Foundation and early period (1883–1941)

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".^{[citation needed]}

The history of the football club and sports society "Spartak" originates from the Russian Gymnastics Society (RGO Sokol [ru]), 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 officially act under the name MCS, or Moscow Sports Club.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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).^{[citation needed]}

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^{[clarification needed]} 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).^{[citation needed]}

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.^[2] The same year, the club became a part of newly created Spartak sports society.^{[citation needed]}

Czechoslovak manager Antonin Fivebr is credited as the first head coach of Spartak, though he worked as a consultant in several clubs simultaneously.^[3] 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.^[4] In 1937, Spartak won the football tournament of Workers' Olympiad at Antwerp.^[5]

Post-war period (1945–1991)

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.^{[citation needed]}

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. Konstantin Beskov, who became the head coach (as a footballer Beskov made his name playing for Spartak's main rivals, Dynamo Moscow), introduced several young players, including Rinat Dasayev and Georgi Yartsev. Spartak came back the next year and won the title in 1979, beating Dynamo Kyiv.^{[citation needed]}

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,^[6] making it Russia's worst sporting disaster.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Modern period (1991–present)

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 (16): 1937, 1954, 1955, 1963, 1974, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1991, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011–12, 2020–21
• Soviet Cup/Russian Cup
  • Winners (14) (record): 1938, 1939, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1958, 1963, 1965, 1971, 1992, 1993–94, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2021–22
  • Runners-up (7): 1948, 1952, 1957, 1972, 1981, 1995–96, 2005–06
• Russian Super Cup
  • Winners: 2017
  • Runners-up (4): 2004, 2006, 2007, 2022
• Soviet First League
  • Champions: 1977
• USSR Federation Cup
  • Winners: 1987

International

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

Non-official

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

UEFA club coefficient ranking

As of 22 September 2023, Source:

99	Zorya Luhansk	14.500
100	Anderlecht	14.500
101	Spartak Moscow	14.500
102	Köln	6.000
103	Hoffenheim	12.000

Football Club Elo ranking

As of 14 June 2023^[22]

More information Rank, Team ...

Rank	Team	Points
155	Millwall	1536
156	Tenerife	1536
157	Spartak Moscow	1535
158	West Bromwich	1531
159	Molde	1531

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As of 14 August 2018

Soviet Union

More information Season, Div. ...

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	Europe		Top scorer (league)	Manager/acting manager
1936 (s)	1st	3	6	3	1	2	12	7	13	-	-		Glazkov – 4	Kozlov
1936 (a)		1	7	4	2	1	19	10	17	QF	-		Glazkov – 7	Kozlov
1937		2	16	8	5	3	24	16	37	R16	-		Rumyantsev – 8	Kvashnin
1938		1	25	18	3	4	74	19	39	W	-		Sokolov – 18	Kvashnin P.Popov
1939		1	26	14	9	3	58	23	37	W	-		Semyonov – 18	P.Popov
1940		3	24	13	5	6	54	35	31	-	-		Semyonov – 13 Kornilov – 13	Gorokhov
1944		no league competition								SF	-		-	Kvashnin
1945		10	22	6	3	13	22	44	15	R16	-		Timakov – 7	Isakov Vollrat
1946		6	22	8	5	9	38	40	21	W	-		Salnikov – 9	Vollrat
1947		8	24	6	9	9	34	26	21	W	-		Dementyev – 9	Vollrat
1948		3	26	18	1	7	64	34	37	RU	-		Konov – 15	Kvashnin
1949		3	34	21	7	6	93	43	49	SF	-		Simonyan – 26	Dangulov
1950		5	36	17	10	9	77	40	44	W	-		Simonyan – 34	Dangulov
1951		6	28	13	5	10	50	35	31	QF	-		Simonyan – 10	Dangulov Gorokhov Glazkov
1952		1	13	9	2	2	26	12	20	RU	-		Paramonov – 8	Sokolov
1953		1	20	11	7	2	47	15	29	QF	-		Simonyan – 14	Sokolov
1954		2	24	14	3	7	49	26	31	R16	-		Ilyin – 11	Sokolov
1955		2	22	15	3	4	55	27	33	SF	-		Parshin – 13	Gulyaev
1956		1	22	15	4	3	68	28	34	-	-		Simonyan – 16	Gulyaev
1957		3	22	11	6	5	43	28	28	RU	-		Simonyan – 12	Gulyaev
1958		1	22	13	6	3	55	28	32	W	-		Ilyin – 19	Gulyaev
1959		6	22	8	8	6	32	28	24	-	-		Isaev – 8	Gulyaev
1960		7	30	15	7	8	52	32	37	R16	-		Ilyin – 13	Simonyan
1961		3	30	16	8	6	57	34	40	R16	-		Khusainov – 14	Simonyan
1962		1	32	21	5	6	61	25	47	R16	-		Sevidov – 16	Simonyan
1963		2	38	22	8	8	65	33	52	W	-		Sevidov – 15	Simonyan
1964		8	32	12	8	12	34	32	32	SF	-		Sevidov – 6	Simonyan
1965		8	32	10	12	10	28	26	32	W	-		Khusainov – 5 Reingold – 5	Simonyan
1966		4	36	15	12	9	45	41	42	QF	-		Osyanin – 15	Gulyaev
1967		7	36	13	14	9	38	30	40	R32	CWC	R16	Khusainov – 8	Salnikov Simonyan
1968		2	38	21	10	7	64	43	52	R32	-		Khusainov – 14	Simonyan
1969		1	32	24	6	2	51	15	54	R32	-		Osyanin – 16	Simonyan
1970		3	32	12	14	6	43	25	38	QF	-		Khusainov – 12	Simonyan
1971		6	30	9	13	8	35	31	31	W	ECC	R32	Kiselyov – 5 Silagadze – 5 Piskarev – 5	Simonyan
1972		11	30	8	10	12	29	30	26	RU	UC	R32	Papaev – 4 Andreev – 4 Piskarev – 4	Simonyan
1973		4	30	14	8	8	37	28	31	QF	CWC	QF	Piskarev – 12	Gulyaev
1974		2	30	15	9	6	41	23	39	QF	-		Piskarev – 10	Gulyaev
1975		10	30	9	10	11	27	30	28	R16	UC	R64	Lovchev – 8	Gulyaev
1976 (s)		14	15	4	2	9	10	18	10	-	UC	R16	Pilipko – 2 Lovchev – 2 Bulgakov – 2	Krutikov
1976 (a)		15	15	5	3	7	15	18	13	R32	-		Bulgakov – 6	Krutikov
1977	2nd	1	38	22	10	6	83	42	54	R16	-		Yartsev – 17	Beskov
1978	1st	5	30	14	5	11	42	33	33	R16	-		Yartsev – 19	Beskov
1979		1	34	21	10	3	66	25	50	Qual.	-		Yartsev – 14	Beskov
1980		2	34	18	9	7	49	26	45	SF	-		Rodionov – 7	Beskov
1981		2	34	19	8	7	70	40	46	RU	ECC	QF	Gavrilov – 21	Beskov
1982		3	34	16	9	9	59	35	41	Qual.	UC	R32	Shavlo – 11	Beskov
1983		2	34	18	9	7	60	25	45	R16	UC	R16	Gavrilov – 18	Beskov
1984		2	34	18	9	7	53	29	45	QF	UC	QF	Rodionov – 13	Beskov
1985		2	34	18	10	6	72	28	46	R16	UC	R16	Rodionov – 14	Beskov
1986		3	30	14	9	7	52	21	37	SF	UC	R16	Rodionov – 17	Beskov
1987		1	30	16	11	3	49	26	42	R16	UC	R16	Rodionov – 12 Cherenkov – 12	Beskov
1988		4	30	14	11	5	40	26	39	QF	UC	R32	Rodionov – 12	Beskov
1989		1	30	17	10	3	49	19	44	QF	ECC	R16	Rodionov – 16	Romantsev
1990		5	24	12	5	7	39	26	29	R16	UC	R32	Shmarov – 12	Romantsev
1991		2	30	17	7	6	57	30	41	QF	ECC	SF	Mostovoi – 13 Radchenko – 13	Romantsev
1992	-	-								W	UC	R32	-	Romantsev

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Russia

More information Season, Div. ...

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	Europe		Top scorer (league)	Manager/acting manager
1992	1st	1	26	18	7	1	62	19	43	-	-		Radchenko – 12	Romantsev
1993		1	34	21	11	2	81	18	53	R32	CWC	SF	Beschastnykh – 18	Romantsev
1994		1	30	21	8	1	73	21	50	W	UCL	GS	Beschastnykh – 10	Romantsev
1995		3	30	19	7	5	76	26	63	SF	UCL	GS	Shmarov – 16	Romantsev
1996		1	35	22	9	4	72	35	75	RU	UCL	QF	Tikhonov – 16	Yartsev
1997		1	34	22	7	5	67	30	73	QF	UC	R32	Kechinov – 11	Romantsev
1998		1	30	17	8	5	58	27	59	W	UCL UC	Qual. SF	Tsymbalar – 10	Romantsev
1999		1	30	22	6	2	75	24	72	R32	UCL	GS	Tikhonov – 19	Romantsev
2000		1	30	23	1	6	69	30	70	SF	UCL UC	GS R32	Titov – 13	Romantsev
2001		1	30	17	9	4	56	30	60	QF	UCL	2nd GS	Titov – 11 Robson – 11	Romantsev
2002		3	30	16	7	7	49	36	55	R32	UCL	GS	Beschastnykh – 12	Romantsev
2003		10	30	10	6	14	38	48	36	W	UCL	GS	Pavlyuchenko – 10	Romantsev Chernyshov Fedotov Scala
2004		8	30	11	7	12	43	44	40	R32	UC UIC	R16 QF	Pavlyuchenko – 10	Scala Starkov
2005		2	30	16	8	6	47	26	56	R32	-		Pavlyuchenko – 11	Starkov
2006		2	30	15	13	2	60	36	58	RU	-		Pavlyuchenko – 18	Starkov Fedotov
2007		2	30	17	8	5	50	30	59	SF	UCL UC	GS R32	Pavlyuchenko – 14	Fedotov Cherchesov
2008		8	30	11	11	8	43	39	44	R32	UCL UC	Qual. R32	Bazhenov – 6 Pavlyuchenko – 6 Pavlenko – 6 Welliton – 6	Cherchesov M. Laudrup
2009		2	30	17	4	9	61	33	55	QF	-		Welliton – 21	M. Laudrup Karpin
2010		4	30	13	10	7	43	33	10	R16	UCL UC	Qual. GS	Welliton – 19	Karpin
2011–12		2	44	21	12	11	68	48	75	R16	UC	Qual	Emenike – 13	Karpin
2012–13		4	30	15	6	9	51	39	51	R16	UCL	GS	Y. Movsisyan – 13	Emery Karpin
2013–14		6	30	15	5	10	46	36	50	R16	UC	Qual	Y. Movsisyan – 16	Karpin Gunko
2014–15		6	30	12	8	10	42	42	44	R16	-		Promes – 13	Yakin
2015–16		5	30	15	5	10	48	39	50	R16	-		Promes – 18	Alenichev
2016–17		1	30	22	3	5	46	27	69	R32	UC	Qual	Promes – 11	Alenichev Carrera
2017–18		3	30	16	8	6	51	32	56	SF	UCL	GS	Promes – 15	Carrera
2018–19		5	30	14	7	9	36	31	49	QF	UCL UEL	Qual. GS	Zé Luís – 10	Carrera Kononov
2019–20		7	30	11	6	13	35	33	39	QF	UEL	Qual.	A.Sobolev – 12	Kononov Tedesco
2020–21		2	30	17	6	7	52	34	57	R16	-		Larsson – 15	Tedesco
2021–22		10	30	10	8	12	16	19	38	W	UEL	R16[upper-alpha 1]	A.Sobolev – 9	Rui Vitoria Vanoli

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Notes

Top goalscorers

As of match played 12 November 2022

More information Name, Years ...

	Name	Years	League	Russian Cup	Europe	Other	Total
1	Nikita Simonyan	1949–1959	133 (233)	? (?)	? (?)	? (?)	133 (233)
2	Sergey Rodionov	1979–1990 1993–1995	124 (303)	? (?)	? (?)	? (?)	124 (303)
3	Galimzyan Khusainov	1961–1973	102 (350)	? (?)	? (?)	? (?)	102 (350)
4	Yegor Titov	1995–2008	86 (324)	3 (42)	15 (77)	1 (2)	105 (445)
5	Quincy Promes	2014–2018 2021–Present	80 (164)	10 (15)	5 (17)	1 (2)	98 (198)
6	Fyodor Cherenkov	1977–1990 1991–1993	95 (398)	? (?)	? (?)	? (?)	95 (398)
7	Andrey Tikhonov	1992–2000 2011	68 (192)	4 (20)	18 (51)	- (-)	90 (263)
8	Yuri Gavrilov	1977–1985	89 (280)	? (?)	? (?)	? (?)	89 (280)
8	Roman Pavlyuchenko	2003–2008	69 (141)	4 (17)	14 (28)	2 (3)	89 (189)
10	Anatoli Ilyin	1949–1962	83 (224)	? (?)	? (?)	? (?)	83 (224)
11	Yury Sevidov	1960–1965	71 (146)	? (?)	? (?)	? (?)	71 (146)
12	Vladimir Beschastnykh	1991–1994 2001–2002	56 (104)	6 (11)	5 (28)	- (-)	67 (143)
13	Sergei Salnikov	1942–1943 1946–1949 1955–1960	64 (201)	? (?)	? (?)	? (?)	64 (201)
14	Aleksei Paramonov	1947–1959	63 (264)	? (?)	? (?)	? (?)	63 (264)
15	Welliton	2007–2014	57 (126)	2 (6)	1 (15)	- (-)	60 (147)
16	Georgi Yartsev	1977–1980	55 (116)	? (?)	? (?)	? (?)	55 (116)
17	Anatoli Isayev	1953–1962	54 (159)	? (?)	? (?)	? (?)	54 (159)
17	Valeri Shmarov	1987–1991	54 (143)	? (?)	? (?)	? (?)	54 (143)
19	Nikolai Osyanin	1966–1971 1974–1976	50 (248)	? (?)	? (?)	? (?)	50 (248)

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Owners, kit suppliers and shirt sponsors

Current squad

As of 21 February 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

More information No., Pos. ...

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  MDA Oleg Reabciuk 4 DF  PAR Alexis Duarte 5 DF  RUS Leon Klassen 6 DF  SRB Srđan Babić 7 FW  RUS Aleksandr Sobolev 8 MF  NGA Victor Moses 9 FW  CRC Manfred Ugalde 10 FW  NED Quincy Promes 14 DF  RUS Georgi Dzhikiya (captain) 17 MF  RUS Anton Zinkovsky 18 MF  RUS Nail Umyarov 19 FW  PAR Jesús Medina 20 DF  POR Tomás Tavares 22 MF  RUS Mikhail Ignatov

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 DF  RUS Nikita Chernov 25 MF  RUS Danil Prutsev 35 MF  LUX Christopher Martins 39 DF  RUS Pavel Maslov 47 MF  RUS Roman Zobnin 57 GK  RUS Aleksandr Selikhov 68 DF  RUS Ruslan Litvinov 77 MF  COD Théo Bongonda 82 MF  RUS Daniil Khlusevich 87 MF  RUS Daniil Zorin 88 GK  RUS Ilya Svinov 97 DF  RUS Daniil Denisov 98 GK  RUS Aleksandr Maksimenko

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Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

More information No., Pos. ...

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  RUS Yaroslav Krashevsky (at Rotor Volgograd until 30 June 2024) — DF  RUS Nikolai Tolstopyatov (at Sokol Saratov until 30 June 2024) — DF  RUS Maksim Vedeneyev (at Kuban Krasnodar until 30 June 2024) — MF  CZE Alex Král (at Union Berlin until 30 June 2024) — MF  RUS Maksim Laykin (at Arsenal Tula until 30 June 2024) — MF  RUS Ivan Pyatkin (at Rotor Volgograd until 30 June 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  RUS Konstantin Shiltsov (at Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk until 30 June 2024) — FW  SEN Keita Baldé (at Espanyol until 30 June 2024) — FW  RUS Pavel Melyoshin (at Dinamo Minsk until 31 December 2024) — FW  JAM Shamar Nicholson (at Clermont until 30 June 2024) — FW  RUS Vitali Shitov (at Tyumen until 30 June 2024)

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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.