Early years

Lokomotiv was founded as Kazanka (Moskovsko-Kazanskaya Zh.D) in 1922. In 1924, the club brought together the strongest football players of several lines of the Moscow railway system as KOR ("Club of the October Revolution"). In 1931, the club was again renamed to Kazanka (Moskovskaya-Kazanskaya Zh.D) and in 1936, it was eventually renamed to as it is known today, Lokomotiv (the name means "Locomotive"). During the Communist rule, Lokomotiv Moscow club was a part of the Lokomotiv Voluntary Sports Society and was owned by the Soviet Ministry of Transportation through the Russian Railways.

Soviet era

Lokomotiv Moscow in final 1936

When the Lokomotiv Voluntary Sports Society was created in 1936, its football team featured the best players of Kazanka, and a number of strong Soviet footballers of that time such as Valentin Granatkin, Nikolay llyin, Alexey Sokolov, Pyotr Terenkov, Mikhail Zhukov, llya Gvozdkov and Ivan Andreev. Lokomotiv debuted in the first-ever Soviet football club championship with a game against Dynamo Leningrad on 22 May 1936. In the first two seasonal championships (spring and autumn), Lokomotiv finished fifth and fourth respectively. The first Lokomotiv success arrived shortly as in 1936, the railwaymen rose up to the occasion to beat Dynamo Tbilisi 2–0 in the Soviet Cup Final, thus winning the first Soviet Cup.

Lokomotiv Moscow in final 1957

The following years were rather successful as Lokomotiv were consistent in the national championships. However, performances after World War II suffered and in a five-year span, Lokomotiv were relegated to the Soviet First League twice. In 1951, Lokomotiv came second and eventually won the promotion to the Soviet Top League. This kicked off the second Lokomotiv's resurgence and until the beginning of the 1960s, Lokomotiv competed for the USSR's top trophies. In 1957, Lokomotiv won the cup for the second time, and two years later, Lokomotiv won the silver medals of the Soviet League. Second place was the highest position ever obtained by Lokomotiv during the Soviet era.

Another important trademark for Lokomotiv was the authorization of playing friendly matches against foreign opposition. Typically, up to the late 1950s, international sports contacts with Soviet teams were extremely rare. However, since in 1955, Lokomotiv became a quasi-"football ambassador" for the Soviet Union abroad, participating in friendly matches in various parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa and even North America. This policy of openness ushered in a great era for Lokomotiv, with the squad including some of the finest Soviet footballers of the era, such as Vladimir Maslachenko, Valentin Bubukin, Victor Voroshilov, Zaur Kaloyev, and Yuri Kovalyov. When Lokomotiv's strongest players abandoned the club, however, Lokomotiv fell again from grace and a swing between the first and second divisions followed, instability lasting until the end of the 1980s.

Post-Soviet era

In the beginning of the 1990s, Lokomotiv was considered the "weakest link" amongst the top Moscow clubs. It lacked both results on the pitch and fans' support in the stands. In 2002, a new stadium—Lokomotiv Stadium—resembling a traditional, compact English one was built.

In 2002, a "golden match" was needed to decide who will be the champion, as Lokomotiv Moscow and CSKA Moscow both finished with the same number of points after Gameweek 30. The game was played at Dynamo Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd. Lokomotiv took an early lead thanks a low drive from captain Dmitry Loskov, and eventually the goal turned out to be enough for Lokomotiv to claim the first title in the club's history.

Two years later, Lokomotiv again won the Russian Premier League, edging city rivals CSKA by a single point; Lokomotiv defeated Shinnik Yaroslavl 0–2 in Yaroslavl, a week after CSKA fell to city rivals Dynamo at home.

In 2005, long-time head coach Yuri Semin left the team to coach the Russian national team, where he was replaced at Lokomotiv by Vladimir Eshtrekov. During the same year, although leading the league for most of the year, Lokomotiv stumbled in the last games of the campaign, allowing CSKA overtake them and claim the title, with Lokomotiv ultimately falling to third. Estrekhov was later sacked and replaced by Slavoljub Muslin, the first foreign manager in the club's history. After a poor start to the new season, Lokomotiv recovered and finished third, but despite the respectable performance, Muslin was sacked; Anatoly Byshovets took the helm as his replacement, with Yury Semin returning to serve as team president. This brought little success to Lokomotiv, who finished the season in seventh, with the only bright spot being the victory of the Russian Cup. These poor performances prompted the board of directors to sack both coach Anatoly Byshovets and President Semin. Rinat Bilyaletdinov was subsequently named caretaker coach. This lasted until 6 December 2006, when Lokomotiv brought in Rashid Rakhimov from Amkar Perm on a three-year contract. Again, however, this resulted to be yet another poor decision from the board, as Lokomotiv only finished seventh in 2008, also beginning the 2009 season poorly. Unsurprisingly, on 28 April 2009, Lokomotiv fired Rakhimov; long-serving player Vladimir Maminov was installed as a caretaker manager. A month later, Semin was brought back to the club to take charge. After a really poor start, Lokomotiv recovered and finished the season on a high, claiming fourth place in the process.

In 2010 shortly after the signing of former Lokomotiv player Peter Odemwingie to West Bromwich Albion, photographs showed Lokomotiv Moscow fans celebrating the sale of Odemwingie through the use of racist banners targeted at the player.^[3] One banner included the image of a banana and read "Thanks West Brom".^[3] Before West Brom's game against Tottenham Hotspur in September 2010, it was announced that West Brom fans would unfurl a banner to counter the racist one, the banner read 'Thanks Lokomotiv' and is accompanied by a picture of Odemwingie celebrating his win on his debut against Sunderland.^[4]

Before the 2011–12 league season, Semin left the club and was replaced by former Spartak Nalchuk manager Yuri Krasnozhan. On 4 June 2011, rumours spread that Lokomotiv chairman Olga Smorodskaya suspected Krasnozhan of throwing away the 27 May, 1–2 home league defeat to Anzhi Makhachkala, deciding to sack him on the grounds of the suspicion.^[5][6][7] Lokomotiv was fifth in the table at the time, just one point away from first-placed CSKA. On 6 July, after a Lokomotiv Committee of Directors meeting, Krasnozhan's contract was officially terminated on the basis of "negligence in his job."^[6][7][8][9] The Russian Football Union subsequently refused to investigate the case.^[10] Assistant manager Maminov again took over as caretaker for three weeks until a replacement was found in the form of José Couceiro, who had himself just finished a caretaking stint as manager of Sporting Clube de Portugal.

Couceiro, however, lasted just one year in the role, as the club opted not to renew his contract at the end of the 2011–12 season. After Croatia national team head coach Slaven Bilić announced he would step down after his nation's participation at Euro 2012, Loko acted quickly to sign him to a three-year contract. However, Bilić's first season at the helm brought another disappointment, as Loko finished ninth, its lowest-ever finish in the post-Soviet era of Russian domestic football. Just prior to the 2013–14 season, Bilić was sacked and replaced with new head coach Leonid Kuchuk. Eventually, however, Lokomotiv ran out of steam and after only managing to win a single points from the last three matches of the season, Lokomotiv had to settle for the third place.

Recent history

In the following season, Kuchuk failed to build up on the improved performances of the previous season and with Lokomotiv languished at the ninth place, Kuchuk was given the sack prematurely. Miodrag Božović was called to steady the ship but despite the early promise, a disastrous run of one win in a stretch of nine matches resulted in Božović being sacked with three league matches to go and with Igor Cherevchenko re-appointed as caretaker manager for the second time during the season. Despite the poor league performance, wherein Lokomotiv placed in the 7th place again, Lokomotiv did end the season on a positive tone as Cherevchenko managed to rally his troops and win the Russian Cup with a 3–1 win over Kuban Krasnodar. This success, which brought the first piece of silverware to Lokomotiv in 8 years, was enough to convince Olga Smorodskaya to appoint Cherevchenko on a permanent basis. Lokomotiv's performances under Cherechenko did improve in the beginning but it was a false promise once again as in the end Lokomotiv faltered and did not manage to qualify for European football. Notwithstanding this, Cherevchenko was confirmed for the 2016–17 season.

After months of speculation, and with only two games in the new season, the board pulled the plug on Smorodskaya's disastrous tenure and relieved Smorodskaya hand Cherechenko from their positions. Ilya Herkus was brought in for Smorodskaya and with the goal of resolving the previous board's fractious relationship with the fans and bring them back to the stadium, Lokomotiv appointed Yury Semin as their manager for the fourth time. In also came crowd favourite Dmitri Loskov, who was assigned to assist Semin with his duties. Despite the good feelings brought by the change in management, Lokomotiv's performances seldom improved and a tumultuous season ended up in Lokomotiv placing in a disappointing eighth position. In what was the only highlight of the season, Lokomotiv managed to snatch the Russian Cup for a joint record seventh time by crushing Ural Yekaterinburg's dreams of their first ever piece of silverware with a two-nil victory.

Despite the average league performance, Semin was confirmed for the next season. Herkus' decision to retain Semin resulted to be a shrewd decision as Semin managed to do the unthinkable and rallied Lokomotiv to win the Russian Premier League for only the third time in their history. In Europe, Lokomotiv also performed admirably, as they managed to advance to Round of 16 for the first time in their history and got eliminated by Atlético Madrid, who eventually went on to win the Cup.

After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Club Association suspended the team.^[2]

Current squad

As of 23 December 2023^[12]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  RUS Guilherme 3 DF  BRA Lucas Fasson 4 DF  RUS Stanislav Magkeyev 6 MF  RUS Dmitri Barinov 7 FW  RUS Artem Dzyuba 8 FW  RUS Vladislav Sarveli 9 MF  RUS Sergei Pinyayev 11 MF  RUS Anton Miranchuk 15 FW  RUS Maksim Glushenkov 17 FW  RUS Rifat Zhemaletdinov 20 DF  RUS Ivan Kuzmichyov 21 DF  ALB Mario Mitaj 22 GK  RUS Ilya Lantratov

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 MF  RUS Mikhail Shchetinin 24 DF  RUS Maksim Nenakhov 27 FW  RUS Vadim Rakov 45 DF  RUS Aleksandr Silyanov 53 GK  RUS Daniil Khudyakov 59 DF  RUS Yegor Pogostnov 69 MF  RUS Daniil Kulikov 71 DF  ARM Nair Tiknizyan 77 DF  RUS Ilya Samoshnikov 85 DF  RUS Yevgeny Morozov 93 MF  RUS Artyom Karpukas 94 MF  RUS Dmitri Rybchinsky 99 FW  RUS Timur Suleymanov (on loan from Pari NN)

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  ARG Germán Conti (at Colón until 30 June 2024) — DF  CRO Tin Jedvaj (at Panathinaikos until 30 June 2024) — DF  UKR Mark Mampassi (at Kortrijk until 30 June 2024) — MF  RUS Ilya Berkovski (at Khimki until 30 June 2024) — MF  RUS Konstantin Maradishvili (at Pari NN until 30 June 2024) — MF  RUS Nikolai Titkov (at Orenburg until 30 June 2024) — FW  FRA Wilson Isidor (at Zenit St. Petersburg until 30 June 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  NED Gyrano Kerk (at Antwerp until 30 June 2024) — FW  RUS Roman Kolmakov (at Zenit-2 St. Petersburg until 30 June 2024) — FW  RUS Andrey Nikitin (at SKA-Khabarovsk until 30 June 2024) — FW  BRA Pedrinho (at Santos until 31 December 2024) — FW  RUS Denis Pushkaryov (at Volgar Astrakhan until 30 June 2024) — FW  MNE Marko Rakonjac (at TSC until 30 June 2024) — FW  RUS Nikita Saltykov (at Krylia Sovetov Samara until 30 June 2024)

Domestic competitions

International competitions

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
  • Semi-finalists (2): 1997–98, 1998–99
• Commonwealth of Independent States Cup
  • Winners: 2005

Soviet Union

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	Top scorer (league)	Head coach
1936 (s)	1st	5	6	2	0	4	7	11	10	—	Lavrov – 3	Stolyarov
1936 (a)		4	7	4	0	3	18	14	15	W	Lavrov – 6	Stolyarov
1937		6	16	5	5	6	18	20	31	SF	Andriasyan – 6	Limbeck
1938		8	25	12	6	7	44	37	30	R64	Lavrov – 11	Sushkov
1939		5	26	12	6	8	42	39	30	R16	Lakhonin – 8	Sushkov
1940		6	24	10	5	9	36	52	25	—	Kireev – 8 Kartsev – 8	Sushkov
1944		no competition								R16
1945		12	22	1	3	18	14	54	5	R32	Lakhonin – 4	Sushkov
1946	2nd, "South"	7	24	10	6	8	46	33	26	—
1947	2nd, "Centre"	1	28	21	3	4	56	22	45	Qual.
	2nd, Final	1	5	4	1	0	11	4	9
1948	1st	7	26	10	4	12	38	64	24	R16	Obotov – 17	Apukhtin Maksimov
1949		11	34	11	8	15	59	56	30	R64	Lagutin – 13	Maksimov Kachalin
1950		15	36	11	8	17	41	73	30	QF	Panfilov – 14	Kachalin
1951	2nd	3	34	19	10	5	72	38	48	R64		Kachalin
1952	1st	9	13	5	2	6	19	21	12	R16	Panfilov – 4 I.Petrov – 4	Kachalin Arkadyev
1953		6	20	6	6	8	21	28	18	SF	Korotkov – 5	Arkadyev
1954		10	24	7	7	10	21	23	21	R16	Goryansky – 6	Arkadyev
1955		5	22	9	7	6	32	27	25	SF	Razumovsky – 9	Arkadyev
1956		10	22	5	8	9	38	28	18	—	Sokolov – 9	Arkadyev
1957		4	22	12	4	6	39	27	28	W	Sokolov – 12	Arkadyev
1958		5	22	9	6	7	48	34	24	SF	Voroshilov – 10	Eliseev
1959		2	22	12	5	5	42	25	29	—	Sokolov – 14	Eliseev
1960		5	30	14	6	10	45	46	34	R32	Sokolov – 16	Morozov
1961		5	30	13	12	5	58	42	38	QF	Voroshilov – 20	Morozov
1962		13	30	8	9	13	38	45	27	R32	Latyshev – 8	Morozov A. Kostylev
1963		17	38	5	19	14	37	54	29	R32	Syagin – 8 Spiridonov – 8	Arkadyev
1964	2nd	1	40	19	15	6	45	30	53	R32	Bubukin – 14	Arkadyev
1965	1st	15	32	8	8	16	37	48	24	R16	Gorshkov – 13	Arkadyev Rogov
1966		17	36	11	5	20	34	49	27	R32	V. Kozlov – 14	Beskov Bubukin
1967		17	36	7	14	15	33	37	28	QF	Kokh – 9	Bubukin
1968		10	38	10	17	11	35	39	37	R32	Kokh – 10	Bubukin
1969		18	34	8	9	17	33	47	25	R32	Atamalyan – 8	Maryenko
1970	2nd	4	42	20	10	12	53	39	50	R32	Atamalyan – 14	Maryenko Rogov
1971		2	42	25	12	5	81	33	62	R32	A. Kozlov – 22	Rogov
1972	1st	15	30	6	9	15	29	48	21	QF	Y. Chesnokov – 8 Piskunov – 8	Rogov Volchok
1973	2nd	3	38	20	8	10	47	32	46	R32	Y. Chesnokov – 14	Yakushin Volchok
1974		1	38	23	7	8	73	33	53	R32	Y. Chesnokov – 20	Volchok
1975	1st	11	30	7	12	11	28	33	26	QF	5x players – 4	Volchok
1976 (s)		15	15	3	3	9	17	23	9	—	3x players – 3	Volchok
1976 (a)		8	15	6	3	6	13	13	15	R16	Averyanov – 3 Nodiya – 3	Volchok
1977		6	30	9	14	7	27	25	32	R32	Nodiya – 5	Volchok
1978		15	30	7	9	14	26	40	22	SF	V. Gazzaev – 6	Volchok, from 27 August Maryenko
1979		12	34	8	12	14	44	57	24	GS	Petrakov – 17	Maryenko
1980		18	34	8	9	17	34	44	25	GS	Petrakov – 12	Maryenko
1981	2nd	3	46	21	15	10	65	41	54	R16	Mukhanov – 22	A. Sevidov
1982		4	42	21	13	8	63	32	54	GS	Mukhanov – 17	A. Sevidov
1983		15	42	13	13	16	51	47	38	R32	Mukhanov – 11 M. Chesnokov – 11	V. Rodionov Volchok
1984		6	42	17	13	12	44	37	46	R64	A. Kalashnikov – 8	Volchok
1985		6	42	16	11	15	52	51	43	R64	A. Kalashnikov – 14	Volchok
1986		6	46	21	11	14	63	48	53	R32	Gladilin – 16	Semin
1987		2	42	23	13	6	59	26	58	R128	A. Kalashnikov – 13	Semin
1988	1st	7	30	10	12	8	35	29	30	R32	Rusyayev – 15	Semin
1989		15	30	7	9	14	20	32	23	R32	Rusyayev – 9	Semin
1990	2nd	4	38	19	9	10	52	34	47	RU	Sukhov – 11	Semin
1991	1st	16	30	5	8	17	18	47	18	SF	Kondratyev – 7	Filatov
1992	no competition									SF		Semin

Russia