The history of the Spartak club dates back to the 20s of the XX century. Today it is one of the most popular clubs in the country, the most titled club in Russia. The cliche "Spartak is the people's team" that has existed since Soviet times is still relevant today.
Club history
The history of the club "Spartak" originates long before its official foundation. The forerunner of the Spartak sports society was the Russian Gymnastic Society called Sokol, which was founded back in 1883. At the same time, football began to develop there only in 1897. Played all summer in Petrovsky Park.
After the October Revolution, the Sokol team got its own stadium in the Presnensky district, before that the team had to constantly rent fields in different parts of Moscow. This place was recommended to the club by Nikolai Starostin, who himself lived nearby.
At that time, the team changednames, was called the Moscow Sports Circle of the Krasnopresnensky District and simply "Krasnaya Presnya", later there were the names "Promkooperatsia", "Dukat" and even "Pishcheviki".
Birth of "Spartacus"
In the history of the football club "Spartak" a special day is April 18, 1922 - the date of its official foundation. Under the new name, he played his first friendly game in history against the Zamoskvoretsky Sports Club. Spartacus won with a score of 3:2. This is the history of the creation of the Spartak club.
The first official game after the renaming also ended in favor of the red-whites - the team from Orekhovo was defeated with a score of 3:1. The basis was the Starostin brothers, who today are considered the main founders of the club.
Officially, the team received its current name in 1934. The history of the name of the club "Spartacus" is very interesting, it refers to the then popular Roman legionnaire, whose feat was admired by many.
Participation in the USSR Championship
The official history of the Spartak club dates back to the founding of the USSR Football Championship. This happened in 1936. The first championship took place in the spring, the red-whites were assigned to group A - an analogue of the modern Superleague.
The whole season consisted of only six matches. Spartak won half of them, drew once and lost twice. With this result, the teamwon bronze medals, and the Dynamo club became the first champion. But in the fall, the Spartak team for the first time issued a championship. The red-and-whites only once lost to Dynamo Tbilisi (0:1), they won in 4 matches out of 7.
Since those years, in the history of the Spartak club, there has been a rivalry with the Moscow Dynamo, which only escalated after the Starostin brothers were repressed in 1942 by the personal order of Beria, the curator of the blue and white.
It is interesting that in the first allied championships, the coach of Spartak was the Czech Antonin Fivebr, who had previously worked in the Spanish Valencia. In 1937 he was replaced by Konstantin Kvashnin, with whom the red-and-whites won the second gold in 1938. Continued to win "Spartak" under Petr Popov (1st place in 1939).
The 1941 USSR Championship was interrupted by the Great Patriotic War. Many players were called to the front. Anatoly Velichkin died in action, left forward Stepan Kustylkin died of his wounds.
Post-war history
The decision to resume the union championship was made in 1945. "Spartak" was much inferior to opponents in the selection of players, in addition, the team often changed coaches. As a result, for the first time in the history of the club, "Spartak" (Moscow) was under threat of relegation from the elite division. Only thanks to the even weaker game of several outsiders, this was avoided, taking 10th place out of 12 teams.
In 1946, Albert Volrath took over as head coach. He makes the red-whites strong middle peasants, but fight for medalsthe team is not yet able.
In 1948, Konstantin Kvashnin took a place on the coaching bridge. Spartak gains confidence, wins 7 games in a row during the championship, after 20 rounds it takes 1st place. However, the end of the season turns out to be unsuccessful, the CDKA becomes the champion, and the red-whites only have bronze medals.
Era of Simonyan
Since 1949, Nikita Simonyan has been shining as a striker in Spartak. He has been top scorer for two years in a row with a total of 60 goals.
In 1952, the CDKA team, which formed the basis of the USSR national team at the Helsinki Olympics, was disbanded. The team lost in the 1/8 finals of Yugoslavia, after which it was decided to take such tough measures. Spartak, who confidently took the lead after the first rounds, managed to regain the championship title in the absence of their main competitor.
The next year, the red-and-whites make out a golden double, having strengthened the players of the army teams, the disbandment of which continues, in particular, Anatoly Isaev and Vsevolod Bobrov move to the Spartak camp.
In the middle of 50 Starostin returns to Spartak, in 1956 the team wins the gold of the championship again, it is also the red and white that this time form the basis of the team at the Olympics in Melbourne. In the final, Soviet players beat Yugoslavia (1:0), winning gold medals.
In 1959, the place of the head coach is taken by the recent leader of the Spartak attacks Nikita Simonyan,who replaces Gulyaev at this post after 6th place in the championship. The team was renewed and in 1962 won the USSR Championship for the eighth time.
Relegation to the First League
Throughout the 60s and 70s the club played unstably, the championship seasons were followed by unsuccessful performances. Gulyaev and Simonyan took turns at the head of the team. In 1976, for the first time in the history of the Spartak (Moscow) football club, the team was relegated to the First League.
After such a failure, Starostin invites Konstantin Beskov as head coach, who completely rebuilds the team. At first, the season does not add up, the rivals, although lower in class, are especially tuned in to games with a nine-time champion. After the first circle "Spartak" only the fifth. However, in the second part of the championship, the victory over the main competitors "Nistru" and "Pakhtakor" and a confident game in attack allow you to get 1st place 2 rounds before the finish line.
Already in 1979, Spartak managed to regain the championship. The red-whites showed a particularly bright game in the second round. Lokomotiv was defeated with a score of 8:1, Georgy Yartsev shone ahead. Muscovites finished ahead of Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk, taking 1st place.
Tragedy at Luzhniki
There were also tragic pages in the history of FC Spartak club. Having won silver medals the following year, the team received the right to play in the UEFA Cup.
Wothe second round, the rivals went to the Dutch “Harlem”. In the first match on October 20, with the score 1:0 in favor of the red and white, some of the fans, freezing, reached for the exit. Everyone hurried to the subway. In Grandstand C, the collapse of the stairs caused a stampede, which resulted in the death of 66 people. The monument to the dead was erected today in Luzhniki.
"Spartak" in that draw, passing the Dutch, lost to "Valencia" in the next round.
Golden era in Russian football
After the collapse of the USSR, Spartak under the leadership of Oleg Romantsev became the flagship of the national football. Since 1992, the team has won the Russian championship 9 times, only in 1995 losing the championship to Alania Vladikavkaz.
But at the beginning of the 21st century the team found itself in a deep crisis. Many attribute this to the acquisition of the club by Andrei Chervichenko in 2002. Already in 2003, the red-whites finish in 10th place, and in the Champions League they lose all matches with a difference of 1:18. The head coach of the team, Oleg Romantsev, who led the team to victories in the last decade, is leaving the club due to a conflict with the management. The coaching leapfrog begins, the massive acquisition of legionnaires.
In early 2004, Chervichenko sold a controlling stake to Leonid Fedun, but the situation could not be quickly corrected. Coaches continue to change almost every year, "Spartak" wins silver medals several times, but can not reach the gold.
Modernhistory
The 2016-2017 season of the red-whites started unsuccessfully. In qualifying for the Europa League, they were knocked out by the Cypriot "AEK". Head coach Alenichev then resigned, and Italian Massimo Carrera took his place.
Under the guidance of a new mentor, the club confidently won the first round, ahead of their pursuers by at least 6 points. In the spring part of the championship they continued to win, in the 27th round they officially issued the champion title after 13 years without trophies.
The team won bronze medals in the 2017/18 season.
Thus, in the history of Soviet and Russian football "Spartak" won 22 times. 13 times became the owner of the national cup. The team's highest achievement in the European Champions Cup was participation in the semi-finals of the tournament in 1991, where the Muscovites lost to the French Marseille.
Now the team is still coached by Carrera, the owner of the club is Leonid Fedun, the general director is Sergey Rodionov. The club supports many famous fans: Oleg Gazmanov, Dmitry Nazarov, Mikhail Efremov, Dmitry Kharatyan.
