History of the Lokomotiv football club (Moscow)

The predecessors of Lokomotiv were the railway clubs Kazanka (Moscow-Kazan Railway), which appeared in 1922 ^[2] ; “The Club of the October Revolution” (CDF), which performed in 1922-1930; and again, "Kazanka" (Moscow-Kazan Railway), which played in 1931-1935.

Club Foundation

In the book of A. V. Savin, “Moscow Football”, with reference to the Moscow football calendar 1922, provides information on the compositions of groups “B” and “C” of the capital’s championship, where you can find the first mention of the team of workers at the Moscow-passenger Kazan railway depot railway called "Circle of football players of the Kazan road" (abbreviated "Kazanka"), which appeared in 1922 ^[3] . In fact, among the fans of Lokomotiv, the team’s birthday is celebrated twice each year, since on August 12 it is located next to the Day of the Railwayman , which is celebrated on the first Sunday of August ^{[4] [5]} .

Performances in the Moscow Championship

The circle of football players of the Kazan Road (“Kazanka”) began its history in the last year of the existence of the Moscow Football League in class “B” (third group). In that year, the team was based on the Krasnoselsky field (rented a field of "Physicians" in Sokolniki ). ^[6] According to the Izvestia Sport newspaper, Kazanka played its first match on July 23, 1922 against the Izmailovsky Sports Club ^[7] .

On June 7, 1923, by a resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee , the Supreme Council for Physical Culture of the RSFSR was created. The Moscow Football League , which was created in 1909 and until that time was the highest football body of the city, was disbanded, the management of Moscow sports was transferred to the Moscow Provincial Council of Physical Culture under the Presidium of the Moscow Provincial Council of Workers, Peasants and Red Army Deputies. Old Moscow clubs with a long history - ALLS , ZKS , SKZ , FEV , KFS , SKL and others ceased to exist. Sports fields and property of old clubs were transferred to the management of new organizations, created, as a rule, on a production basis ^[6] . Many clubs created spontaneously were merged and changed their names. "Kazanka" replenished the composition of the players of other football teams of the railways of the Moscow junction and changed its name to the "Club of the October Revolution" (KOR) ^[7] .

In the same 1923 , when members of the club cleared and equipped a wasteland on Razgulyay , between Olkhovskaya and Novoryazanskaya streets, which gradually turned into a stadium, under their own efforts. There, on August 12, 1923, the KOR debut game took place as part of the Moscow Championship ^[6] , which KOR started in the sixth group of the senior category ^{[7] [6]} . The stadium, later known as the Lokomotiv Central Stadium , hosted the matches of the Moscow Championship, USSR Championship, USSR Cup , and friendly games. ^[8] In 1923, KOR also won the championship of the railways of the RSFSR and won the title of champion of railway transport in football ^[6] . Until 1935, the club performed in light blue (azure) t-shirts with a black collar and white shorts, in accordance with the colors of the club’s emblem ^[6] . In the period 1923-1925 in KOR played in the championship of Moscow in the second and third groups ^[6] .

In the spring of 1926, fourteen teams, including KOR, were included in the first group of the city championship. The first match for KOR at the highest level took place on May 23: KOR hosted the Pishcheviks , who at that time were considered one of the strongest teams and were almost fully equipped with players from the national teams of Moscow , the RSFSR and the USSR. In the debut for himself in the first group, KOR won with a score of 4: 2, Boris Dementyev scored a hat-trick. In 1926, KOR took the sixth place in the championship of Moscow, in 1927 - fifth in the spring and fourth in the fall, in 1928 it became the sixth, in the spring of 1929 - second after the "Food Workers". In the 1930 season, KOR became the fifth in spring and the fourth in autumn. ^[6]

In 1931, another reform of Soviet sports was carried out, sports clubs began to form on a production basis. KOR was renamed the "Team of Masters of the Moscow-Kazan Railway." Fans also used the former name - “Kazanka”. Moreover, even on the posters of 1935, you can find the familiar name KOR in brackets "Kazan railway". ^{[6] [7]} The Kazanka season finished in sixth place in 1931, in 1932 the first team took fourth place in the Moscow autumn championship, and became the champion of Moscow in the club standings. In 1933, Kazanka took seventh place, in 1934 - eighth in the spring and sixth in the fall. ^[6]

On May 1, 1935, the Stalinets stadium was opened, on the site of which the Russian Railways Arena is now located ^[7] . In the same year, the team was headed by the French-Belgian coach Jules (Gyula) Limbek , who had come to the USSR, sometimes taking to the field himself in matches of the city championship. His name is the first attempt in the country to master the double-ve system. In the spring championship of Moscow in 1935, Kazanka became the sixth, and in the autumn championship among the “masters” (the first teams got that name), in the absence of the Dynamo and Spartak tournament, Kazanka took the fourth place out of six participants. ^[6]

On December 5, 1935, the People’s Commissar of Railways Lazar Kaganovich and the Central Committee of the trade unions of railway workers approved the charter of the Lokomotiv voluntary sports society of railway workers , at the same time the political department of the People’s Commissariat of Railways, together with the Lokomotiv organizing bureau, decided to declare January 12, 1936 as the opening day of the company. At the same time, a football team of masters was created, which included the team of the Kazan Railway. ^{[6] [7]}

First USSR Championships among clubs (1936-1941)

May 22, 1936 was the birthday of the Soviet Union football championships, the match was opened between Leningrad Dynamo and Moscow Lokomotiv. The first goal was on the account of the player of the “railroad” Viktor Lavrov , but after the Leningrad team scored three goals and won the match with a score of 3: 1 ^[9] . The railwaymen finished that season in fifth place, then there was the first trophy won - it was the first USSR Cup in 1936. In the finals at the Dynamo stadium, in the presence of 20,000 spectators, Lokomotiv beat Dynamo Tbilisi ^[10] .

In the same year, railroad workers for the first time begin to use new colors, appear in red T-shirts with a white longitudinal stripe on their chests. ^{[6] The} underpants were white and the leggings were red. ^[eleven]

In the late 1930s, Valentin Aleksandrovich Granatkin played for the team, having made an excellent career as a player, and then as a football functionary ^[12] . Since 1981, at the initiative of FIFA President Joao Avelange , an international tournament of youth soccer teams has been held in memory of FIFA First Vice-President V. A. Granatkin . Over the years, such famous players as Andreas Möller and Oliver Birhoff , Marcel Desailly , Igor Kolyvanov , Alexander Mostovoy and others took part in the tournament ^[13] .

1944-1969 period

In the second half of the 1950s, Lokomotiv had the strongest composition in the entire Soviet period of its history. This was largely facilitated by the Minister of Railways Boris Beshchev , who was appointed to this post in 1948 ^[14] . In 1953, he brought Boris Arkadiev , the then-famous Soviet coach, six-time USSR champion with Dynamo and CDSA and three-time winner of the country's cup with CDSA ^[15] . Under his leadership, the future European champions of 1960 played in Lokomotiv at that time: Vladimir Maslachenko and Valentin Bubukin . He began to gradually build a team, which soon became the second time winner of the USSR Cup in 1957. In the final, the “Kaganovich guys”, thanks to the goal of team captain Bubukin, beat Spartak . The match was held in Luzhniki and gathered 103,000 spectators, which at that time was the country's record ^[16] . Viktor Sokolov , who was then the forward of the team, said ^[16] :

“Then we had a very strong team. In the championship, we got everything from us - CSK Moscow Region, Spartak, Torpedo, and Dynamo Kiev. So we came to the final of the Cup, being in the group of leaders. ”

In the same year, the “railroad” took fourth place in the championship of the Soviet Union , gaining as many points and having the same difference of goals scored and missed, as well as “ Spartak ”, which won bronze medals ^[17] . In 1958, Lokomotiv became the fifth in the championship ^[18] . At the end of the season, Boris Arkadiev returned to the post of head coach of CSK MO ^[15] , he was replaced by Evgeny Eliseev ^[19] , under whose leadership in 1959 the long-awaited medal was won, it was a silver medal of the championship of the Soviet Union ^[20] . In the 1960 season , Lokomotiv became the second in the first round, but failed the second part of the championship and finished the tournament only in fifth place ^[21] . A similar situation has developed in the next season ^[22] . Soon, not the best results of the team turned into a full-blown crisis, the result of which was a relegation from the Premier League in 1963 ^[23] . The reasons for this were the change of generations and the transition of key players to stronger teams.

At that time, the team played many excellent players who left a considerable mark in domestic football. This is striker Valentin Bubukin , who, as part of the USSR national team, became the winner of the first European Cup draw as one of the key players of the main squad ^[24] , forward Viktor Sokolov , who was the best scorer of the club of all time with 91 goals scored for a long time ^[25] , a wonderful goalkeeper Vladimir Maslachenko , who, after completing his sports career, became one of the country's leading football experts and commentators ^[26] .

Period 1970-1991

In the 1970s and 1980s, the team teetered on the brink of a major league and a first. At that time, the team was played by many talented football players, who later became famous coaches, such as Yuri Semin , Valery Gazzayev , Givi Nodia , Valery Petrakov , Vitaliy Shevchenko and others.

A new era began with the advent of head coach Yuri Semin in 1986. The results of Lokomotiv began to improve markedly - after seven consecutive years spent in the First League , in 1988 the club returned to the USSR major league, and in 1990 reached the final of the USSR Cup, where it lost to its much stronger opponent at that time - Kiev Dynamo ”with a crushing score of 1: 6 ^[27] .

Tandem Filatov - Semin (1992-2005)

With the collapse of the Union championships and the transition to market relations in the economy, a new era of Lokomotiv began, which became for him the most successful in history, which lasted until the departure of Yuri Semin 's club in 2005. The club firmly established itself in the elite of domestic football, showed excellent results in the championship and in the international arena. An important role in this was played by stability in the leadership - from 1992 to 2006, the club's president was Valery Nikolayevich Filatov , and coached the club until the call to the national team in 2005, coaching tandem Yuri Semin (head coach) - Vladimir Eshtrekov .

In the first draw of the Russian championship , Lokomotiv took fourth place, which allowed him to perform in European competitions the following year. The first official European Cup match was held on September 15, 1993. “Lokomotiv” opposed the Turin “ Juventus ”, which defeated the “railroad” in his field with a score 3: 0 thanks to two goals by Roberto Baggio and the goal of Ravanelli . In the second leg, Juventus was also stronger - 1: 0.

Soon, Lokomotiv won the first medal in its Russian history - the bronze of the 1994 Russian championship . Forward “railroad” Oleg Garin scored twenty goals per season, which was the second result of the championship. The list of 33 best Russian football players according to the results of the season then included Sergey Ovchinnikov , Alexey Arifullin , Igor Chugainov , Evgeny Kharlachev , Alexey Kosolapov , Oleg Garin . Another representative of Lokomotiv Alexander Yardoshvili became the winner of the prize “Team Doctor” ^[28] .

The next year, Lokomotiv climbed one more place up - the club managed to win silver.

In 1995, Lokomotiv again managed to break into European competition. As part of the 1/32 UEFA Cup, the “railroad” played with the Munich super club - “ Bavaria ”. The first match was held in Munich , where Lokomotiv sensationally won 1-0. In one of the counterattacks, Solomatin found a free Kosolapov in the center of the field, and he made a jewelry transfer to Kharlachev’s move. The Germans unsuccessfully completed an artificial offside, Kharlachev came face to face with Kan , circled him and sent the ball into the empty net in the fall. But in the second leg, Lokomotiv was waiting for a crushing rematch - 0: 5.

The seasons 1996 and 1997 were not so successful for the Moscow team in the championship in terms of results: sixth and fifth places. In those years, Dmitry Loskov appeared on the team, who later became the captain and true legend of Lokomotiv ^[29] .

In the 1998 national championship, Lokomotiv was again able to win the championship medal - bronze, and the team lacked just one point before silver. In the period from 1999 to 2001, the team won three silver medals, always losing gold to Spartak .

In 1998 and 1999, the team reached the semi-finals of the Cup Winners Cup twice in a row. In the latter case, Lokomotiv lost to Roman Lazio due to a conceded goal in a home game.

The first championship came to the team in 2002. Lokomotiv had a great start to the season and by the seventh round, it alone headed the table. The team approached the break associated with the World Cup with the first place in the table and only one defeat. After the break, Lokomotiv vied for first place with CSKA , as a result the team championship ended with the same performance. A " golden match " was appointed, in which Lokomotiv beat the army team, Dmitry Loskov scored the only goal.

In the same year, the Lokomotiv football stadium opened.

In 2004, the railroad workers repeated their success two years ago. The beginning of the season was marked by the departure of Sergei Ignashevich to CSKA and the arrival of Dmitry Sychev , the striker of the French Olympic Marseille , who became the leader of the railroad attacks in the new season, scoring fifteen goals in the championship. In the summer, Brazilian Francisco Lima from Roma joined the team, playing a crucial role in winning gold medals. The Brazilian defensive midfielder instantly entered the team’s game, carrying out a huge amount of rough work, literally cemented the center of the field. In the summer, the rise of Lokomotiv began after the traditional not-so-best start. So, by mid-August, Lokomotiv noticeably improved its tournament position, after defeating Spartak it came out on top. In the championship, a fierce fight for gold medals went until the thirtieth round, Lokomotiv’s chances for the championship were changing all the time, but it was Semin’s wards who headed the tournament, and in the thirtieth round Lokomotiv beat Shinnik thanks to Bilyaletdinov’s goals and Sycheva, becoming the second time in her history the champion of the country.

In 2001-2004, Lokomotiv participated in the main round of the Champions League and twice overcame the group stage. Eurocup season 2001/2002 Lokomotiv began with three matches with the Austrian Tyrol . In the first match, the “railroad” confidently beat the Austrians - 3: 1. An excellent game was then demonstrated by Marat Izmailov , who scored a goal and gave an assist. In the second leg, the “railroad” were again stronger thanks to the goal of Maminov , but soon the result of the match was canceled due to the judge showing the second yellow card to the striker of the “railroad” Ruslan Pimenov , but forgot to delete it. Moreover, at the time of the match it was unclear to whom he showed the yellow one, probably to Maminova , whose name the judge wrote down in the final protocol, so Pimenov quite possibly simply did not understand if the card was shown to him. Tyrol representatives filed a complaint, which was eventually accepted and a replay was scheduled. The third match was one of the best in the career of Nigmatullin , the goalkeeper of the team. He managed to repel many difficult punches, showing the wonders of reaction and goalkeeper technique. Lokomotiv was able to qualify for the Champions League group stage, where it went to Real Madrid , Roma and Anderlecht . The start of the tournament was terrifying, after the first four rounds the team had only one point in the asset, and the match with Real Madrid ended in defeat. But after this two victories followed, the match with Anderlecht ended with a major guest victory for Lokomotiv 5: 1, and in the last round, Real, the future winner of the tournament, 2-0. In these matches, the forward of the team Buznikin scored three goals, and Marat Izmailov became the youngest player who distinguished himself in the Champions League 2001/2002 ^[30] . Champions League 2002/2003 began for Lokomotiv, as a year ago, from the third qualifying round, where another confrontation with the Austrians took place. This time Lokomotiv got a Huck , which the railroad workers passed without any problems. The “railwaymen” repeated the beginning of the group stage: after the fourth round, the team again had only a point. In the next round, Lokomotiv went on a visit to Galatasaray . In Istanbul Hell, Lokomotiv won a difficult victory thanks to the goals of Dmitry Loskov and Vadim Yeseyev . In the last round, Brugge was beaten and Lokomotiv entered the second group stage of the Champions League, where they got Milan , Borussia Dortmund and again Real Madrid . As a result, the “railroad workers” scored only one point in their group and took the last place. “Lokomotiv” did not lose only to “Real”, and on Santiago Bernabeu . Muscovites scored goals from James Obiora and Mnguni , for whom that match was perhaps the best in their career ^[31] . The next season, Lokomotiv in the qualifying round went to the Ukrainian Shakhtar , which the railroad beat in a very difficult fight, largely due to the excellent game of Mikhail Ashvetiya , who scored a double. The Lokomotiv group stage, as usual, did not start in the most successful way: losing to Dynamo Kyiv and a goalless draw with Arsenal . But already in the third round one of the most famous victories in the history of Lokomotiv was won - a confident victory over Inter 3-0, the leader of the group in which Khokhlov scored an excellent goal ^[32] . After this match, Lokomotiv according to UEFA was recognized as the best team of the third round of the Champions League. In the next round, Dynamo was beaten in the last minutes, and in the last Lokomotiv lost to Arsenal, but reached the next round of the Champions League. The format of the tournament has changed, and now Lokomotiv was faced with not a group stage, but a face-to-face confrontation in the framework of the 1/8 final with Monaco . At home, they managed to win with a score of 2: 1, but in France the home team turned out to be stronger - 1: 0. Because of the goal on a foreign field, the French entered the next round, who eventually reached the final, where they lost to Porto ^[33] .

Years of Instability (2005–2016)

Lokomotiv started the 2005 season powerfully: the team won the Commonwealth Cup , defeated the Terek in Grozny in the Super Bowl match and successfully started in the championship : despite the fact that in April, after almost nineteen years of coaching, Yuri Semin left the club and received an invitation to lead Russian national team, the team led by its long-standing assistant Vladimir Eshtrekov issued a 20-match unbeaten run (and taking into account 7 matches without defeats at the end of the 2004 championship, the total duration of the run reached 27 games, which is a record om championships of Russia ^[34] ). The team played extremely reliably in defense, having missed just six goals in the first 20 matches, and was successful in the attack. The culmination of this series was the victory in a spectacular derby against CSKA, which the “railroad” managed to “wrest” at the end of the match ^[35] ; after this game, Lokomotiv was 11 points ahead of the closest pursuer in the standings ^[36] and had excellent chances to defend the league title, but in the next round not only lost Rubin away, but also lost leading striker Dmitry Sychev, who won the outcome of the match is a severe knee injury ^[37] . Without Sychev and Loskov (injured in the 13th round), Lokomotiv could not make it to the Champions League group stage, losing to the Austrian Rapid ^[38] , and weakly finished the championship: having missed the least goals and having suffered only two defeats, the team However, she could not even take the second place, being content with only bronze medals of the championship ^[39] . The relative success of the club can be called access to the playoffs of the UEFA Cup . After the season ended, three key players left the club: goalkeeper Sergei Ovchinnikov and midfielder Dmitry Khokhlov transferred to Dynamo as free agents, which, after completing work in the Russian national team, was headed by Yuri Semin ^{[40] [41]} , and was leased in January defensive midfielder Francisco Lima .

In December 2005, it was announced that the team will be led by Serbian specialist Slavoljub Muslin ; Vladimir Eshtrekov moved from coaching to the post of sports director ^[42] . In the offseason, the Lokomotiv team was replenished with many new players ^[43] , and the start of the season turned out to be unsuccessful for the unplayed team: Loko took off from the UEFA Cup draw, twice losing to the future winner of the tournament - Sevilla , and scored in just four rounds one point. The turning point was the match with CSKA , which the “railroad” managed to win in the last minutes thanks to a goal by Ivanovich . After that, the team did not lose seventeen matches in a row and again fought for the championship; Loskov showed excellent football, following the results of the tournament he became the best player in assists and the goal-plus-pass system ^[44] . However, at the end of September, Lokomotiv in the first round of the new UEFA Cup was not able to beat the semi-professional Belgian club Zyulte-Waregem ^[45] , and the ensuing defeat in the championship from FC Moskva , despite being behind only the CSKA leader two points, led to the dismissal of Muslin. According to Valery Filatov , the club’s board of directors decided to part with the Serbian coach, fearing psychological breakdown of the players after losing to Zyulte-Waregem, and also noted that, from his point of view, Slavolyub’s excessive tendency to rely on the players ’professionalism ^[46] . The club spent the end of the 2006 season under the leadership of Oleg Dolmatov , who previously worked at Shinnik . The change of coach did not bring significant results: Lokomotiv failed to fulfill the task assigned to it for that season - to take first or second place, again finishing only in third.

On December 26, 2006, at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the club, Valery Filatov, who had been President of Lokomotiv since 1992, was dismissed; it was decided to appoint Yuri Semin as club president, and the famous Soviet player Anatoly Byshovets , who previously worked with the national teams of the USSR and Russia, as a coach ^[47] . Over the next year, Lokomotiv lost a number of charismatic and game leaders: before the start of the championship, Torpedo switched to Vadim Evseev ^[48] who didn’t work with Byshovets, in the summer Loskov ^[49] and Marat Izmailov ^[50] left the team at the end of the season Chelsea was sold by Branislav Ivanovich (at that time this transfer was the most expensive in the history of the Russian championship: Lokomotiv received 13 million euros of compensation ^[51] ). To strengthen the squad, Loko acquired Nigerian striker Peter Odemwingie from Lille in the summer; compensation to the French club of 7 million euros ^[52] made Odemwingie the most expensive purchase at that time in the history of Lokomotiv ^[53] . The ambiguous staff decisions, as well as the non-trivial personality and emotional statements of Anatoly Fedorovich created a scandalous atmosphere around the club, which did not reflect in the best way on the mood and relations within the team. Lokomotiv managed to win the fifth Russian Cup in the club’s history by defeating Moscow FC in the final match ^[54] , but the railroad players also failed in the UEFA Cup , taking the last place in the group and in the championship , finishing only seven 20 points behind the winner. It was after this season that Byshovets was given the ironic nickname Svetoch ^[55] .

On November 12, 2007, the board of directors dismissed Byshovets and Semin; At the same time, the press reported that the new coach of the team will be the former coach of Perm “ Amkar ” Rashid Rakhimov ^[56] . The appointment of Rakhimov was officially announced in early December ^[57] ; shortly before that, the St. Petersburg businessman Nikolai Naumov was appointed president of the club. The new manager paid great attention to the development of the club’s infrastructure and, in his own words, allocated up to 40% of the Lokomotiv budget for this task ^[58] . As a result, during the leadership of Naumov, a Small Sports Arena was built for 10 thousand spectators, a new lawn was laid in the main stadium, the club's school was reformed, the Lokomotiv-2 team was created, and the Loko-Sport multi-purpose complex was opened. The president’s pride was the cost of the Small Arena: a ten thousandth stadium cost the club a relatively modest 5 million dollars ^[59] . Before the 2008 season, the midfielder of the Russian national team Dmitry Torbinsky joined the club, and Denis Glushakov became a member of the team; however, the team did not show high results, again taking seventh place in the 2008 championship . After the unsuccessful start of the next season (Lokomotiv scored just six points in the first six rounds of the championship and flew to the 1/4 finals of the Russian Cup ) Rakhimov was suspended from work with the team and fired ^[60] . About a month, the duties of the head coach were performed only half a year before by the end of the player’s career, Vladimir Maminov , and on May 26 it was announced that Yuri Semin would become the team’s new coach, who on the same day brought Dynamo Kyiv to the Ukrainian title and, thus, for the sake of working with Lokomotiv he refused. participation in the Champions League ^[61] . Soon, Semin joined the board of directors. Later, Naumov recalled that he had far-reaching plans for an experienced specialist: according to the plan of the president, Yuri Pavlovich, after completing his contract, was to head all the club's teams - from youth to the first - united by the coaching council; Semin’s invitation was also influenced by the desire of Russian Railways to consolidate the club’s shares (15% of which were owned by a specialist) ^[62] . Despite the summer captain of the team Diniyar Bilyaletdinov was sold to English Everton for £ 9 million ^[63] , Lokomotiv spent a lot of the rest of the season without losing a single home match for the entire championship, and took fourth place , giving the right to play in the UEFA Europa League , losing bronze to “ Zenith ” only by the difference in goals. In the summer, the Brazilian Guillerme became a member of the team, who became the main goalkeeper of the “railroad” for many years to come ^[64] . Before the 2010 season, Lokomotiv had a successful transfer campaign: the roster was supplemented by left striker Maicon , right lateral Vladislav Ignatiev , and defensive midfielder Dmitry Tarasov . The main acquisition was Alexander Aliev , familiar to Semin from work in Dynamo Kyiv ^[65] . The midfielder with a powerful blow immediately became a key figure in the “red-green” attack and spent a very productive season, becoming the second scorer (after Welliton ) and the best player in terms of “goal plus pass” in the entire league (Aliyev scored 14 goals and gave six goals gears) ^[66] . During the summer transfer window, ex-captain Dmitry Loskov returned to the team ^[67] . The season, however, turned out to be not the best for the team: Lokomotiv started unsuccessfully in the championship , immediately lagged behind the leaders, dropped out of the Cup of Russia , having lost in the 1/16 finals of the modest Gornyak club from Uchalov ^[68] , and failed to qualify for the Europa League group stage, losing to Lausanne . On August 4, it was officially announced that the president of the club, Nikolai Naumov, left his post at his own request; he was replaced by Olga Smorodskaya , an economist who previously worked for CSKA , the Interros holding and the Moscow government, earning a reputation as an effective anti-crisis manager ^[69] . On August 31, the board of directors decided to continue working with Semin, despite weak results ^[70] ; after this decision, Lokomotiv successfully spent the remainder of the championship, scoring points in eleven consecutive games, which allowed the team to take fifth place and get the right to play in the Europa League next season. Despite this, the coach was dismissed at the end of the season ^[71] , speaking unflattering about the club’s president, which significantly worsened management relations with fans, which were already very tense ^[72] and further degraded due to many unpopular actions and statements by Olga Smorodskaya ^[73] .

“We started from 11th place and finished fourth to fifth. This is a good result. What will happen next - only God knows. Everywhere they write that Syomin has a conflict with Olga Yuryevna. I have no conflict with Olga Yurievna: she has a conflict with football ”- Yuri Semin ^[74] .

Yuri Krasnozhan , who previously worked at Spartak from Nalchik, was appointed the new head coach ^[75] . Before the longest championship in the history of the Premier League, the club parted with a number of players, including Aliyev who returned to Dynamo and central defenders Sennikov and Asatiani , and also made many acquisitions. The replenished players, however, could not prove themselves brightly (although the most expensive Lokomotiv newcomer, Bosnian Senyad Ibrichich , was introduced by Smorodskaya as one of the best midfielders in Europe ^[76] ) ^[77] . At the beginning of the season, the club’s home stadium was not ready to host Lokomotiv matches because of a lawn replacement, so the railroad workers had to hold home matches at the beginning of the season at the Luzhniki stadium ^[78] ; Lokomotiv returned to its arena only in the fifth round. Despite a rather successful start (after 11 rounds, the team was only one point behind the first place ^[79] ) On June 6, the club’s board of directors decided to dismiss Krasnozhan with the wording “for omissions in work” ^[80] . Streamlining the wording and rumors that appeared in the press about the possible contractual nature of the match of the 11th round of Lokomotiv - Anzhi (lost by the railway workers with a score of 1: 2) caused a huge resonance ^{[81] [82] [83]} . The post of the acting head coach was transferred to Vladimir Maminov , and on July 1, 2011, Portuguese specialist Jose Couceiro , who previously worked in the championships of Portugal , Lithuania and Turkey , was appointed to the post of mentor of Lokomotiv ^[84] . Couceiro fundamentally “played” a large number of Russian players ^[85] and actively interacted with the coaching staff of the Lokomotiv youth squad ^[86] ; in particular, with him, the main central defenders were Maxim Belyaev and Taras Burlak , entrenched in the composition of Magomed Ozdoev . The team completed the year 2011 quite successfully: “red-green” took fifth place in the first stage of the championship, left the Europa League group from second place and reached the 1/4 finals of the Russian Cup , knocking out the Yenisei and Luch-Energiya . In the winter transfer window, the main acquisition of the club was the Russian national team forward Roman Pavlyuchenko ^[87] . However, the end of the season was unsuccessful for the “railwaymen”: Lokomotiv lost to Athletics from Bilbao in the 1/16 finals of the Europa League, flew out of the Russian Cup, having suffered a crushing defeat from Rubin and took only seventh place in Championship, not giving the right to speak in European competition.

After the end of the 2011-2012 championship, the club did not renew the contract with Jose Couceiro, the Croatian Slaven Bilić , who had previously trained the Croatian national team , was appointed in his place ^[88] . In summer, the team was supplemented by experienced players: the future captain, the central defender of Vedran Chorluka , striker Dame N'Doye , right-back midfielder Alexander Samedov returned from Dynamo ^[89] . At the end of the season, Bilich began to trust the place in the starting lineup to 17-year-old midfielder Alexei Miranchuk . However, despite the strengthening of the roster, the red-greens spent the season even weaker than the previous one: in the Russian Cup Lokomotiv limited itself to reaching the 1/8 finals, losing at this stage to the Grozny Terek ^[90] , and following the results of the Russian championship “ Lokomotiv ”took only ninth place - the worst in post-Soviet history ^[91] . June 17, 2013 Slaven Bilich was dismissed for unsatisfactory results; subsequently, Dmitry Tarasov and Alexander Samedov, who played under his leadership, suggested that Slaven lacked the experience of club work ^{[92] [93]} , and Denis Glushakov generally called Bilich the weakest coach he had to work with ^[94] . The coaching post was taken by Leonid Kuchuk , under whose leadership “ Kuban ” took fifth place in the championship that ended - the best in the club’s history ^[95] . At the beginning of the Russian Championship 2013/14, the “railroad” managed to seriously strengthen the midfield by purchasing Mubarak Bussuf ^[96] and Lassan Diarr ^[97] from Anji , who started the perestroika. Diarra and Bussufa became the most expensive players in the history of Lokomotiv ^[98] ; due to this strengthening, N'Doye’s performance and the progress of a number of other players ^[99] , Loko powerfully started the championship, repeating club records for goals, victories and points for the first round ^[100] and went on a winter break, sharing first place with Zenit " ^[101] . In the Cup, the team once again performed unsuccessfully, having been defeated by the " Rotor " already in the 1/16 finals ^[102] .

At the beginning of the 2014/15 season, the press began to spread rumors about a conflict between Leonid Kuchuk and the players, which is why the leaders of the previous season, Bussuf and Diarr, acquired for considerable money, allegedly refused to work under the supervision of a coach ^[103] . Other players remained in the team, but some time later they began to exchange reproaches with the coach through the press ^[104] . In the context of the conflict between the coach and the players, the team’s results began to deteriorate sharply: two draws and two victories in the domestic championship were followed by a home defeat with a score of 1: 4 in the Europa League from the Cyprus Apollo and two defeats in the championship from the Krasnodar Kuban and St. Petersburg Zenith After a draw with Mordovia in September 2014, Kuchuk was removed from command management ^[105] and subsequently dismissed. Shortly before, the club unilaterally terminated the contract with Diarra due to the player's failure to comply with the terms of the agreement ^[106] . Diarra appealed the decision, and Lokomotiv had to prove its case in the FIFA courts; the dispute was fully resolved only in 2017 ^[107] . Mubarak Bussufa returned to the squad in the next round, was disapproved of by the fans ^[108] and left the club in early 2016 ^[109] . Leonid Kuchuk later noted that the passage of the players of the first collection was agreed in advance, and in fact there was no conflict with the legionnaires ^[110] .

After Kuchuk’s dismissal, the team was led by Miodrag Bozovic . Under his leadership, the situation in the team returned to normal, and in 2014 she finished in the group of leaders of the championship, claiming a place in European competitions at the end of the season. At the beginning of 2015, it became known that Russian Railways reduced funding for Lokomotiv by 20% due to the financial crisis in Russia ^[111] . In May, UEFA subjected Lokomotiv to a fine of 5 million euros (of which 3.5 million were suspended) for non-compliance with the conditions of financial fair play ^[112] . On May 11, 2015, after a series of defeats, Bozovic filed a resignation letter, which was accepted by the club management. The acting team was appointed Igor Cherevchenko .

Under the leadership of Igor Cherevchenko, “Lokomotiv” won the Russian Cup , beating the Krasnodar “ Kuban ” in the final in extra time with a score of 3: 1. The trophy won was the first for the club since 2007. After winning the Cup, Cherevchenko was appointed head coach of Lokomotiv on an ongoing basis ^[113] . In the match for the Super Bowl , Lokomotiv lost to St. Petersburg Zenit (1: 1, penal 2: 4). In the 2015/16 season, Lokomotiv was tasked with becoming the champion of Russia ^[114] , but in the end the team did not even manage to break into the European cups, and Baye attack team leader Umar Niasse moved to Everton .

At the beginning of the next season in Lokomotiv there were serious personnel shifts: the head coach Cherevchenko and President Olga Smorodskaya left the team, which was replaced by Ilya Gerkus. For the fourth time in a career, the team’s head coach was Yuri Semin , and the new sports director of the club was Igor Korneev (who previously worked in the Russian team and Zenit), in addition, Dmitry Loskov joined the team’s coaching staff, and team captain Vedran Chorluka extended the contract four years. In February 2017, the Brazilian striker Ari , leased to the end of the season, joined the Lokomotiv squad; the attacker quickly fit into the composition and scored six goals before the end of the season. In the championship, the team took only 8th place with 42 points, but managed to win the seventh Cup of Russia in the history of the club, beating May 2, 2017 at the Sochi stadium Fisht in Yekaterinburg Ural 2-0; the end of the match was marked by a fight between the players ^[115] . On May 13, Loskov played a farewell match, taking the team to a game against Orenburg with a captain's armband and giving way to Alexei Miranchuk in the 13th minute ^[116] .

Third Championship (2017—2018)

In the offseason, the Moscow club parted with a number of highly paid players who did not have a solid place in the first team: defenders Yanbaev and Shishkin , N'Ding midfielder, attackers Shkuletich , Henty and Maicon left the team. The only newcomer to the “red-green” was the Polish defender Maciej Rybus ^[117] . In the first match of the season, Lokomotiv lost in a match to the Russian Super Cup to its principal rival Spartak in extra time with a score of 1: 2. Already at the beginning of the season, the team had problems with the roster: in addition to the defenders Chorluka and Vitaly Denisov , who were seriously injured at the end of the previous season ^{[118] [119]} , Ari ^[120] dropped out in the second round due to serious knee damage, and the team was left without nominal attackers. Nevertheless, the Peruvian midfielder Jefferson Farfan began to effectively play the role of striker, and at the end of August on loan until the end of the season with the right to redeem the Portuguese winner Eder went to Lokomotiv ^[121] . Lokomotiv managed to beat the main competitors and completed the first round of the championship in first place ^[122] , and by the winter break after the 20th round, the team increased the gap from second place to eight points ^[123] . “Red-green” achieved the best result in their history in the Europa League , having won their group and twice having won over “ Nice ” in the 1/16 finals of the European Cup; in the next round, however, Loko could not oppose the future winner of the LES - Madrid Atletico , having suffered two major defeats. Departure from the Europa League allowed the team to focus on domestic championships, and on May 5, after a home victory over Zenit in the 29th round match, obtained thanks to Eder's goal in the end of the match, Lokomotiv became the champion of Russia for the third time ^[124]

• List of seasons FC Lokomotiv Moscow
• FC Lokomotiv Moscow in European competition

• A.V. Savin. Moscow football. People. Developments. Facts: Reference. - M .: Terra-Sport, 2000 .-- S. 8 .-- 560 p. - ISBN 5-93127-035-3 .
• A.V. Savin. Moscow football. Full story in faces, events, figures and facts. - M .: Sport, 2016 .-- 832 p. - ISBN 978-5-906839-16-9 .
• Aleshin Pavel Nikolaevich. Yuri Semin: National coach of Russia. - Gorodets, 2013 .-- 448 p. - (Sports). - ISBN 978-5-9584-0231-1 .

• Official site of FC Lokomotiv club Moscow (Russian) . fclm.ru. FC Lokomotiv Moscow. Date of appeal April 21, 2019.
• All information about Lokomotiv (Russian) . www.lokomotiv.info . WEB 2.0 project of FC Lokomotiv fans Moscow. Date of appeal April 21, 2019.