CSKA Moscow

CSKA Moscow

PFC CSKA Moscow traces its origins to 1911, when members of the Imperial Russian Army with a passion for winter sports founded the Society of Ski Sports Amateurs in Moscow. The club broadened its activities quickly to encompass basketball, ice hockey, and football, and what began as a military sports collective grew into one of the most powerful and enduring sporting institutions in Russian and Soviet history. The football section formally developed during the Soviet era, and the club's military connections were reflected in its full name — the Central Army Sports Club, or CSKA — which became official during the Soviet period. The club's early nickname, Horses, derived from the fact that their first dedicated stadium was constructed on the site of a former racecourse (hippodrome) in Moscow, and this equine identity persists in supporter culture to the present day. CSKA played in distinctive red and blue colours and developed a passionate and loyal fanbase concentrated around the military and security establishment, though their appeal grew steadily across all sectors of Russian society. Rivalry with Spartak Moscow — the self-described People's Team — became one of the defining sporting contests of Soviet and Russian sport, a derby charged with social and political meaning that reflected the broader divisions of 20th-century Russian life. CSKA's first great era of success came in the years immediately following the Second World War. Between 1945 and 1951, then known as CDKA, the club won five Soviet Top League championships in six seasons, establishing themselves as the dominant team of that generation. However, following the death of Joseph Stalin, the football section was briefly dissolved in 1952 by political decree before being reconstituted as CSKA Moscow in 1954. The club went on to win a total of 7 Soviet Top League titles and 5 Soviet Cups during the Soviet era, including the domestic double in 1991, the final year of the Soviet football competition. With the transition to Russian football in 1992, CSKA entered a new era of dominance. They have won more Russian Premier League titles and Russian Cup titles than any other club since the year 2000, collecting multiple championship crowns and establishing a sustained period of excellence that mirrors their Soviet-era success. Their defining moment on the European stage came in 2005, when they became the first Russian club in history to win a UEFA competition, defeating Sporting CP 3–1 in the UEFA Cup final in Lisbon — a result that carried enormous symbolic power given Portugal's place in European football and the quality of opposition overcome on the way to the final. CSKA Moscow have played since September 2016 at the VEB Arena, a purpose-built 30,000-capacity stadium in Moscow that replaced the ageing Luzhniki arrangements they had previously used. The VEB Arena is one of the most architecturally striking grounds in Russia, distinguished by a soaring corporate skyscraper in one of its corners that has become an iconic feature of the Moscow skyline. The stadium's design was intended to evoke the shape of the UEFA Cup trophy won in 2005. Among CSKA's greatest players are the Brazilian striker Vágner Love, who scored 124 goals in over 200 appearances between 2004 and 2013 and came remarkably close to breaking the club's historic goalscoring record set by Grigory Fedotov in the 1940s. Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev became a legend through unrivalled longevity and consistent excellence, serving as both club and national team captain for much of his career. Midfielder Alan Dzagoev and defender Sergei Ignashevich were pillars of the successful generation of the 2000s and 2010s. CSKA's status as Russia's Army club gave them unique institutional support during the Soviet era, and their consistent investment in quality has ensured their continued dominance in the modern Russian game.