Founded: 1922
Nickname: Narodnaya Komanda (The People's Club)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• none

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• Soviet/Russian league title: 21 (2001)
• USSR/Russian Cup: 13 (2003)

History
• Founded in 1922 as Moscow Sports Circle, and later known as Krasnaya Presnya, Pishcheviki and Dukat, it was not until 1935 that the club settled on Spartak as a name – in honour of the Roman rebel Spartacus; an early spell under the aegis of the Promkooperatsiia food workers union led to them being affectionately nicknamed Myaso (The Meat).

• Founder members of the Soviet Supreme League in 1936, the club won the second of the two league titles awarded in the same year, though Mikhail Kozlov stood down as coach afterwards; their first USSR Cup came in 1938.

• Spartak and FC Dinamo Moskva dominated the early decades of Soviet football but the club went into decline in the 1970s, and were relegated for the only time in their history after finishing 15th in 1976; they were promoted back to the top division the next season.

• Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Spartak dominated the Russian league under coach and president Oleg Romantsev, who is still with the club as a coaching consultant; they won nine of the ten titles contested from 1992-2001, eight under Romantsev and one under Georgi Yartsev.

• The new millennium has shaken Spartak's dominance but they remain the only Russian club to have reached the semi-finals of all three major UEFA club competitions; the 1990/91 European Champion Clubs' Cup, the 1992/93 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the 1997/98 UEFA Cup, losing on all three occasions.

Club records
Most appearances: Fedor Cherenkov (494)
Most goals: Sergei Rodionov (153)
Record victory: Spartak 8-0 FC Dinamo Odessa (Soviet Top League, 8 July 1939)
Record defeat: 5-0 five times, most recently at FC Torpedo Moskva (Soviet Top League, 3 August 1964)
Spartak 1-6 SKA Rostov-on-Don (Soviet Top League, 10 June 1984)

* Last updated 24 August 2012