoli Ilyin
Anatoli Isayev
Valentin Ivakin
Vagiz Khidiyatullin
Galimzyan Khusainov
Anatoly Krutikov
Gennady Logofet
Evgenii Lovchev
Eduard Malofeyev
Vladimir Maslachenko
Anatoli Maslyonkin
Alexander Mirzoyan
Gennady Morozov
Igor Netto
Aleksei Paramonov
Viktor Pasulko
Gennady Perepadenko
Sergey Rodionov
Oleg Romantsev
Sergey Shavlo
Valeri Shmarov
Nikita Simonyan
Yuri Susloparov
Georgi Yartsev

;Europe

Yura Movsisyan
Aghvan Papikyan
Aras Özbiliz
Emanuel Pogatetz
Martin Stranzl
Vali Gasimov
Emin Makhmudov
Filip Ozobić
Vasili Baranov
Yegor Filipenko
Artem Kontsevoy
Miroslav Romaschenko
Konstantin Kovalenko
Raman Vasilyuk
Valery Vyalichka
Ivelin Popov
Danijel Hrman
Mario Pašalić
Stipe Pletikosa
Ognjen Vukojević
Martin Jiránek
Radoslav Kováč
Alex Král
Marek Suchý
Tarmo Kink
Roman Eremenko
Valeri Abramidze
Jano Ananidze
Otar Khizaneishvili
Giorgi Lomaia
Kakhaber Mzhavanadze
Kakhaber Tskhadadze
Malik Fathi
André Schürrle
Serdar Tasci
Szabolcs Sáfár
Aiden McGeady
Salvatore Bocchetti
Andrejs Rubins
Andrejs Štolcers
Ignas Dedura
Gintaras Staučė
Christopher Martins

Goran Maznov
Igor Mitreski
Serghei Covalciuc
Alexandru Gațcan
Oleg Reabciuk
Nikola Drinčić
Jorrit Hendrix
Quincy Promes
Guus Til
Demy de Zeeuw
Bolesław Habowski
Wojciech Kowalewski
Maciej Rybus
Gedson Fernandes
Adrian Iencsi
Florin Şoavă
Gabriel Tamaş
Srđan Babić
Nikola Maksimović
Marko Petković
Nemanja Vidić
Dušan Petković
Mihajlo Pjanović
Goran Trobok
Miha Mevlja
Kim Källström
Jordan Larsson
Andriy Dykan
Oleksandr Hranovskyi
Maksym Kalynychenko
Oleh Naduda
Serhiy Nahornyak
Maksym Levytskyi
Dmytro Parfenov
Serhiy Pohodin
Oleksandr Pomazun
Yuriy Sak
Eduard Tsykhmeystruk
Dmytro Tyapushkin
Vladyslav Vashchuk

;South and Central America

Fernando Cavenaghi
Tino Costa
Juan Insaurralde
Nicolás Pareja
Clemente Rodríguez
Marcos Rojo
Luiz Adriano
Alex
Ayrton
Alexandre Lopes
Fernando
Rômulo
Russo
Manfred Ugalde
Shamar Nicholson
Robert Scarlett
Lucas Barrios
Jesús Medina
Lorenzo Melgarejo
Myenty Abena
Levi García
Adam Wolanin

;Africa

Jerry-Christian Tchuissé
Christopher Wooh
Zé Luís
Théo Bongonda
Lawrence Adjei
Alexander Djiku
Waris Majeed
Quincy Owusu-Abeyie
Abdelillah Bagui
Sylvanus Nimely
Emmanuel Emenike
Victor Moses
Keita Baldé
Ali Ibra Kebe
Fashion Sakala

;Asia

Jafar Irismetov
Oston Urunov

Staff

Owner: Vagit Alekperov, Leonid Fedun
Managing Director: Yevgeni Melezhikov
Director of Sports: Francis Cagigao
Caretaker head coach: Vladimir Slišković
Assistant coach: Carlos Valle
Goalkeeping coach: Vasili Kuznetsov
Physical coach: Fernando Perez Lopez
Reserves team head coach: Aleksei Lunin
Reserves team assistant coach: Aleksei Melyoshin
Reserves team goalkeeping coach: Vasili Kuznetsov

Coaches

{| class="wikitable"

!Name

!Period

| Antonin Fivebr

|1936

| Mikhail Kozlov

|Aug 1936–37

| Konstantin Kvashnin

|1937 – Sept 38

| Pyotr Popov

|Sept 1938–39

| Vladimir Gorokhov

|1940

| Pyotr Popov

|1941

| Vladimir Gorokhov

|1942–43

| Konstantin Kvashnin

|1944

| Pyotr Isakov

|Jan 1945 – Aug 45 (caretaker)

| Albert Vollrat

|Sept 1945–47

| Konstantin Kvashnin

|1948

| Abram Dangulov

|1949 – May 51

| Georgi Glazkov

|June 1951 – Dec 51

| Vasily Sokolov

|1952–54

| Nikolay Gulyaev

|1955–59

| Nikita Simonyan

|1 January 1960 – 31 December 1965

| Nikolay Gulyaev

|1966

| Sergei Salnikov

|Jan 1967 – July 67

| Nikita Simonyan

|1 July 1967 – 31 December 1972

| Nikolay Gulyaev

|1973–75

| Anatoly Krutikov

|1976

| Konstantin Beskov

|1 January 1977 – 31 December 1988

| Oleg Romantsev

|1 January 1989 – 31 December 1995

| Georgi Yartsev

|1 January 1996 – 31 December 1996

| Oleg Romantsev

|1 January 1997 – 3 May 2003

| Andrei Chernyshov

|19 June 2003 – 1 September 2003

{| class="wikitable"

!Name

!Period

| Vladimir Fedotov

|2 September 2003 – 30 November 2003 (caretaker)

| Nevio Scala

|10 December 2003 – 15 September 2004

| Aleksandrs Starkovs

|10 October 2004 – 26 April 2006

| Vladimir Fedotov

|1 June 2006 – 19 June 2007

| Stanislav Cherchesov

|1 July 2007 – 14 August 2008

| Igor Lediakhov

|15 August 2008 – 12 September 2008 (caretaker)

| Michael Laudrup

|9 September 2008 – 15 April 2009

| Valeri Karpin

|16 April 2009 – 30 June 2012

| Unai Emery

|1 July 2012 – 25 November 2012

| Valeri Karpin

|26 November 2012 – 18 March 2014

| Dmitri Gunko

|18 March 2014 – 31 May 2014

| Murat Yakin

|16 June 2014 – 30 May 2015

| Dmitri Alenichev

|10 June 2015 – 5 August 2016

| Massimo Carrera

| 5 August 2016 – 22 October 2018

| Raúl Riancho

| 22 October 2018 – 12 November 2018 (caretaker)

| Oleg Kononov

|12 November 2018 – 29 September 2019

| Serhiy Kuznetsov

| 29 September 2019 – 14 October 2019 (caretaker)

| Domenico Tedesco

| 14 October 2019 – 17 May 2021

| Rui Vitória

| 24 May 2021 – 15 December 2021

| Paolo Vanoli

| 17 December 2021 – 9 June 2022