FC Spartak Moscow

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Spartak
Full name Football Club Spartak Moscow
Nickname(s) Myaso (The Meat)[1], Svinyi (The Pigs), Red-Whites
Founded 1922
Ground Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow
(Capacity 84,745)
Chairman Leonid Fedun
Manager Stanislav Cherchesov
League Russian Premier League
2007 RPL, 2nd
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away colours

FC Spartak Moscow (Russian: Футбольный клуб «Спартак» Москва) is a football club from Moscow, Russia. They are nicknamed "Meat" because in Soviet era the club was owned by the Collective Production Farms (the kolkhoz and the sovkhoz) .

Spartak have won 12 Soviet championships (second only to Dynamo Kyiv) and 9 of 14 Russian championships. They have also won the Soviet Cup 10 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

[edit] History

[edit] Foundation

See also: FC Presnya Moscow
See also: Nikolai Starostin

In the early days of Soviet football many government agencies such as the police, army, and railroads created their own clubs. In 1921 the Moscow Sport Circle (Moscow sport club of Krasnopresnensky district) (Russian: МКС, Московский кружок спорта), later named Krasnaya Presnya was formed by Ivan Artemev and involved Starostin, especially in its football team.[4] The team grew, building a stadium, supporting itself from ticket sales and playing matches across Russia.[5] As part of a 1926 reorganisation of football in the USSR, Starostin arranged for the club to be sponsored by the food workers union and the club moved to the 13,000 seat Tomskii Stadium and was known as Pishcheviki . The team changed sponsors repeatedly over the following years as it competed with Dinamo Moscow, whose 35,000 seat Dinamo Stadium lay close by.

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.[6] 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.[7] It took its name from the Roman slave rebel and athlete Spartacus

It became part of the Spartak Sports Society during its establishment on April 19, 1935

[edit] Soviet period

In 1935 Starostin proposed the name Spartak that was derived from Spartacus, a gladiator-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.[2] The same year the club became a part of newly created Spartak sports society.

Spartak's third logo
Spartak's third logo

Czech 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. The first Championship was won by Dynamo Moscow, while in the second one held the same year Spartak came first. Before the WWII Spartak gained two more titles.

During 1950-s Spartak together with Dynamo Moscow dominated in the Soviet Top League. When the USSR national football team won gold medals on 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 mid-60s 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.

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 (ironically, 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 and thanks to Spartak supporters, the period is considered to be the start of the modern-style fans' movement in the Soviet Union.

On October 20, 1982, disaster struck during the UEFA Cup match between Spartak and HFC Haarlem. Scores of people were trampled. The official number of deaths is 66 but many people believe this number to be significantly higher.

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

[edit] Modern period

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 all but one title between 1992 and 2001. Year after year the team also represented Russia in the Champions League.

Problems began in the new century. Several charizmatic 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.[4]

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).

[edit] League positions

[edit] 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!" "Meats by Ste'

The other nickname is "Svin'i" ("Pigs"), although, unsurprisingly, this is considered offensive by the team's fans.

[edit] 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 was lost 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.

[edit] 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. [5]

[edit] Current squad

[edit] First team

As of 8 March 2008, according to the Russian Premier League official website.

No. Position Player
3 Flag of Austria DF Martin Stranzl
4 Flag of Germany DF Malik Fathi
5 Flag of Brazil MF Mozart (vice-captain)
7 Flag of the Czech Republic DF Martin Jiránek
6 Flag of Romania MF Florin Costin Şoava
8 Flag of Russia MF Aleksandr Pavlenko
9 Flag of Russia MF Yegor Titov (captain)
10 Flag of Russia FW Roman Pavlyuchenko
11 Flag of Brazil FW Welliton
15 Flag of the Czech Republic DF Radoslav Kováč
18 Flag of Russia FW Aleksandr Prudnikov
19 Flag of Argentina MF Cristian Maidana
21 Flag of Russia MF Igor Gorbatenko
22 Flag of Croatia GK Stipe Pletikosa
23 Flag of Russia MF Vladimir Bystrov
No. Position Player
25 Flag of Ukraine MF Maksym Kalynychenko (vice-captain)
27 Flag of Moldova MF Sergei Kovalchuk
31 Flag of Russia DF Sergei Parshivlyuk
32 Flag of Russia FW Nikita Bazhenov
34 Flag of Russia MF Renat Sabitov
35 Flag of Russia GK Soslan Djanaev
36 Flag of Russia DF Fyodor Kudryashov
37 Flag of Ukraine MF Yegor Lugachyov
40 Flag of Russia FW Artyom Dzyuba
49 Flag of Russia DF Roman Shishkin
55 Flag of Russia MF Oleg Dineyev
59 Flag of Russia DF Andrey Ivanov
70 Flag of Lithuania DF Ignas Dedura
88 Flag of Belarus DF Egor Filipenko

[edit] Reserves

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

No. Position Player
12 Flag of Russia GK Ivan Komissarov
16 Flag of Russia GK Yevgeniy Gubin
17 Flag of Russia FW Artyom Fomin
33 Flag of Russia DF Ilya Gultyayev
38 Flag of Armenia MF Artur Maloyan
41 Flag of Armenia MF Artak Aleksanyan
52 Flag of Russia MF Yevgeniy Andreyev
No. Position Player
57 Flag of Russia MF Maksim Grigoriev
60 Flag of Russia MF Vladislav Ryzhkov
Flag of Russia GK Stanislav Manyov
Flag of Russia DF Mikhail Badyautdinov
Flag of Russia DF Konstantin Kadeyev
Flag of Russia MF Nikita Antonov
Flag of Russia MF Maksim Zhitnev
Flag of Russia MF Yevgeniy Makeyev

[edit] Notable players

Russia/USSR
Argentina
Austria
Brazil
Cameroon
Croatia
Czech Republic
Georgia
Germany
Macedonia
Poland
Romania


Senegal
Serbia
Ukraine
Uruguay

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Honours

[edit] European Cups

[edit] Managers

Name Period Trophies
Flag of the Czech Republic Antonin Fivebr 1936
Flag of the Soviet Union Mikhail Kozlov August 1936-1937
Flag of the Soviet Union Konstantin Kvashnin 1937-September 1938, 1944, 1948
Flag of the Soviet Union Pyotr Popov September 1938—1939; 1941
Flag of the Soviet Union Vladimir Gorokhov 1940, 1942-1943
Flag of the Soviet Union Pyotr Isakov 1945 (January-August), caretaker
Flag of the Soviet Union Alber Wolrat September 1945-1947
Flag of the Soviet Union Abram Dangulov 1949-May 1951
Flag of the Soviet Union Pyotr Isakov 1945 (January-August), caretaker
Flag of the Soviet Union Georgi Glazkov June-December 1951
Flag of the Soviet Union Vasily Sokolov 1952-1954
Flag of the Soviet Union Nikolay Gulyaev 1955—1959, 1966, 1973—1975
Flag of the Soviet Union Nikita Simonyan 1960-September 1965, July 1967-1972
Flag of the Soviet Union Sergei Salnikov January-July 1967
Flag of the Soviet Union Anatoly Krutikov 1976
Flag of the Soviet Union Konstantin Beskov 1978-1988
Flag of Russia Oleg Romantsev 1989-1995, 1997-May 2003
Flag of Russia Georgi Yartsev 1996
Flag of Russia Vladimir Fedotov May-June 2003 (caretaker), September-December 2003 (caretaker), April 2006-June 19, 2007
Flag of Russia Andrei Chernyshov June-September 2003
Flag of Italy Nevio Scala January-September 2004
Flag of Latvia Aleksandrs Starkovs September 2004-April 2006
Flag of Russia Stanislav Cherchesov June 19? 2007-

[edit] Racism incidents

The club has a history of racist incidences between supporters and foreign players, especially of black complexion, with the possible connivance of club officials. In 2003, Cameroonian player Jerry-Christian Tchuissé denounced suffering racist taunts, such as bananas being thrown onto the pitch and chants that mimicked monkey sounds coming from the stands, every time he played against Spartak, his former club. The Russian Football Union (RFU) intervened and invited him to take part in a showcase match aimed at fighting racism.[6] In 2007, the club was placed under investigation by the RFU for their fans' behaviour, after a banner was unfurled in the stands which contained abuse directed at a club's new signing, Brazilian player Welliton Soares Morais; the banner read, in English: "The number 11 belongs to Tikhonov. Monkey go home".[7] The club was eventually found guilty, and fined 19,000 dollars.[8] Later that same year, sixty-three football fans aged 13 to 16 were detained after drunken clashes that took place after Spartak Moscow's match against FK Moscow left a dark-skinned man from Siberia dead and two others injured.[9]

[edit] References

[edit] External links