Full steam ahead for Lokomotiv

uefa.com looks back at the achievements of FC Lokomotiv Moskva as part of our series of histories of the 18 clubs directly involved in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

Railway team
Formed in 1923 by a group of railway workers and still sponsored by a railway company, FC Lokomotiv Moskva - or Loko as their fans call them - have for much of their history found themselves stuck on an express line to nowhere. Long regarded as the weakest team in the Russian capital they were the only Moscow team never to win the Soviet title, coming close only once when they finished second in 1959. Indeed, their only successes in the Soviet era were two cup wins, in 1936 and 1957.

Cup kings
However, in 2002, after a frustrating series of second-placed finishes in the 1990s, they seized the title for the first time and silenced the critics who until then had dismissed them as nearly men. Despite that reputation Lokomotiv have nevertheless become the undisputed kings of the modern Russian Cup. Their first success came in 1996 against FC Spartak Moskva and they repeated the feat 12 months later against FC Dinamo Moskva. Spartak denied them a hat-trick in the 1998 final but Lokomotiv added two further cup wins, in 2000 against PFC CSKA Moscow and in 2001 after a penalty shoot-out against FC Anzhi Makhachkala.

European advance
Lokomotiv's first forays into Europe came in disappointing UEFA Cup campaigns in 1993/94 and 1995/96 when they lost in the first round on each occasion. However, they slowly began to find their feet at the higher level and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in both 1997/98, when they lost out to VfB Stuttgart, and 1998/99, when they were beaten on away goals by S.S. Lazio.

Upward curve
The next step for Lokomotiv is to make an impression in the UEFA Champions League and that track seems to be on an upward curve. Their first attempt in 2000/01 led to a defeat against Besiktas JK in the qualifying round but in 2001/02, after beating FC Tirol Innsbruck they finally made it through to the group stage. There, despite victories over Real Madrid CF (2-0 in Moscow) and RSC Anderlecht (5-1 in Brussels), they could manage only third place in the group, and lost against Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC in their subsequent UEFA Cup campaign.

Champions at last
Lokomotiv clearly have European ambitions but the main priority for coach Yuri Semin was always to break their duck in the league which - helped by the international duo of Marat Izmailov and Ruslan Pimenov - they finally managed to do in dramatic fashion. After finishing the 2002 season level on 66 points with CSKA, Lokomotiv won the championship play-off 1-0. Dmitriy Loskov scored the all-important goal to spark off celebrations that continued when they beat Club Brugge KV to reach the second group stage of the Champions League.